Newbie to X-Terra

[HPilot]

But not new to 4 wheeling. I used to have an 88 Ranger and a 79 Chevy c20, both built for serious off roading. I used to be into the scene heavy when I lived in Western PA. Now I live in DE and will probably get involved with the MAXC and get back into the circle again. I'm buying an '03 Supercharged and am hoping to get some input on these trucks. Reliability, offroad-ability, etc. I'm a tuner at heart, so I'm hoping to do some development work on boosting 'the boost' and getting more grunt from the motor. Has anyone done anything to the supercharged engines yet for additional HP? I see that there is a company that offers a stepper pulley, but no change to ECU mapping? That seems to be inaccurate with my experience that mroe boost needs more fuel and agressive timing. I have a dyno that I'll be using to do the development. I'm bringing over some technology from the import tuner world. This truck is a purchase to replace my totalled Civic Si which I had been doing development work on via Hondata (remapped ecu's). One thing I am concerned with is the drivetrain and it's ability to handle addtional horsepower. It will be fun getting back into off-roading again. I hope this truck is a good choice. Thanks in advance for any input.

[Schludwiller]

Hmmmm....let's see.

The S/C uses premium gas which is at $2/gal now.

From what I've heard most boost isn't apparent until 4k or over (I usually never go over 3.5 or 4k when driving). It's a heavy truck, so I just poke along and go for getting better gas mileage in the city.

The S/C owners "sound" like they're having more problems or quirks, including the engine shutting down on highways (part of their recall I believe).

The S/C is an add-on to the old engine, not part of a integrated design, so maybe that's why it's impact is limited.

Nissan moved the e-brake to the floor for the 2003, so if you offroad you're screwed as far as using this for a driving technique.

The Xterra clutch is a weak link in the system. Many of us that offroad are waiting for lower transfer case gears to come along so we don't have to go through clutches prematurely. However I still would rather have the standard than the auto.

As another option, you could buy a 2000 or 2001 and put in some of the engine performance mods that are slowly coming out. But it wil still be a heavy truck that just gets heavier as you put the offroading gear on it (ARB, skids, rear tire carrier, equipment, etc).

So where am I going with this? It is a good truck (actually a great truck for its utility and performance/price ratio). 3 of our clubmembers spent the weekend doing as much or more than the Disco we were travelling with could do. I'm just not sure how good a truck it is to spend trying to crank HP out of. It's got good torque, and if lower t-case gears come out, it will have more climbing ability than the truck can probably handle design-wise.

Check out www.spencerlowracing.com They've got some performance mods that you could look through.

Also hanging out with MAXC will give you a lot of info on what mods they've done.

[Schludwiller]

Oh, and it's Xterra, not X-terra.

[HPilot]

Thaks for the honest reply. I've been poking around at some different sites and found some very useful info from a guy who owns a SC Frontier. Looks like there is some good growth potential for the Xterra. I also saw that someone has available a transfer case gear that dops the ratio quite considerably. I can't remember where I saw it though. Nothing will probably ever touch my Muncie 4 with a granny 1st combined with a super low 4 transfer case in my 79 Chevy. That truck took me just about everywhere. As far as gas prices, my Si (RIP) was req. to have premium, so I'm used to that high priced petrol. What is the compression ratio on the SC 3.3? I really tweeked my fuel and igntion timing and was probably filling the 11 gallon tank 1.5 times/ wk travelling 70 miles per day back and forth to work. That was with aggressive driving though. The Xterra wont require any high adrenaline driving unless I decide to take an off raod path to work
Are the '03 models part of the recall?
I am very pleased with the torque readings. Just seems that getting a little top end could assist with things. Especially those highway passing situations. That seemed to be the only let down of my test drive, but I may just be used to 185 HP at 8700 RPMs in a 2600 lb car.
I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone in the Xterra community. Thanks again for your input.

[ChuckH]

But if you're like me and keep adding weight you'll be looking for the supercharger. If I can come up with the money it looks like I may be doing an aftermarket SC on my 2000 along with headers. Just can't find the money right now. The power from the SC comes on at all RPM; not just 4K and above (I drive 4K+ a lot anyway so...). What it does not do is work under normal driving. There is a bypass that allows the SC to push air in only under full throttle but it doesn't matter what RPM's you are turning. This is to save gas, although it still seems to suck it down pretty fast.

Without question if I were to buy a new Xterra it would be supercharged. Two or three fewer Big Mac's a week would pay for the extra gas cost and help my waistline too. I'm tired of pulling out onto streets with no cars within view for 1/4 mile and then only managing to hit 25 MPH before one is on my ass. That and the loaded down minivans with soccermoms at the wheel that have to tap their breaks under acceleration to avoid driving into the back of me. Nissan really dropped the ball in the power department and the SC is not the fix most of us would like to see but it's the only current solution.

