MechPatt's 2001 SE 2X4 5Spd

I became the proud owner of my 2001 2X4 SE V6 Silver Ice Xterra on July 4th of 2007. It was originally purchased by my grandparents for my brother with him as a co-signer and the agreement that he would make the payments on it... That was in August of 2005. He made the first 2-3 payments then didn't make another payment on it, so finally in July 07 they told him he could either make the payment or bring it to their house and park it in the driveway so they could sell it... he parked it... They did some research and found out they were "upside down" on the car and started discussing selling my grandfather's dream car (a 1994 Corvette) to make the difference. When I heard that I volunteered to take over payments. Thus the car became mine. (oh and my brother ended up totaling the Vette in Dec 09 anyway...) Since then I have done loads of maintenance on the car and some upgrades. I have gone from Street tires at stock size to MTs that are 1" over stock size and have the front and rear bumpers traded out for Shrockworks bumpers. The 6 disc changer from the factory crapped out and was replaced with a single disc JVC unit with AUX and USB interface. It also has a double capacity radiator and a yellow top.

Other jobs I have done on the X include:
KS sensor replacement; I have to go through emissions testing, so I had to correct the code... While I had it tore down I did clean the lower intake, injectors, and plenum of all carbon build up and replaced the plugs and wires.

All 4 O2 sensors replaced

Replaced the harmonic balancer; the rubber had dry rotted between the rear pully and the main body of the balancer, and it actually fell into 2 pieces after it was removed. I also tried to cut a corner on this one and not remove the radiator causing the need for the next job.

Radiator replaced with an aftermarket Frontier double capacity radiator; I went down to our local radiator shop and they happened to have one that was damaged in shipping (one of the top anchor pins on the plastic tank had been snapped off) since the top tank on my stock radiator was the same as the aftermarket one they swapped the tank and only charged me 150 for the brand new radiator.

Replaced the front wheel bearings

Replaced the Carrier Bearing (drive-shaft Center support bearing)

Replaced the Valve cover gaskets; had to remove the plenum again for this job, so I went ahead and did the plugs, wires, distributor cap, and rotor button.

All oil changes I've done have been done by pouring one cheap high viscosity quart through the motor after it has drained then filling up with Valvoline full synthetic high millage oil with one quart replaced with synthetic Lucas Oil and a Purilator Pure One oil filter.

I've also made the K&N drop-in switch.

When I get home from Kuwait the first job on the list is the timing belt. (Its a little over due at 196K miles) I know I have been lucky on this one so far...

I'll also be doing the Catalytic converts and a few other small jobs.

Pictures to follow shortly...