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Hey MyG37, I'm Deepan. I've documented my previous build on this site, a '13 G37xS in KAD. I had originally opted for an AWD model due to the rarity of the 6MT sedan and for the Ohio snows. However, I recently picked up a '13 V1 370Z NISMO- and after having the ability to row my own gears again- I always found myself wanting more when I hopped back into my G. I also needed the ability to have my son in the car... and the Z isn't exactly conducive to carting around a toddler. Add in the massive depreciation curve that is about to hit (my current G has 60K mi) and a generous offer from Carvana- the timing was right to seek out a 6MT Sedan.
As COVID has shifted my job into 100% WFH, I was seeking a higher milage example to keep overall costs low and allowing me to profit of the sale of my xS sedan. After three months of searching- I found a clean, one owner, black 2007 G35 6MT with 129K miles in Baltimore at a Mazda dealership. I called them and placed a deposit, and used my accrued flight miles (from all of the cancelled vacation trips) to fly out the following day. Kudos to Heritage Mazda for the easy transaction, and I made the 6 hour trek back to Ohio.
Here's a few pics from the dealership listing:
Build Goals/Philosophies:
Like my previous build this will have an "OEM+" mindset; however this time I will be going for a slightly more "aggressive" aesthetic- almost as if Infiniti would have offered a Performance Trim of the sedan. Luckily the majority of the aesthetic and performance mods I had on my last G will transfer directly over. My initial priorities will be to refresh worn components and perform the 10+ facelift (need to port over my molded lip bumper and custom headlights ) . Once everything is up to par- then we'll work on increasing overall performance.
Build List (as of /23):
Exterior:
JDM Tails, Amber Delete, Satin Black Shrouds with GTR Style Halos
Downstar Dress Up Bolts (Black Beauty Washers, Stainless Steel Bolts)
Gallery Gasket Overhaul (New Gaskets, Timing Chains Tensioner, Crank Sprocket, Water Pump)
Q50 Hybrid Engine Cover
Berk HFC
Fast Intentions Exhaust (18” resonators)
CSF Triple Bypass Radiator
ConceptZ Hoses (Radiator, Coolant, Heater)
Z1 Metal Heater Hose Connector
eBay Anodized Black Bullet Style Oil Cap
ADDW1 Catch Cans
Suspension:
Hotchkis Swaybars (F/R)
Tein Basis Coilovers
SPC FUCA/RCA
SPC Toe Bolts
SPL F/R End-Links
Whiteline Midlink Bushings
Wheels/Brakes:
2011+ G37 Coupe Bright Finish Wheels (Black Chrome, All Rears)
Continental DWS 06 Plus Tires
Akebono BBK (Burnt Copper Finish, Black Infiniti Decals)
Akebono Performance Break Pads
Stoptech F/R SS Brake lines
R1 Concepts Carbon Geomet Slotted Rotors
Initial impressions
The 6MT is just in a completely different league than the X models. The steering rack is much tighter and precise, shifts are crisp, but overall the car is soooo much lighter. Even though the engine has less displacement, it felt peppy and fun in a way that my AWD with full bolt ons never did. After researching online, it seems the 07-08 models were the lightest of the bunch and the weight difference is staggering:
This was a total blast to take through the mountains of West Virgina- truly felt much more like a "4 Door Z car". Speaking of, the clutch pedal was super light and easy to operate (unlike my Z). I'll have to check but I suspect that the previous owner must have installed an RJM clutch pedal. A fun surprise was that the car was 100% fully loaded from a feature set; and even includes the "CD ripper" and "Adaptive Cruise Control". Nav is basically worthless, but it's there as well. Pretty wild to see how Nissan had all of the ingredients together back in '07; and how little changed to my '13.
Considering that this is the first year of the 2nd generation G35, and a 14 year old example of it; there's quite aesthetic imperfections with the car that will need to be addressed:
Front bumper/hood paint is toast (bumper isn't a problem as I'll be doing the '10+ conversion)
Overall paint quality is in dire need of polishing
Driver's side floor mat has a hole
Wheels have plenty of curb rash (not a big deal as I'm not a fan of the look)
Driver's seat has rips in the side of the leather
License plate lamp holder has rusted out
Dead pedal is trashed
Dash has the infamous "cracking"
Black trim on window switches/steering wheel bezel is heavily scratched
Probably most major, a few dents on the passenger rear quarter panel
That's it for now. It's been a fun week with the car so far, looking forward to sharing this journey with you guys!
First mod. Swapped out the worn (and IMO ugly) G35 floor mats with some gently used Premium Floormats that I scored off eBay. No way I'd pay $330 for them new, but for $120 I'd buy them all day. OEM quality and upscales the interior quite nicely. You can also see how trashed the steering wheel bezel/dash is.
Do yourself a favor and rip the CD changer out of the trunk, and you can buy a top trunk cover panel from a non-tech car. Saves a lot of trunk space.
