NK2007
07-31-2007, 11:13 AM
Hey guys!
First, a little about me:
My name is Neill, im 18. I Currently live in Colorado Springs- but only for the next three weeks. I am headed to Ft. Collins to study Mechanical Engineering at CSU. I have been involved in Rocky Mountain Robotics (http://www.rockymountainrobotics.com) for my four years of high school, and was VP of the Drivetrain and Manipulator subteams in 2006 and 2007 respectively. I have worked at Alpine Computers for over a year and am the Senior Technician. I also started a computer gaming center (Alpine Gaming Center) for my boss, and wrote all of the scripts to automate everything.
I've always been interested in cars, as my dad has a 67 Fairlane 500 vert that we have worked on. My parents wouldn't allow me to buy a car until i became an Eagle Scout, which i have recently. So instead of working on my own car, I worked on friends cars- Mainly a 95 mustang GT (Custom Saleen Body kit, subs, exhaust, minor engine) and a 93 BMW 325i ( E46 M3 Bodykit, CAI, Chip, and most recently and auto to manual tranny swap, which lead to rebuilding the engine thanks to a missed shift at the top of 4th gear at 7000 rpm (into third!?!?)) So as you can hopefully see, im not some punk kid that thinks rice is cool or that nos stickers add 100 hp. I know my sh!t and if i don't know something, Ill do my research before attempting anything.
Now about the ride:
With receiving Eagle Scout in June, I began looking for a truck. I have several friends with 4x4 lifted jeeps that go wheeling, and had always been interested in off-roading. My train of thought was that if i were to get a car, id make it go fast and end up getting tickets, and if id get a truck, id take it off road.I origionally was looking for an early bronco (66-77), but we found my 2000 Xterra for a good deal compared to all other x's on the market. Its pretty damn nice for a first car. Unfortunately it is only a 2wd.
However, I am thinking on either converting it to a stock 4wd (anyone doing a SAS that would be interested in selling the front axle assembly?) or just go ahead and do a SAS while im at it. I have been told that it would be cheaper to just buy a 4x4, but at the price i got my truck, the cheapest 4wd i found was $4k more. I would really like to kill two birds with one stone and do a SAS, but still need to do a lot more research on everything involving converting a 4x2 to 4x4.
Like I said, right now my truck is pretty much completely stock. The only exception is that the entire interior is gutted as the previous owner smoked, and I am cleaning everything. (if you have any tips, feel free to mention them - i already tried steam cleaning and that helped with the dirt stains but the smell is still there.) I ripped out the entire dash and cleaned the air ducts, surfaces, etc. Another thing i plan to do is remove the tacky mud flaps and stock step bars, as one is bent already.
I will need new tires before winter and would like to put at least 33s if not 35's on, so i was looking at a 3" body lift. However, I have read that people are getting too high with a SAS and a 2" BL, so i don't know if i want to spent that money (especially on a 2wd in case i end up selling it for a 4x4.)
I dont have any pictures of it currently, but once i get the interior back in, i plan to polish it up and do a photoshoot (I am a self-procliamed (not very good) amature photog with an Canon dRebel XTi, 70-200 f/2.8 L, and an external flash)
Anyway, sorry for the extremely long post and hopefully i didn't bore too many people. Nice to meet everyone and find a Nissan club in CO.
~Neill
First, a little about me:
My name is Neill, im 18. I Currently live in Colorado Springs- but only for the next three weeks. I am headed to Ft. Collins to study Mechanical Engineering at CSU. I have been involved in Rocky Mountain Robotics (http://www.rockymountainrobotics.com) for my four years of high school, and was VP of the Drivetrain and Manipulator subteams in 2006 and 2007 respectively. I have worked at Alpine Computers for over a year and am the Senior Technician. I also started a computer gaming center (Alpine Gaming Center) for my boss, and wrote all of the scripts to automate everything.
I've always been interested in cars, as my dad has a 67 Fairlane 500 vert that we have worked on. My parents wouldn't allow me to buy a car until i became an Eagle Scout, which i have recently. So instead of working on my own car, I worked on friends cars- Mainly a 95 mustang GT (Custom Saleen Body kit, subs, exhaust, minor engine) and a 93 BMW 325i ( E46 M3 Bodykit, CAI, Chip, and most recently and auto to manual tranny swap, which lead to rebuilding the engine thanks to a missed shift at the top of 4th gear at 7000 rpm (into third!?!?)) So as you can hopefully see, im not some punk kid that thinks rice is cool or that nos stickers add 100 hp. I know my sh!t and if i don't know something, Ill do my research before attempting anything.
Now about the ride:
With receiving Eagle Scout in June, I began looking for a truck. I have several friends with 4x4 lifted jeeps that go wheeling, and had always been interested in off-roading. My train of thought was that if i were to get a car, id make it go fast and end up getting tickets, and if id get a truck, id take it off road.I origionally was looking for an early bronco (66-77), but we found my 2000 Xterra for a good deal compared to all other x's on the market. Its pretty damn nice for a first car. Unfortunately it is only a 2wd.
However, I am thinking on either converting it to a stock 4wd (anyone doing a SAS that would be interested in selling the front axle assembly?) or just go ahead and do a SAS while im at it. I have been told that it would be cheaper to just buy a 4x4, but at the price i got my truck, the cheapest 4wd i found was $4k more. I would really like to kill two birds with one stone and do a SAS, but still need to do a lot more research on everything involving converting a 4x2 to 4x4.
Like I said, right now my truck is pretty much completely stock. The only exception is that the entire interior is gutted as the previous owner smoked, and I am cleaning everything. (if you have any tips, feel free to mention them - i already tried steam cleaning and that helped with the dirt stains but the smell is still there.) I ripped out the entire dash and cleaned the air ducts, surfaces, etc. Another thing i plan to do is remove the tacky mud flaps and stock step bars, as one is bent already.
I will need new tires before winter and would like to put at least 33s if not 35's on, so i was looking at a 3" body lift. However, I have read that people are getting too high with a SAS and a 2" BL, so i don't know if i want to spent that money (especially on a 2wd in case i end up selling it for a 4x4.)
I dont have any pictures of it currently, but once i get the interior back in, i plan to polish it up and do a photoshoot (I am a self-procliamed (not very good) amature photog with an Canon dRebel XTi, 70-200 f/2.8 L, and an external flash)
Anyway, sorry for the extremely long post and hopefully i didn't bore too many people. Nice to meet everyone and find a Nissan club in CO.
~Neill