AC 3" Body Lift Install on '91 Nissan Terrano

[shasdakota]

Hi guys and gals (i know we have at least a couple here),

as some of you may know, i recently completed an Automotive Customizers 3" body lift on my 1991 Nissan Terrano.

this is the process i used to install my kit. i did a lot of research before i started and everything came out great without any real problems. the directions that come with the kit are severely lacking, and i would even argue in the wrong order.

These directions will work for Terrano owners, and also Pathfinder owners, although the Pathfinder owners will have a completely different engine bay, and everything will be on opposite sides, as my truck is RHD.

 

Tools Needed:

*metric socket set

*breaker bar OR length of pipe to fit over your ratchet

*screw drivers

*3 ton floor jack (more is better)+ wood to build platform

*saw (to cut wood)

*pump (to drain power steering res) OR turkey baster

*utility knife

*lubricating oil

*rotary dremel type tool or hacksaw (to cut floor)

*rubber mallet (to pound on steering shaft if it doesnt extend)

*torque wrench

 

Optional:

*axle stands

*wheel chocks

*simple green extreme & paper towels (to clean up fluid spills, etc)

*blue lock tight (for body bolts)

 

Additional Parts:

*3/8" hose (to extend power steering output hose)

*rubber (to make larger gap guards in your wheel wells and also make transfercase boots)

 

The AC instructions have you ripping up your engine bay first. we will start with the body bolts. in my research i determined the most common places people have trouble is with removing the 2 rear body bolts, and i also read of people having trouble removing the front bumper if the bolts are seized up and really rusted. so instead of starting by ripping up your engine bay, and then discovering you cant remove your 2 rear body bolts, you'll be able to drive to the store to pick up more tools if needed. where as if you start ripping up your engine bay, you'll have to re-connect everything or take the bus to the store if you dont have a second vehicle. so start by making sure you can crack all your body bolts. and your front bumper. if you cant remove your 2 rear body bolts, you will have to cut through the floor, as illustrated here:

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=5325&st=40

there is also a cleaner way to do this, i saw a thread with pics, but i dont have it. it was done by either "unccpathfinder" or "jadm4x4". they used a hole drill bit.

now we will start with the body lift kit installation i used on my truck.

 

1. Check to see that all body bolts will loosen. i even pulled my old body bolts and replaced them with the new longer body bolts provided with the kit so that the bolts would keep all the holes lined up when i lifted the body away from the frame.

The rear body bolts are accessed from below, there are no nuts.

 

The 4th bolt (2nd last from rear), is found under the rear back seats. you will have to remove the floor boards and trim to be able to pull up the carpet and gain access to the bolt.

 

This is what the 4th bolt will look like after you remove the hard plastic cover over the top of the bolt.

 

I had to chisel the hard plastic cover out. i could not find a way to remove it intact. you may have better luck.

 

The 3rd bolt (middle bolt) is pulled from below. there isnt any nut.

 

The 2nd bolt is located under the carpet in the front seat. you must pull the floor board just like you did in the back seat.

 

This is what you will find. a plastic cap covering the bolt, just like in the back seat.

 

After you remove the cap you will have this:

 

The 1st bolt (front bolt) is at the very front, under the fender.

shown here with 3" spacer already installed. (i dont have a before pic).

 

Place all the bolts you pull seperate zip locks and label. you will be pulling a lot of bolts during this installation, and this will make re-assembly much easier. you can also take pictures before you start dis-assembly to aid in re-assembly.

 

(To be continued. please refrain from posting until i get all the steps listed)

Edited September 4, 2011 by shasdakota

[shasdakota]

2. Next make sure you can remove your front bumper and bumper brackets. if some of the bolts are seized and you need more tools, you can still drive at this point, if you switch your old body bolts back in place or do this step first.

Front end intact:

 

Terrano owners with IPF bull bar will have to remove that first:

 

Bottom plastic bumper cover removed:

 

Top grill removed:

 

Front bumper removed. (Terrano owners must remember to dis-connect their headlight fluid washer hose's).

 

Entire front end pulled except bumper brackets. (remember to pull them also).

