WreckDiver1321's 2003 Frontier CC SC

[wreckdiver1321]

Hey there folks, just got my new expedition rig - an '03 Frontier supercharged. Crew cab short box, auto, 107k on the clock. It is replacing a much loved but little trusted Land Rover Discovery II. This will be a sort of "slow burn" build. I'm a college student, so money is a bit tight, but things will definitely be rolling.







Things will be tackled in a sort of random order, but here are the basics:

Topper
Yakima roof basket
3" lift
265/75R16 Wrangler DuraTracs
Full armor
Custom rear bumper with swing-away tire/jerry can
Lights
ARB rear diff
Drawers
CVT tent
Engel fridge

And other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting. Stay tuned!

 

[wreckdiver1321]

The Why

A lot of people have asked me recently why I chose the Frontier. Well, it's pretty simple. I started building a 2001 LR Disco II a few years ago and fell in love with the thing, but constant repairs and large repair bills had me hurting bad. Eventually, I grew to distrust the Disco and, despite my love for it, sold it. I quickly decided I wanted a Frontier as a reliable replacement to the Discovery. A lot of people have asked me, "If you wanted something reliable and capable, why didn't you get a Tacoma?" I could say it was due to the stronger frame, the (I think) better looking exterior, the shorter wheelbase, the overall beefyness of the vehicle, and all that, but I'd be lying. To be honest, I wanted a Frontier because it's nobody's first choice. Comparatively speaking, it's unique. And I like the idea of having something you don't see all the time. Add to that it's a fairly cheap vehicle to buy and to operate/maintain/repair, it's sold all over the world (I plan on taking it internationally at some point), and a pretty good aftermarket, and you have the recipe for a pretty good expedition vehicle. I'm hoping this truck will be just about everything I had hoped the Land Rover would be. It's looking good so far!

 

[roninjiro]

The Why

A lot of people have asked me recently why I chose the Frontier. Well, it's pretty simple. I started building a 2001 LR Disco II a few years ago and fell in love with the thing, but constant repairs and large repair bills had me hurting bad. Eventually, I grew to distrust the Disco and, despite my love for it, sold it. I quickly decided I wanted a Frontier as a reliable replacement to the Discovery. A lot of people have asked me, "If you wanted something reliable and capable, why didn't you get a Tacoma?" I could say it was due to the stronger frame, the (I think) better looking exterior, the shorter wheelbase, the overall beefyness of the vehicle, and all that, but I'd be lying. To be honest, I wanted a Frontier because it's nobody's first choice. Comparatively speaking, it's unique. And I like the idea of having something you don't see all the time. Add to that it's a fairly cheap vehicle to buy and to operate/maintain/repair, it's sold all over the world (I plan on taking it internationally at some point), and a pretty good aftermarket, and you have the recipe for a pretty good expedition vehicle. I'm hoping this truck will be just about everything I had hoped the Land Rover would be. It's looking good so far!

The reasons you list about your choice on the frontier are about the same on my part. I had to choice at the time between the a new tacoma or a new frontier, my choice after being on this forum going on 5 years, and overseas constantly was the frontier. It was a simple choice for me. I just don't like going with most trendy and I like the idea of an actual worldwide platform. I also love the aftermarket support for my D40. My commuter is a 2003 nissan xterra, which shares just about everything your frontier has. I put a turbo diesel in it and now it is (was) everything I wanted in a world traveller.

I hope you enjoy your D22 and all it has to offer, if I could have did it all over again, that would have been the platform instead of the xterra. They are extremely capable and as reliable as the toyota equivalent. The most important upgrade you can do is a new radiator from a Supercharged version of yours (dual core instead of single core).

Your truck is IMO a rare/hard to come by combination. I have searched for color combo, short wheelbase, 4x4 and always came up short. Beautiful truck!

