Jeff's 2000 Xterra SAS Build

[Jeff]

I've been building this rig for the past 2 years, at time of posting, and I figured I would share what ive done.

Drivetrain:
Dana 44 from jeep j10 Front
TJM air locker front
2000-2001 LSD rear
4.88 gears


Suspension:
Single radius arm
12 in coil overs
Mid high steer Heim steering

 

[Jeff]

This build is always changing as im figuring out how to fix my hair brain ideas or just make it better.

 

[Jeff]

Some of the whole rig

 

[00nissanguy]

Hell ya. Rig looks great

 

[Jeff]

Hell ya. Rig looks great

Thanks! it's a work in progress.

 

[Jeff]

Some updates, added hydro assist, 38s, working on a doubler, did a manual swaps and had a blast at hammers.

 

[bgaidan]

Some updates, added hydro assist, 38s, working on a doubler, did a manual swaps and had a blast at hammers.

Are you the one selling the doubler plates on FB?

 

[Fourseater74]

What hydro assist did you go with?

 

[06h3]

Love the ride height. I feel like most SAS Xterras are too tall

 

[Jeff]

Are you the one selling the doubler plates on FB?

haha yeah. I just got a prototype from the water jet

 

[Jeff]

Love the ride height. I feel like most SAS Xterras are too tall

Thanks. I think im about 4 inch of lift over stock. removing the roof rack helps make it seem lower too.

 

[Jeff]

What hydro assist did you go with?

its a custom set up hobbled together from used parts

 

[bgaidan]

haha yeah. I just got a prototype from the water jet

I pioneered that shit about 15 years ago.

Put me on the list for one if you end up making the .

Pretty sure I was the first to figure it out. Another guy in south America did almost the same exact thing a couple years later without ever seeing mine. There's another guy in our club with a '95 hb that also made one a couple years ago.

If you can pull it off as cheap as you said on FB I have a feeling there's gonna be a run in auto trans housings!

 

[Jeff]

Dude! thats so cool! thanks for your work!

yeah, I think ill be able to get them for 80-100$ in 3/4 al plate, if I can get 10 people to pull the trigger.

Ive been thinking about pulling a few tail housings out of the jy in prep.

shoot me a PM on FB!

 

[bgaidan]

Dude! thats so cool! thanks for your work!

yeah, I think ill be able to get them for 80-100$ in 3/4 al plate, if I can get 10 people to pull the trigger.

Ive been thinking about pulling a few tail housings out of the jy in prep.

shoot me a PM on FB!

I did all that shit free-hand with transfer punches and my eyeballs too! I had zero CAD access back then! I just happened to have torn down a blown up t-case and started looking at the output shaft and thought...."that kind of looks like the same spline count as the input" and sure enough it fit. And then I had a random auto trans that I accidentally bought on ebay. I tore it down because I was bored and scrapped the guts but somehow kept the output housing.....and things just kind of went together.


The other guy in our group that made his back in '17 (could have sworn that was only 2 years ago) got a little fancier and joined a local "maker space" to get access to a cnc mill to machine it as well as the welder to TIG the case closed.

I've got a CNC mill and we've talked about making adapters but never got around to it. Then again, I bought the material to make plenum spacers for the superchargers like 3 years ago and that still hasn't happened. Someone was supposed to draw up the pattern for me and never did.




Have you looked at making the filler plate to close the case off too? I ran several bolts in to my filler plate and I think I even routed a slight groove in it to give the RTV something to bite in to because I was afraid that part was going to warp and leak. I made a jig that bolted to the case and the filler to "hang" it there flush with the mating surface of the case when I had it welded.



Edit:

I'll have to find the post on FB again. I know I'll be in for one and at least one other guy in our group wants one. We have a big run at windrock this weekend so I'll see if any of the other D21/D22 guys want one.

 

[Jeff]

I did all that shit free-hand with transfer punches and my eyeballs too! I had zero CAD access back then! I just happened to have torn down a blown up t-case and started looking at the output shaft and thought...."that kind of looks like the same spline count as the input" and sure enough it fit. And then I had a random auto trans that I accidentally bought on ebay. I tore it down because I was bored and scrapped the guts but somehow kept the output housing.....and things just kind of went together.


The other guy in our group that made his back in '17 (could have sworn that was only 2 years ago) got a little fancier and joined a local "maker space" to get access to a cnc mill to machine it as well as the welder to TIG the case closed.

