[japanese]

Last week I picked up a 2000 Frontier in the (nearly) exact spec that I've been looking for.

- 2000 (pre-facelift) - check
- 3.3l (not interested in the 4-cyl) - check
- king cab (not interested in regular or crew cab) - check
- not rusted out (zero interest in a sh*tbox) - check

The only thing I wanted but didn't get was white paint.

Beware! long story ahead.

--

A few weeks ago I saw a black frontier on kijiji for $1995. It looked pretty rough, but definitely wasn't rusted out, which warranted at least a look. It did not go well.

I arrived at a small used car lot filled with among other things, a few clapped out civics complete with Si badges and cheap bodykits. The salesman gave me a key ring with 3 keys on it and told me to check it out. After a few minutes of walking around I found it in the back parked under a tree beside a dismantled camper. I opened the door and in the door sill about 100 ants scurried away taking with them what looked like ant larvae/eggs. I carefully inspected the surprisingly clean seats for any more ant congregations before sitting down and putting one of the keys in the ignition. It started up and immediately the awful squeal of a slipping belt filled my ears with pain. Even worse was the engine ran like a 30 year-old lawn mower. I backed it out of the growth it was left to die in and let it idle. It looked, sounded and smelled like it was in agony. The body was decent. Paint was bad but I didn't care. All the lights worked. Engine bay was ugly but didn't seem hacked up. At this point it was too much for me to watch and hear so I shut the truck off. I tugged on the key and it wouldn't come out. I rolled down the window and left to talk to the owner.

The salesman asked how it went. I told him it's rough but at the right price I could work with it. He immediately said he'd go no lower than 1200 safetied or 800 as-is. I broke the news that the key was stuck, but softened it with asking him for his card and that I'd contact him once I looked into what it would cost me to fix it up. He got up to get the keys out of the truck and I speed-walked to my truck and high-tailed it out of there.

--

Fast forward to last week when I was looking for the kijiji ad to give it one more look over. I figured for 800 and a few hundred more in work I could have a decent truck. In a way I felt like I could give that truck a better life free of bug infestations and woodland creatures defecating in the bed. I typed in 'frontier' and sorted to no newer than 2004. But something else caught my eye. Something better.

It was located about 6 hours away, far from any big city. It checked all the boxes the last truck did, only this one looks at least 80% less f*cked. The ad mentioned recent work (brake pads, oil change) that made my believe it was treated with at least some care. I contacted the owner 6-7 questions about the condition of the floor, body, interior, engine, etc. He replied with a 'call me'. I called and we talked about trucks for a while. He had looked at 2 Tacoma's that upon inspection had major frame issues. He mentioned that finally his 'dream' truck arrived, a used 4-cyl 4x4 Tacoma extended cab. We made plans to meet at the dealership selling him the truck and I would look it over. The bonus was that this dealer was only 4 hours away. He had mentioned multiple times that we had no time to screw around and that we had to be there exactly at 9am as they had a busy day planned. Got it.

Last Friday I got up at 4:30am, showered then left at 5. My friend and I then ventured north in a 2009 Subaru Forester - the vehicle that would burn the least amount of gas that either of us owned. We arrived at 9:12 after having let him know we hit some slow 1-lane highway traffic. Shocking to me, we were wandering the Toyota dealer and not once did anyone come to ask if we were interested in anything. I saw the sellers dream Tacoma sitting there all plated and ready to go. It looked pretty good.
9:20.
9:30.
9:41 came and he arrived with his fishing boat and completely uninterested fiancee. (like the kind you see sitting in the car at car shows looking at her phone) I looked it over. Seemed good. Took it for a quick drive. Felt good. Several-hundred dollars less than asking price was handed to him and keys were given to me. As I went to the license bureau he unloaded the truck. All was well.

While in line at Service Ontario he called and said he was going to lock up and head out. I thanked him and wished him well. Upon arrival back to the dealership I noticed that he took the plates off but also kept the license plate bolts. That jerk. I also forgot my stash of zip-ties at home. Amateur move.

I drove cautiously to the closest Canadian Tire and in a hilarious bit of luck passed 3 cops on the way. With the plates in place we drove home uneventfully.

--

I rid myself of that wretched cap to find that he had drilled and cut many holes into the bed. I'll probably just bedliner over everything.

