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Hey MyG37, I'm Deepan. After two years of owning (and lurking) on this site, I figured it was time to emerge from the shadows. After finishing up grad school in the winter of 2016; I needed a daily that was a little more "grown-up" for work. I work at a corporate center which has a parking lot full of the usual suspects: Mercs, Audi's, BMWs, and Lexus's. Against that backdrop, my fully modded little '04 Tiburon (first car from high school- ran for 12 years) was way long in the tooth. Wanting something a little mature, fun, and reliable (aka Japanese)- I set my sights on a G37 Sedan.
Originally I wanted to secure a 6MT (only driven manual my entire life), but the wife vetoed it as she wanted AWD for the Ohio winters and the proverbial "she would need to drive the car" at times. Bleh.
If I had to go an AWD 7AT, I knew I wanted the xS trim to grab some of the "Sport Appearance" goodies and build from there. After a few months of research, a CPO KAD 2013 G37xS with 31K miles turned up at an Infiniti dealer in Cleveland. Someone had just passed on the car 15 mins prior to "think about it" (despite me calling the dealer earlier that day to let them know I was driving 2+ hours to test the car); needless to say I took it for a quick spirited spin and purchased her immediately after.
Build Goals/Philosophies:
The car is my daily driver and as such I've prioritized appearance and quality of life upgrades to keep an "OEM+" mindset to the build. Once the car is aesthetically where I want it, I'll focus on on rounding out some minor performance related mods.
I also log my progress on IG: @deepanrajah
Here's the current build to date:
Wheels/Tires
OEM 19" Enkei Coupe Wheels (Squared); powder coated Galaxy Gloss Black
Firestone Firehawks 245/40/R19
Suspension/Brakes
Swift Springs
OEM G37S Coupe Rear Swaybar (26.7mm)
Akebono BBK Calipers (finished in Anodized Red + Silver Infiniti Decals)
Centric Premium Brake Rotors (E-Coating)
Akebono ACT1347 Ceramic Brake Pads
StopTech Stainless Steel Braided Brake Lines
Engine/Performance
Tanabe Medallion Axelback Exhaust
Fast Intentions Catback Exhaust (2.5" piping; 18" Resonators)
Here she is the day after driving her home from Cleveland.
Initial impressions:
This was an one owner lease; so outside of a few door dings and paint chips on the hood/bumper the paint was in immaculate shape
Base G37 calipers look sad. Especially even more so when rusty.
Waaaaayyy too much chrome for my taste
Horrendous 4x4 wheel gap (thanks AWD)
Considerable understeer, combined with the ride height it feels a bit like a boat
That VQ rumble is gorgeous and makes up for any of my other complaints
I spent the rest of January/February getting acquainted with her, and scouring MyG37, Instagram, and various G37 Facebook groups for inspiration. I discovered the previous owner must have always parked the car outside causing the license plate lamp assembly to rust out as seen below:
Immediately placed an order for a replacement. Next, the most important mod: I paid the car off. Now I could really start to have fun.
I scored a set of OEM Coupe Wheels off of eBay for $300 due to curb rash, but no matter as I would be powder coating them. I debadged the "Infiniti" lettering on the trunk to simultaneously clean up the appearance and speed up detailing efforts:
I went back on forth on wanting the "Bella" trunk vs the OEM rear spoiler for quite some time. At some angles the Bella is quite attractive, and in others not so much. But the massive price differential easily made my mind up for me and I went OEM:
A bit nerve wracking to drill into the trunk, but the results we well worth it. Also a new license frame was ordered immediately after this photo was taken (an OEM Nissan Black Chrome slim frame).
Once things heated up in June, I was able to get back to working on the G. I replaced all of the interior bulbs with LEDs, and swapped the "frosty" OEM map light covers with clear GT-R ones. WTF was Infiniti thinking? Now if only I could find clear replacement covers for the backseat's lights.
The next day, I finally swapped out that rusted license plate lamp assembly. For convenience, Infiniti made it so the entire rear bumper had to be pulled in order to do the swap
And scored some Akebonos from a G that was getting parted out:
I spent a lot of the summer of 2017 traveling overseas and out west; so naturally I used the time off to order more car parts. I sent the wheels to get powder coated, and purchased Swift Springs and an all-black eBay grille.
In late August, I finally had time to install the grille. Before/After:
Very impressed with the quality/paint job on the eBay Grille. I had originally planned on purchasing a OEM Midnight grille, but $400 is a bit tough to swallow especially knowing I would eventually paint the upper and lower slats KAD (body color). This eBay part at $150 was much more reasonable and instantly provided a more aggressive appearance.
