Pearl, G37xS Coupe Build
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Posts: 590
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From: Van City
Pearl, G37xS Coupe Build
G37xS Coupe Build
So it’s been a long journey that is only half over.
Started almost 3 years ago, bought Injen cold air intakes, and LED kit for the car. Both of which stayed on my car for about 3 months until I found a local G37 car group.
Once that happened things changed quickly! I took out the old LEDs and went for some new high end Eseaster LED’s for everything from inside and out. After this there was a Fast Intentions, cat back exhaust installed. Then there was a custom grounding kit installed. It then moved forward to get wheels and tires. It was decided to go with MKW wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport summer tires. Once completed, it was immediately dropped on Eibach lowering springs all around.
This all stayed on while moving to the next step, which was force induction. After researching both GTM and Stillen in many different ways and about 6 months of information to go through, I decided on the Stillen supercharger kit. This was due to several factors. First off it was because of their knowledge base. GTM could not give a straight answer for anything they did, not to mention that they had no “real” warranty. I say that because they always found excuses for everything. Found that they were “talkers” but their products did not seem to last or have warranty. Stillen on the other hand, answered every question directly and instantly. No “beating around the bush” as some would say. Stillen also offered an amazing warranty and a simple install with lots of support.
When installing the Stillen supercharger kit it was decided to install the largest oil cooler and transmission cooler that Stillen offered. In addition to this there was custom wiring installed throughout the entire car, and did not touch the wiring that Stillen supplied. It took over a month at VND Motorsport to install the kit and they made sure every single little thing was double and triple checked before giving the car back to me. A last install on the build was an upgrade to HID fog lights before getting the car back in my hands.
Then it was driven for about a year without any kind of dyno tune. Although it ran alright, it was nothing that special it seemed like. It always seemed like there were some things missing. In addition the transmission shifting always seemed slow and lagging.
It was at this time it was decided to install an upgraded valve body. After looking at all the options, it seemed like GTM was the only “reliable” option. The G was brought in to All Tech Transmission and had the current valve body taken out and shipped to GTM. When it arrived at GTM they quickly called me and said they cannot use it because it looks like it is damaged. After looking at the pictures, it was decided the best choice was to buy a new valve body through GTM and let them do the upgrade to its brand new. Then it was asked to ship both valve bodies back so that one can be used as spare parts if need be. (As a side note it has been over a year from this date and I am STILL waiting for my old valve body that GTM promised I would be getting back.) Then the new valve body was installed by All Tech Transmission and NO improvements in shifting were noticed. It was a huge waist of $2400+ that did nothing to my car.
The car was then driven with the new valve body for about 3-4 months. After this time frame it was taken out for a hard drive for about 4 hours and had some HUGE issues with the transmission and the supercharger. To make it short, the transmission was slipping and the supercharger was making some angry noises. It was at this time I called up Stillen and GTM. First off Stillen said “no problem” and they replaced the supercharger minus the cost of shipping. GTM said “it’s not us” and said it’s infinitis transmission and nothing to do with them. Later it was found that it was partly due to GTM that the transmission had a problem and had to be fully replaced. GTM did NOT cover any of the cost in labor or parts, but it was very lucky that Autowest Infiniti covered it all under warranty.
Then the car was let go for a few days and it was driven around where the engine light would constantly come on with warnings about “6th gear incorrect ratio”. It was a pain in the *** to say the least! During this time it was taken to have new brake pads, rotors, brake lines, and exhaust installed. These were from Stop-tech, and the Greddy TiC exhaust.
The car was then taken to Monkeynutz Racing and they got ready to install and upgrade the supercharger kit. First they installed new Deatschwerks 1000cc fuel injectors, Uprev MAF’s, and the Stillen Stage 2 pulley. Once all of the above was installed the car had to go for a tune. The first 2 times on the dyno, it was found to be slipping. The first time was with the old transmission, and the second time was with the new transmission. Something had to be done.
The new transmission was a brand new transmission installed directly from infiniti, but it was having electrical issues causing it to slip. Autowest Infiniti said it was now not their problem as they installed a new transmission and there was nothing more to do. Still waiting for the old valve body from GTM to show up, it was the plan to put that valve body back in the old transmission and clean up the new valve body to put in the new transmission to see if it helped. Well GTM stopped answering their phones and emails to ignore us. Because of this it was decided to put the GTM valve body back in the destroyed transmission and get rid of all that junk!
After going back and forth between Autowest infiniti and Monkeynutz, there came a plan to just go to another dealership and get the transmission re-flashed under warranty. That was done quickly, but the slipping was still there. What WAS found out is that now Monkeynutz could access the files to alter the transmission tuning. Once they did this, all problems were fixed! The car then went in for a 3rd tune, and came back with amazing results! On a Mustang Dyno it received 421whp and 325lbs/tq. It was not as high as planned but when converted to the Dynojet results it came to some fair numbers. It came to 475whp and 367lbs/tq. This was all done on premium pump gas.
