Peepz

iTrader: (1)

Current Parts List as of May 2023:

Exterior:
Full Nissan Skyline Badging including center wheel caps
Self painted OEM Midnight Style Grille
OEM Journey chin spoiler
OEM Trunk spoiler
OEM 17's wrapped in 225/55 Vredestein Quatrac Pro Grand Touring All Season
Black gloss vinyl wrapped window trim
Black gloss vinyl wrapped roof
Nismo JDM wide-view mirrors
Bluebat rear valence overlay - soon to be removed

Interior:
Interior paint matched Nissan Airbag cover
Nissan K23 painted trim pieces - soon to be repainted
JDM Interior Analog clock
OEM Infiniti footwell lights
OEM Infiniti sport pedals
OEM JDM "skyline" illuminated kick plates

Suspension/Engine:
Swift Sport Springs
OEM G37 Coupe RWD rear sway bar
DBA 4000 Series T3 rotors with Akebono Performance Ceramic Pads
Fast Intenions Full Cat back exhaust with 18" Resonators
AAM RHFC's
Z1 Cold Air Intake kit with AFE Power Air filters and Filter Wear covers
OEM JDM Nissan engine cover

Lighting:
OEM Philips 4300k HIDs
Oxilam 7440 Amber LEDs for both front and rear turn signals - soon to be replaced.
OEM Infiniti Journey DRLs
Morimoto XB LED foglights and housing
Custom rear fog light with VLED Triton Red LED
OEM Nissan Maxima external ground lighting
OEM Infiniti Interior footwell accent lighting
Diode Dynamics HP5 6000k interior lighting
OEM JDM "Skyline" Illuminated kick plates

Projected mods:
OEM G37 Coupe 19s for summer
JDM Headlights with clear lens mod
Ecutek tuning
Painted rear valence
Full exterior detail and body touch ups


Front emblem. This emblem works with our USDM grille. YOU DO NOT NEED A NEW GRILLE! JUST THE EMBLEM



370GT Emblem. They sell the one specifically made for the sedan so it lines up better with the angle of the taillights unlike the coupe version.



Nissan trunk emblem

The rear emblems were custom painted by a friend of mine. They don't come like this from factory obviously. lol. The overall cost for just the exterior badging including shipping cost me $72.86

Next for the exterior are the center wheel caps. A simple search on ebay landed me these used center caps from a 2010 Nissan Altima. Total cost with free shipping: $17.88 (Excuse the dirty *** wheels)


Easiest and cheapest part of the swap

A major sought after part for this swap are the JDM tailights. A quick search shows prices ranging from $300 to even $475 for new. Used were around $200 to $250. I think it was pointless to spend so much just so I can be "JDM" cool. I almost bought a new pair from a site for $375 when I found out about jauce.com. Jauce.com pretty much takes all the Japanese versions of ebay/rakuten/yahoo auctions and bundles them all into one listing IN ENGLISH! Pricing is in YEN but its not hard to convert. I was skeptical at first but I found a pair of JDM tails for a whopping 5000YEN, which translate to $46.62 USD. I figured ill take a $50 loss if anything goes wrong. The listing also included the rear back up lights as well. It might not seem important but the JDM version uses a darker red color than that of its USDM counterpart. Swapping the lights w/o changing the back up as well will be off and look uneven.




I ended up winning the bid for the price listed. Then the shipping part came, another $50. Sure ill bite, I mean it is coming from Japan. In an amazing 4 days I received exactly what was listed on the site in perfect and I mean PERFECT packaging. You could've thrown the box off a building and the lights would still be okay. A quick compound and polish later, I now have beautiful JDM tails. Total cost with tax and shipping $125



I also added AMBER LED lights to the turn signals

Now for the interior, specifically the door sills. This is the most expensive part to swap. The best site that had the best price was Nissan Race Shop. Infiniti parts website also sells it if you put the part number in. I found it from Infiniti of Nashua in New Hampshire at a price of $214. I bought it and was told it was not compatible with my car by a rep a day later. So I gave him my VIN#. He responded back with Q50 Illuminated door sills saying that this was the only one available for my car . I have a Q40 but whatever. I waited a few days and bought it again under my wifes name and used a VIN# from a G37 that was being sold on cars.com. Got an email a day later saying that Infiniti won't let them order the part. WOW! So Nissan race shop it was. Now the picture listed on the site is that of the older model. Apparently there's a new version which I actually think looks better.



Freshly installed

Total cost with shipping: $287.51

Most people probably never do this or even think of it but hey, I was already deep into this so why not. I found a site that sells key fobs for a good price. They're not OEM but definitely a good knock-off. You simply take the guts out of your Infiniti key and put it in the Nissan one. Done. Now it doesn't work with just any Nissan fob. You must make sure that the key fob has the side notches. Some newer Nissan fobs do not have this. The specific model number that works is KR55WK48903



All buttons work.