Adaptive cruise is my favorite feature of the car, super useful. But you're gonna have a hard time finding the bezel and bracket for the ICC sensor when you do the front end conversion. Super rare parts these days..
Does it have the AFS adaptive headlights? you either have to source 2010+ AFS lights (rare af) or deal with the constant flashing light on the dash (Edit, it does have it, I can see the button in your picture)
Do yourself a favor and rip the CD changer out of the trunk, and you can buy a top trunk cover panel from a non-tech car. Saves a lot of trunk space.
Adaptive cruise is my favorite feature of the car, super useful. But you're gonna have a hard time finding the bezel and bracket for the ICC sensor when you do the front end conversion. Super rare parts these days..
Does it have the AFS adaptive headlights? you either have to source 2010+ AFS lights (rare af) or deal with the constant flashing light on the dash (Edit, it does have it, I can see the button in your picture)
I'm glad you commented, as I knew you had one of the OG sedans; I appreciate the pointers. I definitely plan on ripping out the trunk CD changer (was pretty surprised to see it TBH), and funny enough I actually got a lower grill bezel from a local when I bought a bumper for the old G (kid thought it was a brake duct ).
The AFS headlights is a great call out as I didn't even notice them haha! Of course one more added layer of complexity to deal with! I discovered that the wiring seems to be different than my Monaco Red seats, so that will be another project to tackle. Did you ever end up swapping 2010+ seats into your G?
Originally Posted by projectpanda13
this is awesome. as the 2013 G already sold? save anything to move over?
Haven't sold it yet, but definitely will moving most of the aesthetic and performance parts over. Until then, I've got 3 Nissan products
I'm glad you commented, as I knew you had one of the OG sedans; I appreciate the pointers. I definitely plan on ripping out the trunk CD changer (was pretty surprised to see it TBH), and funny enough I actually got a lower grill bezel from a local when I bought a bumper for the old G (kid thought it was a brake duct ).
The AFS headlights is a great call out as I didn't even notice them haha! Of course one more added layer of complexity to deal with! I discovered that the wiring seems to be different than my Monaco Red seats, so that will be another project to tackle. Did you ever end up swapping 2010+ seats into your G?
Good thing you have the bezel, that's a pretty rare find. Although, I think you are going to need a new ICC bracket for the actual sensor though. I was never able to fully confirm if they changed the position from 2009 / 2010 sport, but they did move it from 07-09 base to sport. Based on photos I think they did change it again for 2010.
I have heard 2010 AFS lights do exist, but I've never been able to find a pair for sale. If you unplug the AFS it'll flash AFS constantly on the dash, even with the switch off. So your other option is to take apart the cluster and cover that LED if you can't find the correct lights. Also AFS is a cool feature so it'd be nice to retain it.
The only difference on the seats should be the wiring for the heated cushions, the power stuff and airbag should plug right in. I did major surgery on my sport seats and essentially made a 07-09 set with 2010+ cushions. If you don't care about the heated seats you should be able to just drop them in, but if you do want that full functionality you have to do a similar thing. Also, you may have to swap the white box under the driver seat onto your Monaco seats. (that's the control module and also makes your memory seats function)
Good thing you have the bezel, that's a pretty rare find. Although, I think you are going to need a new ICC bracket for the actual sensor though. I was never able to fully confirm if they changed the position from 2009 / 2010 sport, but they did move it from 07-09 base to sport. Based on photos I think they did change it again for 2010.
I have heard 2010 AFS lights do exist, but I've never been able to find a pair for sale. If you unplug the AFS it'll flash AFS constantly on the dash, even with the switch off. So your other option is to take apart the cluster and cover that LED if you can't find the correct lights. Also AFS is a cool feature so it'd be nice to retain it.
The only difference on the seats should be the wiring for the heated cushions, the power stuff and airbag should plug right in. I did major surgery on my sport seats and essentially made a 07-09 set with 2010+ cushions. If you don't care about the heated seats you should be able to just drop them in, but if you do want that full functionality you have to do a similar thing. Also, you may have to swap the white box under the driver seat onto your Monaco seats. (that's the control module and also makes your memory seats function)
I believe you're right about needing a separate ICC bracket; currently searching through part diagrams to get the right part #. I keep finding conflicting information around AFS lights for 2010+; it's either they got discontinued completely or were an option for the 2010 with Tech package. I'll most likely have to delete the AFS LED as I already have custom Headlights from my AWD build.
My major surgery, did you port over the 07-09 wiring to the base of your 2010 seats; or did you undo the hog rings to bring the newer leather over? I've thought about either doing that, or looking into swapping the floor harness- as I prefer the 5 way heating ability that the newer models have. Alternatively I could always just drop my Nismo Recaros into this build and avoid the wiring issue all together. Decisions, decisions...
