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With the holidays winding down, I've finally had some free time to update this thread and get some wrench time with the G. Where to begin. I came from a '03 G35 Sedan 6MT originally. Owned it for 10 years. I loved the thing and would have driven it into the ground before moving on to something else. It wasn't in the cards because some fool totaled the car in a hit-and-run incident when I was living and working in Atlanta, GA. Insurance wrote me a nice settlement check for the incident, but still spent 3 months without a car.
Bought in 2005.
RIP 2015.
In that time, I was looking for the next thing. Having owned a sedan for so long, I was looking to get back into a sportier looking platform. Manual, RWD, coupe, affordable monthly payments, easily maintained and fairly new were the requirements. I looked at a few cars: Porche Cayman (too expensive to maintain), FR-S/BRZ (too much for what they provided), 350Z (older platform, VQ35DE burnt oil), G35 (older platform, VQ35DE burnt oil), 370Z (price premium on the used market), and G37. In the end, I went with an '08 G37S Coupe for being affordable. The monthly payments were peanuts after using the settlement check for a down payment. I knew the engine and platform pretty well. The standard equipment was phenomenal. It reminded me of how well featured the 300ZX I owned once upon a time was.
I found this gem in Indiana. I took a couple of days off from work and flew out to get it in a private sale. The car had Eibach lowering springs, SPC rear camber arms, TWB splash shield, Injen CAI, and Invidia Gemini cat back exhaust. It was something I could work with I thought. Well, that changed quickly as the list below should make clear.
Afer-market parts list so far
Driving to Atlanta from Indiana, I got to know the car and immediately knew there was something lacking. The first thing I did was get rid of the crappy Falkans that were wrapping the rears. I bought Michelin Pilot Super Sports. These are amazing tires. On the street, they grip endlessly.
The tires made a big difference in performance, but something was still lacking. My previous G had Eibach springs over Tokico D-Spec adjustable dampers. The heavier 37 in its stock form, suspension-wise, was not cutting it for me. The Eibachs over stock dampers were extremely harsh over bumps and cracks. I knew the dampers were not matching with the spring rate and resulted in sharp impacts. Something had to be done.
Winter, new job, and moving back to Chicago halted the mod craze for a little bit, but that changed around spring. New brake pads went in. Then when the snow melted and the permafrost thawed, all heck broke loose. I threw down on a full coilover kit to get the suspension the way I wanted it. I wanted full control over height adjustments to accommodate the rough winter beaten streets of Chicago. Our side street speed humps are the bane of my existence too. Again, I spent too much time agonizing over what to buy. I was all over the forums here and 370Z. I finally settled on the Tein Mono Sports with EDFC Active Pro.
I found some time on a weekend and put in the wrench time to install them. The result: MONEY WELL SPENT. The car is a different animal after the coils went in. Bumps were gentler than before. Hooray for dampers matched with springs! Best thing is, the EDFC kit let me dial in the stiffness in the rear to grip better. All this while sitting in the comfort of my car. The G is lively now. The car rotated more as I tried to get rid of the lazy understeer from stock.
Hooked on suspension upgrades, I added Whiteline rear endlinks to keep the car more planted. Also, the stock links were worn and popping out of their sockets. HA! The stock fronts also went bad from the increased cornering loads I was able to put on the car. The fronts were replaced with SPL endlinks.
After all this suspension work, I slowed down to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I only did little things like replace zerk caps and the serpentine drive belt.
Last edited by FlashGuy; 04-03-2019 at 10:12 PM.
Reason: update
1. Remove old endlinks. Each application is different, but it might require the endlink bolt to be kept from rotating by holding it with a wrench and torquing off the nut.
2. The lower connection is easily accessible from under the car.
3. The top mount nut is accessible easiest from the spring area while slipping a wrench from underneath to hold the endlink bolt.
Installation is the reverse going from 3 - 1.
The SPL endliks are very stout which the picture illustrates. You will need a 15mm socket or ratcheting wrench for the nut and a 17mm wrench to hold the bolt for the install. I also added some washers in between the retention collar and mounting frame for more surface area and holding strength.
This install was complicated by the fact that you would have to drop the rear sway bar to remove the camber arm adjustment bolt. They installed it with the head on the inside. Silly Nissan. I stripped the sway bar bolt and decided that rotating the bolt which has the offset plate attached and forcing it out was the best course of action. It worked. All it took was a large flathead and a hammer. Who needs it when you have a lockout kit.
When installing the new arms, I reversed the bolt direction. This should make things easier for next time.
Hello new arm and lockout kit.
Note: The adjustment collars requires a 1 1/4" wrench for the smaller collar and a 1 3/4" wrench for the larger.
Finished product.
After install impressions. The rear is so taught. I'm loving the way the car feels so solid. Can't wait to get the front arms in and align the car.
Almost reminds me of this little gem I spent time with. Almost...
The road salt here in the Midwest is atrocious. The underbody needs to by washed every 2-3 weeks (weather permitting) to limit the corrosion, but it still happens. PB is required, and sometimes a torch.
In terms of next steps, I'm looking to get the car on the track. I also have a trip to Colorado planned for the summer where I'm going to find as many winding mountain roads as possible. The build is geared towards those two goals. So the next steps are just prep work.
- Alignment. The car tracks decently after all the measurements, but needs to be dialed in.
- I'm looking at wheels. Been leaning towards Gram Lights. Realistically, I'm looking for track duty wheels that I can put cheaper sizing rubbers on. 19" is an expensive size to run.
Might look into some 18s, will be lighter and tires more affordable, my Wedsports are about 20 lbs and strong, staffer Lt8che runs 18s on his Turbo coupe and they look sweet! https://www.myg37.com/forums/build-t...l-worklog.html
Might look into some 18s, will be lighter and tires more affordable, my Wedsports are about 20 lbs and strong, staffer Lt8che runs 18s on his Turbo coupe and they look sweet! https://www.myg37.com/forums/build-t...l-worklog.html
Saw your wheels in the 18" wheels thread. Love'm. 18s are where I'm headed. The design and manufacturing process options open up tremendously at that size. Just need to be decisive.
12-08-2016, 11:58 PM
Nice parts! Set up a few spots for future updates ^^^^
