ooh wow carbon. I've always wanted to get a carbon hood or trunk and try to fade the body color partway through:

something like this

 

I really like that. I think especially on a black paint job it would look extra subtle.

 

Welp, finally sold my old g37 to Carvana. 4 years, ~30K miles, and a boatload of memories. Sad to see it go, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to take advantage of the crazy market. Literally sold it for what I purchased it for back in 2017. Now that funds and time are replenished, I can work on my Z & G35 builds in earnest.

 

Well today was an eventful week, but not a ton in the mods department. I FINALLY got the car titled in Ohio, along with license plate. Only took nearly 10 months

I did find a 2011 G37 Sedan at the Junkyard, unfortunately much of the car was stripped. Did however manage to score some Illuminated sills and an extra gauge shroud/B pillar:




Rewrapped the B Pillar finisher in suede (first time I had broken the top "T shape" tab which led to it falling out), completed this job in < 30 mins:



The sills were in rough shape, so I decided to see if I could wrap them to improve the appearance. All in all I'm pleased with the outcome- especially since I have less than $50 invested. Just had to pry them along the edges (busted a knuckle trying to move too quick), but overall not too bad




Should match the rest of the interior nicely, but I have doubts on how long it will last. Perhaps I should add some PPF on top of it?

Lastly I finally found some motivation to start working on my spare dash. Quite a pain to remove the material, but I wanted to make sure I have a clean surface to begin suede wrapping:





It's getting there. Most of the sections came off in chunks, however the areas near the vents were particularly painful. Oh well, the foam back suede should hide any imperfections. Hoping to finish this off soon, as I'm still dealing with minor water leaks during heavy rains. I feel like it should be much easier to fix that problem once I pull the dash.

 

really curious how the dash will turn out. My dash was absolutely MINT until recently, but now its just started cracking and chunking for no reason. super upsetting considering how well it held up until now

 

Finally completed the removal of the rubber on the spare dash. WHAT A PAIN. Had to remove it all by picking at it/heating sections to finally get the sections by the vents removed. Definitely have some imperfections in the foam, I considered using some sort of bondo on it- but decided against it as I'll be utilizing foam backed suede to wrap the dash. Fingers crossed.

Additionally, I FINALLY received my CF hood cover from Masterpiece Automotive (IG) that I ordered back in May. The box arrived from Taiwan nearly destroyed (thanks UPS), but alas the piece arrived unscathed. Here's a few test fit photos on my spare junkyard hood gauge. I think the carbon will help break up my suede dash/pillars/headliners, and I'll most likely remove the MA logo that's on the overlay for a cleaner look:




I plan to wrap the remainder of the gauge in black suede to tie it to the rest of the interior. Should look proper with the GT-R red start button and my customer all leather steering wheel from the old G.

Lastly, I've been thinking about what to do about headlights on this build. I adore my customer JP Customs Headlights that were on my old build (flat black, dual halos, STI lenses, hex etched)- but have been thinking about potentially doing something different on this G. Specifically I'd like to retain the AFS capability that was offered on the 07-09 G Sedans. I've been doing a lot of research, and according to the press releases Infiniti initially thought about offering this on the 2010 model- but decided against it. I've been talking to a local retrofitter about taking the AFS motors from my 07 headlights and migrating them over into a 2010+ pair. Could be an interesting project (one of many I have in-flight I know)- and offer an opportunity to do something subtly different. More to think about....

 

Progress looks great.

That cluster hood will reflect like bad decisions so FYI, also you might want to take a piece of that suede and start leaving it outside to see how it ages.
Really sad to see suade/leather wrapped dashes discoloring near the end of the dash, this area not only gets hot but doesnt have much room to breathe since it's so close to the glass.

 

I agree the hood will probably reflect badly.

I think you could retain AFS but it will be a lot of custom fabrication. It would actually not be that hard with some 3D printed parts. Its really just a 2 point mount with a stepper motor.

 

Appreciate the feedback fellas. We’ll see about the hood gauge, I’m not too worried about long term sun effects as the car is either garaged or parked at work under an overhand- so any sun exposure would be limited to my commute. But if there’s major glare that’s a different story… a few other guys on IG have installed these and haven’t reported issues, but who knows.

@iCrap appreciate the thoughts on AFS. Once I complete the 2010 conversion I’ll have the time to crack open my 07 lights and get an idea of how they work, and what could be ported over to a fresh 2010 set.

