Nissan XTerra Forum banner

Intender build

19K views 237 replies 27 participants last post by  intender 
#1 · (Edited)
Finally decided to do one of these. I dont have a lot of before and after pics. Some of its a little ghetto, but it works

Updating this to include stuff a list of whats done

Upper control arms
3 leaf AAL
Revolver shackles
Low profile upper bumpstops
Low profile lower bumpstops
Bilstein HD shocks front and rear
Front recovery points
Rear recover points
White knuckle sliders
Custom winch plate
12k Badlands winch
US wheels 15x8 soft 8 style wheels
33x12.50 Goodyear mtr's
Hi lift mounted in the back
Volant intake
Custom fiberglass snorkel adapter
pvc snorkel
on board air (no tank yet)
Lokka front diff locker (ordered)
AC Idler arm brace
Bilstein steering stabilizer
Calmini Gas tank skid
Clear lens headlights
Led fogs in factory location
4" round led's on the front bumper
Cobra 19wxstii cb
3' firestik ii
Corbeau Seat brackets
BOMZ seats (not great but I got them for almost nothing)

probably forgot something but thats the basics

I'll start with some pics of my Hi lift and how i mounted it.

I pulled out the the rear hooks, cut some 1/8" steel plate I had laying around and drilled holes for the original screw locations and a 3/8 hole for a bolt. used a 4 inch bolt on the passenger side, and 6 inch on the drivers.



I used a couple of 3/8 metal tubing I had laying around and some rubber stoppers I got from home depot. drilled a hole in the stopper and slid it over the tube and dropped it on the bolt. Drivers side required two rubber stoppers to get enough height



moved the loop part on the end of the hi lift down a bit so it would all fit in the back and it dropped right in on top of the bolts. Used some 3/8 rubber washers, topped with 3/8 metal washers and a thumb screw to hold it in snug.


here is the finished product


Next thing I did was to keep some bump in the ride when I needed extra space in the back. just a pic of the final product here, but the job was long and tedious and I dont recommend anybody do it.



I cut out the sheet metal in the back where the 6x9 were. started about 1/4 inch up from the bottom and went up along the wheel well. basically a 10x19 area was removed. used some 1/8 inch sheet metal and cut holes for the 6x9 and some 8" subs and put it back in. I had 2 8" kickers I was going to put in there, but one of them turned out to be blown so I threw in one from an old bazooka tube. still looking for another matching 8, but I have had them since 1996 so I'm not sure I will ever find another. back on track, I tack welded it every 2 inches around and then sealed it with some black caulk. same stuff you would use to patch holes in your roof. goes on gooey and dries hard as a rock. had some off brand dynamat stuff laying around from an old install that I had to use to space the speakers out a bit to keep it from hitting the body of the truck and bottoming out. I did this on both sides. Also pulled out the baffle that is in the rear passengers side fender and welded a piece of sheet metal in there to keep the sound in and water out. Still need to get some kind of mesh to cover up the hole you can see the sub through. Normally I run my JL 13w6, but when i need room, I still have a little bump. Originally did this to get the sub out of the car out of fear of it killing my son in a car wreck when his car seat was rear facing. Now that I drive my g35 most of the time the sub pretty much stays in there.

next mod was for hi lift points. after the lift the truck was too high to reach anything but the bottom of the rear axle. bought a hi lift and realized on a stock truck there is no where to put the thing.



I bought some 2" hitch adapters and welded them onto the bottom of the frame in the rear. this gives me just enough height to get the rear wheels off the ground. I have one on each side, and have a tow hook attached to the one on the other side for a recovery point in the rear. Had to notch the rear bumber to get it all back together. You can also see my exhaust coming out the rear. Maybe I will get some pics of the exhaust later. its been through about 3 incarnations over the last 2 years, but i am pretty happy with it now.

Bedlined the spot where the front plastic mudflap used to be

You can sort of see where i cut the fenders to fit the 33's

hacked the front bumper up a bit


next thing I wish I had taken more pics of while I was doing it, but alas after pics only. This is my winch install.



I picked up one of the 12,000 lb harbor freight winches when they were on sale for $299. Got one of there mounting plates and some 1/4 steel plate and started scratching my head to figure out how to get it all to work. I already had a piece of 1/4 angle iron welded on across the frame horns, and a couple pieces of angle welded ontop of the frame that stuck out the front of the truck that I had used to mount the brush guard i had on the truck. Bought the brush guard from a scrap yard for $20 not knowing what kind of truck it was meant for, but made it work. I left the angle iron protruding out the front to give me some hi lift points in the front. But that had to go for the winch to mount. I cut the angle iron back to about 6" total length and cut the 1/4 plate and welded it to the existing angle iron. I originally planned on just cutting the mounting plate to that width and welding it in, but opted for for a bolt on application. I took the pieces I cut of the side of the mounting plate and cut and notched them so the would sit upright on the edges of the mounting plate and proceeded to weld the crap out of it. Drilled some holes and mounted it up. All of this was done with a crappy old stick welder so it was messy. after about 6 hours of grinding to clean it up my grinder died and I decided it was good enough. a few days later I bought a new grinder and cleaned it up a bit more and shaped the 1/4 plate to match the curve of the bumper. Then it was time to hack up the bumper some more paint it all and see how it looked all together.



here is a pic from the side from the day I got the tires and wheels installed.

