xovrlnd s/c xterra build

xovrlnd

Observer
A little about myself to start

Alright everyone, I figure introductions are in order before I jump right into my build. My name is Taylor, I recently moved up to Northern Alberta from Denver, Colorado! I have built a few things over the years, ranging from MTB's to full on half-chassis drag cars. The last two years, however, I have been sucked into the world of Superbike racing. I got pretty heavily involved with the MRA league in Colorado and spent all my time doing that. Basically as soon as my feet touched the ground here in Grande Prairie, I knew my racing days were over, so it was time to find a new hobby.

I've always been interested in Overlanding Expeditions, rock crawling, general 4x4ing, things of that nature. So after having a once over of the terrain up here, I figured there was no better time to start than right now.

Unfortunately my Credit from the States doesn't carry over into Canada, and I stupidly sold my house and my truck before I came up here, thinking I would just get new stuff. When I found out I couldn't, and had to build my credit from 0, I was kicking myself in the butt pretty hard. So, I hopped on Kijiji (Canadian Craigslist), and started to have a look around, limiting myself to 10k or so. Wasn't finding anything I liked. So to blow off some steam, I let this girl I had just met take me for a hike in Grande Cache. It was there, at the trail head, I saw a yellow 1st gen Xterra. I immediately fell in love with the body style, and I HAD to have one. Two days later I was on a plane to Edmonton to pick up my new to me Xterra.



Now introducing the Xterra

An auto 2002 SE S/C. Super clean, and I bought it from the original owner, who happened to be a pretty easy going older gentlemen. Had 230,000km on the clock when I bought it for a whopping 4k. Thats about 140,000 miles. At first I was a little unsure of it because of the miles, I've never even owned anything above 100k miles before. So this was new to me. Although it really surprised me on my 4.5 hour drive back home. Idle was a smooth as can be at 850rpm, didn't jerk or hesitate while driving, the only things I wasn't impressed with were, the stock headlight performance, and the over all lack of mid to high range power. I am deeply upset with the motor, however, with the cash I'm dumping into this thing, I'll probably keep it and build the motor after it dies. Or swap something else in. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
I'm going to apologize right now for the crappy iPhone pictures. My DSLR decided it wanted to become a grenade during the move here. So I'm in need of another high quality camera.

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Maintenance

I'm going to include prices as reference for myself, as well as whoever else cares. Keep in mind this will all be in Canadian currency, and the exchange rate right now is beyond terrible. (Perfect time to build a rig, eh?!)

So, as always, start with the maintenance. I knew this thing has been taken care of pretty well, but me being stupid accidentally tossed the service records in the trash at the car wash. My bad. So I decided to just go ahead and get everything done, starting with the basics. I'll do more as the weather here improves.

Index:
Done (+)
Parts ordered or in Progress (-)
On the list but haven't touched ( )

Oil and Filter Change 5W-30 for winter (+)
Compression Test (+) $168.00
C1-145psi C2-140psi C3-135psi C4-135psi C5-145psi C6-145psi
Timing Belt, Water Pump, all new coolant hoses, etc (+) $684.65
Coolant Flush (+) $146.34
Serpentine Belt (+) $120.85
Power Steering Pump and Belt (+) $323.74
Plugs, Wires, Distributor ( )
Front Brakes (+) $66.21
Rear Brakes ( )
Repack Wheel Bearings ( )
Inspect Rear Main Seal ( )
Replace PCV ( )
Replace Intake Filter ( )
Replace Front Swaybar Bushings ( )
Change Front and Rear Diff Oil ( )
Extend Diff Breather Tubes ( )
Change Transfer Case and Transmission Oil ( )
Grease and Lube all Zerks/Ports ( )
Replace Fuel Filter ( )
Replace Idler Pully ( )
Change Supercharger Oil ( )
Clean up random wiring ( )
Change Cabin Filter ( )
Inspect U-Joints ( )
Inspect Motor and Transmission Mounts ( )
Replaced Windshield ( )
Seafoam ( )


Suspension

This one I really rolled around in my head for a while. Ultimately I decided against a SAS, because that was just far too extreme for my goals and needs. I went with a 3" lift I pieced together from assorted companies, I may do a body lift down the road. Time will tell.

