[EastCoastSV]

****WORKING TO FIX BROKEN PICTURES****

Username: EastCoastSV
Year: 2014
Make: Nissan
Model: Frontier
Trim: SV VTP
Color: Knight Armor Grey

Ive owned this truck and been lurking on this forum for a while, Ive got a lot of good information from this site and figured I would start a build thread to give back. Ive also noticed this is a good way to keep track of mods and bounce ideas off other members. I plan to start when it was stock and do a series of posts since ive kept good pics of my mods and just keep going from there.

Most recent pictures:

Mods:

Interior: Amber foot lighting, Paracord OH SH*T handles, cool white LED lights, 5% tint, full weather tech mats

Exterior:
LED switchback turn signals
Color matched grill
short antenna

Drivetrain:

Suspension & Tires:
PRG UCA’s
PRG 3" front spacer
PRG rear 2" shackle
PRG cam bolts
5125 rear shocks
285/65-16 Goodyear Dura tracs
Fuel boost -0 wheels

Armor:
Calmini rear bumper
Hefty fab front bumper

Performance:
K&N drop in filter
Front and rear diff breathers

Future plans: Titan swap, rock sliders, on board compressor, ARB rear locker

 

[EastCoastSV]

saved

 

[EastCoastSV]

I told myself that I was gonna keep my truck stock but modding cars/trucks is an addiction. I started with a few small mods.

I ordered a 13" off road AntennaX antenna ( mainly for looks) Ive seen some that are only a few inches long but I figured that was overkill and I still wanted good radio reception. Ive been very happy with it so far and noticed zero reduction in radio reception but I also live in Oklahoma where it is extremely flat so your results may vary.

 

[EastCoastSV]

Next small mod I did that makes a big difference involved replacing all interior and most exterior lights with LED's. I get all my lights from Superbrightleds.com. The have good prices and ship extremely fast.

What I replaced:

Interior map and dome lights

Added matching amber foot well lights

Front LED switch back bulbs, these replace your turn signal/running lights. Turns your running lights a cool white color until you use your turn signal then they start blinking amber.

Rear bed lights

Reverse lights

I feel this mod is simple and will give any truck a more modern/clean look, hard to tell from pics but all the LEDs are a cool white color, almost blue

 

[GMK14]

Damn! those rims look great! Nice Truck.

 

[EastCoastSV]

Damn! those rims look great! Nice Truck.

Thank you, getting them was interesting considering they aren't made in our lug pattern.

 

[shift_RUSH]

Front LED switch back bulbs, these replace your turn signal/running lights. Turns your running lights a cool white color until you use your turn signal then they start blinking amber.

I may be off on this:
So, when you actuate your turn signal, does the white light in the pic alternate b/tw white and amber...or is the white light replaced by only a blinking amber light? (Would be cool to see a pic of this.)

I'm a big fan of what you've done thus far!

 

[EastCoastSV]

I may be off on this:
So, when you actuate your turn signal, does the white light in the pic alternate b/tw white and amber...or is the white light replaced by only a blinking amber light? (Would be cool to see a pic of this.)

I'm a big fan of what you've done thus far!

As soon as you hit your turn signal or hazards it turns into a totally amber flasher. Only downside, the lower resistance LED will cause your signal to blink very fast as if a bulb is out. They make aftermarket relays to solve this issue.

 

[EastCoastSV]

Just ordered some of these in black w/ a cool white color. I saw Texasim's truck a while back and wanted to install these in the grill for a "raptor" look. Didnt realize the grill desgin had changed as much as it did so looks like I will have to get creative on the install.

 

[EastCoastSV]

I lifted my truck knowing I would only be doing some mild off roading. My good friend drives a 2012 pro-4x, he used a 3" front spacer and a 2" rear block. After riding with him off road a few times and experiencing some pretty bad axle wrap I decided I wanted either shackles or new springs in the rear. I picked up the PRG 3" front spacer, bump stops, cam bolts, and adjustable rear shackles. I went with the shackle knowing if I ever want more lift in the future I can run my existing shackles with lift springs.

For tires I went with the LT285/75-16 Goodyear dura trac. Ive seen a lot of threads comparing the dura trac to the BFG KO2 but there is no comparison in my opinion. I have recovered many people running KO2's or similar tires from stuff that my truck went through with ease. They are a bit nosier than the KO2 but I honestly stopped noticing all my added road noise in the first few weeks. They ride great on the highway and perform very well in rain,snow, sand, and mud. The aggressive tread pattern and side wall looks awesome but that is just an added bonus. I don't see myself switching tires anytime soon.

Finally, I had to choose some wheels. Anyone that has aftermarket wheels on their frontier or xterra knows our odd lug pattern gives us a small selection. I looked at the pro comps and some level 8 wheels but really loved the look of the fuel boost. Im not scared to use my 4x4 and my truck is not a mall crawler by any means but that doesnt mean you cant have nice wheels. I called my buddy that I use to work with at discount tire and ended up getting my 16x8 fuel boosts custom drilled at no extra cost. They actually came out cheaper than the pro comps.

These are from the night I installed the lift/wheels/tires, I had been laid up in bed with the flu for 2 days but when I got the call from Discount tire that my wheels had arrived I couldn't wait. The install went very smooth however, I did end up cutting my rear exhaust tip off because it was hitting the shackle. I had Toyota install my cam bolts and do the alignment the next day.

