Raine's 2014 SV CC 4x4 "KEIRA" Build Thread

(09.26.14) Exactly What I Was Looking For.

It took about 6 months after making the decision to change vehicles before I sold my 1995 Lexus SC300 at my asking price, and it finally happened in August of 2014. With the car gone, I pretty much knew what was next; After researching models, options, dealer stock in my area, and thoroughly debating between the SV and Pro-4X, I decided on the Nissan Frontier Crew Cab 4×4 SV with the Value Truck Package, which had a lot of stuff that was not standard on the Pro-4X (unlike the later model years) – plus the Pro-4X had a lot of stuff that I’d probably swap out someday (OEM Bilsteins, wheels, etc.)

Since it was year-end clearance time, the challenge was to find a truck on a dealer lot in Night Armor with a short bed and VTP. That’s exactly what I wanted, nothing more and nothing less. Lucky for me I found one in the exact spec I wanted about 30 minutes away at Metro Nissan in Montclair, CA. It took 3 visits all week and a lot of hard-nose negotiating to get the type of deal and payments I wanted, and they finally gave in after the third night of seeing me there.


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(09.27.14) Day One Mods – The First Weekend.
The day after I took the truck home I hit the road and headed to a local auto parts store to pick up some cleaning supplies, and I also bought a Stant Locking Gas Cap (part #10504); this was technically my first mod!

After that I went to a couple of local Nissan Dealerships (closer to me than where I bought the truck) and dropped some cash on a few genuine Nissan accessories that caught my eye in the catalog – originally I just wanted the OEM Nissan Splash Guards and OEM Nissan Wind Deflectors; the parts guy said he’d give me a deal on the OEM Nissan Side Step Rails ($150 flat) because they were just taking up space in the back, and he even offered to throw in a free set of McGuard Wheel Locks… so why not!



One day I went to the market to pick up some stuff, and I couldn’t help but constantly look in my rear view mirror the whole way home, so I decided I needed a tonneau cover. I looked at the tri-fold style at first, but I realized it would be a pain to have to remove it every time I wanted to load my mountain bike up for a ride, so I shopped around for the roll-up style. After looking through hundreds of different brands and models on all kinds of websites, I decided to go with the Truxedo LoPro QT because it had a very low profile to it, and it had a lot of great reviews online. Ordered it online, and just 2 days later I installed it (in about 1 hour).



UPDATE: McGuard Wheel Locks, Genuine Nissan Side Step Rails are EOL.
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(10.02.14) Keeping an Eye on Things.

When I saw the UltraGauge EM-Plus in my brother’s Tacoma, I had to have one. Install was a snap – plug the cable into the OBD2 port under the dash, run the cable along the back of the knee panel, up along the side trim, and I stuck it on the dash with the vertical mount. It actually took me longer to get everything programmed to how I liked it. The gauges I normally have setup for daily driving are (clockwise in the photo): short trip miles driven (resets at key off), short trip MPG (resets at key off), average MPG (so I can compare across an entire tank of fuel), engine temp (I prefer a number over a vague needle), distance to empty, and gallons of fuel left (changed this to “miles traveled” later on). It’s a pretty useful little gadget – it doesn’t do ECU reprogramming or anything of that sort – but after using it for the first couple of weeks I realized how heavy my right foot was, and eventually changed my driving habits because of it. If you’re thinking of an OBD scan tool, I’d strongly suggest you consider the UltraGauge.

By the way, the 22.1 MPG shown was achieved during a long road trip back home.
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(10.03.14) For the Mountain Bike

Just in time for the weekend, I bought a pair of RockyMounts DriveShaft SD bike mounts. The Driveshaft SD was designed to bolt right into the UtiliTracks in the bed, and I particularly liked the fact that it can accept 9mm, 15mm RQ, and 20mm QR axles and has a built-in key lock. These things are pretty heavy and super solid; my mountain bike doesn’t budge or sway one bit while driving. I thought they were a little pricey at first, but they’ve been rock solid for over a year now.






UPDATE: RockyMounts DriveShaft SD mounts are EOL.
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(10.18.14) Custom Phone Holder Mod.

