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Here's my 2011 G37Xs project that I've redone for my wife. It's a super clean 34,000 mile car, that I bought from Copart after seeing it only in pictures. I paid $6600 for it, and at the time I bought it clean value was around $20,000. It's embarrassing to say but I've had it for over 2 years, so it's got 2 more years of depreciation on it. Including shipping it from CT to Chicago, parts, material and sales tax, I'll have about $11,000 into it. I've lacked motivation at times due do disappointments and distractions.
The car was hit down the passenger side with side airbag deployment. The rocker was OK, but the B-pillar was bent and kinked requiring replacement. I'm pretty bad about taking pictures of my projects, but I do have pictures of milestone moments.
After two days of the hardest spot weld drilling I've ever done, the B-pillar reinforcement was free. I believe its Boron steel, so it can't be sectioned without ruining its strength. Welding softens it to the point that it's no longer ultra high strength steel. plug welds along the edge minimize the heat effected zone.
No pictures of the reinforcement being welded in, but here are pictures of the sectioning point on the uniside that was removed to allow the entire B-pillar reinforcement to be replaced
Used 1/4 fitted and ready for welding. Technically hemmed (door skin seamed wheel opening) 1/4 panels are not reusable, but enough wheel house was damaged that it needed sectioning to repair it anyhow.
Painted and ready for final assembly. Doors were painted off the car. The silver was a total PITA. I had flop issues and had to have it tinted. It matches ok and most of the mismatch was hidden in blends. The gas door was painted off the car and didn't match well. Luckily the original door was undamaged and a ok match. There is a little color mismatch at the rear cover seam, which is a little strange since it matched the trunk ok.
A few finish shots. I had to change the driver's rear wheel bearing today. The toe and camber rods were bent. Apparently that hit damaged the bearing. In the auction pictures, the front sport cover was great. When the car got here, the bottom of the cover was damaged by a carless yard fork-truck operator. So, I bought the eBay splitter. Not sure how it's going to hold up. It's some weird plastic, and the double sided tape wouldn't even stick to.
When the car was delivered, it was missing the floor mats, battery, front door scuff plates, and owners manual. Not sure if it happened at Copart or if the truck driver stole them. It was about $300 worth of stuff. I was happy to get a set of lighted sills for $65 delivered and silver Infiniti wing for $135 delivered from 360motors on eBay.
Way to resurrect that one, nice skills you have for sure. Glad you found the motivation and how is it driving?
It drives nice. Goes straight. Steering wheel straight. Free of Squeaks and rattles. I added a 2wd Coupe sport rear swaybar, so it goes around corners well. I have Swift springs, but haven't added them yet. I'm a little scared to since it's my wife's car, and I don't want to hear complaints about the rough ride. She doesn't like tint too much, but she's going to allow me to do 50%.
Heck, Infinity can't even accomplish that on new cars.
Nice work!
It only has 35,000 miles. My F150 and CTS-v both rattle a LOT more than my G. Time will tell when the G has 100k miles. I will say the G has way more tire (Michelin Pilot AS/3) noise than either. Maybe some of the auditory busyiness is from AWD. Winter is coming. Hopefully it's worthwhile for us.
10-01-2017, 12:50 PM
