Looks good man, if only they had a method of quick removal for the undercarriage shield. Taking all those bolts off is a PITA, i have gotten lazy and just let the damn oil drip on it when doing changes. Caliper rebuild was great too, I wish I had a BBK kit but I can’t be bothered to get new rims, as my stock 17s won’t clear.

keep up the good work.

 

Thanks!

I'm in the same boat now, I have the OEM 17's that aren't even worth selling. I may just use them for rollers for my S14 while it remains indefinitely parked. I was able to grab a spare set of 19's and will be getting those cleaned up to put some all seasons on.

 

Log May 2022 - The Spring Brake Upgrade

So the time has come. The factory brakes are nearing the end of their useful service and I wasn't about to refresh those when I had the Akebonos sitting in the garage for a year.

The first step was to try to refinish them as they were nicked and scratched from sitting in a junk yard. Originally I was going to clean them up and paint them myself but they put up a fight. I tried aircraft paint remover and didn't have much luck, I also tried a pneumatic sander but that would have taken days and left many areas unreachable. A friend with a media blaster was also unable to strip the calipers in timely manner, so off to powder coat it they went...

I spent many weeks with samples trying to come to a decision. I thought I was going Illusion Royal but the owner of the powdercoating place suggested I go with something a bit brighter as they would be in the wheel and shielded from sunlight most of the time. So I took a chance on Illusion Blueberry and left them for a week.


Used Akebonos


Teardown and Organize


Rebuild Kits, New Shoes, Z1 stainless lines and extended studs, and speed bleeders


Choosing the color and dropping them off.



Painted the caliper hardware with silver engine enamel while I waited for the powder coat. In hindsight I should have cerakoted them as the enamel flaked off when torqued.


Moments after getting them back. I was a happy boy.


Couldn't help but to "mock them up".

So now the rebuild truly began. Waiting on parts and walking away before I got too frustrated, took some time, the entire rebuild was roughly "2 weeks" but in reality probably about 8 hours. The powder coat was in the threads of the mounting ears so I bought some taps to clean those out. I also bought a tap for the bleeders and lines, it wasn't absolutely necessary but I thought it would be worth it to clean those out as well.


Surprised that the humble 10mm socket was a perfect fit on this tap.


EVERY mounting ear was filled. So glad I caught this before I reassembled or attempted to install them on the car.


Threads before cleaning.


Threads after cleaning.



After cleaning the threads with taps it was numerous air cleans and detergent soaks to clean the cylinder bores. Most nights I would let them sit in a mild detergent and them remove them and let them dry in the morning. I repeated this process over the course of a few days until I was satisfied I could begin the reassembly.
This part took longer than I anticipated for a few reasons. I hate wearing gloves but with all the lube there was no other way to handle the parts without making a complete mess. Another reason is my piston booting technique was all wrong. I started with installing the piston and then attaching the dust boot, trying to force it into the piston and dust boot ring simultaneously. I SHOULD have attached the dust boot to the piston, stretched the boot down into the caliper at the same time I was installing the piston. Luckily it ONLY took me 9 pistons to figure this technique out so 3 of them went in without issue. With all this done I confirmed that I hate dust boots, but alas that part was done and time for "final" clean and reassembly, then ceramic coating.


Everything laid out and ready to begin.


This lube is "not sold in stores" had to order and wait a week.


Dust boots mocking my poor attempts at reassembly.


Really like how the silver hardware looks against the blue. Too bad it didn't hold up like I would've hoped.


Yes... The Centric/ Stop Tech hardware kits only come with long caliper pins, even for the rear. I'll get around to fixing this some day.


Some glamour shoots, I also took this as chance to do a DIY ceramic coat. So far it has made them a breeze to clean.


A lower light shot to illustrate how they may look in the wheels. I'm really loving this color.

FINNALLY time to get them on the car. This was probably the most straight forward part as I've done numerous Z32 brake swaps on S14s. The only thing that slowed me down was trying to keep from damaging the brakes and those darn parking brake springs...


Always wear your Infiniti shirt while working on the your G.


Goodbye rusty base model brakes.


Chose to go with even longer front studs as I added a 10mm front spacer.


Cut, folded, and painted the dust shield. In hindsight I should have trimmed them as they are still visible behind the rotor. Also replaced all the parking brake hardware/shoes but forgot to take a picture.


Interesting discovery, my 7 spoke G35 wheels will clear the Akebonos.


Next upgrade to the S14?


Everything mounted and ready to bleed forgive the missing rear sticker. I had issues with that one and had to order another set.


This product is awesome. I was able to flush, fill, and bleed the entire system by myself.


I flushed over a quart while bleeding and then bled the entire car again just to convince myself that it was complete.