 

[wreckdiver1321]

The reasons you list about your choice on the frontier are about the same on my part. I had to choice at the time between the a new tacoma or a new frontier, my choice after being on this forum going on 5 years, and overseas constantly was the frontier. It was a simple choice for me. I just don't like going with most trendy and I like the idea of an actual worldwide platform. I also love the aftermarket support for my D40. My commuter is a 2003 nissan xterra, which shares just about everything your frontier has. I put a turbo diesel in it and now it is (was) everything I wanted in a world traveller.

I hope you enjoy your D22 and all it has to offer, if I could have did it all over again, that would have been the platform instead of the xterra. They are extremely capable and as reliable as the toyota equivalent. The most important upgrade you can do is a new radiator from a Supercharged version of yours (dual core instead of single core).

Your truck is IMO a rare/hard to come by combination. I have searched for color combo, short wheelbase, 4x4 and always came up short. Beautiful truck!

Thank you for all the kind and positive words! I'm in love with the truck already and it will be getting quite a few upgrades very soon. I can't get over how happy I am with my decision. Just a few tweaks and it will be even more capable. Stay tuned, I'll be keeping track of my project here. For more details, check out montanaoverland.wordpress.com.

I didn't like the color as much when I started but it is certainly growing on me. I knew no matter what, I was going to have only a crew cab short box.Took me a while to find, but this one just showed up out of the blue. Haha it was destiny!

Oh, and I'm way ahead of you about the radiator. I've already got the supercharged one. It came with the supercharged engine

 

[nasko]

Nice truck. Really capable machines are these. Just in case you do not know, check for the Knock Sensor. There is a lot written on the subject, it is a known failure on these engines. Cheers and good luck with the build.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Nice truck. Really capable machines are these. Just in case you do not know, check for the Knock Sensor. There is a lot written on the subject, it is a known failure on these engines. Cheers and good luck with the build.

Will do, thanks for the heads up

 

[Co-opski]

Will do, thanks for the heads up

And the timing belt at those miles if it has not been done yet. You will have a good rig. They have some quarks like; front steering, drive shaft carrier bearings, and the 6th spark plug, as well as the mentioned knock sensor. I think they may affect the SC more than the non-SC models. I have over 210k miles of just normal repairs.

I like your blog BTW.

 

[duckhunter71]

I dig it! I'd gladly trade you my black paint for that nice neutral, light paint!

I'm excited to see what you do with it. I've always been a fan of those trucks as well as the second gens like mine.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Thanks guys!

Co-opski, I've been drawing a lot of inspiration from your build. Some of the steering weaknesses will be addressed very soon. And mine is an '03 so I have the one piece driveshaft. Oh, and the timing set was replaced within the last couple thousand. I'm sure it will give me many years of faithful service, as Nissans do. I'm absolutely loving it so far. Much more confidence in it than the Discovery. And thanks for checking out the blog!

Duckhunter, thanks! Stay tuned, got a couple of things coming up soon! I'm going to outline most things on here, details on my website.

 

[Co-opski]

My $0.02 on the steering is, get the Total Chaos idler arm brace, Bandit 4x4 bushings and AC HD tierod adjusters and some good TREs and you will be set or just get the Calmini set up (the biger tires will be harder on your steering). I am looking to dump the HooHa Grassroots centerlink as it has slop worse than my old stock center link did at 150k miles. I can truly say it is a flaw in the design not the install that made the slop. The guys at my shop build desert race trucks and they know long travel ifs systems well. Problem is I have to get new pitman and idler arms as I drilled out mine when I went with the Hooha system. Just saving you a $229+ mistake I made.

Good news about the timing belt, and drive shaft. I feel just as confident that I could pick up and drive to the lower 48 towing a load with this truck at 210k as I did driving up at 70k miles. They are built well.
BTW a scan tool like scan gauge or one of the iphone aps are nice if you do trip codes. I keep tripping the 0455 and 03xx ( I think xx=27) having to do with the vacuum lines and the charcoal canister. I have a new canister but just don't feel like laying on my back in the snow and mud to put it on.