I normally use Waze while I drive so I needed a way to hold my iPhone 6 Plus where I can see it. I have used the MacAlly Mcup in other vehicles with great results, but because of the position of the Frontier cupholders (back near the elbow) I had to come up with a solution. The idea: directly mount the Mcup onto the console bin at the top of the center console. For power I used a 2-meter USB extension cable and an Anker Lightning Cable. It had to be that long so I could run the extension from the OEM USB port under the center arm rest through the center console area and up behind the OEM radio. After mounting the Mcup assembly into the top bin, I had my iPhone front and center – making navigation use easily visible and accessible.

Used a Dremel to cut some small holes into the console bin.

Just enough for a Lightning cable to fit through.

Modified the base of the Mcup to use a ¼” bolt.

Tied a loose knot to limit the exposed cable length.

A regular fender washer provided a strong, sturdy mounting base.

Bolted together now; cable exit hole is barely noticeable.

USB extension cable from center armrest USB port.

How it looks completed. Phone can be clamped/released with one hand, and clamp rotates to any viewing angle.

UPDATE: Custom Phone Holder is EOL.
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(10.30.14) Let’s Add Some Bass
I barely lasted a month before deciding that the factory sound system needed more bass. First I needed some speakers, which I found online when I ordered a simple prefab subwoofer box that fit under the rear seats. The enclosure was a package deal that came preloaded with a pair of Kicker C10’s.





Now that I had a pair of subwoofers under my rear seats, I needed to add some power. Looking initially for something small and simple, I browsed the Crutchfield catalog and chose a JL Audio XD300/1v2 amplifier rated at 300wx1 @2-ohms. I liked the XD Series specifically because of its small dimensions due to being a Class-D amplifier… and I didn’t want to mount the amp behind the rear seats (well, there’s no real room there anyway), so I had to pick something that fits under the driver’s seat.

Knowing the audio signal would be limited by the factory head unit, I also installed an Audio Control Epicenter Bass Processor underneath the passenger seat to get some low frequencies back. I used a PAC Line Output Converter to connect the stock Nissan head unit to the Epicenter’s inputs. With the two Kickers, I had more bass than I wanted. However, at the same time, it just showed me how weak the factory's main speakers were. Eventually, I knew I’d upgrade the audio some more, but for the time being, this was fine.










UPDATE: Audio Control Epicenter Processor, JL Audio XD300/1v2 Mono Amplifier, and Kicker C10 Subwoofers are EOL.
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(11.05.14) How-To: Trailer Plug Relocation.



I never liked how the OEM trailer plug was on a bracket protruding down from the receiver, it literally looked tacked on! So I decided to relocate it.

TOOLS/PARTS USED

1. Power Drill
2. 2-1/4” (57mm) Hole Saw Bit
3. 1/4” Drill Bit for Metal
4. Dremel Multi-Tool with Grinding Bit
5. Socket Wrench, 10mm
6. Combination wrench, 10mm
7. Center Punch
8. Masking Tape (I prefer ScotchBlue)
9. Ruler
10. Sharpie Pen
11. Paint Marker
12. Flathead Screwdriver (optional)
13. Round-Edge Metal File (optional)
14. Shop-vac (optional)

The whole job takes less than 30 minutes. once I started cutting. This is an easy job, just make sure you have all the tools listed. I did not take photos of every single step, but the descriptions and the photos I do have should be easy to understand and follow.

STEP 1: From underneath the tailgate area, unplug the trailer plug harness from the trailer plug assembly. You can use the flat head screwdriver to help you here if it’s difficult to disconnect.

STEP 2: Using the 10mm socket and combination wrenches, unbolt the trailer plug from the bracket. Set the hardware aside for now.

STEP 3: Let’s work on the plug first. Using a Dremel with a grinding bit, carefully trim away all the little tabs and steps that surround the round portion of the plug. This will make it easier to install into the bumper since you won’t have to notch and trim the bumper hole.

STEP 4: Now on to the bumper. Using masking tape, mask off the area to the left of the license plate location from top edge to bottom edge. Use your ruler and Sharpie pen and make a dot that is centered top-to-bottom and left-to-right. For left-to-right, measure from the license plate frame up to where the bumper just starts to curve.

STEP 5: With your mark in place, take the center punch and punch a guide on the Sharpie mark. This is important as it will keep your holesaw bit from wandering when you start drilling/cutting.