Installed and first bed in to wear off the Zinc coating from the swept area on the rotors.

Sorry for the photo dump but I wanted to keep this documented. I've had the brakes on for over a month now and love the stopping power, also I catch myself looking back at them every time I leave the car. They may not be OEM+ but I feel that they're close enough.

 

Awesome thread and great looking car. I am a big fan of the OEM+ look. Only thing that would make this car better is a 6spd

Keep the pictures coming!

 

Thanks! Agreed I think OEM+ works well for a daily driver. I would also like to have a sport front bumper but that won't happen unless I can find a great deal on one.

 

Nice work on those wheels and brakes. I like the color, and I'm not the biggest fan of blue. You mentioned the sport bumper if you can get one. Do you think that's a direct bolt on without fabrication? If I recall, it would need to be the sedan version, as the couple is different? Or is that just the rear end. Can't recall

 

Thank you! I thought I would never settle on a color for the wheels and brakes but getting color samples helped with my decision. For my second set of 19"s I'll be painting those bronze just to have some variety.

As far as I know the sedan sport bumper requires some supporting pieces as well, different fog lights, grill inserts, and washer fluid reservoir? The reservoir I'm not sure of but to answer your question it its a direct bolt on just requires parts beyond the bumper cover.

 

I need to keep my eyes out @ the salvage yard nearby for one. Hard to find sports or even g's in general without front end damage. Feel like it's a unicorn part to find in good shape and in the correct color. I mean even me and my wife's g's look gnarly to me in the front from bugs and chips and crap.

I might have to keep an eye out for a set of wheels, think wheels are around $40/ea there. Almost grabbed a couple spare 17s to have instead of the donut spares, just didnt think it would fit in the spare tire spot. I gotta measure that....

Also, those forged g35 wheels. Were the specific to a model, variant or year? I need those in my life. That color too...you inspired me

 

Many people went through this, it will need to be an 18in minimum and many protrude out of that spot. Some mustangs have an 18in spare that you can use however options are limited and JYs as well on the 18in skinny

 

Apologies for the late reply. I believe the G35 Forged Rays were only available on the G35 sport Coupes from 05-07, but I may have my years wrong.

As for the spare, I'm still on the lookout for one that will clear the brakes, guess I'll need to stay close to home until I pick one up.

 

Log June 2022 - Minor Tweaks

After a month with the Akebonos, I spent early June, replacing the passenger side sunroof drain, ceramic coating the wheels, putting on RAYS center caps and valve stem caps.


Old Drain vs New Drain


Cleaning to be coated


Ceramic Coated


Tried to get a blue that matched, but ended up going with the black


New RAYS center caps and Muteki closed lug nuts.

 

Log June 2022 - 2 Years of Ownership Photo Dump

Spent the morning at a local park to grab some photos of the progress after two years of ownership. The Liquid Platinum isn't my favorite color but I have grown to like it over the last couple of years.

 

The car looks awesome. The blue calipers really pop

 

Thanks! I was on the fence for over a month debating the caliper color. Now that I've had them on for a couple months I very happy with the color as well.

 

Log June 2022 - Mechanical Repairs and FOUND THE "FUJI"

Also in June I had to do my first mechanical repairs, can't hide from 160,000 miles. I had a large vibration from the passenger side front corner, so I did some investigating. To my surprise I found that the inner CV boot of the passenger side axle completely torn. Although I have to preface this with the fact this axle was replaced approximately 20k miles ago (before my ownership) and I assume it was damaged by the tech that installed it. As 20k miles would be a very premature failure for a CV boot, particularly an inside boot on a non "primary drive" axle. This location would see the least amount of torque and articulation, but regardless it needed to be replaced, so a new axle was ordered and I parked the car for the week.


Breaking 160k miles just before pulling into the driveway.


Make sure to put a diaper on your caliper so you don't scratch it while removing the axle.


The old axle came out in two pieces, the long portion fell out without much work at all. The inner portion took a bit more work...


To remove the the inner CV from the differential I placed 2 prybars in the slots or notches and worked it back and forth for a few minutes. In hindsight I was being too careful and could have been more aggressive with the removal.


While cleaning up all the grease that had been slung out of the CV, I saw a shape that caught my eye. That curve, that doesn't match...to my surprise I found my emblem cover Fuji! I have no idea how long it's been there and how I missed it but I'm sure it's been sitting there for quite some time.


New Axle installed and Fuji reclaimed.


The diaper worked and I didn't scratch the caliper, glad I took an extra minute to cover it up.


Well the axle wasn't the problem... I believe the wheel bearing was the source of the sound and vibration. So I pulled out the old hub and bolted in a new one. Of course I forgot to take photos of the new hub and extended studs so you'll have to take my word for it.