On September 1st, I received the wheels back from the powder coater; refinished in beautiful Galaxy Black. Super happy with the results, especially since I had agonized over the color for several months (between black/gunmetal). But after seeing these in person, I knew I made the right choice:
The next day I took the car to my buddy's shop to get the Swifts installed, Goodbye monster truck!
As noted all over the forum, the Swifts provide a perfect OEM like stance (with no butt sag) with excellent ride quality for the AWD sedans. Honestly, if I saw the Duckfeet wheels lowered like this I may have not opted for the Coupe wheels. Alas, my path was set. Headed over to Firestone the next day (it was an expensive weekend) and picked up a set of Firehawks to wrap my Coupe wheels, and got the lifetime alignment deal thrown in:
She was definitely coming along, and progressing into more of that sporty look I had envisioned. Given the expensive weekend, I told the wife that "I was done modding for awhile" to let the wallet cool down.
Alas tragedy struck as I accidentally curbed the passenger wheel trying to navigate a tight parking garage downtown. The photo below also gives a great look at the ugly (and rusted) stock brakes:
I quickly got the wheel re-powder coated, and the car stayed in this form until December due to work heating up. With the holidays approaching, work simmered down and I was able to get some *much needed* R&R with the G.
Carsmo ***** + Q60 Shift ****/Boot were added to class up the interior. Really impressed with the quality of the Carsmo product, and the Q60 Shifter just seems to belong more than any of the other OEM options:
I also began working on refinishing the Akebonos. I lightly sanded off the OEM silver, and sprayed a base coat of the Dupli-Color Metal Cast:
Per the directions, I then had to let it gas out for a week. Next I was able to start laying down 3 coats of Anodized Red and added Silver Infiniti Decals sourced from eBay (the Akebono ones look a little too busy to me):
Some wet sanding and clear coats (rinse and repeat); and that wraps up 2017!
2018 started off slowly as we traveled to Atlanta & New Orleans for weddings during the first few months. However, I did score a set of OEM DRLs from a G37 Facebook group member who was parting out their car. I've always loved the look of these, however the price was prohibitively expensive for what you get (> $600). And all of the DIY options looked, well cheap. However when this set popped up for $275; I immediately snatched them up. Even better, they arrived in brand new condition (packaging and all).
I also picked up an OEM Sport Coupe Rear bar to address the AWD understeer. This was considerable upgrade from the puny AWD rear 17.1 mm to 24.2mm. I had initially considered the Hotchkis sways, however the AWD fronts are already pretty thick (31.7mm OEM vs 35 mm Hotchkis) and upgrading the rears addressed the stock understeer and made the car feel quite planted. At < $30, this was quite a bang for the buck mod and I can't believe I didn't do this sooner.
Here's a random picture of the car in the dreary Ohio February weather:
Got the OEM DRLs installed. Involved some cutting of the bumper, but very impressed with the quality of the kit. Helps her subtlety stand out amongst the other G37's on the road.
I also received a Grom VLine V1 as part of their pre-order, but by the time I got it the V2 was being released. I've hung on to it as one of those "I'll think about it" mods for the time being. Not much progress to report for March as my wife and I did some more overseas traveling which took up time for modding. I scored a used set of Tanabe Medallion Axelbacks and also purchased Centric Rotors (with painted hats to avoid rust), Akebono brake pads, and Stop Tech stainless steel lines to prepare for the BBK install.
Fast forward to April, it was time to finally upgrade to the Akebonos kit. Took it to my friends shop to install after hours. Fairly straightforward the only slightly tricky part involved trimming the dust shields. Such a marked improvement in the overall look. Like seriously:
While the car was on the lift, I also had the Tanabe's installed:
All in all, a great day for the car. Only annoying part is my mechanic friend accidentally dropped the driver side caliper, which chipped the finish. That said he only charged me $100 for all the labor, so I wasn't really in a position to complain.
Alas tragedy struck again, the literal next morning
I visited my parents house, and my mother backed out from the garage and went right into my car which was in her driveway.... because she was observing her mulch beds. Ugh.
The grille and radiator cover were toast, and the bumper was damaged enough that it would always bug me. Alas, I used this as an opportunity to begin refreshing the front. I quickly ordered replacement parts, and also placed an order for an OEM Sport Lip as well.
