Thread: T-1 ('07 Nissan Frontier)

I tend to get a lot of PM's and questions from other Nissan owners looking for advice/information and I am finally getting around to finishing up the rear suspension so I figured this would be a good time to start my build thread.

2007 Nissan Frontier, purchased new in late '07 as a base model SE. Not even a week old, no plates, and 7 days surfing in Mexico...




The goal is to build a really fun and reliable prerunner for 1450/1500 that is capable of daily driving.

• - 4.0 v6 (270hp stock)
• - 125.5" Wheel Base
• - Front Track Width 90"
• - Rear Track Width currently 86", new rear wil bring it to just under 88"
• - 17" Walkers w/ 35x12.5 General Grabbers

Front Suspension - Still in Progress

• - Mazzulla built PRG long travel; 5.5" over, cycling 17" bumped
• - New spindles are being made much shorter and will be re-mounting the upper arm off the frame.
• - Currently running w/ 8" 2.5 SwayAway Coilovers, but waiting to install...
  
  • - 10" Fox 2.5 coilovers w/ 600lb 16" main and 500lb 4" helper springs (not installed yet)
    
  • - 10" Fox 2.5 bypass (not installed yet)

Rear Suspension

• Giant 64" race pack, cycling just over 21" w/ 8" shackles.
• 2.5" 16" Fox smooth bodies w/ remote resi (all I could find locally, couldn't wait for bypasses)
• GMR 3.5"Semi-Floater w/ 4:56 gears, 35 spline axles, and locker

Front end first installed


Ran into some issues... core support clearance, battery moved to the bed, and everything moved up 3" in the engine bay for more up-travel



Leaf springs mounted


Oops, looks like they forgot to fully weld that spring perch...it'll be fine just tac'd up on one side right?



When I first got the truck, Hannemann was the only one who offered fiberglass...and it is fugly.



My biggest issue was the design of the front glass, there was too much width near the headlights and a drastic angle near the door where the fenders begin to bulge out. So, I had started designing my own glass shortly after buying the truck...my plan was to use the TItan grill and headlights to compensate for the overall width of the clip. Almost 2 years after sketching some ideas Fiberwerx decided they wanted to make new glass for the Frontiers.

Here are the two sketches I gave to Jason for the overall look I was going for with teh new glass..



And this is what I got back...





Currently in the process of getting torn down for rear cage work...A lot more to come soon

about damn time lol. need shocks for the rear let me know..

are you going to cage the whole beast?

Jason

mother of god! i had always wanted to see a build thread on this truck, thanks for finally posting.

Very small update...started laying out a few tubes. Hope to have some more updates soon; but I removed 3 leafs from my pack and put the 8" shackles on, so the truck will sit about 2.5" lower overall. I'll be notching the frame 2.5" to maintain 10 3/4" of up travel and should have about the same droop.

Originally Posted by Dirt E Dreamer

about damn time lol. need shocks for the rear let me know..

Thanks...where were you 3 weeks ago when I had to pay ridiculous ORW prices on the ONLY set of 16" FOX's anywhere near San Diego Seriously though, I do need some 2.5" 10" stroke Bypasses for the front if you have any hook ups.

Originally Posted by jason@gmachine

are you going to cage the whole beast?
Jason

Yes, it will be fully caged from front to back...2" in the cab and 1.75" .120 for the rest of the truck. I will have to see how far we get this go around...after about 30 days without a vehicle I start getting antsy. Goal is to at least finish up the entire rear section of the truck including all of the aluminum work, spare mounts, and bumper.

Originally Posted by doyouquaxu

mother of god! i had always wanted to see a build thread on this truck, thanks for finally posting.

Thanks man, I appreciate. Hopefully I will have some decent updates towards the middle/end of next week. I have been in and out of Doctors offices all week and haven't been able to get anything taken care of.

Slowly coming along...but I am stoked; I cut and notched each support tube and tac'd them up myself. I am a web developer by profession, and this was my first time ever playing with metal. Got to try a little TIG welding too, and I have so much more of an appreciation for those pretty welds I see coming out of high end shops.

I remember this truck way back when. Its good to see that this thing is getting much improved and im sik'd to see what you come up with.

bumperrrrrrrrrrrrr

I see Kurts shop hasnt changed much! Its always packed in there.

Progress...


I am picking it up today after 5 months...still needs a ton of work. Anyone know of a high end aluminum shop?

Rear is about 1/2 way done, but it's drivable for now.

What tire is that? the tread looks nothing like my grabbers.

Thing looks epic though.

Its shaping up nicely. Those welds looks awesome. Whats next for it in the coming months?

Damn it looks good. Maybe I should bought the frontier and built it instead of my titan...

looks great. what all was taking 5 months to build? unless it was simply an after hours bed cage.

Originally Posted by 3.0ranger1227

What tire is that? the tread looks nothing like my grabbers.

Thing looks epic though.

looks to me like the short course race tire

Congrats man, glad to see you driving it again!

Originally Posted by 3.0ranger1227

What tire is that? the tread looks nothing like my grabbers.

Thing looks epic though.

They are the short course grabbers; I got a great deal on them and I couldn't pass it up. I would prefer a desert tread.

