Nissan Frontier

[OSRC]

Officially sick of jeeps. Time for something different!!

I'm dying to build a Nissan Xterra to match my 1:1, but until either my styrene skills catch up or someone comes out with one, this 1st gen Frontier will have to do.

I've been collecting parts and working on this one for the past few months - bear with the pics, most are out of order.

Overview of the chassis, I wanted to keep the drop bed intact, so I hacked off a lot of the chassis out back. Brace is there to stiffen things back up. Trimmed up the front as well to fit under the grill.


Front suspension - 80mm shocks for now, but they don't work for jack - will try a rebuild, but most likely going back to the stockers.


Had to get creative with the rear suspension....this took forever to sort out. Builders block I guess. Ended up going with inline shocks and a 3 link on the rear axle. Laid the shocks down as much as possible...Everything is nice and smooth, and flex is perfect for the size of this body.



Sitting at about ride height. Wife loves when I work on RC's at the kitchen table. Not just for dinner anymore.


Tucks almost perfect, the 1.55 MTZ's are almost spot on. Almost. I already opened up the wheelwells a bit, going to have to do some more clearancing up front.



View from the back...love the tailgate!


Nice little trick....we all know CC's benefit a lot from weight down low, right? Going to far? NAH!!


More to come

[SFC K]

Nice looking Nissan! I like your mods you made to the rear chassis! I wish I was still running the stock plastic arms. That is a great idea for adding weight down low.

[OSRC]

Thanks! How about this one - stuffed 3 oz. of lead in the "chassis rails"...ran it all the way along the back under the battery too. Pretty much as low as I can get it. Makes a ton of difference.



So - Finally finished up the body mounts, threw in some electronics (65t integy and a Hobbyking 35a ESC) and took it out for a quick test run.

Swapped the front shocks for a set of standard Tamiya CVA'a (work great, don't know why I bother to try and swap them) and a set of soft springs. Pretty much nailed it. Rear is another story - too stiff, doesn't quite tuck as well as I'd like, and way, way too much dropout of the axle. Just sitting too high overall.

Snapped a few pics of course.





Fully extended, can see it's way too much. Not building a baja runner here!


So a bit more work on the suspension and a little more body work and it'll be ready for Sunday's trail run.

[Zukiiholic]

Looks Really good.
I'm gonna have to try out on of those CC-01s

[OSRC]

Love these little rigs. 2 more in the works.

Zukiiholic if you expect it to drive like an SCX, you'll be sorely disappointed. If you come at it as it's a very different truck and therefore has to be driven differently, they're quite fun.

[Zukiiholic]

I do know there is gonna be a Big Difference in crawlin ability,
But that is half the fun..
I need a IFS w/straight axle rear for a 1-1 build.
I have a Yeti on the way (still) but I know it will be too wide for my Zuki Body to
be a Scaler..

[Skirts]

What brand body is that?

[OSRC]

No idea, came on a toy of some sort

[OSRC]

Closing the loop on this build...

Redid the rear suspension a bit - added a few o-rings on the shock shafts to limit downtravel, added some softer springs, and went to 40wt oil. Also clearanced the back of the chassis a bit so the axle could tuck up a bit higher. Suspension all around was perfect - a bit light, but the truck just floated over the terrain while the suspension soaked up all the hits. Looked perfect tooling around on the trail.

Yesterday's maiden run at Gleen Lane park...Very muddy conditions, and didn't have time to add some of the scale details I have here, but went out anyway



Looks like a great spot for some quad action...



Found a Nismo sticker in my pile o'decals


It's well known that I don't go in water or deep mud on our trail runs....PROOF that sometimes I live on the wild side.


I thought the 1.55 MTZ's would limit this truck due to the smaller ground clearance, but they bit pretty hard, even packed up with mud. Really, the biggest obstacle to overcome was the front and rear overhang - really had to be mindful of what I was trying to go over. No biggie, it's a scale truck and I was good with it. All in all, worked out very well, and a fun driving truck.

[Louisbaby]

I really love this truck dude... In South Africa we call them Nissan Hardbody's. I'd love to know where I can get that shell...

[Deerhurst]

Originally Posted by Louisbaby

I really love this truck dude... In South Africa we call them Nissan Hardbody's. I'd love to know where I can get that shell...

Shouldnt be a Hardbody, I have one. The HB was D21, this is an early frontier and should be a D22. Should be the Navara over there.

The lid looks to be from something like a New Bright body.

[Louisbaby]

Nope, the Navara looks totally different here. We never had a frontier here in SA.