Still had the nerf bars and brush guard on in the pic. those are gone now, but I am still planning on trying to make the brush guard work with the winch up front. But thats for another day.
 
See less See more
12
#4 ·
nice build man! That jack mount in the back looks vaaaaguely familiar. Just can't put a finger on it
I know I have seen your build before, but honestly thought I came up with that idea on my own :aufgeregt-big: Obviously it stuck in my subconscious long enough that I claimed it as my own creation.
 
#7 ·
Goodyear Mtr kevlars. They are pretty aggressive. I havnt had a chance to test them out too much yet, but the little I have done was pretty awesome. Much better than the street tires I was running before. I was torn between these, the duratracs, and some km2's. Found these on sale which made them cheaper than the duratracs or km2 so went with them.

They are noisy, and they are heavy, and they are just about impossible to balance but I love them.
 
#8 ·
Finally got around to extending all the wiring on the solenoid box for my winch today, and mounted it in the engine bay. Everything is wired up and working now.





I put a battery cutoff switch on the power wire for the winch, and got it wired up, but i need to go get some stuff to fab up a mounting bracket. Might work on that tomorrow if I get some time.
 
#10 ·
Maintenance time! went today and picked up the stuff to do the front brakes and front wheel bearings. Got a fuel filter as well. 50,000 miles on the current filter and as far as I know its still got stock brakes all around. Rear shoes still looked amazingly good for 146k. maybe they have been replaced at some point, but not since I bought it at 90k.

Something is squeaking up front, sounds like the brakes, but might as well pull it apart and regrease the bearings while Im at it and get a look at the state of my front hubs.
 
#11 ·
Got the drivers side wheel bearings done today. took about 2 hours of off and on work stopping to talk to my mom and dad who came over to watch my son while my wife is out of town so I could get this started. i was incorrect about the bearings having never been worked on in the past. someone has had it apart before and repacked the bearings, but it was done with cheap multipurpose grease. the stuff was very black and dirty. The seal was also torn in several places and in very bad shape overall.

Also bought one of these

and it made life so much easier. I used a C clamp and had the bearings greased in about 30 seconds. No more hand packing bearings for me.
 
#13 ·
While I had the wheels off I was going to grease the ball joints and bushings on the truck and I got to the passengers side and found my upper ball joint looking like this



I just installed these things in april and have greased them twice since then, the last time in september. I noticed a couple small cracks in the boot the last time, but this is crazy. After seeing people having issues with their uca bushings from AC cracking and then finding this today I am less than impressed with the quality of some of the stuff from them. looks like I will be pulling some money from other mods to buy another ball joint. :boese-big:
 
#14 · (Edited)
So in my never ending quest to salvage as many parts off my jetta as possible for money before I take it to the scrap yard I think I found something I can cannibalize.



Might have some electric fans for the truck. I measured both radiators and they are the same height exactly and xterra rad is about 1/8 inch wider than the one from the jetta. I may have to get a couple of sheets of sheet metal to make sure it seals good around the sides, but I think it will work out well and save me some money. i just replaced both the fans just before the stupid jetta died, so they should still be good for many years to come. Either way, at some point if I ever get the time i am going to try this out.
 
#16 ·
I have the fsm for the jetta in the basement. i am going to use it to trace where the rest of the harness goes to and figure out If I need to or can use any of the other stuff from the system. Both fans are 3 wires. its a ground and 2 positives. both of the fans are 2 speeds. in all honesty I would be perfectly happy wiring them up just as completely manual fans. use a relay so they only run when the car is powered up, and a 3 way switch for off, low, and high speeds. No need for it to run if the car is in motion, or just set it up to run on low anytime the truck is on with a switch to flip to high for traffic and off road. If i have a controller I can pull out of the jetta I will try and make it work, if not I will go all manual.
 
#17 ·
Pulling and reusing the control out of the Jetta would be a really good deal, however I bet it'd be a major headache hooking up its thermostat system into the X. If the operating temperatures between the two vehicles are at all different that would be another headache to program in too.

At the same time I don't think you'd want to rely on switching the fans manually. I know I'd completely forget to switch the fans to higher speed depending on how I'm driving. And for something as important as the cooling system, I think it'd be better to have a set it and forget it functionality that takes care of itself. Of course I'm forgetful so it probably would come more naturally to a lot of other people :biggrin:

Keep us posted on how this swap goes!
 
#18 ·
I figured out which wires control the speeds on the fans. I also found the control module and some info on it. It has a 14 pin connecter. 4 of them are 12 volt outputs, 2 for each fan and each fan speed. it has 3 grounds. it has 4 different connectors for the radiator temp sensor. the temp sensor closes one relay when it reaches 190 degrees and another to high speed when it hits 210. Since the controller doesnt determine the temp directly it will make it possible that I can use it. I need to find out what voltage those are putting to the controller, and then start researching how the xterra controls the fan. It appears the other pins are used by the ecu to control the fan timer to keep it running for a period of time after the car is shut off, to disengage the fans under wide open throttle, and to turn the fans on any time the ac comes on which isnt an issue since the x has its own ac fan. Pretty sure I can ignore all of those functions as long as the controller doesnt require any voltage or grounding to occur from the ecu to operate. it will be a handfull to figure it all out, but I dont think its beyond my ability. Its just a matter of things working together.
 