Total cost with shipping: $38.79 from this site. Keyless-Remotes

Easiest part? The seats. Why? Well the Q40 is a nerfed model of the G37 so they skipped embroidering the seats with "Infiniti".....(along with memory seats and rear sonar but hey atleast we have illuminated door sills). In Japan, the seats come exactly the way the Q40's do. No embroidery at all.


It's like it was meant to be or something

continued in second post..........

Peepz

iTrader: (1)

The hardest part of all this? THE DAMN AIRBAG COVER! It was even worse considering I have the gray interior. Almost no one has or even bothers selling that color. It was a real PITA. I ended up going with this idea. I'll buy one of the various black airbag covers and get it paint matched to my interior. I found myself on JDM Parts Ninja. Every now and then, they have one in stock and ready to ship. I bought it and received it in a week. Complete with free JDM parts ninja air freshers and stickers. The best thing ever!!



JDM YO!!

Now a few months ago I sent that same airbag cover to my same friend who painted my emblems in hopes that he will be able to do as he promised, paint match it to my interior color. A few weeks later I was given this



That emblem was suppose to stay chrome

The emblems came out exactly how I wanted them. The cover? Not so much. For starters, the center emblem was to stay stock. Miscommunication among two friends I guess. As for the color match, as soon as I saw it, I knew it wasn't a good match and my hopes weren't up to much considering such. The next day, I gave it a try.........



Not even close

Now was I mad? Not at all. Disappointed? Yes. We're cool so I kinda just shrugged it off and moved on. I figured I'd do my own research and see what I come up with. I tried SEM and various other places with zero results. Then I had a random thought. Why not try Home Depot and see what kind of interior paint matches my car. Yes! I did think that and I did go to Home Depot with an interior trim piece in my hand matching the grays from Behr's palette display . About 15 mins later I came up with nothing but awkwardness. I continued to walk around and found the spray paints. I ended up finding these two colors from Rust-Oleum.



Rust-Oleum Charcol Gray (Left) Was as close as possible

I was surprised to see how close it was. I even tested the paint on the inside of the interior trim and waited for it to dry to see if I saw a difference. I saw a minor difference but holy crap was it good. I said the hell with it. Bought the paint and some scotts blue tape and went home. At home I did some more testing on the trim panel and was still satisfied with the results. I gave the cover a nice tape up and set out on a journey of possibly ruining it. It ended up coming out better than I expected.




Now in certain lighting, the gray is lighter han the rest of the interior but its only by a little, or if you stare at it long enough. Compared to what it was before, this is a damn good color match and I'm happy. Total cost of the cover including shipping $187.22. Add in another $4 for the can of Rust-Oleum.

This whole project was based solely on me getting an airbag cover to match. If I wasn't able to, this all would have never happened. I'm happy it did. This is still a work in progress as I'm waiting to find an engine cover, clock and redo my carpets. Will update as things happen.

Thanks for reading!!

jpowersjr2

iTrader: (1)

Nice work so far. I like the way the rear looks with the badges, spoiler, and JDM tails. For some JDM goodies, hit up: https://shop.japanauctionparts.com/ . I have bought a few things from them.

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

Thanks for the inspiration on the Nissan trunk badge. Looks great. I have all the paint, but have been waiting 3 weeks for the steering wheel cover and badges that come from Japan. Thanks also for the measurement on the badge for the front grille. Turns out it is exactly the same size as a '20 Nissan Sentra trunk badge, which should be way easier to get than a JDM one. Especially since the JDM badge will not work with my grille.

ILM-NC G37S

iTrader: (3)

There are quite a few VQ37VHR covers currently listed on yahoo.aleado.com for anywhere between (USD)$10-100. Due to the size shipping might make it cost prohibitive.

As for the clock, unless you really want JDM I would skip it. The only difference is the logo: US has the Mt. Fuji while the JDM has no logo at all.

Great job thus far: gotta admire your dedication to that airbag cover project!

iCrap

iTrader: (8)

Does the 370z engine cover not fit?


Also the clock is very easy to disassemble. You could open it up and make your own custom back plate without a logo.

ILM-NC G37S

iTrader: (3)

Technically, yes. But the 370z cover is a 2-piece design which has a large black gap (for the factory strut brace) that would look out of place (IMO). And, no, the 370z strut brace will not work in a G.

iCrap

iTrader: (8)

Yeah I figured the strut brace wont fit. Is it in the correct spot for a regular strut bar for the G though?

Peepz

iTrader: (1)

Glad to help. Shame on the shipping time for your goods. I received my stuff in a week tops. The anxiety must be through the roof I'm sure.

I will check that out thanks. I did take apart the clock and tried to plasti-dip it but the embossed Infiniti logo still showed through. I might try it again but well see.

Adding to what ILM-NC-G37S said, the cover is also slimmer. It exposes the oil cap a bit.