Now the car runs beautiful with a great power curve. No issues to make of it. The G shifts quicker than ever, goes faster than I could of hoped, and feels amazing to be back in infiniti comforts again. Below is a list of what was installed along the way. Not all were mentioned above. Pricing for this project (so far) has not been calculated, but I can say it was way more money then I should have ever spent. There were plenty of mistakes along the way, and spend lots of useless money. I now know who to listen to and what to do for the future and am better for it!
Special thanks go to: Autowest Infiniti, Monkeynutz Racing, VND Motorsport, Stillen, All Tech Transmission. They all helped out in amazing ways and this could not of been done without all of their help.
-Injen CAI
-Full interior/exterior LED kit
-Fast Intentions Catback exhaust
-Custom grounding kit
-Eibach lowering springs
-MKW wheels and Michelin PS2 tires
-Cusco front strut bar
-Tinted rear window and tail-lights
-Stillen Oil Cooler
-Stillen Transmission Cooler
-Stillen supercharger kit with stage 2 pulley
-Eseaster LED’s
-Deatschwerks 1000cc fuel injectors
-Uprev MAF sensors
-Uprev Pro custom tune
-Greddy TiC Catback exhaust
-Moterdyne Y-pipe
-Fast Intentions test pipes
-Custom Iornman headlights
-HID fog light upgrade
-Front plate delete and automatic hider
-Million colour underground kit
-Stoptech slotted/drilled rotors
-Stoptech stainless brake lines
-Snow performance stage 2 meth injection
-Compustar alarm and auto-start
-Blackview dash cam
-Passport 9500i radar
-Custom paint, Infiniti black pearl for roof/mirrors/grill
-Titanium bolt and screw dress-up kit
-Stillen polyurethane supercharger cover
-Red-top battery
-Alpine amp, with custom Infiniti sub box and Subwoofer setup
-Wheel Horsepower rating of 475 and Torque rating of 367 (Dynojet)
Probably missed something, but that is the full list I could think of.
So it’s been a long journey that is only half over.
Started almost 3 years ago, bought Injen cold air intakes, and LED kit for the car. Both of which stayed on my car for about 3 months until I found a local G37 car group.
Once that happened things changed quickly! I took out the old LEDs and went for some new high end Eseaster LED’s for everything from inside and out. After this there was a Fast Intentions, cat back exhaust installed. Then there was a custom grounding kit installed. It then moved forward to get wheels and tires. It was decided to go with MKW wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport summer tires. Once completed, it was immediately dropped on Eibach lowering springs all around.
This all stayed on while moving to the next step, which was force induction. After researching both GTM and Stillen in many different ways and about 6 months of information to go through, I decided on the Stillen supercharger kit. This was due to several factors. First off it was because of their knowledge base. GTM could not give a straight answer for anything they did, not to mention that they had no “real” warranty. I say that because they always found excuses for everything. Found that they were “talkers” but their products did not seem to last or have warranty. Stillen on the other hand, answered every question directly and instantly. No “beating around the bush” as some would say. Stillen also offered an amazing warranty and a simple install with lots of support.
When installing the Stillen supercharger kit it was decided to install the largest oil cooler and transmission cooler that Stillen offered. In addition to this there was custom wiring installed throughout the entire car, and did not touch the wiring that Stillen supplied. It took over a month at VND Motorsport to install the kit and they made sure every single little thing was double and triple checked before giving the car back to me. A last install on the build was an upgrade to HID fog lights before getting the car back in my hands.
Then it was driven for about a year without any kind of dyno tune. Although it ran alright, it was nothing that special it seemed like. It always seemed like there were some things missing. In addition the transmission shifting always seemed slow and lagging.
It was at this time it was decided to install an upgraded valve body. After looking at all the options, it seemed like GTM was the only “reliable” option. The G was brought in to All Tech Transmission and had the current valve body taken out and shipped to GTM. When it arrived at GTM they quickly called me and said they cannot use it because it looks like it is damaged. After looking at the pictures, it was decided the best choice was to buy a new valve body through GTM and let them do the upgrade to its brand new. Then it was asked to ship both valve bodies back so that one can be used as spare parts if need be. (As a side note it has been over a year from this date and I am STILL waiting for my old valve body that GTM promised I would be getting back.) Then the new valve body was installed by All Tech Transmission and NO improvements in shifting were noticed. It was a huge waist of $2400+ that did nothing to my car.
