**CURRENTLY RESTORING PICTURES, CHECK BACK DAILY FOR UPDATES - 2/12/18**
I dubbed this 2001 Xterra SE 'Nxterra' because its the Next Xterra Nissan SHOULD have given us...or at least the one I wanted them to give us. So now that this thing is finally running I figured it was time to put together a thread. I have tons of pics and info from when I started this build in May of 2013. I have used many companies but mainly Calmini for SAS kit, Down South Motorsports for coilovers, Ruffstuff Specialties for many, many, build parts, Industrial Injection, Colt cams, XDP and Diesel Power Products for many of my needs to rebuild and hop up the Cummins 4BT. What was supposed to take 6 months has now taken me almost 2 years and I'm not done yet haha. You can also follow pics of the build on instagram at #nxterra . So I bought the Xterra after it had been hit in the A-pillar and right front wheel, which crushed the door, the lower part of the A-pillar and bent right side a-arms and broke ball joints and shock on the right side. I got it thinking I might fix the suspension and drive it while I collected parts to do a diesel motor swap but had a Dana 44 front axle and Dana 60 rear axle that already had a Detroit locker in it sitting around so decided to do SAS and spring over in the rear. So I immediately started to tear into it to do the SAS and then pulled the motor and tranny to finance the diesel build. I purchased the Xterra for $1300 and sold the motor for 1200 and tranny with transfer case for 600 so I started out this project in the positive...that has all changed since haha. I knew I wanted the most kickass Xterra out there so I started with the idea of SAS and Cummins 4BT (I had decided that was the motor I was putting in no matter what the project was) and then let the details work themselves out. I'll try to keep the pics in as best of chronological order as possible. Feel free to ask questions.
This is what the Nxterra started out as
I ordered the SAS kit from Calmini but they wanted too much $$$ for the shocks so I sourced them through Down South Motorsports who were very helpful and offered the best price on the coilovers I could find. I also sourced a set of rear shackels from Calmini and a Dana 60 simple swap kit from RuffStuff Specialties to do a SOA in the rear. While I waited for this stuff to come in I found a Cummins 4BT on ebay that needed rebuilt so I grabbed it and got it on its way out here from the east coast. I wanted the Cummins for its versatility as it is mechanically controlled so it could be put in anything and it's a tough little motor that can put out a lot more power than the diesel that Nissan had offered in other countries. Stock this motor put out 105HP and 265ft lbs of torque in the version I got. I am shooting for around 200hp and almost 500ft lbs of torque when I am done.
While continuing to wait I got started on getting all the pesky stock stuff out of my way as well as getting the rear axle in.
While getting all that crap out the simple swap kit for the back end came from Ruffstuff Specialties along with disc brake brackets and diff covers. The shackles also showed from Calmini so I decided to start with the rear axle swap.
Started mocking up the rear dana 60, unfortunately I had no shop space at the time so most of the suspension work and axle swaps were done in the dirt out back of my parents place.
Got the rear axle painted with POR-15 and under with discs on.
I got a good deal on a set of 18" XD misfits with 35s on them (tires were marginal) so I snatched them up and leaned them on Nxterra to get a better idea of what it would look like. These wheels caught my eye and even now are still ones that I don't see too often but look mighty sexy to me.
By now its July of 2013 and my motor has shown up so I decide to get it torn down and see whats up. Turns out somehow #3 piston came off the rod and proceeded to beat the crap out of itself and the head where it broke a valve, bent pushrods, broke tappets, damaged the cam and left all sorts of junk previously known as parts in the bottom of the oil pan. I took the block to the machine shop to be bored as well as have the head gone through and it turned out the head was cracked so I would have to have a new head. Since the cam was damaged I decided to source a stage 2 cam from Colt Cams for this motor and try to make a little more power with it. I also decided to upgrade the turbo to a Holset HX30 and have Industrial Injection rebuild and mod my injection pump and do me a set of injectors to match...but more on that later.
So by first of August 2013 I had the rear axle in and wheels
bolted on, the front wheels are just propped up and my Calmini SAS kit had shown up so I decided to get started on the front axle. BTW the axles were from a '79 Ford F250 I had previously had so they were full width axles. Even then the stock WMS to WMS was 60" and WMS to WMS on these axles were at 63" so only 3" wider overall on the axles. Initially I intended to get some positive offset wheels but got such a good deal on the aforementioned wheels that I ended up with 0+- offset so they do stick out a tad further...oh well
So by end of August I started the front end swap and had picked up some shocks for the back end, Fabtech Dirt Logic 2.5
Lots of cutting and grinding of old mounts and welds off, as well as fitting the long arm brackets to the new front axle. Because my axle was a little wider the brackets fit right over where the old leaf spring brackets were but that also meant that it had to go over a portion of the diff on the drivers side.
