wreckdiver1321
Overlander
I don't have much on it, maybe 700 miles. Still performing very well. I'm very happy with it, but it's no race car. It's definitely an improvement over stock though, especially with the 33s.
Last edited:
"Lola" - WreckDiver1321's 2005 Frontier CC/SB Nismo Build and Adventure Thread
- Thread starter wreckdiver1321
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I don't have much on it, maybe 700 miles. Still performing very well. I'm very happy with it, but it's no race car. It's definitely an improvement over stock though, especially with the 33s.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Sorry for all the broken photos folks
Well I see the folks at Photobucket are being complete and utter jerkwads. They want me to pay $400 a year to display photos on forums. So they can politely go ****** themselves.
I used to use Photobucket for all my technical photos. The trip photos and more artsy stuff got stored on Flickr, so those are unaffected.
I'm in the process of migrating all my technical photos over to another hosting site so I can keep all my write up posts working. It's a process and will take time, so please bear with me as I get it all working again. There's a lot of photos that no longer work.
Thanks for your patience and understanding, and if anyone needs clarification on the write ups while photos are down, feel free to ask.
Well I see the folks at Photobucket are being complete and utter jerkwads. They want me to pay $400 a year to display photos on forums. So they can politely go ****** themselves.
I used to use Photobucket for all my technical photos. The trip photos and more artsy stuff got stored on Flickr, so those are unaffected.
I'm in the process of migrating all my technical photos over to another hosting site so I can keep all my write up posts working. It's a process and will take time, so please bear with me as I get it all working again. There's a lot of photos that no longer work.
Thanks for your patience and understanding, and if anyone needs clarification on the write ups while photos are down, feel free to ask.
Blackdawg
Dr. Frankenstein
I use Flickr for everything now. But in the same boat for all my early stuff. Sucks. Funny too because my account got so much traffic i had to pay for more bandwidth off their servers on a year subscription. Just paid it in early june...
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Yeah, it's terrible. I'm moving my technical stuff over to Imgur.
Etoimos
Observer
So, a bit of bad news this week. I recently went to put new inner and outer tie rod ends on my truck. I had gotten everything ready, pulled the outer tie rod off on the driver's side, and was about to do the inner tie rod end. I pulled the clip off the boot and pushed the boot inwards. When I did, I was showered in a large amount of power steering fluid. Son of a $#@%*! The boots aren't supposed to hold fluid, they're dust boots. That means my steering rack has a leak in one of the seals, and it's a pretty bad one too. Naturally, there's no reseal kit, so I have to get a new one.
After checking RockAuto and finding that a new rack is about $300-400, I discovered that one of my local wrecking yards has a 2012 Xterra with low miles that just came in, and they only want $100 for the rack! Sweet. Unfortunately I don't have time to do the swap myself, what with school, a new job, and prepping a house to rent, so I called a mechanic friend who would do the swap for me. He gave me a bid of $250 in labor, so I told him to book me for Friday.
Not too shabby. A basically new Nissan steering rack for only $350. I can live with that.
I know this happened a while ago, but do you know what your mileage was at the time? I've just started my research for a truck and was thinking about the Frontier.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Thanks so much! I've made it a point to only do modifications that I can justify and have a real reason for being where they are. I'm not into flash or fancy. I'm into function. I think I've done a pretty good job, and I'm very happy with the function of the truck.
Mileage when the rack went was somewhere around the 160-170k mark. Just to let you know, this is not typical. I haven't seen many of this sort of failure on the 2nd gen trucks before.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
A Sad Update
Alright guys, it's been a long bit since I've checked in, and since then a few things have happened.
I did a number of smaller trips this summer. Many weren't overly ambitious, like a traverse of the Pryor Mountains, and some more ambitious, like running Morrison Jeep Trail. I have a lot of photos that I was lazy about editing, but they're done now and I will write out reports for each trip. Lately though, I've been dealing with a problem....
A couple of years ago, I had the timing set refreshed on my truck. Lola had the timing chain whine, and I had a local shop set me up with a new timing set so I wouldn't have to worry about it down the road. Fast forward to fall of 2017. The engine was feeling a lot less fresh than it had before, and it had been irritating me for a while now. There were a few rattles and annoying tendencies that were random and intermittent, but nothing I could really put my finger on. I tried really hard to just chalk it up to the engine having over 175k on it, and not worry about it. It mostly worked, but then several weeks ago things changed.