(The small rad you see mounted infront is a external trans cooler. it was to small. i have since replaced it with a larger trans cooler and properly mounted it. make sure you buy a big enough trans cooler)

Edited September 2, 2011 by shasdakota

[shasdakota]

3. Start pulling apart everything attached to both your frame and body in your engine bay. the AC directions wont match the Terrano engine bay.

Remember to dis-connect your negative battery terminal(s) first.

Cut all the cable ties used to hold wires together to provide wires enough slack when lifting.

remove all brake line brackets from firewall. or seperate brake lines from brackets.

 

Follow brake lines down right side of frame and remove all brackets holding brake lines on frame.

 

Remove all brackets holding hose's in engine bay to provide hose's enough slack during lifting.

Re-check to make sure all wires, hose's, cables, brake lines, etc between frame and body have sufficient slack for lifting.

 

4. Instead of removing your power steering resovoir like they have you doing in the AC directions, just drain the resovoir and seperate the input and output hose's.

 

Edited August 27, 2011 by shasdakota

[shasdakota]

5. Remove fan shroud. you will have to drain and pull rad first. remove rad cap before draining.

drain rad:

 

Dis-connect and label transmission input/ouput hose's:

 

Dis-connect lower and upper rad hose's:

 

Remove rad. then pull fan shroud. you will have to remove the bottom portion of the fan shroud in order to pull it past the fan:

Edited August 27, 2011 by shasdakota

[shasdakota]

6. Pull back rubber cover over upper and lower portions of the steering shaft and mark the location where the shafts meet so you will be able to see how much they extend. although it should be easy to see this regardless because the part of the shaft which extends wont have any paint on it.

 

The AC instructions ask you to remove the bolt that clamps the steering shaft around the spindle on the steering box.

Shown here with ratchet over the bolt:

 

 

With bolt removed:

 

The problem i see with this is once you remove the bolt, there's no way the steering shaft will magically extend on its own when you lift the body up. the steering shaft will simply fall off the steering box. if you dont remove the bolt, then i could see the steering shaft extending when you lift it, since both ends of the steering shaft will be attached something will have to give. the steering shaft will either extend in the middle or it will start to pull off the spindle on the steering box. i would just keep a very close eye on things as i lifted. if the steering shaft starts to slide off the spindle on the steering box, stop so you dont ruin the splines on the steering box spindle.

 

I removed the bolt as AC asks you to, and my steering shaft didnt extend on its own when i lifted the body up like the instructions say it will. it simply fell off the steering box because there was nothing to keep it on there anymore with the bolt removed.

I had to completely remove the steering shaft and then put it in a vice. i lined up a piece of wood so that when i hammered on it with a rubber mallet, the steering shaft would extend. (sorry i dont have any pics of this procedure).

 

Steering shaft after extending:

(notice where the paint is missing)

 

7. Remove the transfercase shifter boot:

 

8. Trucks equipped with automatic transmission dont have to do anything regarding the tranny shifter. if you have a manual transmission you will have to notch the floor for your manual transmission gear shifter to clear all the gears.

 

9. Remove the cross member bracket running under your rear propellar shaft (drive shaft):

 

10. Remove the plastic cover over your fuel and vent lines. located in your rear right hand wheel well. dis-connect the hose's to be extended later:

Edited September 11, 2011 by shasdakota

[shasdakota]

11. Make sure everything is dis-connected. Re-check engine bay and along frame for any hose's, wire's, etc that i may have missed and make sure everything has enough slack for lifting.

Its time to start lifting!

 

12. Swap out all your old body bolts with the new longer bolts that came in the kit if you havent yet done so. Make sure all the nuts are removed from your body bolts, and make sure your rear and middle bolts are loosely threaded up into they're respective captive nuts. this is to ensure all the holes will stay aligned when you lift the body up away from the frame. particularily the rear bolts are important to keep loosely threaded into they're captive nuts. if you try lifting the body away from the frame the rear bolts most likely will nut line up when you try to thread your new body bolts in. i have read of this problem several times online.

 

13. Terrano owners must make a platform with scrap wood (use 2x4's, 2x6's, 4x4's, etc) that extends below the running boards to be able to lift the body. the wood will have to be cut to length to fit in between the running board brackets attached to the underside of the body.

