Ffxcores Build Thread

ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
IMG_8708.jpeg

Username: Ffxcores

Make: Nissan
Year: 2015
Model: Xterra
Trim: S
Color: Cayenne Red


Suspension/Steering:
Front:
Nisstec MKII extended travel coilovers (650# springs)
Moog lower control arms (driver link) (passenger link)
OEM camber bolts
AllDogsOffroad UCAs
Front sway delete

Rear:
Ironman Foam Cell Pro shocks
Ironman rear leaf pack
ADO 2 degree shim
U-bolt flip kit w/ aluminum bash plates

Tires:
Mickey Thompson Baja Boss AT (LT265-75-16) on DX4 Beast wheels (black)

Armor:
WKO sliders (upward angle)
Shrockworks rear diff cover
Shrockworks full skid set
Nisstec shock skids
Maxterra Rear Bumper w/ swing arm tire carrier
Expedition One front bumper

Interior Mods:
LED interior lights warm white
Rear hatch interior access
JVC Head unit w/ Android Auto & rear camera (discontinued)
4x new door speakers + dash tweeters
Weathertech floor mats
Frontrunner Wolfpacks
Dometic 55IM fridge
Motorola MXT275 GMRS radio
Raingler 6-point ceiling net
Roxterra molle panel (rear window + front and rear doors)
Shorty headrests for the rear

Exterior Mods:
TEQ Customs bi-led headlights with switchbacks
Offroad Gorilla rear diff breather kit
Gas hood struts
Rear hatch strut upgrade from McMaster Carr (175lb)
Frontrunner roof rack (modified to be 2" lower to roof and 8" longer overall)
Gobi ladder
6db gain MXTA26 antenna
Ironman 2x2.5m awning
X2 Power 24f AGM battery
Offroad Gorilla battery hold down
Napa generic thicker battery tie down bolts
Rago Fabrication ditch light brackets
Timbren bump stops
Crown Performance custom stainless brake lines in red (+1" over stock in front, +2" in rear)
AFE Hi-Tuck Exhaust
AFE Momentum GT Dry CAI
Smittybilt Tailgate Table

Lighting:
Diode Dynamics SS3 Sport Pro lights
Diode Dynamics 30” lightbar
KC Flex Era 4 pair (bumper)
2x Baja Designs S1 (roof rear, angled out)
2x Diode Dynamics C2 Pro whiteflood pattern (rear corner bumper)
KC Flex Era 3 ditch lights
5x Ampper rock lights (2 on each side mounted to factory rail mounts, 1 on the rear near stock spare mount)

Recovery/Offroading Gear/Accessories:
ARB CKMA12 air compressor mounted under hood
Coyote auto deflators
D-ring shackles
Rhino USA 30'x3" tow/recovery strap
Rhino USA 8'x3" tree saver
Ironman Recovery/Snatch Rope
Ironman soft shackles
Colby Tire Repair valves
SOG collapsible shovel/pick
Ironman 9500 Monster winch with synthetic line
ActionTrax recovery boards
 
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ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
Future plans or things I'm contemplating (Updated 4/2/23):
- Probably switching front roof lights to a lightbar and wind fairing. Current pods are noisy
- Oil catch can
 
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ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
New SS3 fog light install! Added to the thread above with links. (Although if you're gonna order some please let me know and I'll give you a referrer code for $10 off.)

PXL_20210108_212123699~2.jpg PXL_20210108_212010606.jpg PXL_20210108_211842576.jpg
 

ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
Switched out my giant Amazon cheapy lights on the back of the roof for Baja S2 Sports** in amber work/scene pattern. I use these lights primarily for loading/unloading kayaks at night from the boat ramp, and also setting up or tearing down camp in the dark. Went with Amber for a little less harshness and maybe it'll attract fewer bugs.

The lower profile makes it less likely to be kicked by 10 year olds going up the ladder , and by flipping the bracket I was able to set them right in line with the rail.

**Edit: The Baja S2 I think are poorly designed, and their customer service was way too lacking. I switched to Diode Dynamics C2 Pro lights in flood pattern.
 