I dubbed this 2001 Xterra SE 'Nxterra' because its the Next Xterra Nissan SHOULD have given us...or at least the one I wanted them to give us. So now that this thing is finally running I figured it was time to put together a thread. I have tons of pics and info from when I started this build in May of 2013. I have used many companies but mainly Calmini for SAS kit, Down South Motorsports for coilovers, Ruffstuff Specialties for many, many, build parts, Industrial Injection, Colt cams, XDP and Diesel Power Products for many of my needs to rebuild and hop up the Cummins 4BT. What was supposed to take 6 months has now taken me almost 2 years and I'm not done yet haha. You can also follow pics of the build on instagram at #nxterra . So I bought the Xterra after it had been hit in the A-pillar and right front wheel, which crushed the door, the lower part of the A-pillar and bent right side a-arms and broke ball joints and shock on the right side. I got it thinking I might fix the suspension and drive it while I collected parts to do a diesel motor swap but had a Dana 44 front axle and Dana 60 rear axle that already had a Detroit locker in it sitting around so decided to do SAS and spring over in the rear. So I immediately started to tear into it to do the SAS and then pulled the motor and tranny to finance the diesel build. I purchased the Xterra for $1300 and sold the motor for 1200 and tranny with transfer case for 600 so I started out this project in the positive...that has all changed since haha. I knew I wanted the most kickass Xterra out there so I started with the idea of SAS and Cummins 4BT (I had decided that was the motor I was putting in no matter what the project was) and then let the details work themselves out. I'll try to keep the pics in as best of chronological order as possible. Feel free to ask questions.
This is what the Nxterra started out as
I ordered the SAS kit from Calmini but they wanted too much $$$ for the shocks so I sourced them through Down South Motorsports who were very helpful and offered the best price on the coilovers I could find. I also sourced a set of rear shackels from Calmini and a Dana 60 simple swap kit from RuffStuff Specialties to do a SOA in the rear. While I waited for this stuff to come in I found a Cummins 4BT on ebay that needed rebuilt so I grabbed it and got it on its way out here from the east coast. I wanted the Cummins for its versatility as it is mechanically controlled so it could be put in anything and it's a tough little motor that can put out a lot more power than the diesel that Nissan had offered in other countries. Stock this motor put out 105HP and 265ft lbs of torque in the version I got. I am shooting for around 200hp and almost 500ft lbs of torque when I am done.
While continuing to wait I got started on getting all the pesky stock stuff out of my way as well as getting the rear axle in.
While getting all that crap out the simple swap kit for the back end came from Ruffstuff Specialties along with disc brake brackets and diff covers. The shackles also showed from Calmini so I decided to start with the rear axle swap.
Started mocking up the rear dana 60, unfortunately I had no shop space at the time so most of the suspension work and axle swaps were done in the dirt out back of my parents place.
Got the rear axle painted with POR-15 and under with discs on.
I got a good deal on a set of 18" XD misfits with 35s on them (tires were marginal) so I snatched them up and leaned them on Nxterra to get a better idea of what it would look like. These wheels caught my eye and even now are still ones that I don't see too often but look mighty sexy to me.
By now its July of 2013 and my motor has shown up so I decide to get it torn down and see whats up. Turns out somehow #3 piston came off the rod and proceeded to beat the crap out of itself and the head where it broke a valve, bent pushrods, broke tappets, damaged the cam and left all sorts of junk previously known as parts in the bottom of the oil pan. I took the block to the machine shop to be bored as well as have the head gone through and it turned out the head was cracked so I would have to have a new head. Since the cam was damaged I decided to source a stage 2 cam from Colt Cams for this motor and try to make a little more power with it. I also decided to upgrade the turbo to a Holset HX30 and have Industrial Injection rebuild and mod my injection pump and do me a set of injectors to match...but more on that later.
So by first of August 2013 I had the rear axle in and wheels
bolted on, the front wheels are just propped up and my Calmini SAS kit had shown up so I decided to get started on the front axle. BTW the axles were from a '79 Ford F250 I had previously had so they were full width axles. Even then the stock WMS to WMS was 60" and WMS to WMS on these axles were at 63" so only 3" wider overall on the axles. Initially I intended to get some positive offset wheels but got such a good deal on the aforementioned wheels that I ended up with 0+- offset so they do stick out a tad further...oh well
So by end of August I started the front end swap and had picked up some shocks for the back end, Fabtech Dirt Logic 2.5
Lots of cutting and grinding of old mounts and welds off, as well as fitting the long arm brackets to the new front axle. Because my axle was a little wider the brackets fit right over where the old leaf spring brackets were but that also meant that it had to go over a portion of the diff on the drivers side.
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