Or you can use 2 floor jacks on either ends of the running boards and lift up the truck under the running boards. i have seen one Terrano owner use this method. you must use 2 jacks though. i tried lifting under my running boards using just 1 floor jack in the middle of the running board, and it started to bend well before i had nearly enough lift. i suspect even if you use 2 jacks, the running board may bend a little because they arent designed to bare any load.

I didnt want my running boards, so before i lifted my truck i chopped them off at the brackets with a angle grinder. i still have to go back and tidy up my cuts with a dremel tool.

Its next to impossible to remove your running boards at the brackets so you could re-assemble them after removal. you would have to pull out the seats and peel back the carpet to gain access to the majority of the bolts holding the brackets to the underside of the body. these running boards were put on at the factory, and i guess they presumed nobody would ever want to remove these things.

 

Once you have a platform built between the running board brackets or you've removed your running boards, your ready to lift. also build a small wood platform under your floor jack if it has wheels to prevent it from rolling.

Make sure the jack does not touch any part of the body rocker panels, cause it will cause the rocker panels will get damaged (dented) if they bare any weight.

Use wheel chocks or wood to block your tires from rolling.

Place jack and wood platform in the middle of your truck, and lift one side at a time.

As soon as you have enough space between the body and frame, slide in your body lift spacers.

 

Remember to torque your body bolts to that specified in the FSM. you can also use blue lock tight if you so choose.

 

14. Now its time to start putting things back together.

Edited September 2, 2011 by shasdakota

[shasdakota]

15. Extend the fuel and vent line. use the 3/8" hose provided in your kit to extend the vent line. extend your fuel line using the spacer provided with the kit, or just buy a longer hose. if you use the fuel line spacer you will have to use some lubricating oil to slide it inside the hose, its a very tight fit.

 

Install:

 

16. Extend the cross member bracket that runs under your rear propellar shaft. Use the 2 rectangular brackets provided with the kit.

 

 

17. Re-install your steering shaft, if you had to pull it. the bolt you removed on the lower part of the steering shaft used to clamp the shaft around the spindle on the steering box will have cause a slight indentation on your steering box spindle. you will be able to see it clearly. try to line up the bolt in this original groove on the steering box spindle. although, even if you dont line up this groove, it doesnt seem to affect your steering or anything.

 

18. Re-connect 5/8" input hose to power steering resovoir. The 3/8" output hose will have to be removed and replaced with a longer length of hose.

 

19. Place radiator back in your truck. you will have to trim the fan shroud to be able to make it fit. now that you have raised the body up, the engine and fan will be 3" lower than it was originally. this also gives you an additonal 3" of space in your engine bay, and you will be able to access your oil filter by reaching in over your front left hand tire. you will no longer have to remove your tire to do a oil change!

If you use a radiator drop-down kit, you will not have to trim your fan shroud. although i have yet to hear of anyone who has had any cooling problems by leaving the fan 3" lower than the rad and trimming the fan shroud. maybe if you pull a trailer through the mountains or something and you need as much cooling ability as possible you will want to add the rad drop-down kit.

If you decide to leave your rad where it is and decide to trim the fan shroud, start by trimming less than nescessary and slowly trim your way to a prefect fit.

This is where i started trimming:

 

Re-connect your lower rad hose, it will fit.

Trim about 1.5" off of each end of your upper rad hose in order to make it fit without kinking. start by trimming less than necessary again, and work your way to the ideal length needed.

 

Re-fill your rad and cooling system resovoir.

 

Re-connect your input and output lines to from your rad to transmission.

OR now would be a great time to install a external transmission cooler if you have a automatic transmission.

Edited August 30, 2011 by shasdakota

[thehuntersam]

AWESOME WRITE UP!

[edicer2]

x2! great write up i am tempted to try it

[Precise1]

Good write up, it seems pretty accurate and you did a nice job with the pictures. We'll wait a bit and then pin it in the How To section.

 

Thanks!!

 

B

[Dowser]

What was the Part number on that B&M cooler you bought? Was it 70274 the 29200 BTU cooler? Just curious. And How long did it take you start to finish would you say. Great work by the way and excellent write up.

[shasdakota]

Hey guys,

thanks for the props.

i'm not quite finished yet though. should be done here today though.

first i will answer Dowsers Q:

the first little cooler you see is a B&M cooler, but its way to small, i presume your asking about the part # on the larger cooler i mounted at the end. its actually not a B&M cooler. i got the large cooler from Canadian Tire, and i also saw them at Parts Source. i dont have the part #'s anymore, sorry. it was about $60.