STEP 6: Using a drill and the 2-1/4” (57mm) hole saw bit, SLOWLY begin cutting the hole. Take your time here, no need to rush the cut. When the drill bit is through the bumper and the hole cutting blade starts to make contact, make sure to hold the drill level with the bumper so that the hole cutting bit is flush with the bumper. Don’t push with force – let the hole saw do its thing.

STEP 7: Once the hole is cut, don’t remove the masking tape yet. Take the round-edge metal file and clean up the hole edges; if you don’t have a file, you could use the Dremel and grinding bit, but use a low speed and take your time.

STEP 8: With the hole cleaned up, insert the trailer plug into the hole, make sure it’s level, and mark the bolt holes with your Sharpie. Center punch the marks and then drill two 1/4” holes.

STEP 9: If all is well up to here, you can now remove the masking tape from the bumper. Use a paint marker to seal the bare metal edges of the holes you made to help combat rust.

STEP 10: Slide the trailer plug into the hole. It should be easy since the 2-1/4″ hole saw gives some extra room to get the trailer plug through with no hassles. Use the 10mm bolts to attach the plug to the bumper.

STEP 11: Plug the harness back into the rear of the trailer plug, and the relocation mod is complete!

To get rid of the original bracket, I chopped off as much as I can with a Sawzall, but then I had a rough edge along the back, and there was still the plate at the bottom that I couldn’t take off without a grinder. Of course, I can’t leave it like this, so first I used the Dremel to clean up the sharp edge and remove some paint from the surrounding areas and the plate welds. Next, I used some JB Weld Steelstik to blend in the edges of the plate and the cut edges into the shape of the receiver. Once that dried I used a Dremel, a file, and a sanding block to smooth out the shape before finishing it off with primer and matte black spray paint. Even if it’s a spot that most people might not even see, I still like doing a good job because I know I will see it.



And if you can’t see where the bracket used to be, here you go:


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(11.08.14) Power Lock for the Tailgate.

You know when you get in your truck, drive off, and then pull over real quick just to check if you locked the tailgate? That happened to me a lot (this is my first time owning a truck), so I decided to install a Power Tailgate Lock. The lock would be wired into the cabin door locks, so that it would function just like how SUVs have the dual-press option (press unlock once = only driver door gets unlocked, press unlock twice = all other doors/trunk unlock). I ran a pair of wires from the tailgate area to the left-rear passenger door lock harness. That took the most time since I loomed and wrapped the wires up first and then ran them hidden along the frame rail. At the tailgate, I installed a waterproof connector that piggybacked on top of the OEM backup camera connector. In fact, installing the actual door lock actuator was the easiest part. The total installation took about 45 minutes, and the cost of all parts came out to about $15 total. Now I know that whenever I lock the doors, the tailgate will definitely be locked as well.


Added a harness with a waterproof connector in case I need to remove the tailgate.


Here’s the new harness using the same access points as the OEM backup camera harness.


Drilled a small hole in the locking mechanism to attach the actuator rod.


This was the easy part – mounting the actual door lock actuator. Took all but 5 minutes tops!

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(11.09.14) Adding Some LEDs

Using the same wiring harness I ran for the Power Tailgate Lock Mod (it was a 4-wire harness) the other two wires were for the bed LED Light Strips. I ran an LED strip from end to end on the bottom edge of the left and right Utili-Tracks on the sides of the truck bed. The wiring for the LED strips ran behind each taillight before meeting in the center underneath. From here I connected the other end of the harness to the cargo lamp harness behind the rear seats. This made it so that the bed LEDs would go on whenever the cargo lamps were on – whether the trigger was unlocking the truck, or using the cargo lamp switch in the dash. This also ensured that I wouldn’t leave them on accidentally, as they would automatically turn off when the cargo lamps also turned off. Cost for this mod was about $15 for the LED strips from eBay.


I thought I had more pics of the bed LED install, but this is it until I can take a better one. The photo below is my map lights; I switched all of the interior bulbs to white LEDs (about $20).


Just to add this here since it’s about lighting, I swapped out the OEM headlamp and OEM foglamp bulbs to Phillips Crystal Vision headlamp bulbs. Also, I did eventually swap the back-up reverse lights (in the taillamp assembly) to a pair of Phillips White Vision 921 LEDs. I did not take any photos of this, so you’ll just have to believe me.

UPDATE: Phillips Crystal Vision headlamp bulbs, Phillips White Vision 921 LEDs are EOL.
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