 

[roninjiro]

I am starting to notice a lot of Dr. Who fans on this forum lately :sombrero:

 

[Slicky72]

My $0.02 on the steering is, get the Total Chaos idler arm brace, Bandit 4x4 bushings and AC HD tierod adjusters and some good TREs and you will be set or just get the Calmini set up (the biger tires will be harder on your steering). I am looking to dump the HooHa Grassroots centerlink as it has slop worse than my old stock center link did at 150k miles. I can truly say it is a flaw in the design not the install that made the slop. The guys at my shop build desert race trucks and they know long travel ifs systems well. Problem is I have to get new pitman and idler arms as I drilled out mine when I went with the Hooha system. Just saving you a $229+ mistake I made.

What was the flaw you noticed with the Hoohaa link ?

 

[wreckdiver1321]

First, a bit of flag waving!

I went down to my local graphics shop and had some more of these made up. Custom dimensions to fit the truck.







Then I was in the process of trying to figure out how to mount my Hi-Lift, and I noticed there were some hooks already bolted to the bed. I discovered I could hang the foot of the jack off one of these hooks and the jack would lay over the wheel well.



So, I dropped about $8 on some hardware and did a little drilling.





I grabbed some of the Hi-Lift mounting hardware I had for the BajaRack on my Discovery to use on this mount.



And here is the final product:



It does jut out into the bed space a little bit, but not too bad. I'm happy with it!

 

[wreckdiver1321]

My $0.02 on the steering is, get the Total Chaos idler arm brace, Bandit 4x4 bushings and AC HD tierod adjusters and some good TREs and you will be set or just get the Calmini set up (the biger tires will be harder on your steering). I am looking to dump the HooHa Grassroots centerlink as it has slop worse than my old stock center link did at 150k miles. I can truly say it is a flaw in the design not the install that made the slop. The guys at my shop build desert race trucks and they know long travel ifs systems well. Problem is I have to get new pitman and idler arms as I drilled out mine when I went with the Hooha system. Just saving you a $229+ mistake I made.

Good news about the timing belt, and drive shaft. I feel just as confident that I could pick up and drive to the lower 48 towing a load with this truck at 210k as I did driving up at 70k miles. They are built well.
BTW a scan tool like scan gauge or one of the iphone aps are nice if you do trip codes. I keep tripping the 0455 and 03xx ( I think xx=27) having to do with the vacuum lines and the charcoal canister. I have a new canister but just don't feel like laying on my back in the snow and mud to put it on.

Good info to know. I had planned on the brace, the bushings, and the tie rod adjusters. I'll have to check out the TREs too. I'll definitely be carrying a couple as trail spares. I greatly appreciate the advice, I'll make sure to avoid the center link. I was also planning on a steering stabilizer. Any input here?

I've also changed up my suspension plan a little bit. I'm just going to re-index the front (about 1.75") and do a custom leaf pack in the rear. I think keeping the lift minimal is a good idea.

I am starting to notice a lot of Dr. Who fans on this forum lately :sombrero:

Best show in the universe!

 

[Co-opski]

What was the flaw you noticed with the Hoohaa link ?

The flat washers and the bolts for the spherical bearings are junk, when torked down the washers deform into the pitman and idler arm. They make Spherical washers for applications like this. The spherical bearings were painted over and had little to no movement from day one. The castle nut sheers off the cotter pin from all the force on the bolt and nut, and the bolt it is fully threaded so as the threads will deform and they start to saw into and wallow out the pitman and idler arm holes and start to give you slop and random pops of unwanted movement.

All I know is the stock one lasted 8 years and over 100k miles and the Hooha I was wishing I could change it out in the first 3 months I had it.

I've also changed up my suspension plan a little bit. I'm just going to re-index the front (about 1.75") and do a custom leaf pack in the rear. I think keeping the lift minimal is a good idea.

That is what I did, clears 32 with some mud flap trimming, I like it simple and easy.

I was also planning on a steering stabilizer. Any input here?

I went with AC Bilstein, it does have less bump steer, easy to install and quality product. Well the shock is quality the brackets are just that chunks of metal but the holes align.