wackjum

Back in March I bought my first vehicle with more than a hand's width of ground clearance, a Nissan XTerra 4x4 SE.

I was getting tired of borrowing my girlfriend's sister's Mini Cooper Clubman for IKEA runs.

I didn't take any pictures of it at the time, but it looked just like this one (minus the pinstripe):




Well, then I took the thing off-road a little bit, and then I knew I had to build it up for more off-roading.


So 6 months later, here is my Urban Assault XTerra:

SHYUperman

iTrader: (1)

that's a great looking xterra

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

Tacticool!

Joneill44

Badass

UA6

Wow that looks awesome. My wife has the 2007 FWD only though. Not sure how it'll do in the snow. I'm sure yours would have no issues.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^if you count our "once in every 6 years that doesnt even stick " snow, I dont think he'll have a problem

NBP04TL4ME

- anything else planned?

UA6

Yeah I figured. I was talking about how his Xterra would do compared to my wife's Xterra up here in the snow. This region got over 300 inches last year.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^i understood the comparison.

Just giving you a hard time.

wackjum

All Xterras are RWD. Even the 2WD stock form should be better than most other cars because of its ground clearance and weight. It'll just need snow tires. But then again, I don't really know anything about driving in snow. Just what I've read on the X forums.


Modding this thing has been a real adventure and a learning experience because it is unlike modding cars for performance. First I ordered the "armor" which is the front bumper, rear tire carrier, and rock sliders. Those were made to order, and the wait time was 5 months.

In the mean time, I studied suspension options. There's so much more than if I were just lowering a car. I had to learn about suspension travel and also estimated load capacity. The two big makers of off-road suspensions are Australian and South African and the Xterra is kind of a minor player in the off-road world. If I had a Jeep or some kind of Toyota I'd have options aplenty. As it was, the XTerra shares components with Nissans from around the world, so there are choices, but they are somewhat hard to come by in the US. I had to wait 3 months for my springs to ship from Australia.

The truck is somewhat sluggish now that I have bolted 500+ lbs to it. I put a Magnaflow catback exhaust on it to make it sound more trucklike, and that also eliminated a restrictive factory Y-pipe.

At its heart, the XTerra has a stroked 350Z engine (stroked to 4.0). I think if I put some headers on it and then get a tune, it should respond pretty well and get me back to stock-like performance.

I also have some more outlandish mods kicking around, but I would be a first as I guess I am thinking outside the box vs the normal XTerra modder.

I'd like to retrofit 350Z steering wheel paddles but that will probably be beyond my abilities. They are the same AT unit though. I also want to explore putting 350Z Brembo calipers on but I need to get dimension measurements first to check fitment.

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

Wow that looks fantastic without all the plastic in front/back.

UA6

te3point5

Who knew you needed a winch and skid plates to get in and out of the Ikea parking lot???

wackjum

It's rough out there.

RPhilMan1

Looks much more aggressive. Very nice.

That a AKS74U?

NBP04TL4ME

Someone I used to work with knew a guy who supercharged his Xterra. I don't know the details but the two of them were working on their cars/trucks pretty much every Saturday. Guess that works if you have the disposible income and can donate the time.......

charliemike

Texas guy with NRA stickers. Shocking!

Nissan should have sold the Xterra this way. Looks really good!

wackjum

Yes. Great identification. Poor choice of stickers though. I got it free at a gun show and decided to put it on. The other day somebody told me, "nice truck but is that a Hezbollah logo in the back?" I'm going to remove it but I haven't decided on a replacement yet.


The first gen top trim XTerra came supercharged, but even then it put out barely over 200 hp. But with a factory supercharger, you're just a pulley away from making more power.

This gen XTerra can take a Stillen supercharger made for a 350Z. But I probably won't go down this road. I don't like boosting things that didn't come from the factory that way.

NBP04TL4ME

Can't remember the details but maybe they upgraded to the Stillen supercharger . Just seemed like they were doing something pretty much every weekend

SuperTrooper169

iTrader: (2)

Looks bad azz. Nice work!

oonowindoo

I don't know about offroading but i would assume it will take a lot more than just exhaust and headers to offset the additional 500lbs you added.

Get some cat delete pipe and plenum spacers. Those will give you more power to the VQ than exhaust and header.

oh ultimately you will need more reliable torque, Stillen is as reliable as OEM.

wackjum

Well there's not much low hanging fruit on an NA engine. I don't want to go to a CAI because I have doubts how well it will perform off-road.

People on the X forums have reported being happy with an intake manifold spacer.

I don't know much about them but they seem to good to be true. I know it depends on engines. Can you shine some light on how they're supposed to work?

If I get the long pipes and lose the cats, I'm afraid of getting a CEL. I usually don't mess with cats on my cars.

Here's the Stillen kit: STILLEN Supercharger System - Silver Finish 407400 | STILLEN 5k though...

mattg

Headers on a 3.2 CL-S were/are good for 30whp.

TL-S too, of course.

oonowindoo

yah but not on VQ engines. headers offer next to nothing on VQs.

oonowindoo

Many people use similar spacers on their J35/37 as well. They are real and gain is real. a simplified answer to your question is, it increases air flow capacity into the engine at lower temp. It will work well with some kind of offroad intake system.

As far as cat delete, it will throw CEL but the fix is very easy. You can either buy an O2 Simulator with test pipe or a high flow cat (no fix needed).

if you are serious about off roading, you will need the torque =) gotta pay to play.

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Wow, very nice!

dallison

su-weet

chill_dog

Nice...looks much more aggressive!

@ Hezbollah sticker

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Yeah the 3.5 & 3.7 don't response well to anything other then boost. Not too mention the options are very expensive. 1 reason I got mine. Can't spend $ if there's not much out there.

Looks great though!

MarbleGT

Nice!

Actually saw a lifted one yesterday and thought of this thread. They look great with some mods and are super capable.

mrmako

Nice looking truck.

Hapa DC5

gorgeous!

Redsand353

Looks awesome! I had a 2011 Pro-4X that I traded due to my commute....I miss that thing. Great off road capability, potent engine, and roomy.

Looking forward to see what else you do with it

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

Bad ass! Love it

wackjum

Woke up to this in the morning. Just by luck, we had parked my Frontier in the street and the CL in the driveway. I'm sure the CL would have had water damage if it was in the street.

I'm really glad I had the XTerra. I had to make a store run because we didn't have anything at home. We had just gotten back from Orlando on vacation on Monday. The flood waters were pretty bad in places, and we were able to winch a stalled BMW 3 series out of a depression in the road.

Oh yeah, I also added an LED lightbar about a month ago.

oonowindoo

Shit... give us some of that water!!!!

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Holy crap. Glad you're OK. Hope the waters recede soon...

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

glad to see you fare well.
i'm okay in sugar land!

hoping that we dont get drenched any more this week, as the grounds are saturated..

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

Damn!

SuperTrooper169

iTrader: (2)

I've been following the flooding in Texas. Completely insane! Glad you're ok.