#19 ·
Well, I was planning on getting some sliders and revolver shackles for christmas/birthday (2 weeks apart) but now I am wondering if I should go another directions. After my recent attempts at welding heavier gauge steel I am getting much better at it and feel like i can undertake making my own sliders. I could make a really basic set of square and rectangular tubing sliders and still come out for under $100. The revolvers are appealing, but I have decided I dont want to put the money into the shocks I would need since I just got the ones I have. and without them they are basically just a stress reliever for the leaf springs.

Between selling some stuff off of my old jetta and hauling it to the junkyark I expect to pull in atleast $500 which combined with what I will get for the holidays should put me in the area of being able to afford either a rear bumper and tire carrier or a full set of skids. Question is should I even really bother with a full set of skids. If not, which ones should I start with out of the set. I really like the idea of the rear bumper since I am currently rolling around most of the time with no spare. I think for my purposes it would be the more practical of the two, but its just a lot of money to drop on something that would basically be there to carry a spare more often than not. I hate decisions!

also anybody know how much shipping would be on a bumper or set of skids. I looked at the shrock bumper and it was just over $100, but AC says they would have to calculate the freight and get back with me.
 
#20 ·
Go with the rear bumper/tire carrier! It is my favorite mod by far. It doesn't just hold your spare... it looks badass, it protects you in collisions, it improves your departure angle while still being able to tow (but plan on like a 12" drop hitch!) and it makes your truck look higher.
 
#21 ·
The other thing I had considered was some headers. My stock ones are cracked in multiple places, and if I set my air to outside it makes my truck smell like exhaust. They need to be changed, but the aftermarket ones all delete the cats and while they dont to emissions, they do a visual inspection and will most likely fail for missing cats.
 
#22 ·
The other thing I had considered was some headers. My stock ones are cracked in multiple places, and if I set my air to outside it makes my truck smell like exhaust. They need to be changed, but the aftermarket ones all delete the cats and while they dont to emissions, they do a visual inspection and will most likely fail for missing cats.
That's the one mod for me that might challenge the rear bumper! That was actually the thought I had driving away from the exhaust shop lol. But it wouldn't be worth failing emissions. You could have some el cheapo cats welded in.
 
#23 ·
Finished up the wheel bearings and front brakes today. The bearings werent too bad of a job at all. only thing I am worried about is that nut that holds the bearing in place. I couldnt find the tool for it anywhere near by so i just kinda winged it. The resistance on both sides was pretty even when spinning the wheels by hand. I will jack it up and and check them again in a few days after driving it some. Might end up having to order the tool online if I am not happy with it.

Tomorrow is going to be a fuel filter and rear diff breather extension. Got the tubing for it waiting in the basement.

Also picked up a calmini gas tank skid in xterra mikes part out. Finally gave into reality and realized my wife wouldnt let me spend $1000 on a rear bumper. But if all goes well with my sliders build and I feel like my welding is coming along I may end up just building my own rear bumper. I can get all the steel at cost from a guy i know. Just takes forever for him to get it in.
 
#24 ·
Had a few minutes today so I did the rear diff breather extension. Took maybe 15 minutes all together, and probably 5 of that was trying to decide if I should pull my rear tail lights apart and black them out or not.

The gas tank skid is supposed to be here tomorrow. ups man either comes first thing in the morning or at 6pm so I might have a chance to start cleaning it up tomorrow to get it ready for a coat of paint.
 
#25 ·
I drove the truck for the first time today since I did the wheel bearings. I got out and drove about 5 miles on a curvy road and made a U turn and came home the same way. Put the truck up on the jacks and checked for wheel play and found it to be good and tight. Jumped in the truck about an hour later and went down the highway to go get some lunch and once I hit about 65 the truck started to shake like it was going to fall apart. I turned around and took a city street back towards my house so I could go slow.

got home and put it back up on the jack and checked the wheels for movement. drivers side had the tiniest bit of play in it. Passengers side on the other hand probably moved about a half inch. Just a good reminder to anybody that reads this, always check and recheck after doing wheel bearings. sometimes from all the grease you get an air tight environment that just wont let you get that locking nut tight until you have drove it around a bit. only took about 15 minutes per side to pull the hubs off and tighten it back up and get it all back together.

also got my skid in.



a little surface rust and the powder coat was peeling off in a few places but still good and strong. started on stripping the powder coat and cleaning the rust off today. The worst areas are around the bolt holes and on the inside of the pan.

planned on stripping the whole thing down to bare metal, but most of the powder coat is still in good shape so I am just going to strip the rough areas and then go at it with some paint. need to get a couple of flapper wheels for my grinder but I am not going near a store till saturday or sunday so it will have to wait.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top