 

Happy New Year's all! It's been awhile, and this thread is dire need of updates. Majority of Nov/Dec were spent tied up with work (consultant life)- but I had the last two weeks of Dec off so I could really get to work on the G. With all of the "pleather" removed from the junkyard dash, I got to work wrapping it in the same suede that I utilized for my Headliner/Pillars:






The vent areas were a bit of a pain, but with patience (and beer) I was able to knock it out over a couple days. Definitely was nice to have a spare dash to work with, as it allowed me to take my time and take care of other things around the house. I also wrapped the bottom piece of the gauge cluster in suede- this piece was incredibly tedious.

With this complete, it was now up to dissemble the dash in the car. I followed a write-up on the forums, and overall it wasn't too bad. Removing the gauge cluster was probably the hardest point of the overall effort. Best part, my kiddo wanted to hang out and "fix daddy's car" :



Showing the old man how to work

Cluster assembly and center console removed

Victory!


Finally got everything mocked up for installation- just a major improvement over my cracked/discolored OEM dash (2nd pic):




Getting closer! Still have to wrap the knee pads and "oval" area around the shift surround in suede, as well as migrate over the airbag and wiring from my original dash. But the end is definitely in sight!

In the mean time, while I had the dash out. I figured I'd might as well clean out the sunroof drains again as I had a few leaks on the passenger side. No surprise, this is what I found:




The baffle on these is just such a terrible design. Torn on if I should modify these with a metal straw to improve drainage, or just bypass this setup and run new hose that drain through the firewall. Decisions, decisions.

 

But that's not all! If you followed my old thread, you'll know that I took a chance on one of those Ali Baba "Z1 style" intakes. Overall, I was pleased with the setup- but wanted to make some improvements to the lower quality couplings and filters provided on the kit. I took advantage of some Black Friday discounts to score some K&N filters, Filterwear covers, and of course P2M couplings (anodized black) to improve the setup. Still waiting on a few more couplings from ConceptZ to complete the setup and then I'll get that installed.

I also quickly completed wrapping and installing the rear 2010+ sills, here's a quick comparison to my 07s:




Much nicer, and infinitely more premium looking. I also had an extra 2011 Gauge Cluster from the junkyard, and used the time to pull it apart to harvest the white LCD screen. Figured I would also wrap the center of cover in brushed black wrap to match the rest of the interior:



LCD display removed

Love the subtle depth the wrap provides

Finally, today I finally received my new wheels for the G. I'm a big fan of the OEM+ look with these cars, and while I had a set of powder coated rear 08-11 Coupe rears in galaxy gloss black- I have a black car and didn't want the whole "murdered out" look. I looked into powder coating them a gunmetal/hyper silver color; but the pricing would start to put me in the territory of newer wheels. Plus, I guess I just wanted to try something different.

I was gravitating towards selling my wheels and purchasing a few aftermarket options, but around Christmas I noticed an Infiniti dealer in Chicago was offering the 2011+ Coupe Rears in the special "Bright Finish" package for $110/per wheel. In addition, with joining the Infiniti VIP program (for free) you get $200 of shipping on your first purchase. So at a little over $500 for a brand new squared set- it was a no brainer for me, I pulled the trigger. These beauties just arrived today, and I'm absolutely in love with the black chrome look of them. Maybe not for every build, but these will be elegant on a black car :


Hard to photograph this color, but it shifts from Gunmetal to Black Chrome depending on how the light hits

Definitely will need to ceramic coat these, as I'm not looking forward to cleaning

Another bonus about these wheels is that they hide my non-akebono brakes (the 07-08 G35 6MT didn't come with them unfortunately). I have a set of Powerstop Akebonos that I snagged over the summer for less than <$400, but I'd like to paint/powdercoat them before I install and these wheels will buy me time to put that further down the list (I have enough projects ongoing as it is LOL).

 

**** Deepan. You just scored my favorite wheels.
I'm looking for a squared setup myself, just wanted to find another set of 15spokes to make them into 2 squared and possibly not come out of pocket.

This bright finish is fantastic.

 

Thanks Bull! These are a bit more unique for sedans, as everyone runs the older ones and I've only seen ~5 Sedans with these wheels (yours being one of them). Very pleased with the finish, especially at the price. Hilariously the regular finish ones are more expensive.

 

Looking good. Debating on the dash wrap. Where did you get the suede? Also any pics of the finished cluster? I like the black wrap idea, I should have done something like that

 

Thanks! I purchased the suede from "The Headliner Doctor" on eBay. Haven't finished the cluster yet, gotta work up the courage/time to open up my 07 one and pull the needles/ribbon for that LCD.