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Your 1st Gen Mods

13K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  BigDad 
#1 ·
As a new 1st gen owner, I'm curious about common modifications you've made and how you made them. Please provide a link or description of each.
 
#2 ·
I just went over mine when I got my 03 SVE 4x4 at 194,000 miles and got everything that was leaking taken care of (which was a number of things) and replaced the timing belt/water pump/tensioner/thermostat/front seals/coolant hoses/drive belts and pulleys while I had it open. I had a bad injection, so I replaced it with a set of reman injectors and replaced the plugs/wires/cap and rotor with NGK and genuine Nissan parts. My vacuum hoses were pretty dry rotted, so I replaced them with blue silicone vacuum hoses, which matched the NGK wires.
As far as mods, I wasn't a big fan of the factory air cleaner and its multiple resonators, so I replaced it with a K&N CAI system; I'm not a huge fan of K&N, but it was at such a good price at the time that it was hard to pass up. It definitely helped get a bit more power out of the VG33ER.
Next, I added fog lamps. It took a while to locate the factory fog lamp harnesses behind the radiator support, but, otherwise, it was pretty much plug-n-play. I got a headlamp switch for a Frontier w/ fog lamps from Rockauto.com and switched them out. I kinda wished I got the fog lamps from Rockauto, as well. Instead, I got a cheap set off of Ebay and then had to hunt down the plastic inserts for the bumper cover in which the pins of the fog lamp push into. They look fine, but the ground they use on the bulb is a little flimsy and the original bulbs lasted less than 5K miles. I think I also had to add a relay.
My planned, future mods include a smaller, 2.4 supercharger pulley and new exhaust. I have cracked manifolds and I've yet to decide if I want to replace them with Dorman units or go with headers and possibly a Magnaflow muffler.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Bought the truck for $200 not running so I used the money that I saved to go over everything, runs great now bone dry with no leaks

01 v6 2wd crew cab, synthetic Amsoil in everything

DT long tube headers(wrapped), 2.5 inch full exhaust no cats back to a vibrant ultra quiet resonator and flowmaster big block 70 series

Volant cold air intake (which I'll be getting rid of when I go forced induction)

JWT S2 cams and springs and a complete top end rebuild with OEM parts

Did the clutch (luk), flywheel, release bearing and rear seal while I was in there(was leaking)

Also did all u joints, trans and rear end seals, carrier bearing while I was in there

2 inch spacers all around for stance on OEM wheels with 265/70/16 Yokohama geolandars

Poly bushings front to rear including leaf spring bushings

Bilstein shocks all around (stock ones were toast), sway away torsion bars and leveled out the front with just low profile bumpstops. The front is higher than the rear but I like the stace

Replaced entire 3rd brake light with a modified led assembly

Replaced rear lights with eBay chrome housings with all led bulbs, rewired the 3157 sockets for dual filament so I have 4 bulbs (2 per side) always on with driving lights, the one set get brighter with turn signals... Then the others get brighter with brakes

Replaced front headlight assemblies with eBay chrome projector housings and running a set of 10000k HID's on 55watt ballasts for low beams, another set of 10000k HID's on 55watt ballasts for high beams, rewired turn signals for switchback led.. fogs and switchbacks are always on with driving lights.

Put in a diode so that my low beams stay on when I switch to highs instead of alternating

Foglight projectors with 3000k hid 55watt ballasts

All interior lights including instrument cluster upgraded to led

When I had the heads off for the cams I painted the engine bay and all the parts blue and silver

Also painted my entire undercarriage hammerite black

Gauges - oil pressure, wideband o2, boost (for my next upcoming project, t3/t4 hybrid mid mount turbo with fuel and ignition controlled by AEM FI/C)

Since i want to keep my expensive headers I'm fabricating a remote oil system - Oil feed coming from a 2 quart aluminum reservoir pressured by a turbowerx exa pump, gravity drained back into reservoir mounted lower than the turbo

I have all the parts just waiting for the time

The only things left until I either total the truck or blow the motor are the turbo and some bodywork. If the fi/c can give me a nice and rich AFR under boost and work my timing properly then I'll tackle the bodywork





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#6 · (Edited)
My brother just changed the front shocks this afternoon. Had to chisel them off. Doing the rears tomorrow...hopefully. The truck is in another state, so I'll see if I can pick it up this weekend to bring it home to begin the processes of de-salting and rust-removal/proofing.

That said, I've seen that there's still quite a bit of adjustment in the torsion bars. Is it enough to level out the front? Have any of you done that?

What's the compression on a non-SC 3.3? Curious as to how much boost you plan to run.
 
#4 ·
Replacement headlights from Amazon, neoprene seat covers, Lund tri-fold tonneau, bed rail protectors, LEDs in all interior lights and rear license plate lights, blade-style wiper blades, fitted all-weather floormats, and knock sensor relocation.
 
#5 ·
Magna Flo exhaust, k&n cold air intake, stillen throttle body spacer (improved torque, and mpg) All badges,stickers, and emblems removed (I like the clean look) removed the step rails (made the truck look taller) removed plastic bed liner, and installed Duraliner. E3 spark plugs, with NKG spark plug wires, all new brake lines (hard and soft)
 
#8 ·
Actually, the VG33E and VG33ER do have different compression ratios. Nissan advertised them as both at 8.9:1, but the factory service manual states differently. The VG33ER compression ration is actually slightly lower at 8.3:1. The pistons are different between the two engines. That said, people have still installed superchargers on the VG33E (non-SC) engines.
The thing to remember when raising the ride height using the torsion bars is that it also changes the camber and makes the ride a lot harsher.
 
#9 ·
There's a guy on Youtube that does supercharger to standard swaps, on Xterras, but it seems to work well for him. Don't know engine math, what hp would the higher comp pistons make. I seems he does a supercharger swap, to a none s/c engine. I'll try to find the videos. I am currently saving up for the Rancho 2 1/2" lift, won't do the back, should make it pretty even. I always liked that, sort of desert runner look, where the front is just a little taller than the rear. Like it's ready to pounce on something.
 
#10 ·
I couldn't tell you the HP difference between the different pistons; I would think it'd be slightly more with the lower compression, as more air can be forced into the combustion chamber. I do know you can add about 20-23 HP to a VG33ER by going with a 2.3-2.4 supercharger pulley (stock is 2.6).
 
#11 ·
On an N/A engine, higher compression = higher output. If you can keep the detonation at bay, even more power can be had with the higher compression using forced induction. The difference between 8.9 and 8.3:1 seems minimal, but you have to account for piston design, swirl, etc. which may be quite different between the two.

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