The car was then driven with the new valve body for about 3-4 months. After this time frame it was taken out for a hard drive for about 4 hours and had some HUGE issues with the transmission and the supercharger. To make it short, the transmission was slipping and the supercharger was making some angry noises. It was at this time I called up Stillen and GTM. First off Stillen said “no problem” and they replaced the supercharger minus the cost of shipping. GTM said “it’s not us” and said it’s infinitis transmission and nothing to do with them. Later it was found that it was partly due to GTM that the transmission had a problem and had to be fully replaced. GTM did NOT cover any of the cost in labor or parts, but it was very lucky that Autowest Infiniti covered it all under warranty.
Then the car was let go for a few days and it was driven around where the engine light would constantly come on with warnings about “6th gear incorrect ratio”. It was a pain in the *** to say the least! During this time it was taken to have new brake pads, rotors, brake lines, and exhaust installed. These were from Stop-tech, and the Greddy TiC exhaust.
The car was then taken to Monkeynutz Racing and they got ready to install and upgrade the supercharger kit. First they installed new Deatschwerks 1000cc fuel injectors, Uprev MAF’s, and the Stillen Stage 2 pulley. Once all of the above was installed the car had to go for a tune. The first 2 times on the dyno, it was found to be slipping. The first time was with the old transmission, and the second time was with the new transmission. Something had to be done.
The new transmission was a brand new transmission installed directly from infiniti, but it was having electrical issues causing it to slip. Autowest Infiniti said it was now not their problem as they installed a new transmission and there was nothing more to do. Still waiting for the old valve body from GTM to show up, it was the plan to put that valve body back in the old transmission and clean up the new valve body to put in the new transmission to see if it helped. Well GTM stopped answering their phones and emails to ignore us. Because of this it was decided to put the GTM valve body back in the destroyed transmission and get rid of all that junk!
After going back and forth between Autowest infiniti and Monkeynutz, there came a plan to just go to another dealership and get the transmission re-flashed under warranty. That was done quickly, but the slipping was still there. What WAS found out is that now Monkeynutz could access the files to alter the transmission tuning. Once they did this, all problems were fixed! The car then went in for a 3rd tune, and came back with amazing results! On a Mustang Dyno it received 421whp and 325lbs/tq. It was not as high as planned but when converted to the Dynojet results it came to some fair numbers. It came to 475whp and 367lbs/tq. This was all done on premium pump gas.
Now the car runs beautiful with a great power curve. No issues to make of it. The G shifts quicker than ever, goes faster than I could of hoped, and feels amazing to be back in infiniti comforts again. Below is a list of what was installed along the way. Not all were mentioned above. Pricing for this project (so far) has not been calculated, but I can say it was way more money then I should have ever spent. There were plenty of mistakes along the way, and spend lots of useless money. I now know who to listen to and what to do for the future and am better for it!
Special thanks go to: Autowest Infiniti, Monkeynutz Racing, VND Motorsport, Stillen, All Tech Transmission. They all helped out in amazing ways and this could not of been done without all of their help.
-Injen CAI
-Full interior/exterior LED kit
-Fast Intentions Catback exhaust
-Custom grounding kit
-Eibach lowering springs
-MKW wheels and Michelin PS2 tires
-Cusco front strut bar
-Tinted rear window and tail-lights
-Stillen Oil Cooler
-Stillen Transmission Cooler
-Stillen supercharger kit with stage 2 pulley
-Eseaster LED’s
-Deatschwerks 1000cc fuel injectors
-Uprev MAF sensors
-Uprev Pro custom tune
-Greddy TiC Catback exhaust
-Moterdyne Y-pipe
-Fast Intentions test pipes
-Custom Iornman headlights
-HID fog light upgrade
-Front plate delete and automatic hider
-Million colour underground kit
-Stoptech slotted/drilled rotors
-Stoptech stainless brake lines
-Snow performance stage 2 meth injection
-Compustar alarm and auto-start
-Blackview dash cam
-Passport 9500i radar
-Custom paint, Infiniti black pearl for roof/mirrors/grill
-Titanium bolt and screw dress-up kit
-Stillen polyurethane supercharger cover
-Red-top battery
-Alpine amp, with custom Infiniti sub box and Subwoofer setup
-Wheel Horsepower rating of 475 and Torque rating of 367 (Dynojet)
Probably missed something, but that is the full list I could think of.
Awesome build, glad to see another AWD G killing it! Sorry to hear about the GTM issues, I experienced the same. It was extremely frustrating. Level 10 out of NJ has some good stuff for our 7AT and has great customer service.
What are the future plans for the G?
What are the future plans for the G?
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 590
Likes: 29
From: Van City
It was a long journey! Lots of problems and lessons learned along the way. Waaay too much money, but it was all worth it in the end! Next step is the build the transmission, then we will start on body work. 
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