Hey, all!


First time making any real modifications to a ride, but very hopeful that this car will end up being relatively gorgeous in the end. Purchased the car in July of 2015 at 67k miles after trading in a 2008 Honda Accord and plunking a fair bit of cash down to keep my car note around 2 bills for four years. It was a bit of a rough start with the car aesthetically because of a few reasons:

1. 1) Had some passenger rear quarter panel scratches and a crack right in the front on the fender.
2. 2) Previous owner spray painted said rear quarter panel scratches flat black
3. 3) Stock exhaust system is -basically- rusted to absolute **** and has started to rattle from Cats and heat shield malfunction.
4. 4) OEM wheels were plasti dipped (for the love of god)

I've just recently got back on my feet (purchased a house, two cars, built new $3k computer, Washer/Dryer, etc.) so here's my immediate upgrade plans (All ordered and/or paid for):

1. Repair body work/paint rear quarter panel
2. Repair body work/paint front panel
3. Fast Intentions Catback Exhaust w/18" resonators
4. Fast Intentions RHFC
5. 19 inch Spec 1 75 wheels
6. Toyo Proxes 4 Plus tires (I believe they're 245/45/19)
7. Osram CBI

And the future upgrade plans are:

1. Stillin Gen 3 cold-air intake
2. LED fog lights (the light housing is cracked on both lenses)
3. Bigger brake package

I'd really like to get the wheels/tires on there as soon as possible, as well as clean my throttle bodies but.....Michigan winter seems to be lingering. We'll see what the forecast calls for next week. I want to get the OEM wheels off so I can remove the plasti dip and polish them to use in the winter with appropriate tires. All major maintenance is up-to-date, car drives extremely well aside from the aforementioned annoyances. Considering replacing spark plugs and serpentine belt, but we'll see how bad they look.





Will have some pics up of before and after. Any suggestions or insight is appreciated, but I'm really excited about pulling this car back to its glory state!

 

Congrats on the car, sounds like the previous owner was a ricer who thrashed the car lol. I just started my mods as well and started w/ de-badging the "Infiniti" off the rear and the stupid dealer decal. Looks cleaner to me IMO.

 

Congratulations on the car! You should definitely post up some pictures of the way the car is now so we can appreciate, as well as youself, all the work that you will put into it when all is said and done! Best of luck with everything and that mod list looks pretty nice too!

 

Debadging....I may have to look into this. I'd like to attempt some mods myself seeing as how I have zero experience with cars. Spent way too much time with computers/accounting and not enough with real world stuff.

You're probably right, I should. The rear quarter panel is already repaired and painted, however I will definitely take pics of the rest from start to finish. My current mods should all be installed by the end of May. Hopefully the rest I can do by the end of the summer, if money allows. I'm already putting 5k into this car.

 

Nice to see a fellow G37x Sedan owner here! If it makes you feel any better, I have a dent in my passenger side fender from when someone slammed their door into my car in a parking lot. (Never found out who it was)

Some other mods for the X that I would suggest are Hotchkis F&R Sway bars (I'd honestly do this before anything else)

and the OEM decklid spoiler. Completely changes the look of the car.

 

Look forward to seeing this come together, looks like some nice plans ahead!

I noticed on your future plans that you want a Big Brake Set, did you verify clearance for those brakes w/ the new wheels you have ordered? If not, you may want to put a hold on that order (if possible) until you confirm that they will clear, many wheels won't.

 

Front crack. Getting it repaired this Thursday.





Plasti dipped rims that are peeling...lord help me





Sorry for being filthy, but this is my baby. Weather has been nasty up here the last couple weeks.

 

Hitting the edges of the plastidip with a pressure washer will take it right off. You can also use googone to help with that.

 

I've only recently started reading on this forum about the added benefit of sway bars. Perhaps if the price is right I'd consider it, but right now all I can focus on is this new exhaust and cats. That little rattle is so annoying. We'll see how March is to me with bonuses and such and if I can spare it the mod may just make it in. The end of the year/beginning of new year is usually very tough on us financially with all the holidays and birthdays we celebrate. I'll have to see this OEM decklid spoiler. Sounds very interesting!

Yes, I went through CARid and they specifically called the manufacturer for me. At the time of purchase they said they'd be ok for clearance. Thanks for the support bro!



Thanks a lot! I can borrow my friend's pressure washer when I get the new rims on. At first I liked the all black look, but the more I look at this car, it needs a bit of chrome/machine finish to set off the black.

 

Does your car still have warranty? If so, your cats are covered under the power train warranty. I had an issue with a rattling from my 2012 G37x and they replaced both of my cats under warranty. This was back in January.

 

I don't BELIEVE it is. I was told my warranty was good until 70k.....and I'm at 74k now.


Also, went with 245/45/19 for the Proxes 4 Plus. They should be here tomorrow from Belle Tire but I won't have them install it until my front bumper is finished (should be saturday).

 

I know the pain of a rattle, mine was a loose baffle in the muffler, which was cured by Top Speed axle-back at less than 1/4th the price the stealership wanted for OEM axle-back and install. Sounds a lot better too. Highly recommend the Top Speed if you want an affordable axle-back, but Motordyne sounds amazing if you can afford the full exhaust.

 

Bro, it's SO annoying! I'm being told I'm making a mountain from a mole hill, but whatever, I can clearly hear it and it's unacceptable.

I did quite extensive research on which exhaust I was going to go with. My g/f can tell you so (she's disgusted with how many Youtube videos I watched). It really was between Motordyne and Fast Intentions....and in the end the F.I., along with their stellar customer service, won me over. It's all ordered and such with the RHFC coming around Apr 15 and the exhaust being ready at the end of May. Just in time for summer!

 

Nice, congrats on the new buy. I wanted to go full cat back with mine, but I found a deal on the axle-back and was able to install myself without even jacking up the car. It was a pain since I had to cut two of the bolts that were rusted in place (which isn't all that easy with a cordless grind wheel in a parking lot).

 

I couldn't even imagine attempting that myself. Props. I see you have the Dynamic Diode setup in your car. How complicated was it to access all the areas to install the leds?


By the way, was able to clean the throttle bodies tonight on the G. Didn't disconnect anything, but butterfly valve had to be moved around. Completely black on the engine side of it. Worse than the tutorial, to be honest! My girl was able to really help out and we got this done before sunlight was lost. Hardest part was getting the bolts off the TB itself (clearly hadn't been cleaned in all 74k miles). Thought for sure I'd have to reset the intake system, but it started SO MUCH DAMN smoother after firing it up and within a few minutes it moved from 1100rpm to around 750rpm. Before the car would seldom stall out after turning over.