[Wintermute]

Hi all. I just bought myself a 2017 SV 4x4 this week, but since I've already got a couple of cosmetic edits finished I figured I might as well get the ball rolling on this thread now.

This truck will be my daily commuter during the week and be used for camping and maybe some light off-road adventures on the weekend.

INFO
Username: Wintermute (Jason)
Year: 2017
Make: Um...
Model: Frontier
Trim: SV 4x4 King Cab
Color: Gun Metallic

INTERIOR
LED Map and Dome Lights

EXTERIOR
Philips "CrystalVision ultra" head and fog lights
Nissan Titan "4x4 off road" stickers
OEM Step Rails

DRIVETRAIN

SUSPENSION & TIRES

ARMOR
OEM Engine and TCase skid plates

PERFORMANCE

ELECTRICAL
Blue Sea 6 slot fuse block

GEAR & OTHER

IN PROGRESS
Snugtop Cab-hi camper shell (ordered)

 

[Wintermute]

Nissan Titan 4x4 Decals

I really liked the look of the Titan "4x4 off road" decals on raine's rig, and it seemed like a nice easy start to this build. I didn't bother with process pictures because I followed raine's method to a T. The only issue was that I didn't have a mini-squeegee. I used a larger one, but it didn't let me get enough pressure so I ended up with a couple of small bubbles. These are only noticeable very close up and even then only at the right angle, so I'm not too disappointed.

I think these decals look good and ad a lot of character for ~15 minutes of work.

Finished result:

 

[Wintermute]

Philips "CrystalVision ultra" head and fog lights

I went with the Philips CrystalVision ultra bulbs for a small upgrade to the stock front lighting that doesn't break the bank. I'd like to give PIAA's a try at some point, but I've got a lot of work to do on this truck before I drop that kind of cash on bulbs.

This is the CrystalVision bulb in the drivers side headlight, stock passenger side and fogs. The light is noticeably whiter, but quite subtle in the late-afternoon light. I haven't actually driven the truck at night since installing these, so I don't have a sense of whether they are noticeably brighter on the road or not.

I did the headlights last night, but had to take a break to figure out how to take apart the fender protector to access the fog lights. After taking a look at the service manual, I decided to just start taking screws out at the front and see how far back I had to go to get the fender protector out of the way. I ended up only having to take the front three screws out to bend the protector enough to get to the bulbs. The protector is very flexible. I didn't feel like I was risking damaging it at all by bending it.

This shot is with the Philips headlights in, and the driver's side fog. The passenger side fog is still stock. Again, noticeably but not hugely whiter. There is a noticeable increase in brightness compared to the stock fog bulb.

Like the stickers above, this is a little thing, but seems well worth the ~10 minutes of actual work required.

 

[Wintermute]

LED Map and Dome Lights

While I was shopping for headlight and fog light bulbs, I ran across this page that conveniently told me how I could buy all kinds of Philips products. I decided to go ahead and grab some LED bulbs for the interior lights too.

The covers for the the map lights pried out pretty easily using a small flat-head screwdriver covered by a rag. The way the hooks that hold it in place are designed, I think it's safest to pry the covers off from the edge closest to the center of the vehicle, but i only realized that after prying the first own off from the outside edge (pictured). Didn't cause any damage to the cover though.

Once the cover is removed, the bulb is trivial to replace. It's just held in place by the spring pressure between the two contacts. LED's are polarized, and these bulbs don't seem to have any circuitry to detect polarity, so they have to be installed in the right direction. Neither bulb nor socket are obviously marked, so I just turned on the light and flipped the bulb if it didn't work in the first orientation I tried. This is the new bulb in place:

Side by side of the LED (left) and stock (right) bulbs:

The dome light was very similar, but it's even easier to pop the cover off. There's a small slot in the front side of the cover, and a screwdriver in the slot pops the cover right off.

 

[Contra]

I need to change out my interior as well both mas in my front and rear (Crew Cab)
and add fog lights, eventually

 

[Wintermute]

After a week long hiatus in which many things were ordered, but none delivered, more goodies are slowly trickling in again.

Today I picked up the OEM step rails that I got the dealer give me as part of the sale. I was a bit disappointed to find that they are plastic. I'm almost positive that the rails on my brother's X are aluminum. I'm not to worried about it though, since I figure these will be replaced by Hefty or Shrock rails within a year at most. On the plus side, my rails are a dark grey that matches the truck quiet well, whereas my brother's are silver.

Installation took about half an hour, despite the fact that the included instructions where in French ::grin::. The only issue I had with installation was that the torques given by the instructions are way lower than the lowest setting on my torque wrench. I ended up tightening the nuts on the frame side to the lowest setting on my wrench, and the bolts on the rail side to just a bit more than hand tight.