I was driving downtown with a friend on our way home one night, when suddenly my engine was making a lot of noise. Like the sound of a rod bearing that had gone. It seemed to run fine for a bit. I shut the engine down, restarted, and had the same noise. A few seconds later, the engine sputtered and died. I coasted to a side street and parked. The engine would not restart for more than a second or two before sputtering and dying. I checked my Bluetooth OBDII reader and found out the truck was throwing a code for the bank 1 camshaft position sensor. I figured the sensor had died, as I heard numerous stories of the engine running like poo when the sensor died. I figured I was lucky because I had a spare sitting in the back of the truck. It was late and cold, so I called a friend who towed the truck back to his house where we left it for a couple of days before I could address the problem.
I came back a few days later with the requisite tools and attempted to pull the camshaft sensor. I managed to remove the bolt and pull the sensor out, but the plug connecting the sensor was absolutely mystifying to me. I have no idea why Nissan insists on putting strange plugs on everything, but this one is one of the weirdest I've ever seen. Anyway, I checked online and no one could properly describe how the damn thing worked. Eventually, after an hour of fighting with the thing, I broke it. So I threw up my hands, utilized my roadside assistance, and had the truck towed to my mechanic so he could fix it. I sourced a replacement plug and left it with him to fix.
A couple of days later, he calls me with the bad news. The bank 1 secondary timing chain has slipped, and now one of the cams is timed at 4*, while the other one is sitting pretty at 66*. Great. So the interference engine strikes! The valves in that head were bent to hell, and the pistons were scored from the valves. Damn it.
I spent a few days considering my options. I could theoretically swap out the head for another one or get mine fixed. Either way, I was looking down the barrel at serious money to get it back up and running again, and when I did, I'd still have an engine with 181k miles on it. So after doing some math and thinking about the best way to go about it, I decided it was time for a heart transplant. I went down to the local Nissan shop and inquired about an engine. He sourced one for me with 94k on it for a good price. Since the engine is going to be out, I'm using the opportunity to upgrade just a bit.
The decision was made to do the work at my brother-in-law's shop, which is heated, has a lift, all the tools we'll need, and a bunch of space. So myself and a friend are currently in the middle of removing the original engine. We're mostly working around work and school schedules, so it's taken a lot of time. We're getting there though. I figure we'll get the engine wrestled out tonight or tomorrow. While the engine is out and the truck is on a lift, I'm going to take the opportunity to fix a few things. Some are preventative, some are necessary.
There's also a few other things I need to do while this project is going on.
So that's what I have ahead of me. At this point, we have everything except the top 4 bellhousing bolts, the torque converter bolts, and the motor mounts removed. Once the old engine is out, I can swap the parts over and get the new engine ready to install. While that's happening, I can also get the front end stuff sorted before moving on to reinstalling the new engine. I've been okay at taking pictures, trying to be better going forward. I'll keep everyone updated as we go.
I know it was a long post with no pictures, but that's where I'm at. Hopefully my next ones will be happier with more pictures.
Happy motoring everyone!
Alright guys, it's been a long bit since I've checked in, and since then a few things have happened.
I did a number of smaller trips this summer. Many weren't overly ambitious, like a traverse of the Pryor Mountains, and some more ambitious, like running Morrison Jeep Trail. I have a lot of photos that I was lazy about editing, but they're done now and I will write out reports for each trip. Lately though, I've been dealing with a problem....
A couple of years ago, I had the timing set refreshed on my truck. Lola had the timing chain whine, and I had a local shop set me up with a new timing set so I wouldn't have to worry about it down the road. Fast forward to fall of 2017. The engine was feeling a lot less fresh than it had before, and it had been irritating me for a while now. There were a few rattles and annoying tendencies that were random and intermittent, but nothing I could really put my finger on. I tried really hard to just chalk it up to the engine having over 175k on it, and not worry about it. It mostly worked, but then several weeks ago things changed.
I was driving downtown with a friend on our way home one night, when suddenly my engine was making a lot of noise. Like the sound of a rod bearing that had gone. It seemed to run fine for a bit. I shut the engine down, restarted, and had the same noise. A few seconds later, the engine sputtered and died. I coasted to a side street and parked. The engine would not restart for more than a second or two before sputtering and dying. I checked my Bluetooth OBDII reader and found out the truck was throwing a code for the bank 1 camshaft position sensor. I figured the sensor had died, as I heard numerous stories of the engine running like poo when the sensor died. I figured I was lucky because I had a spare sitting in the back of the truck. It was late and cold, so I called a friend who towed the truck back to his house where we left it for a couple of days before I could address the problem.