I don't have any CB contact because the bump stops wont allow it, I actually lost wheel travel during this process and would highly recommend have a set of UCA's ready to go if you use a 3" spacer. Thats gonna be my next mod but I am having a hard time settling on a set of UCA's.

^^This was me in the process of pulling a stock f-150 and pro 4x from the mud, the pro 4x is running terra grapplers and a rear locker (obviously) and got stuck twice where my SV on dura tracs was putting around.

 

[EastCoastSV]

One of my more recent mods was my Calmini rear bumper. I have seen a lot of mixed reviews about Calmini regarding both customer service and product quality. I just wanted to share my experience and address both the customer service and quality of the bumper I received.

I placed my order on September 11th 2015 for my bumper. I originally order a black powder coat. I was quoted 5-8 weeks which I was perfectly fine with. Around 8 1/2 weeks I decide to shoot an email just asking for a status update. I was informed the bumper was at powder coat and should be shipping in a week or two, ok cool. About another month goes by, I tried emailing them again with no response. At this point its been over 4 months so I decide to call. They informed me on the phone that the bumper had not even been built yet and the materials to build it should arrive in a few days and it would be built in about 2 weeks then go to powder coat. I was kind of upset that they gave me the run around because I was under the impression that it was built and at powder coat a while ago. So I told them to just not powder coat it and send it as soon as it was built. Almost another month goes by but I finally received it January 8th 2016.

Quality: It took a while for me to commit to buying this bumper. I read the few reviews I could find, some were good and others said the bumpers didn't fit correctly. The bumper was packaged EXTREMELY well, it was plastic wrapped, placed in a box and then they pumped the box full of expanding foam. Overall, I was very pleased with the quality. The mounting holes aligned perfectly with no issues. Took me about 5 mins to bolt up by myself. They included two aluminium end caps for the top tube of the bumper that have to be hammered in with a rubber mallet (good luck ever removing them). The tag light mounted up easily. I was very pleased, especially considering I expected I way have to mod it some for a good fit.

vvv These are the pictures after I had it powder coated by Affordable coating solutions in Oklahoma City. They have done great work in the past on atv frames and other items. The powder coat color is called EVO grey, at is the best match we found for knight armor.

I may add a hitch receiver to it behind the tag one day, not super worried about it because I never tow anything.

 

[EastCoastSV]

Chopped up my grill in order to do Banksy's grill mod. I originally wanted to mount a light bar behind the grill.

The mesh he recommends using seems like it is too thick because I cant get all of my tabs to lock into place when connecting the two grill pieces.

In the mean time, JKRio has hooked me up with a color matched grill from a 2012 fronty. I think I might keep this for a while and mount my light bar directly to my Calmini front bumper that I plan to order soon. hope to add a front burger as well.

 

[gliznass]

Truck looks great East! I hope the rest of the build goes smoothly.

P.S. I'm looking forward to getting my parts this week.

Chris.

 

[EastCoastSV]

Truck looks great East! I hope the rest of the build goes smoothly.

P.S. I'm looking forward to getting my parts this week.

Chris.

Thanks man, what parts you got coming?

 

[EastCoastSV]

Been looking pretty hard at UCA's. Now its got me wondering if I should just go ahead and do the titan swap. Slowly accumulate parts rather than spending money on frontier UCA's I would swap out later on. My biggest reservation is how far it sits your wheels out. I already have 0mm offset wheels and I feel like it would look pretty ridiculous. Anyone else running a titan swap with low offset wheels?

 

[EastCoastSV]

Just ordered a can of color matched spray paint from Touch Up Paint and Accessories | AutomotiveTouchup, Ill be color matching the chrome housings inside my headlights and ill use whats left to paint my front grill burger (if the member that makes them ever gets back to me).

 

[gliznass]

I have been thinking about painting the chrome trim inside my lights too. Looking forward to seein how it comes out and maybe some pics too ;-).

Three posts ago... The bed extender. It's Chris from WR

 

[EastCoastSV]

I have been thinking about painting the chrome trim inside my lights too. Looking forward to seein how it comes out and maybe some pics too ;-).

Three posts ago... The bed extender. It's Chris from WR

Nice! you'll be getting your parts tomorrow!

Ive baked and painted dozen of lights on many cars, ill post up some pics once its all done. Here are the last ones I painted on my 2014 WRX.

Before:

After:

Im gonna have to be double sure that I get the frontier lights completely sealed. This will be the first vehicle ive painted lights on that sees serious off road action.

 

[EastCoastSV]

Just picked up a factory driver side tow hook from Thornton Breakers. Cost me 95.40 USD but I was too anal to keep two right side hooks on my truck.

 

[EastCoastSV]

Well my Calmini bumper was put to the test yesterday as I was getting off the highway. I was slowing down and waiting for a few cars to pass so we could make a right turn. A Mazda 3 decided he didn't want to stop and rear ended me going 30-35 mph. My tag light was taken out and the powder coat is scuffed but thats it. Calmini bumper 1 - Mazada 0

I took these pics immediately after the crash, once I wiped his paint off you could barely even see I was hit. If you look at his hood you'll see where my bumper sliced through it.