I wish I had a photo of it but I've never seen an interior that disgusting. A few hours of cleaning later and it's about 6/10, which is good enough for me. Next step is to have a part of the leaf spring mount plated over as it is pretty rusty.

 

[japanese]

Figure I'll update this thread as I work through things since it's always fun to look back at my old build threads 5+ years down the line.

When I got the truck the headliner was sagging pretty bad. Had it been stapled up I might have left it, but it was tickling my scalp every time I drove it so it had to go.
Off to the junkyard where, to my surprise, there were TWO frontiers (2003,2004) there. And to make things even better, one had the pristine headliner removed and sitting in the truck atop the seat headrests. $13 later I had my score and it was in the bed ready to go. Except in finding that headliner I had just cashed in my allotment of luck for this month and the 20% chance of precipitation struck. I was stuck driving home as I watched the headliner get drenched. Was it the raining inside the cab or was it my own tears?

As soon as I got to my destination (all of 10 minutes of driving) and safely stored the headliner in the garage it became hot and muggy out.

After the rain here's my catch:

Out with the old cardboard stuff:

After pics soon. Might also try on the 17" supercharged Xterra wheels this weekend for the hell of it.

 

[japanese]

Oh boy. I bought this because I wanted something to mess with during the summer and the daily Xterra is too nice to f*ck with. But I wasn't expecting this.

A quick look at the exterior and you can see where the rust issues begin:

The leaf spring mount (brace? I don't know what to call it) is obviously pretty rusted. The PO had it undercoated before selling it so the full extent of the rust wasn't known by me. Still though, I knew there was rust and maybe I'm too overconfident but I figured I could deal with whatever I found. After a few washes here's what I was left with:

It looks awful but I'm still convinced my friend (who will weld for me) and I (doing everything else) should be able to get it on the road. I give the rest of the frame/body a solid shoulder-shrug/10. Rusty but not rotten.

---

Riding the high from a mix of rust flakes in the lungs and sun stroke I decided I wasn't yet depressed enough. The previous owner mentioned that he screwed some metal over some rust holes rust temporarily. I figured I could deal with a few small holes no problem.

I felt like Ralphie from A Christmas Story tearing away the wrapping paper to reveal the gift he'd long wanted - only the complete opposite. After removing the 33-pack of self tapping screws he viciously drove into the bed I lay witness to the gory aftermath. When I picked up the truck I never thought I'd be on my hands and knees in the bed staring through fist-sized holes.

Photos don't really do the rust justice but trust me when I say it's there.

--

I make lists for everything, so here's my
Road to Roadworthiness

Holes in frame
1. Grind/cut away leaf spring mount rust
2. Weld in patches
3. Coat everything in POR15 along the way

Holes in bed (Not sure but I might not even fail the safety check for a rusted out bed. Still going to fix it)
1. Grind/cut away leaf spring mount rust
2. Weld in patches
3. Coat everything in POR15 along the way

Window seal broken. Window rattling causing urge to drive into lake to rise with each passing moment.
1. Procure non-broken window seal. DONE
2. Install

Replace leaking receiver dryer o-ring
1. Buy seal kit
2. Drive to a secluded area and crack open a/c line
3. Install o-rings
4. Procure refrigerant from the USA
5. Drive away with the a/c on

Fix leaking power steering line
1. Inspect whether it's a hose clamp or the high-pressure hose.
2. It's probably the high-pressure hose. Wonder why I wasted time even checking
3. Order part
4. Wait 3 days
5. Install hose. Fill with ATF

Replace windshield
1. Pay $350
2. Wait a few hours (Maybe go watch a movie or something)
3. Listen to the guy behind the counter say that he encountered rust in the window frame and thus they cannot give me a warranty for it

Get the truck safetied
1. Pray to obscure mayan gods that the ABS light stays off for the safety check
2. Pay the guy $80-$110.

Emissions test
1. Pay the guy $20 bucks

THE PRIZE:
I win the pleasure of owning a 2000 Nissan Frontier in the most boring/generic colour that is road worthy. It won't be long before something breaks.

 

[japanese]

Over the last few weeks I've actually progressed quite a bit.