Originally Posted by 06_footy

Its shaping up nicely. Those welds looks awesome. Whats next for it in the coming months?

Thanks...as for the coming months; Lots of aluminum, BUMPRRRRRRRSSSS, re-worked front end, and enjoy it till spring when it will get torn back down for the cab cage.

Originally Posted by nickw0619

Damn it looks good. Maybe I should bought the frontier and built it instead of my titan...

I'd almost be willing to trade...

Originally Posted by doyouquaxu

looks great. what all was taking 5 months to build? unless it was simply an after hours bed cage.

It was kinda a bro deal; so fully paying customers got priority.

Originally Posted by Travisfab

Congrats man, glad to see you driving it again!

You and me both! I can't wait until most of it gets buttoned up so I can just go out and enjoy it.

Lookin awesome!

subscribed

damn, nice truck. The glass looks awesome

what the fuck man?! bumperrrrrrr! why isn't there one!?

haha yeah we need a bumper on that thing! Looks great though! And it must be nice to have boxed frames from the factory!

no... im fucking pissed now

Originally Posted by desert_silverado

no... im fucking pissed now

why are you pissed?

...no bumper, lol.

Originally Posted by jonsangel

damn, nice truck. The glass looks awesome

Thanks; I designed it a few months after buying my truck, but it took almost 3 years to get someone to finally make it for me.

Originally Posted by desert_silverado

what the fuck man?! bumperrrrrrr! why isn't there one!?

Long story short, my truck was in the shop for 5 months...I needed it back, so it was just finished enough to drive.

Originally Posted by redsilvy

haha yeah we need a bumper on that thing! Looks great though! And it must be nice to have boxed frames from the factory!

The motor and boxed full size frame were the reason I went with my Frontier.

Originally Posted by desert_silverado

no... im fucking pissed now

I am not happy one bit; the entire rear of the truck was supposed to be 100% complete over 4 months ago! I am hoping to get all the tin work along with front and rear bumpers done no later than November.

who the shit took 4 months to make a bedcage? richer racing had my truck in the shop for 4 days, lol. and that was for a complete rearend.

This thing is ridiculously awesome!
-dave

Tore her down for paint and cycled everything again last night. The springs are cycling a clean 21", but I will need to get a carrier bearing drop to reduce the angle at full droop. I am picking up my GMR 9" this Friday hopefully; once I have everything I need from Currie to keep the tone rings I will take care of the drive shaft issues.

Almost full droop...

Originally Posted by desert_silverado

who the shit took 4 months to make a bedcage? richer racing had my truck in the shop for 4 days, lol. and that was for a complete rearend.

Don't really want to throw the shop under the bus; but ultimately it came down to my truck just not being a priority. I was doing some design work for them and we worked out a deal in trade. But, that didn't go as planned and nothing was being done on the truck so I ended up getting it back 1/3rd of the way done. I am super bummed about the whole deal, but it is what it is. Hoping to have someone else help me finish it up over the next month or so.

Originally Posted by OC96Ranger

This thing is ridiculously awesome!
-dave

Thanks man, I really appreciate it. I have put most of my spare time and money into it over the last 2 years and I finally feel like I can see a faint light at the end of the tunnel. I just can't wait to get it dirt worthy and enjoy it.

Damn dude thats clean.

Painted the rear cage. Tailgate gets mounted monday and hopefully I will get the aluminum work finished over the next few weeks before handing it back off to get the front end rebuilt.

Whats the plans for the spare(s)

something like this...but less presidential.


Goal will be to run a single spare at all times under the floor, with an optional second spare to be stacked on top.

No secret service escort?? pshhhhh... Lol, great looking truck! Looking forward to seeing the aluminum updates...

- Eddie

I had some free time so I did a sketch of what I am planning when semi-finished. I am not the best at perspective so the rear bumper came out pretty funky; but minus the tailgate, you can get the idea.

So are you going to box in the shocks so you dont see them? I want to do that to my titan and keep most of my bed for dirt bikes.

I wish I could draw like that. Are you going to mount up the stock tail gate or ???

wtf and lol at that photoshop

Originally Posted by nickw0619

So are you going to box in the shocks so you dont see them? I want to do that to my titan and keep most of my bed for dirt bikes.

Pretty much; I got the idea from all of the Raceworks luxury prerunners. Once the tin work is all done you really won't see any of the tube work in the rear, just the two top tubes coming out of the cab.

Originally Posted by doyouquaxu

I wish I could draw like that. Are you going to mount up the stock tail gate or ???

Yes, I am remounting the tailgate...that should actually be done today. I do a lot of camping, and both my wife and I ride dirt bikes; so I spent a shit ton of time designing the rear of the truck so that I am not sacrificing function or performance. I should be able to put two full size bikes in the rear with the tailgate up.

Originally Posted by desert_silverado

wtf and lol at that photoshop

WTF what? There's bumpers in the sketch...proof that there will some day be bumpers.

Originally Posted by TerribleOne

WTF what? There's bumpers in the sketch...proof that there will some day be bumpers.

You lie!

Tailgate is back on. We machined all new bushings and mounts rather than using the stock Nissan junk; Soooo much smoother now.


Sleeper?

Originally Posted by Mustard23

You lie!