I did a deep dive into noise reduction research before deciding to do what I was going to do all along. When I worked in car stereo 25+ years ago we commonly stripped doors and sprayed the inside of the door skin with spray-on bedliner rather than dynamat or any of the other 'proper' solutions. The decibel difference was negligible between cheap and expensive solutions until you got really really expensive. While high density vinyl seems the way to go for an audiophile, I was trying to reduce road noise along the rocker panels and the floor, so I painted it all with Herculiner and let it dry before putting the carpet back in. I'm wondering about fabric/ fiberglass insulation behind the plastic panels, because I imagine spray or roll on bedliner would dissolve them.

Then again, I just installed a full header-back FI exhaust. I do not hear road noise any more.

 

So back in late 2018 we evacuated for a hurricane to Columbia SC. Guess where all the rain went? In my car. Had several inches of water on top of the carpets, and this car does not really have floor pan drain plugs per se.

So out the interior came. Already get a musty smell from the AC, don't want mildew or mold to set in under the carpet. And here in Charleston, both are super common as we typically have 80%+ humidity almost every day.




Had to put my seat and the rear seat (for the kid seat) because I had work the next day.

Turns out these c#$ksuckers are the issue:




And the last pic is the disintegrated gasket that is the only line of defense from water around the sunroof draining INTO your car. The last three pics were taken by me but of a car in the junkyard that had the dash out so you could see the tubes and connectors easily. These are a b!tch to get to without dash removal.

Pulled full interior, added a negligee laundry bag full of crystal kitty litter (which is just a desiccant). I figured 10 pounds of desiccant should dry the car out. Took a while though.

I rerouted the drains from the firewall to go through an undrilled boss kinda under the dead pedal area, and Teed into the AC drain line, spliced on the a-pillars into the original hoses. I haven't put the A-pillar covers back on yet because I'm adding a gauge pod and want to have both sides match in fabric.

 

Around February of 2019 I got some Lazfit backup lights - 921 bulb replacements. Super duper bright, no issues in replacing or using.

Incandescent on left, LED on right.

 

At that angle, you can actually see the lenses reflected in the curve of the trunk.

Seems brighter. Are the LED's more or less effective? I don't think it matters. Pretty lights.

 

Around this time I found a set of the fabled 19" coupe wheels at a price I could do. They needed to be repainted, but the sanding work had been done already so no worries.


Preemptively got tires to go with them - Kumho PS91 245/40 front and 275/35 rear. The tire stack is as tall as my child...



Here's the first one primed.

 

They have more light output than the OEM incandescent 921 bulbs, and that helps. It does light up my driveway better when backing in. I have wondered how sensitive the backup cameras are to infrared- that could make a neat illuminator, IR LED in one side and less bright white LED in the other. At the moment, they're almost blinding if you're behind the car. Which... they *should* get your attention.

 

Around June 2019 I got an all-black grill and Z1 post-maf silicone tubes. No intake pics; not the best picture of the grille either (lighting was off).

 

I April 2019 I sold my last RX-7 (89 Turbo convertible) and used the proceeds to order Fast Intentions resonated high flow cats and the 18" resonated cat-back. Came towards the end of June. Here's one of my summer interns way too jazzed about a pretty pipe.




Pipes finally made it onto the car over Christmas 2019. Two days total for headers-back exhaust - would have been SO much faster if I had a lift. Took about 3 hours to get to and break the demon bolts.

 

Shudders

I get PTSD thinking about them

 

LOL it wasn't that bad. I spent 2 of those hours trying to find enough 1/2 drive extensions to get my impact gun to bear on them, knowing that since I was replacing the cats that breaking them off was my first option.

Once I gave up on the impact gun, 2' breaker bar with 5' cheater pipe a-la jack handle and they broke pretty easily. I did not have to remove any steering components, just the MAF to TB tubes.

It took me longer to figure out how to get the forward-facing lower bolts out, and then forever to loosen them 2 ratchet clicks at a time through the wheel wells.

 

Come on, I bet you were just as pumped about the FI components. When you're hands-on with these parts, brand new, they make a heck of an impression. At least, they did with me, all things being relative. 5-6 years later, zero regrets.

 

Oh, I was definitely psyched. I just don't have a picture of me grinning like an idiot with them.

 

So I'm getting fuzzy on mod timeline because a lot has gone down this year and modding the car has been when I have the time, energy and opportunity all at once.

At some point I swapped out the OEM backup camera for a wide-angle out of a Murano. Should have grabbed the camera controller box, as the colors are out of phase (red and green) with the G37 box. But I can see more behind the car, so win.
Before:



Now:



Pay attention to where the trash can is and how much can be seen from the sides. This is much better for backing out of angled parking here in Charleston.

It is not a plug-and-play. Yes, the cameras both plug in the same way to the trunk lid harness, and they are more or less the same form factor. But the mounting screws and rear package clearances are different, and the signal wire comes out of the camera in a different way. Few hours spent with a dremel to make everything fit with the stock mounting solution and gasketry.

 

Also added Diode Dynamics 7440 replacement XP80 LED bulbs in the rear. Right light wavelength to show through the red tail lens as amber. See the chat thread for discussion on single wavelength vs. white LED with filter.

Now to be brave enough to open the tail lights and disconnect the outer ring running light. So the tail will be the inner ring when the lights are on, and both when the brakes are on, and amber when turning.

I guess if I got really froggy I could replace the LEDs in the outer ring with dual amber/red and have it switchback. Maybe if I get a set of cheap tails from a junkyard run.

 

That was pre-exhaust. No pics of the FI catback on the car? Kind of hard to take bad pictures of a FI exhaust.