Hello Expedition Portal people! I've been lurking for a couple of months on here and have to say...I love this forum. In my 31 years I've dabbled in almost every avenue of automotive customizing. Mini trucks both lifted and lowered, VW bugs, Honda's etc etc and as I age I’ve found myself refusing to deal with anything that isn’t a 4x4. I’ve built 2 Samurai’s and just finished about 5 years with as many projects in the Jeep world. I have recently reached a point/realization that I need a do it all vehicle. Something capable off-road, yet comfortable, able to haul and do weekend chores and be dependable for some family camping trips. I'm also hoping a "do it all" type vehicle will stop my endless cycle of project vehicles. I recently started looking for a new project and something that fit the above bill. Originally I was looking for a Toyota 4x4 pickup. Don't hate on me in the Nissan section, I've owned a total of 5 Nissan trucks, 4 Hardbodies and 1 720. I was only leaning Toyota because when looking at something pre-Frontier the aftermarket is much better for Toyotas. But after seeing any 90’s era Toyota with anything under 150,000 was $2 grand more than a comparable Nissan I didn't hesitate to go back to Nissan again.. My primary goal at the moment is building it for mild off-roading/exploring with an upcoming summer vacation in the back of my mind driving a lot of the mods. A 2 week vacation in mid summer that will involve a trip to Yellowstone, Moab and a few of the "pass" trials in Colorado, all while camping. I'm in western NC and want to make the most of my westward trip while I'm out there.
About a month ago I found this 95 extended cab V6, 4x4, manual, with 89,000 on the clock for $6,900. I offered the guy $6,000 and didn't look back.
Since I'm a maintenance fanatic, which happens to go along with expedition preparation...I immediately drove it to my mechanics where he promptly installed a new timing belt, water pump, cam seals etc. Along with a radiator flush/fill and replaced a noisy rear carrier bearing. When I got it back it looked like this, seems like a $900 bill should buy you more of a visual change. Piece of mind is pricey!
While she was in the shop I ordered up some Cragar Soft 8’s from Summit Racing. I’ve run these on several of my projects. 15x8 with 4” BS, and for like $42 each how can you go wrong? Even the shipping is stupid cheap…$11 to ship 5 wheels, no not each, $11 total, how is that even possible? I picked up 5 so I could have a matching spare. I love them they make the tires sit perfectly flush with the flares and no rubbing at full turn. I’ve haven’t stuffed them off-road yet to see where they might rub but I’ve run 31’s on previous Hardbodies with no issues. And since I wanted a “mount it and forget it” all around tire I went with BFG All-Terrains in the 31x10.50x15 flavor.
Since then I’ve been fixing little “issues” that are bugging me. For one, I’ve had to shampoo/disinfect everything in the cab. It was clean but had belonged to a smoker at some point and I just couldn’t take the smell. 2 bottles of foaming carpet shampoo and a half empty bottle of car Fabreeze and it’s starting to smell ok in there again. Another thing that was bugging me was some idiot had taped off and painted the fender flares while still on the truck. It was flaking off and had 1/8” of black overspray on the bed around every flare. And while it didn’t help the off-road prowess of this thing to fix that, it sure made me feel better.
I unbolted the flares, took a combination of a Mothers clay bar and Mr. Clean magic eraser and a lot of rubbing to get the overspray off. Then I sprayed stripper on the flares, cleaned them up and re-sprayed with Krylon Fusion. I also waxed the area under the flare and re-installed. I also left the mud flaps off when I re-installed the flares. They were sort of beaten up and although they serve a purpose the looks out weigh the function in the mudflap department for me.
Ok so back to the not so visually vein mods….
I’m not aware of anywhere online I can just order up a set of Hardbody rock sliders. I’m no fabrication dummy (no pro either) but I had 10’ of some 2x3 square stock I was going to weld up some sliders but I just wanted something a little better looking. As previously mentioned, having had a few Toyotas I started looking into some Toyota sliders that I could modify slightly and make work on my truck. I stumbled across these Trail-Gear sliders. I ordered the 78” set for an extended cab Toyota which just so happens to be the wheel well to wheel well measurement on my Nissan with just enough room to not have to modify the flare. They come bare and fully welded except for the legs which will make them super easy to retrofit onto my truck. I also ordered the mounting feet. I’m not sure I can keep the bottom lip on the mount as it appears the Nissan sits higher on the frame than the Toyota. Meaning I will have to mount the slider mid frame instead of bottom frame as on the Toyota. But I won’t know until I get them in and mock them up. They are supposed to be here 4/1. And again for $140 for a pair of sliders and $25 for 8 gussets….how can you turn that down? Shipping was a little steep at $65, but $235 landed at my door for a good looking set of sliders that I only have to weld on, I can’t argue too much.
