DMSKI's 2000 Xterra slow build

Dmski

Adventurer
After 2,431 miles, 5 states and 7 days my trip has sadly come to an end. Moab was an absolute blast and I recommend anyone to make the trip down and enjoy what the area has to offer! 13 of my friends packed up a Chevy Suburban, Toyota Highlander and my Nissan Xterra and headed east from Spokane, WA on I-90. We headed through Idaho and then into Montana where we headed south on I-15 back into Idaho and finally into Utah ending in Moab after 2 days on the road. Beginning Sunday we headed to Canyonlands where we backpacked for 3 days in the national park. Weather was perfect with highs of 70 in the day and nights getting into the mid 30's.











From there we went back to Moab proper where we stayed in a hostel for two days. We rented bikes and rode the Bar M area and had a blast for the whole day! Thursday morning 3 of my roommates and myself woke up at 5am and took the Xterra to Telluride, Coloroado to go skiing. One of the coolest driving roads and I had wished I were on my motorcycle instead of the slow X but still can't complain about driving through highway 90 to 142. Bluebird day and awesome views. Couldn't breath worth a damn at 13,000ft when we hiked the peak but was completely worth it! Stayed in the town that night and headed back to Moab on Friday.




And some video's my friend was filming atop Telluride:




We had some time to kill so was able to go offroading at the local spot. Did Baby Lion's back twice (both ways) and Fins N' Things which was sweet! Decided to call it on the back stretch when a part of the trail was too much for my skills and I opted for safety and no damage since we would need the car to drive the 800 miles back home. I would have loved to spend more time offroading there given the chance! X did great for having 4 people in the car and full roof pod and back full. I am probably one of the few that can say they've done Moab trails with ski's and boots in the rack!


Some vid's on Baby Lion's Back:


And one from Fins N' Things:


Saturday we drove to Lava hot springs in Idaho where we enjoyed a dip and camped for the night. Sunday we drove the rest of the way home! Only complaint about the Xterra is the low HP... I was having power and gas tank capacity envy! Doing 80+ it just sucks the fuel but that's what you get with a 170hp engine paired to 4.9 gears and loaded with 4-5 ppl, ski gear and packs for everyone.
 

Dmski

Adventurer
Thanks everyone for the positive posts! I need to do more off-roading and less tinkering...

Well another update, maintenance style. So sent it in to get a trailer wiring harness installed (why it didn't come with one I'll never know) and had them do a general check over before moving back to Seattle. Valve cover gaskets and manifolds were cracked and leaking. Off to rock auto I went. Picked up everything I need for a mere $150 shipped, while the stealership quoted me at $1800 for the repair. I know that its mostly man hours that they go for but still.

That being said, though I did get parts for cheap, the labor is insane on this project. Took me a day to do the gaskets alone which included left and right valve covers and the intake plenum gaskets. I haven't even started the manifolds.

Jurry rigged plenum:




I dont' usually do these kinds of photos, but man this is a pain. I hope to never do it again:


Passengers side isn't so bad. Maybe 40 min and I had it open. It was dirty so that took some time to clean:


And the gaskets. Brittle and one was cracked in half already:
 
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Dmski

Adventurer
Well. Its official. I have sold the old Xterra. Though it was always a great rig and fun to drive, the power and on highway comfort/towing that I saw much of the time outweighed keeping it. A great rig and it will be missed.

Now, the new rig:) I've posted on here for others input and was trying to decide between a few options. There are so many decent rigs that make great build platforms, it was almost overwhelming. I felt a bit like a kid in a toy store, running over here and looking at this, then going the opposite direction and looking at that. But the vehichles that made my short list were the 2nd Gen Xterra, Toyota Land Crusier 100 and the R50 Pathfinder. It was more a choice of what ended up showing up first with the right things.

Low and behold, I'm now a proud owner of a 2006 Nissan Xterra with just shy of 60k miles. It needs a good detailing and a full service (I've started collecting all the necessary gear oil) but otherwise is in great shape! Pics to come later, and I'll likely start a new build thread and keep these separate so as not to confuse people. The goal for this rig is much more long term, as it really is everything I've wanted. I'll be doing a stage 0 and swapping all fluids and doing it's 60k mile service. I'm also worried about the infamous "Strawbery Milkshake of Death" and while it is good now, who knows what could happen. So, i'll be working on either a Radiator upgrade or bypass and adding an additional Trans cooler. Anyone have thoughts on this? After this, I'm going to try and keep it relatively stock for now, but I'm planning a much more purpose built rig to sleep in for skiing and camping/hiking as well as the offroad trips I try to do every month or so.

Stay tuned!
 

stioc

Expedition Leader
Congrats! Great choice and I'm glad you stayed in the family. Can't wait to see the pics and what you do with it.
 

theBostonianX

Adventurer
Nice!
Swapping the Radiator is the only sure way to do it. Luckily, my radiator cracked under warranty and was covered.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk
 

wreckdiver1321

Overlander
Excellent buy! Congrats on the upgrade!

As far as the SMOD, I'd do the bypass for now and look at trans cooler options down the line. They handle being bypassed fairly well, at least in my experience, and it's such an easy and simple job to do for the amount of worrying it saves you that it's totally worthwhile.
 

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