They are following me home too!

I know this wont appeal to most of you, but the Impala is a few hundred bucks and a few hours away from being a weekend cruiser and not needing any love other than big money HP parts. In an effort to keep myself from going nuts modding it out and blowing money like crazy, I have been looking for a project rig that I could get into cheap and give me hours of work without blowing tons of money. Enter the new pile...

I fell ass backwards into this one.... 96 Nissan Hardbody 2wd.


I have owned several of these and the are well overbuilt from the factory (Other than their love of rust). I even had one that I got 3/4 way through a 5.0 (Ford) swap and sold. This one is rough, but I bought it for scrap price, already got rid of the bed, and by the time i scrap the motor and trans Ill have about $50 into it.

It will need a new cab and bed, but I bought it for the frame and interior (It has the newer interior I like, in case I buy an older model with the square interior). This will allow me to get the motor mounts and engine mocked up (LS powered obviously), and test out a coil-over swap in the front for handling (Get rid of the torsion bars).

My goal will be a CHEAP LS swap (do my own wiring this time too), comfortably lowered and set up to handle like it's on rails. Coil-overs in the front and possibly the back eventually, 02 WRX seats I already have, and maybe a T56 if I can find one cheap enough. The 4wd versions of these trucks had a stock LSD and 4.36 gears and my buddy has one laying around, so that will be going in too.

I will likely run these stock GMC wheels that are 18x8.5 so I can run some nice fat tires in the rear, because I used to have a set on my 08 GMC and loved them.


I'd like the end product to look something like this Impala-style monochrome look (Minus the lame over-lowered cambered look):


I guess that's about it for now. More to come as it comes together.

That'll be a nice little sleeper

Not sure you gonna want to go topless (way to limiting) but it would look good I agree.

Love these LS swap threads...

OK...MUCH better pic

sdstick wrote:

That'll be a nice little sleeper

Not sure you gonna want to go topless (way to limiting) but it would look good I agree.

Love these LS swap threads...

OK...MUCH better pic

In regards to the topless look...I have had a hard-on to do it for years, but it is a major PITA and after seeing that pic I posted, the open-out sunroof lends a touch of class that I love for some reason, so I might have to just go that route.

My dad had one for the longest time...the speedometer was broken for a year or more after it hit 197K miles, and he drove a lot! I loved it because it was a tall (4WD) little five speed truck that looked like it could get through any path in the woods.

I did a lot of driving in that thing when I had my learners permit, great trucks. And I don't say that often about foreign vehicles!

looking forward to this swap.


Oh and that whole "stanced" thing...really ghey Glad you aren't going that low.

I wanna shake my head at that, but I totally can't. That is going to be... epic.

Hope you have better luck with that word than I do.

Gotta love mini trucks. Gonna be nice.

thanks guys, I'm looking forward to this, even have my eye on an LS truck rotting up in a guys yard...

Yanked the motor tonight and cleared out the engine bay...getting excited!

toomanytoyz wrote:

I wanna shake my head at that, but I totally can't. That is going to be... epic.

Hope you have better luck with that word than I do.

My buddy is a tried-and-true GM man, and he can't understand it at all...he doesn't understand why i would want 300 HP in a 2500 lbs chassis.... What a dumby

Doug

P.S. I need a T56 if I'm going to do this right...

The easy work is done already...

I like where this is going.

Matt Trakker wrote:

Don't think I haven't thought about it, but I am trying to be realistic here. There was a guy on infamousnissan.com doing a mid-engine setup with a Porsche transaxle...it was dope, but mine is a budget build, maybe on the next one though...

Doug