I need to rebuild my transmission and plan to put a Centerforce Clutch in at the same time. Hopefully that will ease some of the clutch issues. The Automatic probably works fine with the SC.

Not sure what Nissan was thinking with the parking brake. The hand brake in the dash was bad enough and then they went and put in a foot brake. ANd one that sticks up so high that I can't activate it without opening the door. (most tall and, uh, larger guys would probably find this to be true). Um, hello; hand brake next to the seat next time please!

Overall it's a fun truck and I plan to keep mine for awhile. Certainly one of the better SUV's out there.

[Schludwiller]

BTW, Chuck's a good person to talk to about this. He's still trying to turn his Xterra into the Audi he used to own. :smoker2:

[ChuckH]

Originally posted by Schludwiller
BTW, Chuck's a good person to talk to about this. He's still trying to turn his Xterra into the Audi he used to own. :smoker2:

Yep and I'm finding it difficult to get that ground clearance down to 4 inches or less...ugh!

[Schludwiller]

Two words.....air bags.

Come on you know you want to do it.

[OffroadX]

There are no t-case gears on the market yet, but from my conversation with Steve @ Calmini last week, I deduced that they will be marketed VERY soon. Get 'em early, he hinted prices will be discounted initially.

Some 2003 models are affected by the ABS sensor seal recall, the other 2 recent ones do not apply. However, any unsold vehicles are required to have the repairs made before they can be sold, so nobody should be able to purchase one that will need work done at this point.

The SC engines have stronger con-rods.
If anything, I'd be concerned about the auto tranny holding up under more than 250 hp.

There was this recent discussion from a Nissan Z board, should give you an idea of some of the limitations of the engine:

VGs are very much like L-series in that you can mix and match lots of parts. ALL North American VGs have the same stroke and they all have the same size bearing journals. I do not know about the VG20 found overseas. The VG30E block cannot be bored to use VG33 pistons, the cylinder walls are too thin. The magic formula to build a VG34 is this: Bore a VG33 block .060 over. Use *stock* 1995 Infiniti Q45 pistons, rings, and wrist pins. Use VG30ET rods with custom, larger I.D. small end bushings as the Q45 wrist pins are 1mm larger. You can use any SOHC VG crank (they are ALL cast), but there are differances in front snouts and related accessories so use one you've got all the parts for. Avoid any SOHC VG crank that's been run with a serpentine accesory belt as these tend to break off the crank snout! The above VG34 combination is the one used in the off road trucks. If I remember right this bottom end comes out to 10.5:1 compression, perfect for a street motor. Sly said a VG34 with "good" cams and stock heads will make 250hp on 93 octane in street-trim. With port work and the "right" cams and intake a VG34 can make 300hp on pump gas. Sly says that no matter what you do they won't make power over 6500rpm as the displacement is too big for the head design. The question I've never heard answered is what happens when you turbo a VG34? I don't know anyone that's done it so I don't know what the limit is. I'm guessing the crank will come apart first. I've been told by many that SOHC VG cranks are short lived when 350hp is exceeded. It is possible to use the forged DOHC crank in a SOHC block but it requires a custom flywheel and messing around with a few things to make it go together. It's relatively painless but I've only done one so far. If you are thinking about building any VG be warned that they are difficult and expensive just to rebuild stock. Many automotive machine shops cannot hold the tolerances neccesary to make a VG live, especially if it's warmed-over. Rebuild parts are also expensive, but then they should last 200k miles.


Brent

[HPilot]

I've been reading a lot of everyone's posts here. You guys seem to be a good bunch and I will appreciate all of your knowledge and assistance going into this project. Thanks for the replies. Looking forward to getting to know everyone here.

[Schludwiller]

Originally posted by HPilot
I've been reading a lot of everyone's posts here. You guys seem to be a good bunch and I will appreciate all of your knowledge and assistance going into this project. Thanks for the replies. Looking forward to getting to know everyone here.

This board has had it's up and downs. We focus on mainly 4x4 issues. Because of that we don't get a ton of traffic, but it's on topic and doesn't get a lot of chafe. The server slowdown reduced a lot of visitors, but we're getting back to speed with the new server.

We try to keep people on track and reduce flaming, trolls, etc.

It's also kindof interesting how things have changed. It used to be that everyone was hacking together upgrades and exchanging info with each other on the net to figure out how to get the most out of their trucks. Now there are manufacturers that do some of the things we had to figure out ourselves, and also many people have come close to toppping out how much they're going to do. So we'll see how it goes. I wish more people would add to the trips section. It's always good to see where people are going. The "posing on a rock" thread was a favorite too.

So, anyway, blah, blah, blah. Glad to see we're being helpful.