Calmini UCA with Upper Ball Joints (-) $579.71
SAW Torsion Bars (-) $268.48
AC Lower Ball Joints (-) $108.76
OEM Cam Bolts (-) $86.04
AC Ultra Low Bumpstops (-) $17.21
Front Bilstein 4600 HD +3 Shocks (-) $262.91
Rear Bilstein 4600 HD +3 Shocks (-) $214.73
Nisstec AAL (-) $123.88
Nisstec 3* Axle Shims (-) $60.57
Zinc Plated U-Bolts (-) $64.70
AC Lift Shackles (-) $96.30
ACDelco OEM Style Leaf Pack Replacement (+) $664.90


Wheels and Tires

This is a debate everyone knows can go on FOREVER. We are lucky enough to have a ton of options for awesome tires, it really just seems to be everyone's personal preference what they run. I decided to go with BFG's KO2 AT's in a 275/70R17. They have a very aggressive tread, especially for being an All Terrain. I've personally never ran them, but if they're good enough for the Baja 1000, they're good enough for me. Four tires cost me $1,285.20 I still need to pick up another for my spare.
IMG_1969.JPG

As for wheels, I'm staying with the stock ones. I rather enjoy the look of the stock S/C wheels, and the backspacing is perfect. If I need to change that for whatever reason down the road, I'll probably just get extended lugs and some wheel spacers.


Steering and Drivetrain

Front Lokka (-) $572.43
Rear ARB Air Locker ( )
Calmini HD Steering Kit ( )


Armor

I'm extremely undecided at this point for bumpers and skids, as shipping to the Great White North would almost coast as much as another bumper. So chances are I'm going to have my bumpers and skids custom made by a guy I know down in Edmonton.

I'm also currently in the design stage with my cousin, making a drop in roof rack. It'll end up being pretty similar as the DepHep rack.


Misc.

40" Light Bar (+) $250 (Actually just took this off and sold it.)
IF Light Bar Mounts (+) $185.85 (Currently selling these)
Bed Liner (-) $169.84
Trail Tool Kit (+) $757.72
x2 30' Recovery Straps (+) $112.47
48" Highlift ( )
Warn VR10000 ( )
Shackles and D-Rings ( )






It's quite the ongoing project, I feel it's coming along pretty decent, only having it for 3 months or so. As soon as it warms up, I'll be doing everything I have sitting for it, then taking a test trip to Prairie Creek. Give it a Youtube search. It'll be a good time.

I'll leave you with a couple pictures I have.

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Jack Stilts

Subaru Ambassador
Whoa. That's quite the introduction! Looks like you have some awesome plans for this thing. I see you've done your research :)

You picked that up for a steal! Looks like it's in great shape.

Also say hi to Grand Prairie for me; I drove through there on my way to Yellowknife a couple years ago.
 

Bigfnhammer

This could be anywhere
Good stuff!
I just rebuilt my supercharged engine cause it **** out a cat, I definitley reccomend getting header ASAP.
 

xovrlnd

Observer
Whoa. That's quite the introduction! Looks like you have some awesome plans for this thing. I see you've done your research :)

You picked that up for a steal! Looks like it's in great shape.

Also say hi to Grand Prairie for me; I drove through there on my way to Yellowknife a couple years ago.

I like to be thorough, haha. :sombrero:

Most definitely got a good deal! He had it listed for $6500, but I took my time going through it upon arrival, in doing so I discovered the leaf springs on both sides had broken leafs, as well as a few other little odds and ends that needed to be done and allowed me to negotiate the price.

I actually have been following your build since before I picked up my X, I was very impressed! Hopefully you didnt have to spend any amount of time here in GP. It's not the best of places..


Good stuff!
I just rebuilt my supercharged engine cause it **** out a cat, I definitley reccomend getting header ASAP.

How has the rebuild been holding up? If you don't mind, could you shoot me a round about number on the price you paid for the rebuild? Depending on funds, I may just do it myself, although it will currently cost me more doing it myself as I sold all my tools before I moved up here. So naturally I'd have to replace a ton of very expensive equipment, but nothing beats doing it yourself.

I'm actually planning on some DT headers! I'll probably fab up some sort of high tuck exhaust as well to keep things out of the way during departures.
 
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xovrlnd

Observer
Rear Leaf replacments

Ok, so when I bought the X, it had a broken leaf on each side. Fairly typical for these older models. I wasn't too worried, as I was planning on refreshing every bit of the suspension anyway. Unfortunately I forgot to grab pictures of the broken leaf packs, as well as most of the tear down. Oh well, we all know what it looks like, right? I do have one with the new packs ready to go in.

IMG_0987.JPG

So this was a really simple install. Like childish simple. The only issue I had was on the passenger side, Removing the forward most bolt holding the leaf pack on, the fuel tank skid was in the way of the bolt, so I was unable to pull the bolt out. My fix was to get the stock scissor jack, and just jack it up enough to push up the skid up slightly. Enough to slide the bolt out. Then during installation, just flip the bolt to the opposite side and good to go!

IMG_0988.JPG

I stupidly forgot to measure before and after, but just by eyeballing it, it sat around 2.5-3 inches higher. Those old leaf packs were incredibly worn out. After the new packs settled, I'm probably up around 1.5-2 inches, from when I bought it.

