Synbiotic, 2004 XE Project.

[synbiotic12]

Username: Synbiotic12
Year: 2004
Make: Nissan
Model: Frontier
Trim: XE
Color: Aztec Red

Hello, I've been on the forum for a while now and I've decided I need to start keeping track of all the work I do on my truck, figured this could be the best way. I recently purchased Ginny in August of 2012, driven up to Newfoundland, Canada from Florida. I'm by no means a mechanic but when I can I always try to do my own work, as I enjoy the hobby and love when my own work pays off! 150,000 miles, 2WD and rocking a 4-banger she needed a bit of love the previous owner never bothered to give. This truck is my daily driver and I am on a students budget, I can only afford so much at a time.


Interior: First thing was first, Audio.

I took my subwoofers out of my car trunk and tied them in behind the driver seat. I'm running two Kenwood KFC-WS253 500w subs, with Infinity Kappa 6" speakers in the doors, four 1" tweeters in the pillars, and two 4" tweeters underneath the jump seats. All wired in to a Pioneer head unit (I forget which exact one).

Exterior: I can't really say I have many exterior mods, I would like to have a billet grille and a set of vent visors but I can never justify spending money on something that just gives me looks. I have however put a set of HID bulbs in my headlights, and I purchased a set of OEM fog lights, as the XE doesn't come stock with them, these also have white lights.

Drivetrain:

Suspension & Tires: Since August I discovered my suspension was horrible. A small load would bottom out my leafs and I couldn't have that. I purchased an AAL from AC and installed those, along with a 2" torsion bar crank to level myself back out, with some ultra-low bumpstops from Energy on the way.

Although this isn't suspension I have also done a 1" body lift to push it up a little bit more. I would like to someday buy a bigger tire but I fear i'll lose too much power on a motor as old as mine.
Armor:

Performance:

Gear and Other:

From day 1 I replaced the spark plugs with Bosch double platinums, Changed over to a synthetic oil, and seafoamed the **** out of my truck. The previous owner didn't bother too much with oil changes I discovered from the sludge I took out of the oil pan.

I painted my stock wheels black and love the difference.

The truck came with a cap, but I have absolutely no use for it. In fact it's about 2" too long for my truck and sticks off the end. I have no idea what it came off of but I plan to sell it and use the cash for a shopping spree at Calmini.

Wishlist/to do: New shocks all around, a K&N drop in filter, drain/refill transmission, de-gunk my engine bay, make myself some new wheel well liners, fix my alternator squeek, fix the drop in my passenger door, and most of all ensure that I get a long time out of this engine.

[synbiotic12]

A more recent development is I discovered why I got the truck so cheap from the guy, it seems as if the previous owner got into a fight with a sharp piece of steel and lost very badly.
He covered the hole with masking tape and then just filled it in with body filler. I noticed the truck had been painted in the area when I bought it but while offroading last week I struck the rocker VERY lightly off a tree stump and must have chipped the paint away. When I peeled back the paint I saw the tape and ripped the entire thing off with my hand.
I found water inside the rocker, F***! I cleaned out the area, sanded, got some rust check and sprayed all around in there. I'm trying to avoid having to do this again, but I guess i'm learning how to do some bodywork. I don't have a welder so I riveted a piece of metal on there and used JBweld for the seam. I'm still in the process but i'll upload a new picture when i'm done. It being Christmas time i'm avoiding shopping for paint and body filler today.

[Mac101]

Wow, the Bass!! You gotta be vibrating every inch of that truck.

Power to the 4bangers!!!

How are the HIDs in the factory housing? Do they disperse pretty badly, or do you have a decently straight line?

and ouch at that gash... I haven't seen anything quite like that before.

[synbiotic12]

I have the bass amp turned way down, otherwise it's just uncomfortably powerful being that close to the back of my head. The HID's I love, they are 100% better than the original bulbs I took out that had 150000 miles on them, but in the rain they're not the best, that's why I bought the OEM foglights, which i've got some superwhite bulbs in the mail for.

As for that gash, don't get me started. Who uses masking tape to fix a hole?



They really are very bright lights, I just love the way they look on our trucks.

[Mac101]

Well, i suppose you can outbump most old beaters in the 'hood' if you want to know!

I've been toying with getting an HID retrofit kit... I suppose i'll have to do it now xD

Not everything can be fixed by tape... Whoever did that was a 'genius'

[synbiotic12]

Few updates.
As stated above my head unit is a pioneer, I wasn't sure of the model so I checked it out. Pioneer MVH-8200. I've always been skeptical about buying pioneer because it's usually just a Walmart brand, but some of their higher end models are actually quite nice and I love the amount of sound customization I get with these.

Also, i've yet to take a picture with my 1" body lift installed so I figured I would do that as well. Unfortunately I have 5 sandbags in the back right now keeping some weight on my rear tires so i'm still now happy with this picture, there will be plenty more in the spring. It's actually -5 Celcius here despite the sunny day. That's about 27F for the rest of you who don't live past the border.

I might as well put up the picture of the first time I got stuck, with my friend sticking out the back window. What happened was I tried to drive through this ditch while up on an unpaved highway and my shocks bottomed out before the bottom of the hole. I'll soon have new shocks once I get some more cash coming in, ones that are much longer.

[synbiotic12]

Got my bump stops in from Energy suspension. To anyone who has ever done a torsion bar lift spend the 20$ on these. it took me just an hour this morning to install them, the hardest part was really just getting the nut on the bolt.
top left of the photo here is the old one, it's hard to get good pictures.

much better clearance, I wish I had the cash for some new UCA's and shackles.

[Stevexnycperformance]

I have 2004 XE withe 3.3 4x4.

My question is to you? Why does your fender flare look so thin? the ones on my truck are more beefier and it has Dime size button clips covering the fastener which hold the fender flare to the fender..

thanks.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by Stevexnycperformance

I have 2004 XE withe 3.3 4x4.

My question is to you? Why does your fender flare look so thin? the ones on my truck are more beefier and it has Dime size button clips covering the fastener which hold the fender flare to the fender..

thanks.

My guess would be to indicate which engine the Frontier has. 4cyl have thinner flares and 6cyl have thicker/wider flares.

[synbiotic12]

Originally Posted by Dutch

My guess would be to indicate which engine the Frontier has. 4cyl have thinner flares and 6cyl have thicker/wider flares.

I was under the impression it was because mine is 2WD and his would be 4WD.