Peepz

iTrader: (1)

MAY UPDATE

So during the month of May, I started working on some lighting. Most of my commute takes place at night so I see all these newer cars with all these fancy clean lights and get kind of jealous. I'm big on OEM accesories and rarely go for the Amazon alternatives. I started with the interior by adding the OEM Infiniti Accent lighting kit.(PART# B64D0-JL100) This kit includes two LED's that illuminate the footwell area. MSRP price was $110. A quick search at the various dealers on Infiniti parts website found me a cheaper price of $66.54




I apologize for the lack of photos but I get excited and install my new goodies without any thought of taking pics of my progress. This kit installs via the glove box light. It comes with a 3 way harness that connects to the glove box light and the two footwell lights. This job does require some drilling but overall it was a easy job and I was happy with my install. I think it looks clean.



LED for passenger footwell. Installs into the plastic cover under the glovebox.





The camera doesn't pick up the correct color but in person, it matches that of the overhead map light illuminating over the center console

Next project on my list came from a forum post. I was scrolling through "Alto101" thread about illuminated kick plates when "ILM-NC G37S" posted a pic of his illumitaed kick plates but he had puddle lights along his side skirts. I've always wanted that and his post just inspired me to do such. You can find more info here https://www.myg37.com/forums/body-in...ck-plates.html POST #9. That same night I found myself searching for the Nissan kit. He used the kit made for an Altima coupe and seeing as I have a sedan, I thought the Maxima kit would be a better fit seeing as its a sedan. Maybe its better, or maybe its the same thing. Not sure. The part numbers are different though.

Nissan's parts website is the exact same thing as Infinitis. Obviously. I searched the part number which had an MSRP of $120. Searching through the various dealerships, I found the kit for $60.




Now this install was a little more labor intensive than I thought. I measured where I was going to drill the holes at least a dozen times. I did not want to ruin my side skirts. I finally drilled into them and was satisfied with my skills or lack thereof. Now I'm not sure if its just the Q40 or not but, I had no pre cut holes in order to feed the wiring through cabin from the side skirts. I found a hole that was covered from factory and drilled through that. It wasn't a pretty hole but it worked. I tapped into the wiring of my pre-installed kick plates with the provided posi-taps from the kit and had a little help from ILM-NC G37S himself.




I am in love with how it turned out. I do feel like it's missing an extra LED towards the back but I'm okay with it for now. During the install I tried to space the lights out as evenly as possible but when I did some final measurements, most of the lights would be covering the existing mounting holes or the jack points so this was the best I could do. Maybe I'll buy a similar single LED and add that in later but its not a priority right now.

My next projects are:
OEM Journey Chin



OEM DRL

iCrap

iTrader: (8)

I made these SKYLINE sills for my car. They are laser cut with an EL backlight. still have a few if you are interested (they are kits, i have a post in the for sale section)

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

It looks like my front grille badge will be here Friday so the Infiniti dealership in Texas that I got some of the trunk badges must have ordered more than one. Nice! My steering wheel cover tracking number still states that it left Osaka on April 21st. They are shipping via USPS so who knows when it will hit the U.S. with all the covid stuff going on. My Bride seat rails usually took about 2 months from Japan without covid-19 so I am trying to be patient.

That's actually not a bad idea. Where did you find the exterior ground lighting for $60? I see that on a lot of Nissan Maximas and a few Altimas at the store.

Peepz

iTrader: (1)

I really hope it's not lost in transit. For it to not have an update in over a month is concerning. I know we're in the middle of covid but I'm sure it would have been close by now.

I found the lights at Bannister Nissan of Virginia. It's back up to $99 right now. I see a lot of the dealerships have increased their prices after they just had their memorial day sales. Check this link and look at the various dealerships, one of them is bound to have it for cheap. I go one by one. Crazy. I know.

https://parts.nissanusa.com/p/92707656/999F4-AX009.html

Peepz

iTrader: (1)

Today's project was the OEM Front Chin. The chin is for the Journey bumper which I rarely see on G's both on the forums and the streets. I originally planned to do the sport bumper swap but I also wanted to install the OEM DRLs along with the sport chin. My decision changed when I found a user on the forums selling journey DRLs for $300 shipped. Anticipating the purchase of the DRLs, I prematurely purchased the chin. I say prematurely because I only had him answer one of my emails confirming the price and that was it. A few choice words later I said eff it, I'll buy from Infiniti parts. More on that at a later time but here's the final product.







The slight color variation is a little bothersome but it's whatever



The lip to me makes the front look lower but the color difference is annoying to me. I noticed the same thing with my trunk spoiler. It is what it is I guess.

Next up are the DRLs.

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

Your paint is probably yellowing from 12 years worth of sun exposure. But you do bring up a good point. I have considered an oem lip spoiler for my car, but never even thought about that.