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Then I just did a typical oil and filter change, with a little front break magic.

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Bigfnhammer

This could be anywhere
How has the rebuild been holding up? If you don't mind, could you shoot me a round about number on the price you paid for the rebuild? Depending on funds, I may just do it myself, although it will currently cost me more doing it myself as I sold all my tools before I moved up here. So naturally I'd have to replace a ton of very expensive equipment, but nothing beats doing it yourself.

I'm actually planning on some DT headers! I'll probably fab up some sort of high tuck exhaust as well to keep things out of the way during departures.

Really good, I did all the assembling myself, and it was $2800 for all the machining and most of the parts (rebuilt heads new pistons etc). The only extras I had to buy were the gaskets for my supercharger, new timing belt kit, new clutch, new oil pump, headers, new head bolts. I didn't get new lifters and I kind of regret not doing that but I'll see if they shut up with synthetic oil now that I can finally switch over.
Pretty happy with the quality of the DT long tube headers.
 

xovrlnd

Observer
Really good, I did all the assembling myself, and it was $2800 for all the machining and most of the parts (rebuilt heads new pistons etc). The only extras I had to buy were the gaskets for my supercharger, new timing belt kit, new clutch, new oil pump, headers, new head bolts. I didn't get new lifters and I kind of regret not doing that but I'll see if they shut up with synthetic oil now that I can finally switch over.
Pretty happy with the quality of the DT long tube headers.

That doesn't sound bad at all! Hopefully synthetic will quite them down a bit!

Rig looks pretty awesome! How are you liking the lokka?

I haven't installed it as of yet! Currently sitting in my parts room collecting dust haha.
 

Jack Stilts

Subaru Ambassador
I actually have been following your build since before I picked up my X, I was very impressed! Hopefully you didnt have to spend any amount of time here in GP. It's not the best of places..

Well thank you! Haha, not a ton of time. We only stopped long enough for the Tim Horton's :D
 

Bigfnhammer

This could be anywhere
That doesn't sound bad at all! Hopefully synthetic will quite them down a bit!



I haven't installed it as of yet! Currently sitting in my parts room collecting dust haha.

All the things I listed were additional on top of the 2800.. it was 2800 for machining, new pistons, bearings rings and gaskets. so it does add up to a lot more..
 

xovrlnd

Observer
Well thank you! Haha, not a ton of time. We only stopped long enough for the Tim Horton's :D

Haha! Can't be without Timmies in Canada! Double doubles and timbits.

All the things I listed were additional on top of the 2800.. it was 2800 for machining, new pistons, bearings rings and gaskets. so it does add up to a lot more..

Ok, that makes more sense now haha! It most definitely adds up! When I finally get around to doing my rear axle, I'll be sitting around 4K just for that. I can't imagine what it'll be like for me redoing the motor/trans and transfer case at the same time.
 

xovrlnd

Observer
Rescue Duty

A few weeks ago my cousin and his wife decided they wanted to take their brand new F350 for a bit a wheeling. It didn't end well. His long wheel base ended up causing him to get stuck and twisted in a ditch. So he called me to come yank him out, while he was waiting for me he thought it was a good idea to try and get himself out by rocking back and forth. In doing so a thick branch ended up piercing his oil filter. (They are in the absolute worst spot.) He did not notice right away and continued trying to get himself out. He managed to back out a few feet and thats when he noticed the snow was black. The truck did not put out any warnings or anything it was supposed to do in that situation. He turned it off right away, I pulled up a few minutes later and quickly ran his wife and baby back to his house. Then went back out with another F350 and a Chev 3500 as backup to the X. It ended up taking all of us daisy-chained together to yank him out of there.

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We left the truck out there that night, with plans to go out the next morning. When we came back out we did a quick oil change and filter swap. The truck only had around 3-4 quarts left in it. It takes I think around 8-10?? Don't quote me on that. So ya, that's bad. Anyway, go to crank it over and the batteries are dead, so I run a charge on the main battery for 20 min, then the slave battery for another 20 min, then back over to the main battery while he tried to turn it over.No dice. Turned out the motor was ceased. So I pulled him out of the trail, onto the highway and 20Km into town to the dealer. The little X did awesome!!

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We went back down to the spot with shovels and buckets and cleaned up all the areas that had oil dropped onto it.

He did get his truck back last week with a new motor, its doing great now. But it was a $20k mistake.
 

Nd4SpdSe

Adventurer, eh?
Nice! Welcome to the S/C Xterra club! Speaking of clubs, check out CNTC.ca, for all your Canadian Nissan Truck needs ;)
 

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