I came back a few days later with the requisite tools and attempted to pull the camshaft sensor. I managed to remove the bolt and pull the sensor out, but the plug connecting the sensor was absolutely mystifying to me. I have no idea why Nissan insists on putting strange plugs on everything, but this one is one of the weirdest I've ever seen. Anyway, I checked online and no one could properly describe how the damn thing worked. Eventually, after an hour of fighting with the thing, I broke it. So I threw up my hands, utilized my roadside assistance, and had the truck towed to my mechanic so he could fix it. I sourced a replacement plug and left it with him to fix.
A couple of days later, he calls me with the bad news. The bank 1 secondary timing chain has slipped, and now one of the cams is timed at 4*, while the other one is sitting pretty at 66*. Great. So the interference engine strikes! The valves in that head were bent to hell, and the pistons were scored from the valves. Damn it.
I spent a few days considering my options. I could theoretically swap out the head for another one or get mine fixed. Either way, I was looking down the barrel at serious money to get it back up and running again, and when I did, I'd still have an engine with 181k miles on it. So after doing some math and thinking about the best way to go about it, I decided it was time for a heart transplant. I went down to the local Nissan shop and inquired about an engine. He sourced one for me with 94k on it for a good price. Since the engine is going to be out, I'm using the opportunity to upgrade just a bit.
- I've had motor mounts sitting in my garage for a while. What better time to install them than when the engine is out?
- I have to remove the upper intake anyway, so it's a good opportunity to install an intake manifold spacer like I've always been wanting to.
- I have a bunch of brand new sensors sitting in boxes as spares. I can swap the new ones on to the new engine.
- The timing set on the new engine, from a 2008 Pathfinder, will be inspected and replaced if necessary.
The decision was made to do the work at my brother-in-law's shop, which is heated, has a lift, all the tools we'll need, and a bunch of space. So myself and a friend are currently in the middle of removing the original engine. We're mostly working around work and school schedules, so it's taken a lot of time. We're getting there though. I figure we'll get the engine wrestled out tonight or tomorrow. While the engine is out and the truck is on a lift, I'm going to take the opportunity to fix a few things. Some are preventative, some are necessary.
- I'm FINALLY going to install my replacement CV shafts.
- I've had a slight wobble in the wheel and some really minor wandering at highway speeds, so I'm replacing the front wheel bearings.
- I'm also installing polyurethane bushings to help with the steering. Probably needs them anyway, as the old bushings are pretty much shot.
- I've decided I want a sway bar back. Sure, the extra articulation is nice, but the benefits of a sway bar for a truck that sees most of it's time on the highway and dirt backroads outweigh the benefits for me.
- Because I'm reinstalling the sway bar, I'm going to use polyurethane bushings with a lot of grease to facilitate the sway bar's movement in twisty situations.
- I've also built extended sway bar end links out of heim joints from McMaster-Carr. Hopefully these will help with articulation and ride quality.
- I'm going to relocate my fusebox and winch grounds from the negative battery terminal. Though I haven't had major problems with this setup, I'm now better understanding how the electrical system works, and the having things grounded there is less than ideal.
- I have a redneck engineering fix for the squeaky rear leafs. It may work, it may not. I'll keep everyone informed.
- I'll be replacing a broken fog light on my ARB bumper.
- I'll be adding a large ground wire to the bed, which appears to have come ungrounded since we fixed the support crack.
- I'll also be adding an extra engine ground transmission/transfer case ground. Some people have said it helps, others are on the fence. I have a big length of 0 gauge wire, a battery terminal tool, and lots of time and extra space. So why not?
- Other minor fixes.
There's also a few other things I need to do while this project is going on.
- The alternator did not want to let go of the heavy cable attached to it, and broke when we horsed on it. So I have a very low mileage OEM 130 amp alternator coming in. I wanted the Rugged Rocks billet unit, but I can't justify the $500 cost when the 130A worked fine.
- Some parts on the new engine were damaged in shiiping. I need to swap the driver's side valve cover, a new coil pack, and the coolant crossover pipe onto the new engine.
