Mukiwa Build Thread
I have a 2003 Nissan Xterra with 150 000kms. It's totally stock and as some of my "truck" friends say it's kinda a soccer mom vehicle... Not that I agree at all. I'm hoping to make it more of an expedition type off road vehicle. Not a jacked up rock crawler, mudding machine with 44" tires but a comfortable for the long haul and very sure-footed on a challenging trail expedition vehicle.
Stage 1
[x] Tires - 31' Kelly Safari TSR (My tires were already ratty so it was a good excuse)
[x] PML
[ ] Bilstines all round
[ ] Paint Rims
[x] Paint Rack
[x] Dephep Rack
[ ] Tire spacers (1.5') or maybe new rims with less backspace ***What would you do?? Advise welcome***
[x] CB with PA system
[ ] Front Lights
[x] Side Lights
[x] Rear Lights
[x] Rear Storage organiser
[ ] Timing Belt
[ ] Resonator Mod
[x] Rear Sway Bar, Mud Flaps, and side step delete
[x] Raised rear diff breather
Stage 2
[ ] Exhaust (Flowmaster super 44)
[ ] Snorkel
[ ] Sliders
[ ] Skid Plates
[ ] Rear Bumper w/ Tire Holder
[ ] 3" Suspension Lift
As it sits now:
Tires - Kelly Safari TSR's great tires!!
I finally got round to instaling my blue sea fuse box and cb radio/pa system today...
The red wires running along the firewall are going to the cb. I'm going to put it all in that black hose stuff when I have all my lights etc wired up.
The wires going throu the grommet... I only had red wire so I wrapped black tape every few inches on the negative wire to destinguish between the two.
My wife drives the X to work most of the time and she didnt want the CB on the dash or anywhere in sight lol this works pretty good thou.
I had it all wired up and when I went to put the fuse in it kept blowing ... uuggg short somwhere... sure enough I had forgoten to tape up a connection and the two wires were touching at the connections. Its all working now thou.
After having piles of junk colecting in the back of the X I decided its time for a rear cargo organizer. I read every post on clubx and other sites like expeditionportal which have lots of info on the topic... Finaly I drew out a plan and went to town.
I dont have any pics of it being built as I was busy building it and forgot to take pics. But I have the finnished product so far.
Bought the Drawer sliders at RONA for $20 bucks a pair
Found some rubber sheeting at work and snuck it out lol
The rubber worked perfectly to stop things from sliding around
Bottom "Tool" Drawer
Handles also from RONA $4
The handle made lots of noise when I was driving so I put some rubber under the bottom screw... I"ll see how that works
Top Drawer with a few parts for mods to come
2 Rubber Maids or a Cooler fit in the open side
Storage for my recovery gear in the space behind the seat... easy access
There are a few more things I will be adding such as some sort of rack or bin on top so I can put stuff on top without them falling off the side. Also planning on putting my inverter on the side and a flashlight mount somewhere. Another thing I thought of after I had already started was sleeping in the X would be kinda hard with a huge box in the back, but I figured if I can take the box our where ever I'm camping and use it as a kitchen area... I was looking at another write up here on club X I think it was KUMA who made something similar with a fold over sleeping area which is another option in the future. But so far it works great and everything is neat and tidy...
On my last camping trip I had a rare lightbulb moment and though of using the box as a kitchen when at a campsite with no picknic table and it worked awsome
I had a small safe kicking around and decided to put it into the back of the box so it is accessed from behind the seat. I bolted it down to the bottom of the box so if someone wants to steal it
they will have to run off with a big wooden box... good luck getting very far lol.
Cutting a hole in the back of the box.
Safe in place bolted down to the bottom of the box.
And finnaly I painted it with bedliner to take away the rough wood look and it looks much better. Im still trying to decide if I should put aluminum edging on it...
I also painted the back of the box and finnished adding all the stuff including a shotgun mount. I wanted a hidden spot with easy access and this works the best.
Note: This pic is from the front seats looking back with the rear seats folded down.
Thats it for now although I still have more plans for it... This is almost a thread within a thread! Inception.
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Finally!!