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ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
Dam that's big ! You could have a keg party/wine tasting in that thing . But I think the real question is "" When you go camping around the holiday's are you gonna put up a couple string's of light's ""

I wanted one that was even wider when opened (longer toward the hood when closed) but since my rack dips down I was out of usable crossbar space. This one's padded sleeping area is 62" x 96" (more realistically about 84" without touching the actual tent fabric). Will be comfortable for two of us and tight but doable for the three of us.
 

Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
Those are pretty. I wish mine were still that pretty. They need to be hammered flat and repainted.

Lemme know how you like those Timbren rear stops. I'm curious if they're worth it.
 

ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
Those are pretty. I wish mine were still that pretty. They need to be hammered flat and repainted.

Lemme know how you like those Timbren rear stops. I'm curious if they're worth it.
I noticed a big difference with the bump stops - instead of violently rocking back and forth left to right when going over rocks (and bottoming out with a massive thud), it was gently springing back the other direction. But it was super noticeable to me because my stock leaf springs are wasted and the new bump stops sit only about an inch above the axle when parked in the garage. New leaf springs get here next week so hopefully I’ll be relying less on bump stops and shocks.

And the skids unfortunately only looked like that a few days before the first trip. Then they got all dinged up and now have primer patches. Their future color is black.

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ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
what bash plate do you have that has a hole for the oil filter to come out?
Shrockworks. Giant pita to install due to being behind the sway bar brackets. If I ever have to take it off again for any reason I’m selling it and getting the Hefty instead.
 

outback97

Wheeling
Supporting Member
Location
SLC, Utah
Shrockworks. Giant pita to install due to being behind the sway bar brackets. If I ever have to take it off again for any reason I’m selling it and getting the Hefty instead.

It is a huge PITA, agreed.

I may have mentioned this before but I resorted to hacking the slots larger to make it slightly less of a pain. Still sucks, just less. Fortunately it's not something that needs to be removed much.

Wierd. So do I. And I don't have that hole. I wonder if that's a recent addition.

It must not be very recent because I have the same Shrock radiator skid as ffxcores and mine has the access hole. I bought the X in 2014 and the previous owner had it quite a while before that.

I think there's a couple versions depending on if you have the one made for the Shrock front bumper or the one made for the OEM bumper.

 

Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
It is a huge PITA, agreed.

I may have mentioned this before but I resorted to hacking the slots larger to make it slightly less of a pain. Still sucks, just less. Fortunately it's not something that needs to be removed much.



It must not be very recent because I have the same Shrock radiator skid as ffxcores and mine has the access hole. I bought the X in 2014 and the previous owner had it quite a while before that.

I think there's a couple versions depending on if you have the one made for the Shrock front bumper or the one made for the OEM bumper.

That's it! Because I have the Shrock bumper I just have a plate with 6 bolts. Though I will say. That hole for the oil filter would still be really nice.
 

ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
@outback97 does yours have holes in the side like this picture?
1619726620298.png
Mine doesn’t, but the guy I got them from ordered them way back in 2014-15.

And I was able to get the bolts tightened down once I figured out to get the bolts tightened most of the way with the skids just behind them but only halfway up, then raise it in place, then tighten the rest of the way. No way it would’ve been possible with the PRG mounts without making a large hole.
 

outback97

Wheeling
Supporting Member
Location
SLC, Utah
@outback97 does yours have holes in the side like this picture?
View attachment 17685
Mine doesn’t, but the guy I got them from ordered them way back in 2014-15.

And I was able to get the bolts tightened down once I figured out to get the bolts tightened most of the way with the skids just behind them but only halfway up, then raise it in place, then tighten the rest of the way. No way it would’ve been possible with the PRG mounts without making a large hole.

The three round holes on the vertical portion? Yes, mine has those. Also, mine are protected by a layer of iron oxide. And I'm missing the cover for the oil filter access hole.

Mine came with the '06 Xterra which we bought in '14, and the skid looked like it had been around a while then. So mine is possibly much older than 2014.

I honestly cannot remember if the Shrock skid on my '09 has those holes. I'll have to check tonight. They were bought circa 2012 by the previous owner.
 

outback97

Wheeling
Supporting Member
Location
SLC, Utah
It's a different skid for a factory bumper and the Shrockworks bumper. The skid that came with my bumper doesn't have the cutout either.