Everything that comes in the box:


Um, thanks? Fortunately the instructions aren't really necessary as everything is self-explanatory, and the torques, which are the only thing I really needed, are still intelligible.


Looking up at the first bracket secured to the frame. The bolts are already welded to the frame, and the nuts come with the rails.


Left side brackets installed, ready for the rail:


Left side rail installed:


Right side installed:

 

[nfp4x]

I like the look of those LED interior lights, I may need to pick those up as well.

 

[JoeFrontier68]

Today I picked up the OEM step rails that I got the dealer give me as part of the sale. I was a bit disappointed to find that they are plastic. I'm almost positive that the rails on my brother's X are aluminum.

The step part is plastic but the tube should be aluminum.

 

[Wintermute]

The step part is plastic but the tube should be aluminum.

Nope, and upon checking my brother's are actually plastic as well. The finish is pretty good. I don't think anyone would notice they are plastic unless they tap on them, but once you do, you can immediately tell from the sound that they are plastic.

 

[Wintermute]

Bolted on the OEM engine and transfer case skid plates today. They're not much, but at $20 a piece why not?

Quite a few people have mentioned significant rusting on the factory plates, so I decided to paint them first. I sanded the factory paint and gave each plate two coats of flat red primer on each side, followed by two coats of flat black on the underside.



Most people seemed to get mounting hardware with the plates, but I didn't. I picked up 9 class 8.8 M8x1.25x20 bolts at Home Depot though, and figured I was in business. Turns out the engine plate has huge mounting holes, so I needed washers for the 4 engine plate bolts. Fortunately, my dad has more screws, bolts, and washers than most Home Depots, so I was able to steal some stainless washers from him.



Dead simple install since the holes with welded nuts are already in the frame.

 

[Wintermute]

I also found some time to install a fuse block this weekend, giving my 6 slots for peripherals. First up will be a CB that I will hopefully get mounted next weekend. Not sure what else I will need to plug in, but having room to expand can't hurt. I went with the Blue Sea fuse block that I've seen others on here use. The build quality is top notch, and I think it looks pretty good too.

Mounted the block on the cover for the main engine compartment fuse box. I lined it up visually, drilled, and secured with M4 bolts and nylon lock washers.

Next, I measured and terminated a pair of 4 gauge wires to connect it up to vehicle's electrical system. I used crimped and soldered ring terminals, and wrapped each wire in 1/2 inch split tube conduit.

All done. There's enough slack in the wires to easily remove the cover and move it out of the way. As I terminate things into the block I plan to keep everything wired so that that continues to be the case. The second pictures shows the positive terminal connected to the battery, and just to the left of it the ground screw that I used to attach the ground side of the block.

 

[OMW2SKI]

Bolted on the OEM engine and transfer case skid plates today. They're not much, but at $20 a piece why not?

Quite a few people have mentioned significant rusting on the factory plates, so I decided to paint them first. I sanded the factory paint and gave each plate two coats of flat red primer on each side, followed by two coats of flat black on the underside.



Most people seemed to get mounting hardware with the plates, but I didn't. I picked up 9 class 8.8 M8x1.25x20 bolts at Home Depot though, and figured I was in business. Turns out the engine plate has huge mounting holes, so I needed washers for the 4 engine plate bolts. Fortunately, my dad has more screws, bolts, and washers than most Home Depots, so I was able to steal some stainless washers from him.



Dead simple install since the holes with welded nuts are already in the frame.

Where did you pick up the OEM skid plates?

 

[Wintermute]

Where did you pick up the OEM skid plates?

Ordered them direct from my local dealer via Nissan's online store.

part numbers are 508847S000 and 508427S000.

 

[The other Sean]

Just a heads up, but primer does not actually seal the part. you might want to pull them back down and hit them with some paint.

 

[Wintermute]

Just a heads up, but primer does not actually seal the part. you might want to pull them back down and hit them with some paint.

Hmmm. What I can find online suggests that the Rustoleum stuff I used is probably just regular paint with extra flattening agents added. Being in Southern California, I'm not too worried about rust in general. I'll hit the underside with paint next time they happen to be off the truck just to be safe.

 

[teecro]

Hmmm. What I can find online suggests that the Rustoleum stuff I used is probably just regular paint with extra flattening agents added. Being in Southern California, I'm not too worried about rust in general. I'll hit the underside with paint next time they happen to be off the truck just to be safe.

For under the truck I didn't even bother removing the factory stickers from mine... lol

 

[teecro]

The step part is plastic but the tube should be aluminum.

This I'm sure mine are...

The tube is likely some sort of a casting or extrusion as it does not sound like metal when you rap on it but it is indeed alum with plastic steps & end caps...