In the meantime, I also replaced the aging dead pedal with a new one:
Got the new grille two-toned painted (KAD on the edges, and gloss black in the slats). So in love with the look:
Unfortunately the dealer had ordered and painted the journey bumper, so alas I finished out May without having the repair completed. In the meantime, I finally got the car Ceramic Tinted (20% all around):
After creeping on Rochester's thread for the Extreme 3 roof spoiler, I had another delivery via USPS waiting for me
Another subtle yet OEM like mod. And very reasonable for the price (especially pre-painted!).
Right around mid June is when the build took another turn. Still awaiting the replacement front sport bumper, I had been spending my time cruising through various G37 Facebook groups. And then I came across a listing from an auto-recycler in Florida who was parting out a 2011 Limited Edition Sedan with 120K miles.
For those that don't know, the 2011's had the Malbec Black exterior and Monaco Red leather seats. I had been a sucker for the Monaco Red for quite some time, but given the limited examples available for the sedan (roughly 700 between the 2010 AE and 2011 LE) I didn't really think it was a realistic goal. Funny how life works.
Immediately I shot him a message, as the seats appeared to be in great condition and they were listed at a fair price. Shipping to Ohio was awful, however after uh nice discussion with the wife (I recently had received a promotion at work); the seats were mine.
While I waited impatiently awaited the seats to arrive, I went ahead and did the GTR start button. While I think this mod can look a little out of place in most G37's, I was about to have a bit more red to help tie it in.
Finally in mid-June (almost two months to the day after the accident), I received my replacement bumper from the local dealer. I immediately headed to my buddies shop to have the bumper, new 2-tone grille, and OEM Sport Lip installed. Just love how the front came together
Another shot of her on the town:
And then of course, the day I was waiting for... RED SEAT DAY
I don't think I've been so excited for a pallet to arrive.
Overall, I was quite pleased with the purchase. Knowing that the donor car had over 100K mi, I wasn't expecting the seats to be 100% perfect, and there was minimal bolster wear on the drivers side (as expected). But the leather was positively filthy and was in desperate need of conditioning. You can tell in the photos how muted the red looks.
Not a problem. I had purchased the Leatherique Rejuvenator + Pristine Clean combo, and I was planning to head out of town for the 4th of July weekend- which would give the seats 5 days to bake in the Rejuvenator oil. I quickly vacuumed up the seats, and applied the oil, and then wrapped it in plastic wrap to promote absorbtion.
Whew, it's been a minute. My day job had me tied up these last few weeks, finally have a change to finish this long overdue post.
The Leatherique was a complete game changer. I couldn't believe how much dirt and grime came out on the first application:
Needless to say count me as a believer. One the seats were cleaned up, I used a YouTube DIY to swap the seats in. Overall, fairly easy with the drivers side being a little bit of a pain with the steering wheel. Here's the before/afters
Just so in love with the change, definitely makes the car feel a lot more special every time I hop in. Now my G had become a psuedo-anniversary edition (sans the wheels, but I much prefer the OEM coupes).
Stopped by the dealership for a quick oil change (previous owner had pre-paid for the first 10 services, and I received the car with 7 left); snagged a quick pick next to a Q50RS. Call me biased, but I much prefer the look of the G against it's newer sibling:
My plan for the summer was to simmer down from mods and let the wallet cool down. Famous last words... as I found a super cheap deal on another set of OEM Coupe wheels with Blizzaks, Needless to say I pounced on them as it was an opportunity to square up with 4X Rears as my summer set.
Squared up look, random shots during the fall time.
With all the mod fun during the summer, I spent most of September-October just enjoying the car and the fall weather. I was loving how she looked, however the overt chrome on the headlights and window trim always hung on the back of my mind.
In November, the wife and I headed to Paris for her birthday, and one night after I got back from the bars I noticed JP Customs was having a Black Friday sale on headlights. I've always loved how clean his work was; but the fact that he included a set of headlights sealed the deal for me. As my car is my DD, I did not want the hassle of being without headlights at the mercy of a builders lead time. I shot him a few messages about what I wanted and put down a deposit on the build.
That same night...
I noticed that a pair of JDM V36 Power Folding Mirrors with Winkers were being sold by Robbie from Japan Auto Parts for $375. These things almost never show up, and it really always bugged me how the (US) G37 Sedan never had options that come standard on a KIA. I shot Robbie a message and then purchased the mirrors. I slept very peacefully that night... and the wife negotiated for a nice trip to the Champs-Elysee. Bonus points we left Paris before any of the "Yellow Jacket" protests. Whew.