[shasdakota]

Now to continue with the Body Lift Install...

 

20. Re-connect as many brake lines to they're respective brackets as you can on the firewall and frame without putting to much stress on the brake lines. i was able to re-connect a lot of mine. enough to make everything secure. you could re-locate your mounting brackets lower down if you so chose.

Also, pick up some new zip ties so you can re-wrap all your hose's/wire's in the engine bay.

 

21. Install your bumper re-location brackets. They are the 4 metal plates with 2x holes on each plate provided with the kit.

Attach one end of the re-location bracket to the original bumper bracket, and attach the other end of the re-location bracket to the original hole on the frame.

I forgot to take good pictures during this part of the install (my bad), but what you are essentially doing is using the small re-location brackets to raise the original bumper brackets up 3". it will make sense when you have everything in your hands.

 

These are the best pictures i have showing the re-location brackets.

the re-location brackets will sit at a 90* angle to the frame, not sitting diagonally as shown in my pics.

 

The IPF Bull Bar on the Nissan Terrano will not fit back on properly after you lift the body up away from the frame. you could technically re-mount it, but it will rub against your bumper now, and it will sit way to low. it wont offer any protection now, not that it offered much before, and it wont match the contours of your truck anymore. i found my truck looked better without it.

 

22. Re-place your floorboards in your truck. you may have a hard time squeezing the plastic edge on the carpet back under the floorboards, i did. but they do fit back underneath. you sort of have to fold the plastic and push it underneath with a flathead screwdriver. pay close attention to how the plastic edge on the carpet comes from the factory when you first remove your floorboards.

 

23. You will have to cut the floor to extend the notch for your transfercase gear shifter, so it is able to reach 4LO, and you will also have to bend the stock gear shifter to make it fit right. you can use a longer length of pipe over the top of your gear shifter to get the leverage you need to bend it. start slowly, bend a little at a time and test the fit. turn the gear shifter knob to the left to remove it. after you raise your body up, the t-case will be 3" lower from stock height, and you wont be able to engage 4WD without doing something. we have several options. at first i was hesitant to cut my floor, i didnt really want to. but after having a look at it, i realized the floor is already cut, all your doing is extending that notch cut for your t-case shifter. "kiwi pete" recomends designing a rubber "boot" for the top and bottom of your t-case gear shifter after you notch the floor.

When I notched my floor i was able to get my stock t-case shifter to clear 4LO, but i wasnt able to bend the shifter to the correct angle. i tried with a length of pipe, but i didnt have any room to leverage it around with the shifter still attached to the t-case. you could try taking it out and putting it in a vice, but i heard you can do it with the t-case shifter still installed in the truck. I opted to notch a corner of plastic off of my center console. I also had difficulty trying to make a rubber "boot". it came out really bad, so i will have to pull or order another t-case gear shifter boot. mine was in bad shape, all decrepit, and torn up. if your t-case boot is in good shape, i dont see any reason why it wont seal your floor afterwards just as well as before, your only extending the notch in the floor by about 1" square. on the inside i used my stock vinyl t-case gear shifter boot. you could make a rubber boot for the interior so as to make it more waterproof, but i think if your bottom boot fits good there's no reason for this. here's some pics of my floor notching:

 

Your other option is to source a t-case gear shifter from a Hardbody. those trucks came with a slightly longer t-case shifter. i guess you will still need to cut a bit of plastic, but nothing major.

Here's a link to a thread on this topic:

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1884

Here's a link to a thread detailing how to remove the t-case shifter if your planning to swap it out with a Hardbody shifter, or you plan to cut/weld/extend your stock t-case shifter:

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=8104

 

24. You will also have to make some drop-down brackets for your e-brake. after you lift the body up, whenever your truck gets lifted up at the garage under the frame, there will be so much tension on your e-brake lines that the e-brake will engage and you wont be able to turn your wheels. you could even damage some parts or rip them out if your un-lucky. you can just un-bolt the e-brake brackets if you need to have your truck lifted at the garage before you get around to making these drop down brackets so that you dont damage anything at least. i also read this can happen on the trail, if your rear end is at extended drop, so you will have to come up with something eventually.

this is what i came up with for my drop down brackets:

 

right side bracket:

 

left side bracket:

 

If you weld you could easily make something much better.

