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Picked up an '07 Big Red, Anyone know it?

3K views 31 replies 8 participants last post by  JamesGasPedal 
#1 · (Edited)
Found this truck at a Kia Dealer in Portland, Or. Was bought by them at auction from AZ, where it spent all 46k miles of its life. Anyone ever seen it?

2007 NISMO 4door with all the goodies I would have picked out myself (diff lock, roof rack, fosgate, etc). And of course the lift! Fabtech 6" on brand new 35's. Unfortunately someone thought black spray paint looked better than real fenderliners and I cant tell what brand the shocks are. Coilovers on the front and remote-reservoirs in the back.

What can you guys tell me about it? I'm a Porsche tech at an independent shop, and I know every vehicle has its own quirks and problems. Enlighten me as to what to look forward to. Opinions on where to go next would be great. needs to be louder, faster, less chrome-y....

Havent been on a forum since my younger Vortex days, nice to meet yall!

And no I'm not one of the good lookin girls in the pic....
 

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#3 ·
Welcome to the Club!
That's a big fronty. Haven't seen it on here but some of our AZ members may have seen it in the wild.
You'll find lots of ideas here for performance, suspension and appearance mods. Find a truck you like and check out the build thread for ideas or just start searching the pertinent sub forums.
Take some pix of the COs and shocks and we might be able to help you ID them ; )
 
#6 ·
Few lunch time shots.

I talked to the tech at FabTech, he seemed fairly impressed by the set up. 10 ply tires, 10 leafs in the rear on each side. FabTech front upper swivel control arms. He said the coilovers are a crapshoot on brand, but the rear shocks could be Bilsteins (hopefully!) even though they seem to be silver originally. They have a type of braided fabric hose to the reservoirs. Its also got a massive driveshaft.

Anyone know anything about rear diff gearing on these?

Got new Tie rod inners and outers coming, as well as lower ball joints.

Don't mind the off center license plate, its moving after I eat haha.
 

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#9 · (Edited)
Anyone know anything about rear diff gearing on these?
http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f62/what-axle-gears-do-i-have-my-2nd-gen-32992/

Rugged Rocks carries aftermarket gears, but you'd have to get ridiculous with more Titan parts to go lower than 3.69 up front.

I said "more" because it looks like it's Titan suspension swapped.

EDIT: That thing is modified enough that if you were thinking about regearing, it might behoove you to pull the cover and count the teeth first.
 
#10 ·
Judging by the bent tie rod extensions it's definitely t-swapped.
 
#12 ·
The tires stick out pretty far even for aftermarket wheels. But the tie rod extensions are the big give-away. You can also just see one of the titan UCAs in the pic, and the Titan LCAs are a slightly different shape. What would REALLY be cool is if the front diff had already been swapped out for the Titan M205 ; )
You can tell by looking to see whether the axles slide into the center section or bolt up to flanges. Can't quite see the inner edge of the inside joint in the pic.
 
#16 ·
The fronty axles have no flange, they have stubs that slide into the center section. The Titan axles bolt onto flanges on the ends of the center section. So if there are bolts it's an M205, if not then it's still the fronty R180 front diff.

Yes, most people who t-swap add at least some extra width to the rear via a wheel spacer. How far you space them out is up to you, not necessary to add the full width as the t-swapped front adds close to 3" per side.
 
#14 ·
Welcome to the club. Loving the truck.

If you haven't already heard about the radiator cross contamination issue here's some reading for you: http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f8/transmission-radiator-cross-contamination-05-10-models-means-bypass-now-57547/
It's an easy fix if the cross contamination hasn't already happened.

You said the rear leaf packs have 10 leafs so that means you have custom packs or quite possibly the PRG Frontier Race Leaf Pack.

Might also want to check into the Rear Axle Vent Mod.
 
#17 ·
Yes lots of sheet metal appears to have been trimmed to clear the meat tires lol.

No m205 for me, my axles slide in :(

So im a little unclear via the interweb if I can get titan inner tie rods instead of spacers to meet the fabtech outers. Spacers are obviously a weak link. ill probably just have both sittin on the bench and see which I like best.

I talked to fabtech again about a t-swap. He said he's only aware of people swapping out front diffs, not suspension....... "if its on a Frontier, it was made for a Frontier" blah blah blah.

He said these trucks are wider up front from the factory to account for oversteer, which makes sense, but the stock trucks all appear to be pretty even.... I think the rear needs to be wider before I align it. Im just hoping my alignment heads fit these tires haha.

What do you guys do for fender liners? I was thinking about making some.

I do think I have the 10 leaf pack those guys sell. Legit! Someone must of really loved this truck to go above and beyond. my girlfriend and I cant help but wonder who they were and why I have it now lol
 
#20 ·
Finally figured out what other goodies I have. PRG Titan UCA's, RadFlo 2.5 COs and 2.0 rear reservoirs.
 