To start, I bought a sheet of 1/8" steel and made some cardboard templates out of a Cheerios box. I then painstakingly cut it out with a cutting wheel on the grinder. Sadly, I only have a snapchat screenshot of the completed work. I'm pretty proud of how well it came out.

---

I don't know how to weld and thus don't own a welder. So I asked around and was given the name of a guy local to me who could weld my patch panels in. We make arrangements to meet.
A few days later I drove over to his place and was met with what the most amazing ******* wonderland imaginable. Here's a quick rundown of what I saw from the driveway:

- Dirt driveway and front yard
- a chicken coop made of salvaged wood converted to hold a pig
- 5 or 6 loose chickens roaming around the property
- A Dodge Ram with a camo rattle can job with a somewhere between 8 and 12" lift. With bald stock-sized tires.
- A rusted chevy silverado getting new rocker panels (he was shipped the wrong rockers and was in the process of rigging it to fit)
- A rusted out trailer he was in the process of welding
- 3 washing machines in various states of disassembly

If you're a democrat, I'm sure this is the type of person you imagine voted Trump in office.

We talked a bit and settled on a price and I left the truck/left with a friend. A few days later I got a photo of the work and it didn't look half bad.

A few more days later and I went to collect the truck. This time we drive up and the guy and his uncle are shirtless manning the BBQ on the front porch. We talk about how he had to shoot a few cats that were killing his chickens. I also learned that the pig from the chicken coop was no longer with us. I took a quick look over the work and it was good.

All joking aside I can't thank him enough for the work he did on the truck. Great guy.

---

The following weekend I decided to poke around at the rest of the frame and see what I found. That poking turned into me buying a flap disk for the grinder and de-rusting the left and right sides of the frame. I coated it with POR15 and a few coats of rocker guard on top. Glad that job is done.

As a reward to myself, I took the wheels off my Xterra and threw them on the Frontier. I think it looks leagues better this way.

Road to Roadworthiness

Holes in frame - FIXED

Holes in bed (Not sure but I might not even fail the safety check for a rusted out bed. Still going to fix it)
1. Grind/cut away rust
2. Weld in patches
3. Coat everything in POR15 along the way

Window seal broken. FIXED

Replace leaking receiver dryer o-ring
1. Buy seal kit
2. Drive to a secluded area and crack open a/c line
3. Install o-rings
4. Procure refrigerant from the USA
5. Drive away with the a/c on

Fix leaking power steering line
1. Inspect whether it's a hose clamp or the high-pressure hose.
2. It's probably the high-pressure hose. Wonder why I wasted time even checking
3. Order part
4. Wait 3 days
5. Install hose. Fill with ATF

Replace windshield
1. Pay $350
2. Wait a few hours (Maybe go watch a movie or something)
3. Listen to the guy behind the counter say that he encountered rust in the window frame and thus they cannot give me a warranty for it

Get the truck safetied
1. Pray to obscure mayan gods that the ABS light stays off for the safety check
2. Pay the guy $80-$110.

Emissions test
1. Pay the guy $20 bucks

 

[MVZOOM]

:thumbup::beer:

 

[japanese]

Reminiscing on my now-sold Xterra
Last month I sold my ’03 Xterra S/C. That interior of that thing was seriously mint. The interior looked, at most, a year old: The carpet was flawless - no stains. There was no wind noise. No annoying scratches or damage. Leather shift knob and steering wheel were perfect. The sound system sounds great for my needs. Everything worked as it should and it really was a great place to be.

On the contrary, the Frontier interior looks about 20+ years old. The old grey carpet is stained (rust from the seat ‘feet’ AND bleach stained - funny story I'll tell in the future) and perpetually looks like it needs to be vacuumed - even after I’ve vacuumed it. The window seals on these trucks are prone to breaking in an annoying spot that allows a small jet of air to enter the car. Not an inch of leather to be seen. The vinyl steering wheel is in rough shape. No shift knob, and the PRND21 indicator on it is broken. Everything works and it’s an awful place to be.

Pics of the Xterra in its prime.

What have I done?
When I picked this truck up I convinced myself that I would love it as it was - flaws and all. But with the Xterra gone now I notice each and every one of the countless flaws.

I said I wouldn’t spend money frivilously.
I planned on only spending money to get it mechanically sound.
I didn’t follow through on that plan.

Updates on how I wasted my money to come soon.