I assume you have to drop the skid to change the oil then? At least it sounds like it's not too difficult to remove it.
 

ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
1624889038556.png

Updated the original list with a few things. Biggest being Maxterra bumper! Also moved my lights to the rear corners.

Now I need to figure out how I want to address the old rotopax mount. Originally I was going to leave that plate there, but there are kick outs at the top and bottom. Without those there, I can fit a 2-gallon rotopax mounted opposite the tire using small u-bolts. I also am going to go through the pain of removing the ladder so I can move it a couple inches to the right.
 

ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
I switched my dash mount around the other way today so it was facing me, and then added a grommet to bring in wires for my scangauge and phone. I wanted to also have my USB-C cable but it wasn’t long enough to be functional, so I’ll get a longer cable eventually.

The scangauge placement is temporary with zip ties while I decide if I want to keep it there.
B65006EE-8A9E-4139-8360-407F4900B467.jpeg595EABA9-2AD2-4A31-8FFF-EE3F69415FCD.jpegD6F28719-5891-43CD-9B81-94F0B4DFE021.jpeg
 

SledheadX

Wheeling
Supporting Member
Location
Rochester, NY
Looks awesome! Working with Dave on my MaXTERRA bumper now. Question.... are you thinking about removing the overload leaves at all, after comments about them possibly catching stuff being as big as they are? You don’t crawl either/much do you? So articulation isn’t an issue right? Haven’t done mine yet due to working up parts for my Titan swap, but I see them being a hindrance for what I do.
 

ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
Looks awesome! Working with Dave on my MaXTERRA bumper now. Question.... are you thinking about removing the overload leaves at all, after comments about them possibly catching stuff being as big as they are? You don’t crawl either/much do you? So articulation isn’t an issue right? Haven’t done mine yet due to working up parts for my Titan swap, but I see them being a hindrance for what I do.
Yes, I just got new ubolts in earlier this week so I could take it off. I rarely try to tackle anything where it would be an issue (no lockers), but managed to snag it last weekend on one obstacle. The leaf pack is so massive that between that and the bump stops I shouldn’t have to worry about the overload coming into play.
View: https://youtu.be/3KqBHTWebTk


I’m also removing the rear sway bar once my extended brake lines come in.
 

ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
AFE Power exhaust installed over the weekend. AFE Tech Support confirmed “A small hole drilled in the muffler should not affect performance or cause any health issues.” I drilled a weep hold about 1/8” from the bottom on the back of the muffler and encountered fiberglass. Two holes on the very bottom were just metal. Water was coming out the back - hopefully the fiberglass doesn’t eject itself prematurely. No sound difference at all.

It’s idling a little too low now (scangauge says 612 and it feels like it wants to die out) so I’ll go through all the relearn steps from the FSM.
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SledheadX

Wheeling
Supporting Member
Location
Rochester, NY
How big of a hole did you drill in the back end? If you’re nervous about the fiberglass, thread a shorty stainless machine screw in to plug the hole. Should have enough bite to stay put I’d think.
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
AFE Power exhaust installed over the weekend. AFE Tech Support confirmed “A small hole drilled in the muffler should not affect performance or cause any health issues.” I drilled a weep hold about 1/8” from the bottom on the back of the muffler and encountered fiberglass. Two holes on the very bottom were just metal. Water was coming out the back - hopefully the fiberglass doesn’t eject itself prematurely. No sound difference at all.

It’s idling a little too low now (scangauge says 612 and it feels like it wants to die out) so I’ll go through all the relearn steps from the FSM.
View attachment 19194View attachment 19195
The glass is the packing. You won't have any issues with it. But it'll live longer with the water out of the muffler.

That exhaust is on my list after my bumper gets installed.
 

ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
How big of a hole did you drill in the back end? If you’re nervous about the fiberglass, thread a shorty stainless machine screw in to plug the hole. Should have enough bite to stay put I’d think.
5/64 bit. That’s the smallest that my cordless drill can actually grip.
 
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