Gambling Armada - The Castaway

It was dark and beginning to rain about the time we decided to call it a day and head home before we broke something.  Indy-kid #2 & #3 we very thankful and said they had an AWESOME time.  I agree.  Much win spending the day playing with cars with my two sons!

Looks like you guys had a pretty comfy ride. Those Armadas are pretty nice, sans the kid trash and bashed in side. 

Indy - Guy said:

This is how much I'm into it for:

So.  What's next for this Castaway Junk?

Should I pay a professional to clean the interior and de-gross it so I can drive it?  Maybe use it as a tow pig?

Just keep it for another Gamble 500?

This thing has a V8 and 317 hp. 

Glancing again at the budget above it could make a Challenge bid. (Of course needs to be lowered first)

Just sell it for whatever I can get?

Make a rock crawling buggy?  

Cut the body off?

Here's a vision that I had that might be the Armada's fate...  

You mention 16yr birthday.  I'm not sure if this trip was a birthday present but it sure seems like it could have been, and would have been a great one.  

Also, 16yr old means new driver.  Could this be the steed of choice for this young man?  What better car to put a new driver in than one that is already damaged?  However, it is big and large to ward off future damage.  The downside is that it is 300hp in the hands of a young driver.  

But, if Jr. drives it short distances to school for a year that means that next year when the Gambler rolls around again, the Armada will have some road-tested miles on it.  I expect that with each Gambler there is an "improvement" until those improvements result in something like this posted for inspiration.  

Lower it and rallycross and challenge.

For Challenge purposes, the standard for the Minivan years was that average Track had to be wider than Height.  

The internet says the Armada's specs are:

Height = 77.2"
Track = 67.5" 

You'd need to loose 9.7" of height or add some track width (like 2" wheel spacers) and still lower height.  

John Welsh said:

Here's a vision that I had that might be the Armada's fate...  

You mention 16yr birthday.  I'm not sure if this trip was a birthday present but it sure seems like it could have been, and would have been a great one.  

Also, 16yr old means new driver.  Could this be the steed of choice for this young man?  What better car to put a new driver in than one that is already damaged?  However, it is big and large to ward off future damage.  The downside is that it is 300hp in the hands of a young driver.  

But, if Jr. drives it short distances to school for a year that means that next year when the Gambler rolls around again, the Armada will have some road-tested miles on it.  I expect that with each Gambler there is an "improvement" until those improvements result in something like this posted for inspiration.  

Not going to be a driver for the 16 year old.  Too Thirsty on gas.  But I do see the vision you presented for the rig with some more work for each subsequent Gambler.

In reply to John Welsh :

The suspension is a form of upper and lower control arms front and rear with a Strut/coil spring too.  Should be easy enough to lower it quite a bit with cutting coils &/or new struts.  Must note, it's independent suspension out back.  No matter what it's getting the Diff welded up. 

I'll also throug this out there, I have several (eight to be exact) Priuii on the property.  It has crossed my mind to bring a Priuii / Armada Mash-up to the Challenge:

Armada wheel base = 122.5 inches

Prius wheel base = 107.5 inches

I could easily cut ~ 12 to 15 inches out of the length of the Chassis: it has a nice straight section right after the transferr case.

In reply to wvumtnbkr :

See post above, I'm seriously considering it.

In reply to Indy - Guy :

Post a pic of the rear diff.  Most likely a LSD 350z diff will bolt in with minium mods.  The driveshaft flange, the two side bolt mounts, and the rear cover bolts are the most important.

In reply to Stampie :

Why would I do that when a few hours of work and 10 minutes with the welder produce better results with zero $$ ?

In reply to Stampie :

The 2005+ armada/titan/frontier/xterra/pathfinder diff is a nissan flavored dana 44 if i remember right.  I think it was based on a dana 44 but different enough that parts dont cross over. 
 

all while nissan had been making their own axles forever that were stronger than the dana 44. 

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, Yes, this was inspiration for our adventure:

I am not a Motor Trend subscriber and not really familiar with the Swiss Armada but I did find this video.  

You are not that far from Michigan's Silver Lake Dunes (5 hrs due North) where you could do all this sand driving and more.  I fully endorse!  

If you stripped the truck to this level and then added some lead plates to the floor pan, thereby adding weight back but low weight, it would seem that you could argue that the center of gravity of the vehicle had been changed enough to not make it a roll-over risk.   

I've been leaning towards selling it to recover some of my $$$, but decided to take a day trip a couple of hours West of Indianapolis to Redbird State Recreation Area for some trail bashing fun.

Trails were a bit tight is some spots:

Comfy seating for 7:

We made up this hill with a little bashing on the frame / bottom of something, here and there:

View from the top:

And found this signature on the parking lot:

Weird that there was that lingering smoke you see there in the background

Here I am with four of the Indy-Kids:

And these are two of the boys friends:

The pit crew goofing off:

And then pit stop on the way home:

I highly recommend everyone enjoy a cheap piece of junk (you don't care about hurting) on the trails it was a GREAT time. 

The kids were very appreciative and thankful for a day of Fun!

That's a mark in the "W" column!

I pressed the Armada into doing some tow pig work recently. (Indy-Wife needed the E-350 for passenger hauling duty)

I've purchase a replacement headlight and a new rear passenger door.  I'm leaning towards paying to have the interior properly cleaned up and keep this junk:

One more car added to the group and you'd seem to be ready to drive to the Mexican border.  

In reply to TJL (Forum Supporter) :

The Armada uses an r230, but not the same r230 as the z32tt, the differential won't fit. If you don't have the big tow package you can get an ARB air locker for it, but if you have the lower gears like I do, there isn't any kind of locking rear available 

@OP awesome find, I really think these are underrated trucks. I have an 08 with some mods and it's fantastic besides the lack of aftermarket support.

So you VK56 owners, are these things really 317HP?  My first one was in a 2008 Pathfinder, smaller truck and quite quick.  Current 2012 Armada with towing gears only feels a bit slower.  In between those I owned a 300 hp 5.4 Expedition, it feels like 150 hp compared to a VK56.  For a four valve motor it has grunt, my Ford was constantly shifting the Armada just pulls up hills in top gear even under 50mph.  It feels more like the 400hp LS6.2 or 6.0 in my daughters Escalade.  

Side note I can not find any production numbers on a V8 Pathfinder.

In reply to akylekoz :

Yes ! ! !  Obviously I didn't test drive it before winning the auction, but upon my first drive after the purchase, my thoughts and words were literally " This thing RIPS ! "

It's shockingly fast for a giant SUV.

As the Infiniti M56, the 5.6L was billed as 420hp.  I'm not sure what changed but Infiniti/Nissan has a history of under reporting HP back with the launch of the Q45

Mine was pretty peppy before, but i've added the jba long tubes and high flow cats, along with an intake and a tune and it rips.