 

[japanese]

Cleaning up the interior
Aside from a new bed, sandblasted and recoated frame and bodywork/paint all around there isn’t much on the exterior I can tackle at this point. (Perhaps a wrap early next year?) That left me with sorting out the interior.

When I first picked up the truck I did a 3 hour wash/detail. Later on I finished the common ‘mod’ for XE Frontiers of using a blade to cut the heater box to accept a cabin filter. In the future I might replace the old ugly grey carpet with some new stuff from rock auto.

I was determined to find window seals to stop the wind noise inside the truck. I was luck enough to find a few Frontiers and Xterras at the junkyard. I was able to find one OK shape passenger-side window seal.

I was also able to find a locking glove compartment that seems like a direct swap onto my existing glove compartment. I’ll need to learn how to re-key the lock but how hard could that be?



A little something to remember the Xterra
While cleaning out the Xterra before removing insurance on it I took exactly 6 keepsakes. The wheels and BFG ATs. The factory first-aid kit. And the solution to my window seal issue. I traded the mint driver-side window seal for one off the Frontier.

I felt like a scumbag sliding that old, cracked seal down into the fresh, clean door cavity of the Xterra. You aren’t supposed to swap good parts off of nice vehicles and replace them with sh*ttier versions. Nevertheless the deed is done, but I’m certainly not proud of it.

Here's the final picture I took of the old truck - including the window seal:

 

[japanese]

$$$
A common complaint I have is that 99% aftermarket radios are gaudy and awful to look at. A friend of mine loves to make fun of the fact that I even care - but I do. A criteria for a replacement was that it had to not look like a transformer:

My setup was to have a cellphone mount that connected to the CD slot of the stock radio. I then had a power cord and an aux cable connected to a radio transmitter. There had to be a better way. And I thought I had found it:

A while back I was searching for different Apple CarPlay headunits. I had hopes that the JBL CP100 would finally be released to solve my problems. After months of waiting and hearing nothing, I read that they pulled the plug on it.


Then I saw the Sony AX-100 and it checked (almost) all of the boxes: relatively understated design, good sound (reviews were generally positive) and not crazy-expensive. Still though, it was a bit pricey, but I justified it by telling myself that I would hold off on buying something new (2014-2015 Civic Si) for another year longer if the Frontier had a better sound system. It worked because I haven’t been scouring auto trader or kijiji nearly as often as before.

While at Walmart I saw a set of JBL speakers at half-price. A quick google search told me that they are between ‘decent’ and ‘OK’. For $50 I figured I’d take the risk. With everything installed I have to say that I don’t regret my decisions. I wish CarPlay could use Waze, but aside from that everything else is great. It looks perfect and sounds awesome to my ears. I'll add an installed picture to the thread soon.

 

[japanese]

New parts arrive

One of my big issues with the truck is that there is an add-a-leaf, but stock-height $30 shocks. This means that over every bump the shocks top out. I've always liked Bilsteins so I decided to go with a set that were made for 2" lifts. After ordering through Rockauto I was told that they in fact only had 1 rear shock available. "No problem", I thought.

I tried ordering the last shock through T-Dot performance (Canadian-based). Their site was good and the price on the shock was more than reasonable. The site told me 1-2 weeks and I should have it. (welcome to most orders in Canada) Well a few days later I got an email saying they were back ordered and it would arrive in 30 - 35 business days. No thanks. Their customer service was actually pretty good and I was able to get a refund.

I next tried amazon.com (not .ca, as their prices are seriously f*cked) I saw that it should ship in a few weeks and figured whatever. A week later I saw that it is still wasn't even processed. Another week went by and still nothing. I cancelled soon after.

Finally I went to the place I should have gone first - Essex Distributors. I talked to someone over there and he mentioned that it would be shipped out in under a week. I would have had it exactly a week after ordering it had my condo door person not been away both times FedEX tried to deliver. Huge props to them for getting this thing to me fast.

Installing the fronts was a bit of a pain as the lower bolt on these trucks likes to seize. No pictures of it but I was able to get them in in about 3 hours with only some grinder use on the driver-side.

The rears were about 10 minutes each side. Bad picture, but they're in:

Finally my headlights work

I was also able to install some new headlights as the old ones were awfully faded. I would love to retrofit some projectors on some clear housings in the future. In the meantime though, the difference in light output is outstanding.