Once I was stateside, I got to work trying to source a Euro/UAE Spec LHD Mirror control panel with the OEM switch for the folding mirrors. I had seen a few on the forums cut the blank spot with a Dremel, but my OCD would have killed me knowing that there was an OEM option out there and not going for it. After a heck of a lot of googling, I finally found it: 8091-JU41B
I was actually able to source this from a UAE seller on eBay for about $50. A little steep, but not bad considering it would be one of the few ever stateside.
The mirrors and control panel arrived in mid-December:
Notice the rectangle cut-out underneath where the circle mirror switch is? Thats the power folding button.
JDM Power Folding Mirrors with the winkers (LED blinkers):
Unfortunately USPS sucks, and the mirror base on the driver's side got damaged in shipping:
Total bummer, but part of the game with international orders. I ordered a replacement mirror base. Now the contemplating of what color to paint them began . Go KAD to match the car, or paint it gloss black to give it more of an aggressive look? Still undecided
While I contemplated the mirror color, I decided to try my hand with DIY Vinyl Wrapping the trim using Blnewt's excellent guide. Was a bit nerve-racking, and had more than a few re-do's; but the finish product was soooooo worth it:
All in all, it was a great year for the build. Learned quite a bit, and had a blast. One last shot of the G from Dec 30th:
Nice start on the build thread. do you have any close up pics of the anodized red calipers? how did you get the anodized finish? (2 stage silver/translucent paint?)
I honestly don't know why more people don't customize their front grille like that, with body-color on the edges, and midnight black in the slats. When I first saw that technique years ago, I knew it was for me.
Your car looks fantastic. I see you've got the OEM running lights, too. That's pretty uncommon (because it was stupidly expensive... but attractive anyway.)
Fully loaded with all the trim options, Monaco Red leather, and AWD for the wife. There's a lot to be happy with that car. And very tasteful mods, because to the untrained eye, it looks entirely OEM... which is the point. Well done.
Apologies for the delay, last few days at work have been hectic!
Originally Posted by Hashim
Nice start on the build thread. do you have any close up pics of the anodized red calipers? how did you get the anodized finish? (2 stage silver/translucent paint?)
Thanks Hashim, I'll post up plenty of pics as I continue documenting the journey. The calipers were DIY with Duplicolor Metal Cast Anodized Red which is 2 stage (base coat + color coat) then finally clear coated. And each stage took a week as I had to let the paint "gas out"
Originally Posted by Rochester
I honestly don't know why more people don't customize their front grille like that, with body-color on the edges, and midnight black in the slats. When I first saw that technique years ago, I knew it was for me.
Your car looks fantastic. I see you've got the OEM running lights, too. That's pretty uncommon (because it was stupidly expensive... but attractive anyway.)
Fully loaded with all the trim options, Monaco Red leather, and AWD for the wife. There's a lot to be happy with that car. And very tasteful mods, because to the untrained eye, it looks entirely OEM... which is the point. Well done.
Rochester, I 100% agree on the grille. During my time lurking, I came across a Graphite Shadow Sedan with the 2 tone grille (I believe in one of your threads actually); and it was immediate love. Still can't believe Infiniti didn't offer this as a factory option- it just seems to complete the front end.
The OEM running lights are stupidly expensive (> $600 for lights ) however I was able to secure this set from a member off a forum group for $275 (still expensive but I wanted that OEM fit and finish). Best part, when they arrived they were brand-spanking new!
I appreciate the kind words! Your threads/modding philosophies/agonizing over mods really resonated with me on how I approached the build. So thanks
Originally Posted by Diode Dynamics
Looks awesome! Those halos are perfect for the G37 if I do say so myself
Jake H.
Diode Dynamics
Thanks Jake! Those halo's give such a factory feel, and the switchbacks feature is instantaneous and just so cool.
Curious how much you paid? I ask as I live in Cleveland ohio and mine looks exactly like yours, 2013 G37xS and 31k miles. Mine does have the technology package and has the upgraded back spoiler and grill from factory.
Nevermind: I see you bought this in 2017 and now just posting a build thread. Originally when I typed my question, I thought you just bought the car.
Ah nice! That's literally the exact same as mine. Back in Jan 2017, I purchased the car for 20k out the door. Sadly the resale value on these continues to plummet, but anything below 50K miles seems to sell fairly well.
02-06-2019, 11:15 PM
) however I was able to secure this set from a member off a forum group for $275 (still expensive but I wanted that OEM fit and finish). Best part, when they arrived they were brand-spanking new!