If you scowered over the pictures you will notice the red Grand Cherokee sitting in the background. That’s my last project, lift removed and now returned to stock form and waiting for buyer. As soon as that’s sold I will be adding a front and rear bumper to the Nissan. I’m leaning toward a rear tire carrier bumper either fabbed by myself or the Kennesaw Mountain bumper. I’d love to have the ARB for the front but I’ve yet to decide on that either. Then I need to work on some sort of sleeping arrangement for the bed. I’m not a fan of caps only because I tend to haul nasty stuff in my bed, mulch etc and it’s hard to shovel in, shovel out with a cap. I’d love to get the foldable canvas camper top, I forget who makes it. I’d also love to have a roof mount tent in the bed but budget may require just one of those simple “in the bed” tents. So that’s my direction and it will be swayed slightly by budget but hopefully it will be a fun and rewarding build on a truck I can use for a few years to come.
About a month ago I found this 95 extended cab V6, 4x4, manual, with 89,000 on the clock for $6,900. I offered the guy $6,000 and didn't look back.
Since I'm a maintenance fanatic, which happens to go along with expedition preparation...I immediately drove it to my mechanics where he promptly installed a new timing belt, water pump, cam seals etc. Along with a radiator flush/fill and replaced a noisy rear carrier bearing. When I got it back it looked like this, seems like a $900 bill should buy you more of a visual change. Piece of mind is pricey!
While she was in the shop I ordered up some Cragar Soft 8’s from Summit Racing. I’ve run these on several of my projects. 15x8 with 4” BS, and for like $42 each how can you go wrong? Even the shipping is stupid cheap…$11 to ship 5 wheels, no not each, $11 total, how is that even possible? I picked up 5 so I could have a matching spare. I love them they make the tires sit perfectly flush with the flares and no rubbing at full turn. I’ve haven’t stuffed them off-road yet to see where they might rub but I’ve run 31’s on previous Hardbodies with no issues. And since I wanted a “mount it and forget it” all around tire I went with BFG All-Terrains in the 31x10.50x15 flavor.
Since then I’ve been fixing little “issues” that are bugging me. For one, I’ve had to shampoo/disinfect everything in the cab. It was clean but had belonged to a smoker at some point and I just couldn’t take the smell. 2 bottles of foaming carpet shampoo and a half empty bottle of car Fabreeze and it’s starting to smell ok in there again. Another thing that was bugging me was some idiot had taped off and painted the fender flares while still on the truck. It was flaking off and had 1/8” of black overspray on the bed around every flare. And while it didn’t help the off-road prowess of this thing to fix that, it sure made me feel better.
I unbolted the flares, took a combination of a Mothers clay bar and Mr. Clean magic eraser and a lot of rubbing to get the overspray off. Then I sprayed stripper on the flares, cleaned them up and re-sprayed with Krylon Fusion. I also waxed the area under the flare and re-installed. I also left the mud flaps off when I re-installed the flares. They were sort of beaten up and although they serve a purpose the looks out weigh the function in the mudflap department for me.
Ok so back to the not so visually vein mods….
I’m not aware of anywhere online I can just order up a set of Hardbody rock sliders. I’m no fabrication dummy (no pro either) but I had 10’ of some 2x3 square stock I was going to weld up some sliders but I just wanted something a little better looking. As previously mentioned, having had a few Toyotas I started looking into some Toyota sliders that I could modify slightly and make work on my truck. I stumbled across these Trail-Gear sliders. I ordered the 78” set for an extended cab Toyota which just so happens to be the wheel well to wheel well measurement on my Nissan with just enough room to not have to modify the flare. They come bare and fully welded except for the legs which will make them super easy to retrofit onto my truck. I also ordered the mounting feet. I’m not sure I can keep the bottom lip on the mount as it appears the Nissan sits higher on the frame than the Toyota. Meaning I will have to mount the slider mid frame instead of bottom frame as on the Toyota. But I won’t know until I get them in and mock them up. They are supposed to be here 4/1. And again for $140 for a pair of sliders and $25 for 8 gussets….how can you turn that down? Shipping was a little steep at $65, but $235 landed at my door for a good looking set of sliders that I only have to weld on, I can’t argue too much.
If you scowered over the pictures you will notice the red Grand Cherokee sitting in the background. That’s my last project, lift removed and now returned to stock form and waiting for buyer. As soon as that’s sold I will be adding a front and rear bumper to the Nissan. I’m leaning toward a rear tire carrier bumper either fabbed by myself or the Kennesaw Mountain bumper. I’d love to have the ARB for the front but I’ve yet to decide on that either. Then I need to work on some sort of sleeping arrangement for the bed. I’m not a fan of caps only because I tend to haul nasty stuff in my bed, mulch etc and it’s hard to shovel in, shovel out with a cap. I’d love to get the foldable canvas camper top, I forget who makes it. I’d also love to have a roof mount tent in the bed but budget may require just one of those simple “in the bed” tents. So that’s my direction and it will be swayed slightly by budget but hopefully it will be a fun and rewarding build on a truck I can use for a few years to come.
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