Comparison:

Before:

After:

No more chrome

In my opinion dipping a whole car is a waste of time and looks pretty awful. But for specific smaller parts I love it. In this case, I wanted to get rid of the chrome off this thing. Rather than painting it all I went with the non-permanent and in my opinion easier method.

Looks so much better this way:

 

[13thStreetGTI]

Do you have a part number for that window seal? I love my Xterra but the wind noise drives me absolutely insane. I know it is never going to be luxury quiet, but this is too loud.


How much of a difference did it make when you changed the seal? Thanks!

 

[japanese]

Do you have a part number for that window seal? I love my Xterra but the wind noise drives me absolutely insane. I know it is never going to be luxury quiet, but this is too loud.


How much of a difference did it make when you changed the seal? Thanks!

Sorry for the late response. The annoying wind noise is GONE after I put in the good window seal.

It's impossible to find Xterra seals, but Nissan Navara (which is a frontier) seals are all over ebay.
Part numbers for the Navara seals: 80331-2S400B , 80330-2S400B
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-NISSAN...ash=item280cfdeb96:g:a8AAAOSwxN5WXnEt&vxp=mtr


Cleaned. Can't wait to get those torsion bars adjusted up.

 

[japanese]

A lot has happened.

Going on a trip from Ottawa to Vancouver on the 20th. I decided that it would be fun to do a 20-day challenge to myself and install all of the parts I've been picking up.


- Timing belt & tensioner
- Water pump
- Thermostat & thermostat housing
- Cam seals
- Crank seal
- All new coolant hoses
- External transmission cooler
- New power steering line
- Upstream o2 sensors
- valve cover gaskets
- Brake pads
- Replace A/C receiver drier
- Warrantied distributor

Pic of some progress:

Pretty grimy and rusty in there:

I spent all of last weekend as well as a few hours during the week to the point where it was almost drivable. This morning/afternoon I tidied up the coolant hoses and filled it up with coolant. I also checked and filled the transmission 3 times to get it dead on where it needs to be as I lost a bunch of fluid in the transmission cooler install. Finally I refilled the power steering after finding out Rockauto sent me the wrong power steering line.

On the maiden voyage she's (mostly) leak-free. She refuses to stop leaking power steering fluid though. $74 in gas for the coming week of testing.

Tomorrow I'll tackle the valve cover gaskets and depending on how it goes I may also do the o2 sensors as well.

 

[japanese]

Had a scare the day before the trip. My new (****ty aftermarket) distributor went out (under 80kms on it when it died) on my drive home from work. Luckily I had driven past my friend’s parents place. and even more luckily, his step father drove by and noticed me parked on the side of the road.
After pulling out the busted distributor he drove me to my friend’s Xterra that is in the middle of an engine swap. I grabbed his used distributor and went and installed it on the side of the road.
Had me nervous for the first day of driving but I experienced zero issues.

Prepped for the long trip.

Many hours of boring Ontario

Friend’s pathfinder

Getting somewhat less boring

Few hours away from Winnipeg.

Things get beautiful after this point.

Massive storm on the way into Calgary

Visiting my sister and her family. Randy was pretty happy to see me

Finally mountains!

Would love to live here

Getting close to our destination

Arrived! Zero issues on the trip there. Spent most of its time parked in the street

 

[bnkrpt311]

Looks like a great trip. The truck looks really nice, great job.

 

[japanese]

^ thanks dude!

I finally got the truck off pavement for the first time ever. Plan was to drive 3 hours west and hit some stock-friendly trails with my buddy, his '02 Xterra supercharged and his truck club. There were 8 or 9 trucks.

But before I did that I was bored and re-plastidipped the front grille and bumper:

Hit the road:

Arrived at our motel for the weekend:

Waiting for the rest of the group beside 2 very similar looking Xterras:

On the trail:

End of the day. 1-year old alternator is on its way out from the water but otherwise no problems making the drive home:

 

[downytide]

It's an awesome journey, how does the truck ride?

 

[japanese]

It's an awesome journey, how does the truck ride?

Truck rides really nice. Steering is still decently tight and over bumps it doesn't want to pull into the ditch. Better than any of the similar-era Xterras I've owned.