So that's what I have ahead of me. At this point, we have everything except the top 4 bellhousing bolts, the torque converter bolts, and the motor mounts removed. Once the old engine is out, I can swap the parts over and get the new engine ready to install. While that's happening, I can also get the front end stuff sorted before moving on to reinstalling the new engine. I've been okay at taking pictures, trying to be better going forward. I'll keep everyone updated as we go.
I know it was a long post with no pictures, but that's where I'm at. Hopefully my next ones will be happier with more pictures.
Happy motoring everyone!
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
That's exactly the way I'm looking at it. The new engine will breathe some fresh life into her, and hopefully the intake manifold spacer makes a reasonable power difference. That would be awesome. Plus I think all the work will tighten up the front end, so I'm actually really excited for the end result. The reliability will be great, and it will give me the confidence to explore.
Oh, I'm also squirreling away to make the switch to OME front shocks/springs and ditch the Radflos. Luckily the Radflos should be easy to resell, and will cover the cost of the new stuff.
I've been thinking about trying the IMS out of curiosity, you'll have to let me know if there's any value in it.
Have you ever toyed around with your camber bolt configuration to tighten up the front end? Once I had my alignment guy set the camber bolts to build in quite a bit of extra caster, steering is much tighter and the X tracks great on the highway.
Why are you ditching the Radflos, out of curiosity? I think you'll like the OME/spacer setup.
Dmski
Adventurer
Yikes sorry to hear about the engine troubles. That is odd that it failed randomly? How many miles did it have between failure and when you replaced the timing chain guides? My truck has some rattles, but I've chalked them up to the intake rattle that I've read about and eventually need to glue into place.
But on the bright side your truck is going to be practically brand new! What was the solution to fixing the rear leafs? My OME leafs are starting to piss me off with all the squeaking... I think I'll be pulling them apart and putting the metal shims in between each leaf and reassembling with good grease. Otherwise, I can't think of what else to do?
But on the bright side your truck is going to be practically brand new! What was the solution to fixing the rear leafs? My OME leafs are starting to piss me off with all the squeaking... I think I'll be pulling them apart and putting the metal shims in between each leaf and reassembling with good grease. Otherwise, I can't think of what else to do?
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
I'll let you know how the IMS performs. I have high hopes, since there are a few guys on ClubFrontier that swear by them. That being said, I'll also be putting in an engine with half the miles, so I feel like there will be a noticeable performance difference anyway. I do remember how the fresh VQ40 feels though, so I'll let you know my impressions. With the dyno numbers and user reports I've read, I'm confident.
I've toyed with it a bit. As far as I remember, the caster is set as far forward as it can go while staying in spec. I'm going to do the upgrades and see how it feels with new bearings and bushings. Then if it's still off I'll try for an alignment. But hopefully it'll be okay.
As for the Radflos, I'm ditching them for one reason: heim joints. The metal-on-metal connection just sucks. It transmits so much noise and extra vibration into the cab that it's driving me insane. I know they're adjustable, I know they're rebuildable, and they do a great job once you get them on the dirt. But I hear every bump in the road, even if I don't feel it much, and that makes it seem like the ride is worse than it really is. It makes driving the truck a negative experience, which is something I really don't want. Then there's the problem of how long everything lasts. I felt like the first set of spherical bearings lasted a very short amount of time, and I had no nitrogen in the shocks after a while. On the other hand, I've had several OME parts, and they were outstanding. So I'm going to make the change for my sanity, overall ride quality, and longevity. I know of a few people running that setup, and I feel like it would be the correct change for me.
Yeah it was really a one-in-a-million kind of thing. It almost never happens, but I wonder if the shop I had do the timing chain did it wrong somehow. We'll never know I guess. I think I had the timing chains done around 130-140k, so 40-50k miles ago. My truck had the same rattle you are referencing, and I never got around to fixing it. I might have to do that with this new engine too. We'll see. It'll be something I fix promptly if I discover it's an issue.
My potential fix is something that I read about on TacomaWorld. Several guys have really annoying squeaks on their OME leaf packs, and it turns out that it's because one leaf lacks a wear pad, and therefore is rubbing straight on another leaf. To fix it, one guy had the bright idea of wrapping a few zip ties around the area of the squeak. Voila! Problem solved. And the fix is a couple years old now, still going strong. I'm going to try a similar approach and see if that works for me. Like I said, redneck engineering, but I'm hoping it works.