I actually stripped all the seats down to frame and just basically reassembled a seat with new cushions and 07-09 wiring. At the same time, i re-foamed the bolsters to make the seats like-new again. I think swapping the floor harness may be more difficult than you think, who knows if the wiring on the other end is the same, plus you need the whole switch panel for the center console.
If i remember right the older heating elements are 2 wire while the 2010+ ones are 3 wire. That was the main difference.
If you can't find the ICC bracket, worst case try your hand at welding and make one lol. This is what I was running until i was finally able to source the actual bracket. I just drilled out the spot welds and extended it. It actually worked pretty well but had a bit more flex than the original.
Funny you say this as it is the username of @4DRZ . He just sold his amazing 6mt that was completely decked out and had everything done you could think of. (his license plates might have been 4DRZ as well...dont remember)
Welp it's been some time since the last post. I've been thoroughly enjoying my time with the G35S as a daily; and with a major year long project at work coming to a close- I've had minimal time to focus on car stuff. The time I did have however, I've been spending on my Nismo Z; converting the interior to the much nicer V2 (2015+) interior bits. But that's another story...
I spent quite a few weekends in April raiding the local junkyards, as we have a few G37s (09s unfortunately) in there- which is quite rare for my area. I took the opportunity to acquire quite a few items for the new G build:
1) Scored a mint condition rear bumper. Not that the one that came on my G was bad, but this one was completely mint with only some small superficial (aka can come out with polish) scratches. I figured since I needed to replace the license plate bracket, might as well upgrade the rear.
2) The 07-08 G35s and 09-11 G37s were notorious for cracking dashes, and mine is no exception. Unfortunately the donor car I came upon was a '09; and there were some minor imperfections by the radio bezel. Like not bad at all, but again OCD.... I considered swapping this into my '13 G37 and using that dash in the new build, but that seemed like way too much effort. After mulling it over, I decided to pull the dash from the donor car as they were only asking $20- and it was an easy way to practice the install.
My plan is to remove the rubbery coating and wrap it a black suede to match my headliner that I'll be pulling from the G37.
3) For those that didn't know, the 07-08 G35S had an extra CD changer and different trimming to the trunk to accommodate it. It really robbed the trunk space, and as such it had to go...
Much better. Note new rear bumper is installed and I also grabbed an OEM cargo net from the 09 donor car. Also brought over my trunk mat from my G37.
4) The window trim rubber was severely cracking in multiple places (as seen below). I grabbed the chrome trim from the donor car and replaced, now looks brand new.
5) I've been wanting to replace the window controls with my nice CF hydro dipped ones from my G37. The current ones on the G35 are prone to scratching, and it seems these were so bad the original owner wrapped (terribly) the controls in cheap vinyl. I grabbed controls to replace the CF hydro dipped ones in my G37; but prior to doing so I discovered that the door panels and window controls in the G35 were slightly different than the G37. Why Infiniti, why....
Notice the terrible vinyl job above, and scratches on the rubber coating below. Cannot wait to replace these...
6) As such I had to go back to the junk yard to grab new panels to fit my G37 window controls. Since I'm already wrapping the dash, I think I'll wrap part of these in black suede as well to help tie in the interior.
Never knew that the window controls are different, that's super weird. I also learned last week that the center console / cupholders changed after 2008 (on the auto) even though at a first glance it looks identical. Such weird little changes.
While I was raiding junkyards in April, I was also ordering parts to begin the 2010+ front conversion, and also freshen up other parts of the car. I've got everything to go for the conversion outside of the fog lights (still debating an OEM style aftermarket replacement, or the much more expensive Morimoto fogs).Definitely welcome thoughts there.
The dead pedal on my G35 was quite beat up after 13 years of service. I ordered a replacement using P/N 67840-1NF3A based on a few threads and online parts catalogs. As you can infer from this statement, the part I received was the smaller automatic dead pedal. Not wanting to deal with returns etc, I ended up retrofitting the smaller dead pedal (and reinforcement foam behind it). Looks worlds better:
Finally, I got the car tinted. Tired of living in a fishbowl, and helps tie in the overall "Executive" look that I'm hoping to achieve with the car:
Never knew that the window controls are different, that's super weird. I also learned last week that the center console / cupholders changed after 2008 (on the auto) even though at a first glance it looks identical. Such weird little changes.
Yeah lots of weird little things, it's been (sorta) fun discovering them like little Easter eggs. Another fun one is that the driver side mat's have 2x holders vs the G35 with 1x. Just why Infiniti....
Crazy odd details, glad you found great donor pieces. I've replaced my two front window trims, for the rears it's just been difficult to find in good condition. The main yard I go to started realizing the potential of 37s and now they barely get them, the quality of the V chassis cars they're getting is going down significantly. Great score!
) . Once everything is up to par- then we'll work on increasing overall performance.
). 