I've got a CNC mill and we've talked about making adapters but never got around to it. Then again, I bought the material to make plenum spacers for the superchargers like 3 years ago and that still hasn't happened. Someone was supposed to draw up the pattern for me and never did.




Have you looked at making the filler plate to close the case off too? I ran several bolts in to my filler plate and I think I even routed a slight groove in it to give the RTV something to bite in to because I was afraid that part was going to warp and leak. I made a jig that bolted to the case and the filler to "hang" it there flush with the mating surface of the case when I had it welded.



Edit:

I'll have to find the post on FB again. I know I'll be in for one and at least one other guy in our group wants one. We have a big run at windrock this weekend so I'll see if any of the other D21/D22 guys want one.

Nice! I was going to do it by hand as well. but then I found a guy who have me the CAD file so I didn't have to mess with it.

I will end up getting a block off plate laser cut too.

ill draw the plentum spacer for you. just send me the gasket or whatever and ill get it done for you.

 

[bgaidan]

Nice! I was going to do it by hand as well. but then I found a guy who have me the CAD file so I didn't have to mess with it.

I will end up getting a block off plate laser cut too.

ill draw the plentum spacer for you. just send me the gasket or whatever and ill get it done for you.

We were supposed to have someone CMM the plenum to get it perfect. I can sit down and measure it out, I'm just lazy.

And the gaskets are special to the SC plenum and only available from Nissan so the plan was to use the same pattern and have someone burn some gaskets out for us too.

Of course the spacer will only work if you have a body lift, which I don't so I'll either need to lift it or cut a hole in the hood.

 

[Jeff]

We were supposed to have someone CMM the plenum to get it perfect. I can sit down and measure it out, I'm just lazy.

And the gaskets are special to the SC plenum and only available from Nissan so the plan was to use the same pattern and have someone burn some gaskets out for us too.

Of course the spacer will only work if you have a body lift, which I don't so I'll either need to lift it or cut a hole in the hood.

got it.

 

[Jeff]

We were supposed to have someone CMM the plenum to get it perfect. I can sit down and measure it out, I'm just lazy.

And the gaskets are special to the SC plenum and only available from Nissan so the plan was to use the same pattern and have someone burn some gaskets out for us too.

Of course the spacer will only work if you have a body lift, which I don't so I'll either need to lift it or cut a hole in the hood.

What did you do for a rear driveshaft after you installed the doubler?

 

[bgaidan]

What did you do for a rear driveshaft after you installed the doubler?

I cobbled something out of like 3 different shafts. I have a 9" rear and I think I used some weird companion flange from a thunderbird or something.

This is on my hardbody, which really has never been official completed. It's the next one to go on the lift and get chopped up and rebuilt once I get the new clutch installed in my xterra.

 

[Jeff]

I cobbled something out of like 3 different shafts. I have a 9" rear and I think I used some weird companion flange from a thunderbird or something.

This is on my hardbody, which really has never been official completed. It's the next one to go on the lift and get chopped up and rebuilt once I get the new clutch installed in my xterra.

oh got it. if the DS single or double cardan?

 

[bgaidan]

oh got it. if the DS single or double cardan?

Double, with not enough angle/flex.

I have a "new" 20 year-old calmini SYE to go in it whenever I get around to finishing it.

From what I remember on the lengths, i could almost get away with the same length front and rear shafts. But that's an extended cab HB. X will be about 10" shorter on the rear.

 

[Jeff]

Double, with not enough angle/flex.

I have a "new" 20 year-old calmini SYE to go in it whenever I get around to finishing it.

From what I remember on the lengths, i could almost get away with the same length front and rear shafts. But that's an extended cab HB. X will be about 10" shorter on the rear.

ok,

m X is 10 inch shorter than the HB for now...... I expect it will become a 4 door frontier sometime soon...ish....

 

[00nissanguy]

Can I get the link to the fb post about the adapter?

So to pull this off I would need an adapter plate, a 2nd case and part of an auto trans correct? I'll have an available auto trans shortly and been wanting duals but can't justify the cost of finding a dana 300 or atlas and adapter

 

[Jeff]

Can I get the link to the fb post about the adapter?

So to pull this off I would need an adapter plate, a 2nd case and part of an auto trans correct? I'll have an available auto trans shortly and been wanting duals but can't justify the cost of finding a dana 300 or atlas and adapter

I just tagged you in it on FB.

yeah thats it. you'll need to cut down the output shaft of the 1st case and cut off and weld a plug into where the 1st case has the chain coming out.

you could have a 2:1 front case and 4:1 rear case for less than the d300 set up. for sure.