Thread: 3.3 liter gas eater (01' nissan frontier0 build thread.

So I have decided now would be a great time to start a build thread since most of the truck is finished...for now.

Has the stock 3.3l supercharged motor with a volant CAI and no muffler
interior is stock with a subwoofer, CB radio unnecessary tach on the dash.

My journey with this truck starts in June of 2010 when I bought it looking like this.
Total chaos kit, stock rear leafs, and a bedcage with 16" SAW's.






oops... bumper fail.


After about 4 months got tired of rubbing issues on the rear end. So I ordered up some fiberglass bedsides and a few months later they get put on. removed the entire bed since it never got used for anything other then trash. and at the same time got me some General Grabber AT2's, 33x12.50x15's. This was in Sepetember 2010.

Didnt realize the glass was as huge as it was so thats why the new tires came at the same time too. still looked funny and stayed that way for a few months.





about a month after the fiberglass, went to Giant and got the 62" spring kit. got it installed and ran it for a while. And proceeded to huck it like it was cool on a regular basis.
about 2 days after the new springs went on. lol.

Barstow to Primm October of 2010.




Ocotillo wells over New years 2011. got it all muddy from 1 "little" mud pit.




randoms....


Flat tire, not a fun day.


new shock hoops built, much better then the old ones...





April, 2011, truck goes down for its new suspension going on....







New links cycle about 18" clean, almost 0 plunge.

gnarticulation?




Currently as it sits axle still needs truss, bedcage needs a few more tubes.
Cab cage coming later this year or early next year.

Did you link it becuase the leaf springs ride sucked and was way harsh?

Becuase your shackle angle was freaking terrible.



Mike

I had a few reasons, and yes, I know the shackle angle was way off.

Nice looking ride mang. Did you buy this off some guy in north county by the way?

bought it off a guy who was in my unit who lives in RSM. from what I was told by everyone that knows him, the thing never touched dirt in the 4 years it was built before I got it.

Originally Posted by only1mikey

Did you link it becuase the leaf springs ride sucked and was way harsh?

Becuase your shackle angle was freaking terrible.



Mike

i was going to ask that aswell lol.

that shackle angle was a combo of that tube right there was a little in the way, and the shackle cause at ride height it would be hitting the frame and not allowing the springs to compress properly when it was setup in front of that tube.

Originally Posted by Jnegri

that shackle angle was a combo of that tube right there was a little in the way, and the shackle cause at ride height it would be hitting the frame and not allowing the springs to compress properly when it was setup in front of that tube.

That would be becuase the Giant Shackle needs the frame to be clearanced. Should of used Helton's magic number and you would probably still be leaf sprung and happy

Mike

ya should have ditched those shackles and redone the mounts.

yeah, I realized that down the road. its all good though cause i got money that burns a hole in my pocket.
It worked, just not as well as it could have, plus that shock angle and mounts were fucked.it would cause axle wrap and also limited its ability to cycle.

what happened with the bumper in the first few pics?

Looks good, got any pics of the inside of the truck?

Originally Posted by lucky13ranger

what happened with the bumper in the first few pics?

bumper was fail built, so when I accidentally hit another truck when we were doing cleghorn it folded in.

Originally Posted by Ryan k.

Looks good, got any pics of the inside of the truck?

yeah. guess I only have 1, but yeah.

went to ocotillo with the new rear suspension. handled amazingly. even got it off the ground a little.

why the monster tach? stock one not work?

I kinda dig the monster tach. Looks good in there. I might have to run one. lol

lol, the pervious owner put it in idk why cause the stock one works just fine. actually the monster one is fucked, randomly spazes out and goes up to like 6k, lol. I need to take it out so I can put my garmin there.

Originally Posted by Jnegri

lol, the pervious owner put it in idk why cause the stock one works just fine. actually the monster one is fucked, randomly spazes out and goes up to like 6k, lol. I need to take it out so I can put my garmin there.

Wanna sell it?

sure, just come over and uninstall it, otherwise im just gonna unbolt it and cut the wires.

Originally Posted by Jnegri

sure, just come over and uninstall it, otherwise im just gonna unbolt it and cut the wires.

Just leave me 3 or 4 inches tail on the wires. There isn't any special mounting bracket or anything is there?

theres a ring that goes around it then it bolts to the A pillar with some litle bracket thingy, ill probably do it today when I clean out my truck.

Just unbolt as much of it as you can, clip the wires so I have some tail to solder to, and that will be fine.

new wheel bearings, new steering box and new heims on the tie rods.




cute little snouts.



not yet finished, steering box needs to be re-centered

Nice build... Is this the supercharged 3.3 liter?

yeah, having some problems with running rich, but still runs like a champ.

so I decided I didnt like the bedcage. Bumped to the stock bumps, driveshaft wasnt angled right, link pivots were crap. So im re-doing it all. in my garage this time, so its going to be done right and how I want it.

Hopefully from ride height there will be a solid 10" bump travel, we still need to work everything out, but its looking solid so far.

Still in the process of cutting out all the old crap. bedcage is for sale though.





we are shooting to have this done by the end of the long weekend. Setting it up for C/O bypass so no changes need to be made to that later. better bracing, gussets, dimple dies, the works.

grinding marathon today, got most of it done, still need to fix the crossmember issue, and get the lower link pivots set up.

I bet that was fun

wasnt that bad, burned through like 6 cutting wheels, dropped a grinder and blew up another wheel, sparks burning my arms. But the fun part comes in the next few days.

My new shock tabs are being machined, its going to be gnar, all boxed in and stuff, cage out of DOM this time, lots of plate work too.

new link pivots, and bump stops.

I've had grinders catch my pants on fire and fly out of my hands hitting me in the chest and climbing down my arm lol. Sounds like you made it out easy

Lookin good tho can't wait to see it done right finally lol
Cage that bitch tho before ya kill yourself

haha, i smoked my HF grinder earlier, good thing I have another at hand.

Thanks, its taking a little longer then we planned, but dgaf cause its going to look sweet, especially once I get bypasses on the rear.
The cage should be coming later this summer when I gather enough money to get a DD and then find the time to start going at it.

Originally Posted by fleshwound

I've had grinders catch my pants on fire and fly out of my hands hitting me in the chest and climbing down my arm lol. Sounds like you made it out easy

Lookin good tho can't wait to see it done right finally lol
Cage that bitch tho before ya kill yourself

ive caught my shirt on fire lol

Any good fabricator has fire stories haha. I have burnt huge holes in my shirts and jackets welding underneath trucks. I have scars on my back from it burning through the front going around back and burning me as I flop underneath the truck lol

Haha... I was in a shop once that had a chopsaw with a broken trigger. Only way to shut it off was to unplug it. Which made every cut a 2 man job. And usually I was the "switch" man.

link mounts mocked up, they are welded in now and some boxing in/gusseting still to be done though.



Full bump, we had to cut out the old crossmember, new one is going to have a small bend in it so the drive shaft clears it. From ride height we are looking at about 10" up travel and sitting pretty low, which is going to be sweet.

shock tabs cut and ready.



welder was having some problems, decided to reset and lose all the settings previously stored.

Those are thick as hell.. looks good though

1/4" hot rolled, not messing around anymore.

definitely not.. lol