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#23 ·
After hearing a godawful sound on some cold starts, I noticed the fan is contacting the shroud. In a hurry with my boss waiting for me to figure it out so he can go home, I said f it and ripped the fan out lol. upon reinstallation I realized the radiator isn't secure and was moving the shroud around. Why it only did on cold starts is beyond me... Ill put the fan back on tomorrow and bolt that thing down (stupid radiator lift from the kit).

Still waiting for my tie rod ends so I can straighten this thing out. looks like Titan inner tie rod ends will be the way to go to get rid of the extensions :nerd:

still looking for rear wheel spacers.
 
#24 ·
Does it have a body lift on it too then? Guessing it does or it wouldn't have any odd radiator relocation brackets. Can you do me a favor and take a measurement from the front hub center to the lower edge of the fender? Just curious what it's sitting at. Just as reference, stock is about 20", guessing you are around 28-29+?
 
#25 ·
Yeah im up about 30". Appears to have a 1" lift? it has some kinda goofy radiator brackets, the oem bushings are torn and on order. Id rather just wire up an electric fan to be honest.

My tie rods also smack the coils on full lock turns. hoping a correct alignment and straight tie rods will take care of that.
 
#26 ·
Yup, that's a big damn fronty! Only 2 that I know of currently that are as big or bigger. Guessing it's got a 2" body lift though 1" is possible if the droop is pretty close to maxed out.
If it's got the 2.5" COs on the front they'll likely hit at full lock no matter what you do with the alignment. There's just not much room in there for a shock that big. Most frontys (if not all) with bracket lifts and 2.5s have the same issue. Pretty much the only way around it is to get the smaller 2.0 COs or have custom tie rod ends made that bend the other way around the coils. Good thing is that the coil is a rub friendly surface so other than the occasional noise and the rub marks it's not too likely to damage anything. My 2.5s are on the way so I'll be in the same boat soon enough.
 
#27 ·
Nice! That's a title im happy with! If I were to build one from scratch it would probably be a little lower, but im loving every minute of this one! Im going to continue to try and keep it one of the nicest too. My to do list grows every day.

I almost want to take the coil spacers off the top to even it out with the back, but I don't think the tires will clear like they should. The fenders have been hacked up enough... I just want to get the stance and suspension perfect so I only have to line it up once, I HATE doing short-long arm alignments. 911's are so much simpler ;)
 
#29 ·
Thanks! I'm becoming more obsessed every day. I cant express the gratitude I have for you guys with all the info i've received in the last week and a half, i've learned so much! This kind of community is exactly what I love about Porsche & VW. I just wish more people in Portland knew what was up lol.

Had Baxters send over the biggest mudflaps over they had, ended up being too small for the front, so I put them outback while I wait for my custom BORA 2" spacers to be made for the rear. Those guys know their ish! The guys at RADFLO are also very informative about little details.

I utilized the factory square holes in the fenders and some 4mm bolts, nuts and washers, and a few eye balls to get them straight, but $20 well spent!

Anyone use FLEXY FLARES? I think they look pretty damn cool and might have to get me some.

A shot of my shop with a customers (red of course) early 90's 911 (964) cab, with my red SnapOn box in the middle. It was a red kinda day I guess lol.

Also a decently beefy X we had to park next to at WalMart the other day.

Fabtech is backordered on tie rod ends (after half a dozen head banging conversations with Les Schwab...) but I found a local 4x4 shop that happened to have them! WeatherTech mats are also on their way (being a local shop helped me get them from a Nissan Dealer for $170, no shipping, a few days out). Come on UPS bring me my things!
 

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#31 ·
Ive also noticed I have no front sway bar (or rear for that matter).



Thoughts?
Most of us who drive off road remove the front sway bar, particularly if we are running stiffer aftermarket coilovers. Having a sway bar attached will inhibit suspension travel, so the truck will perform better without one. Removing it also softens the ride a bit. Note that the stock sway bar also will not fit a Titan swapped truck.

The Frontier does not come with a rear sway bar.
 
#32 ·
Havent been on here for a while. In case anyone was wondering, I have updates!

2" BORA spacers for the rear. Black anodized, Frontier to xd wheel custom made. Not exactly lug centric like they should be, but whatever. Ended up blowing out the back of the chrome lugnuts I had on there so I bought a set of gorilla tuner lugs that are skinny enough to actually get at. Truck doesn't look so much like a bulldog anymore.

Also, for the record, with my set up Titan inner tie rods ARE TOO SHORT lol. Ended up buying the PRG spacers because my machine shop said they probably couldn't make anything stronger.

I lowered the front a little to pull the camber in and meet the rear height, almost time to line it up!
 

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