TJ's X

Wow those are some nice shots!

I even miss Patteys. They do no get enough credit for what they can do

Looks good, TJ. Good to see you back in business. You coming out for the Black & Blue run, May 21?

k_enn wrote:

Looks good, TJ. Good to see you back in business. You coming out for the Black & Blue run, May 21?

I WANT to, except I think I'll be in Toronto then...as of the last schedule change.


Got another shot:

Well, this sucks.

It seems my timing belt decided that it was bored with the whole keeping the timing thing...and decided to let things interfere with the engine while I was tooling along Rt 195 at hwy speed.

IE: There was a loud bang, and lot of smoke....and a hole in the side of the engine made by a departing part.

So my dilemma now is that I am emotionally attached to the stinkin\' thing...and don't have the heart to part it out...but, don't have the time to fix it, or, the money to fix it...or buy a replacement.

Luckily, my parental units decided to go to the Dominican Republic til March, allowing me to borrow their Nissan Cube til then at least....so I am not stranded altogether.

My plan now is to see if I end up with any money by March, etc.

swap engines with the Cube while they are gone?

I am sure the parental units won't mind.

k_enn wrote:

swap engines with the Cube while they are gone?

I am sure the parental units won't mind.

Hmmm, the X might be scary with all that extra horsepower though...

UPDATE:

I bought a 2004 Xterra to replace the 2001 Xterra.

I'll be swapping on the stuff from the '01, so I don't have to buy new stuff, etc.

Phase I starts this Sunday (May 26th) when I will put on a 3" BL as the starting point. That will make room for the sliders, and bumpers I already have that won't fit w/o a BL...plus the larger tires, so I can wait on the suspension parts.

As the 2001's suspension is a complete one-off, cutting and welding will be needed to do that stuff....and I loaned my welder to a buddy, and haven't seen it for years so far.


Anyone wanna help?

I kicked things off by having some buddies over for pizza/beer and a 3" BL party.

We knocked it out in a few hours (~ 9 am to 7 pm or so), which is not too bad, considering the rule of thumb is 2-4 hours for a 2" BL, and 2 days for a 3" BL.



That will make room for the mods to follow, such as the 33's, OBA, bumpers and sliders made for the BL, re-routing of exhaust, shock hoop heights, etc.





Before (The day she came home):














Tires on it are a mix of different OEM sized 265/70/16, which are 30.6" Diameter (Basically 31x10.5's)

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After 3" BL (Same tires, etc):

Looks great! Can't wait to get you out on the trails with us

Personally I would have lifted the Cube!! Looks good.

Looks good. But what happened to the "cow catcher?"

k_enn wrote:

Looks good. But what happened to the "cow catcher?"

I put it out to pasture.



Did you want it?

No. I still have the old one.

I would get some spray-on bedliner and do the bumpers and around the headlights... and any other faded trim. But that's just me...

ih8pepl73 wrote:

I would get some spray-on bedliner and do the bumpers and around the headlights... and any other faded trim. But that's just me...

Cool! Thanks!

I have the bedliner spray, and Herculiner, etc...no problem....what time will you be over?






Most of the plastic is going bye bye soon anyway when I swap the steel on instead...but I blackened the '01's remaining plastic for the same reason.

I have a lot of mechanical stuff to do before I start on cosmetics though...

I have lower F/R ring and pinions and a t-case gear set to install in the old parts, move the ARB locker, set up the OBA, and then swap it all into the new rig to get the RPMs down so the new tires don't strain things as much, etc...

I have to re-route the exhaust to make ROOM for the OBA tank to fit where the muffler used to be but still is...

I have to move the battery, cruise control, steering reservoir, etc, out of the way to make room for a compressor set-up...

I need to weld the t-case shift lever back together...except I don't have a welder anymore...so I'm stuck in 2WD for a while...

All while using the rig to get to work every day, which is anywhere in the tri-state area on any given day.




So I'm a bit like that one armed paper hanger as far as being a bit occupied with the logistics.

Had a bit of time today, so, I swapped the 305/70/16 BFG KM2's (~ 33x12.5's) on to replace the varied Hwy 265/70/16's it had on it from the seller.

Then - Immediately remembered I was supposed to cut some plastic, and adjust the steering stops out a bit...and cut the wheel back and forth, did some tight circling in either direction, and snipped off the plastic that hit, and, then adjusted the turn stops to not tire-nibble the LCA/brake lines, etc.



After getting that done, I went to Lowes and got almost enough M10 x 1.25, 30 mm bolts, to mount the sliders (They only had a total of 8...I needed 12), and mounted the sliders, using OEM step bolts for the missing ones.




So, by the end of the mini-mod day, I had trimmed it and adjusted as needed to run 33's, mounted the 33's, and, mounted the sliders.



Its starting to look like a truck.


















I still need to get the t-case shifter back together to get 4wd...but, the suspension will probably be next if possible. If I run out of time before ECXC, etc, I might just PML and do armor next.

I also have to do something about the lighting...the OEM headlights are sucking badly.

Looking Good