 

You can also flip your rear axle, as shown here:

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=29777&st=0&p=564840&hl=+flip%20+axles&fromsearch=1entry564840

 

25. You can also raise your rear bumper. I dont have any pics of this process, but it was very easy to do. all i did was remove my rear bumper brackets and raise them up on the frame. you will already have the holes you need on your frame. this will al lmake sense once you go have a look at your truck. its about a 20min job, and it makes the rear bumper fit the truck much better. after the body lift your rear bumper will be 3" low and you will be able to see all the wires used for your rear electrical system. this idea is brought to us by "unccpathfinder" and "simon"

Here's a link to a previous thread of mine with some pics on page 3 with unccpathfinder's raised rear bumper:

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=30686&st=40

 

26. You will probably have to make some larger gap guards for your front wheel wells. if you dont your gonna get tons of crap thrown up into your engine bay, and salt during the winter. i had a hard time sourcing rubber. eventually i used "dance floor" given to me by my neighbour. i heard you could also use pond liner or semi truck mud flaps.

 

First i put a nut and bolt through all the holes i wanted to attach my gap guards, and then i hung my gap guards over the bolts and added another nut to keep the gap guards on. this way when i need to do an oil change, i'll be able to simply remove the first set of nuts, and peel back my gap guards, and the retaining bolt will be held in place by its own nut. this idea is brought to us by "ahardb0dy".

Edited September 12, 2011 by shasdakota

[adamzan]

If you don't use the bumper relocation brackets (like if you have a custom bumper) you can use those to extend your parking brake. That is what I ended up doing and it works great. One side bolted right up and the other side I had to weld to the floor because the bolts broke off. But no big deal.

[shasdakota]

good tip adam. how'd you fit your ARB bumper with a body lift? did you have to customize it a little bit?

[shasdakota]

27. All done! have a look around your truck to make sure everything looks good and you didnt forget anything. check all your hose's, line's, wire's, and cables for excessive tightness. make sure your rad fan has enough clearance from fan shroud. start your engine and look for leaks from your rad, power steering hose's, and transmission cooler lines. go for a test drive and test your brakes and steering. cycle through all your gears to make sure they all clear. test your e-brake. now its time to get an alignment.

 

 

Hope this helps guys. i really didnt have hardly any experience working on my truck when i tackled this project. if i can do it, anyone can do it. just take your time, dont rush. it took me a long time, but i had to learn a lot for myself during this project. leave yourself at least an entire weekend to do this job. feel free to ask any questions.

[adamzan]

good tip adam. how'd you fit your ARB bumper with a body lift? did you have to customize it a little bit?

Yea we had to cut it in half and extend the mounts so it would sit properly.

[laz]

thx im hoping to do this soon

[unccpathfinder]

Good stuff...I also did one that steevo should be able to share with folks but esentially the same...i thought about cutting my PS hose and pitting in a hard pipe about 2-3" long with clamps to extend the lines

[wd21overland]

Good stuff...I also did one that steevo should be able to share with folks but esentially the same...i thought about cutting my PS hose and pitting in a hard pipe about 2-3" long with clamps to extend the lines

 

I just bought brand new hoses that were extended length but i wanted a good fit so there were a PITA to install.

 

A hard line would be a good idea since there low pressure lines.

[Scott.T]

I just installed a 3 inch body lift and was trying to install the front bumper. I cant figure out how it is suppose to go on. I read the above and looked at the pictures and tried to do the same thing but my bumper brackets are different. I tried hooking up the bracket extensions in different ways but they do not line up with the bolt holes on the frame. Is this a common issue?

[unccpathfinder]

They're cheap and a pita...I drove around for almost 2 years with no front bumper ..then when I did the gfs truck I just cut and welded the factory brkts...sorry I can't be of much help but u will prob need 2 or 3 people to help and ones with small hands

[Scott.T]

I will figure something out, even if I have to weld it in place.

[unccpathfinder]

Leveling the rear bumper was easy...only uses 4 bolts in stead of 6 but its still good enough for me

 

 

 

[unccpathfinder]

I got some pix coming...took an hr to find them...but I found them...I really need to organize things better