My Massive I30 Revival and Build Thread
 

I’ve owned this car for a long time; more than nine years. I have accepted its limitations and quirks, and love most of its other traits. I have encountered many problems that I didn’t even know existed. Multiple people who have helped me work on my car have told me it’s cursed. I know. And as much as I want a new car to fool around with, I have a strong desire to finish what I have started, and to test the limits of what this chassis is capable of in auto-x racing. I also need to update some outdated technology and smooth out some rough edges. I will be upgrading parts that I have already upgraded in my search for A32 perfection.

My journey could not have taken place without the help of some very smart and generous people here. I would like to thank Joe (98SEBlackMax) for answering all of my hundreds of questions about everything. Patrick (phenryiv1) for his constant advice on mods, and help with everything from my stereo to my retro kit. Josh (Irish44j) for his help relocating my battery and motivation to make my car better at auto-x :D Brian (BEJAY1) for auto-x advice, and countless others on this site. I’ve been here for over 10 years now and have learned so much from everybody.

I also had a lot of help from everybody at Joe’s Professional Auto Care in Rockville, MD. Joe has given me a lot of useful advice, and he was generous enough to let me use the shop on weekends (I’ve known Joe for years). Eric lent his experience by getting things like the headers, oil cooler and fender braces installed. They do great work at the shop, and their help has been priceless. Their advanced tools have made diagnosing and solving problems so much easier.

I will be breaking down this thread into sections, each of which will be posted when that portion of the car is complete. The sections should roughly be:
-Projector headlights and fog lights
-Different grilles
-Racing wheels/tires (Enkei+Hoosier)
-Effects of removing LTB
-Door switches and interior LED work
-Wilwood BBK
-NWP IM spacers and associated mods/repairs
-Recaro racing seat
-Headers and exhaust work
-Engine bay clean up
-Fender braces
-Sound deadening
-Oil and PS coolers
-BC coilovers
-Alcantara interior
-Intake setup
-Touch up paint and body work
-Other random projects

Before we get started, let's remember where this car came from. Here's a thread that chronicled my 2011 auto-x racing season. And here's an old thread with old pictures of my car. Keep your eyes peeled for a new thread detailing my 2012 auto-x racing exploits. And hey, if you like detailing, check out some cars I've done. And do people still use CarDomain? Well for some reason I still have a page, albeit with a slightly outdated mod list.

The car is currently very dirty, so most of the pictures I’ll be posting up won’t be great, but they will do until I can detail it and take some real pictures a little later in the spring. In the meantime, grab a snack and get comfy, because this is going to be one long-winded build thread.
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Index:

Page 1: March 2012
Projector retrofit
Different grille options
Enkei RPF1s and Hoosier tires
ARP wheel studs
LTB removal effects
Painting interior trim
Interior LED retrofit
First Wilwood front BBK
NWP IM spacers
First Mishimoto radiator
Recaro Speed seat
Fender braces

Page 2: March 2012 - June 2012
Paint and body work
Sound deadening
Cattman headers
Alcantara shift boots
Quaife transmission
Energy Suspension poly bushings and delrin LCA bushings
G35 sedan muffler
Transmission problems

Page 3: June 2012 - August 2012
Oil and power steering coolers
Fuel injectors
Second Wilwood front BBK
Corner balancing
Quaife transmission died
Fastbrakes rear BBK
VLSD transmission, new clutch and flywheel
Poly side/trans mounts

Page 4: August 2012 - December 2012
Power steering lines
Murano washer nozzles
Photo shoot
Rubber hood stops
New 2 channel amp
Getting the horn to work
Alcantara door inserts

Page 5: December 2012 - May 2013
Delrin LCA bushings
Sway bar end links
Fixing Fastbrakes rear BBK
Alignment with redrilled strut towers for caster alignment

Page 6: May 2013 - November 2014
Rebuilding the Quaife transmission
New subwoofer box
Auto-x pics
New front pads and rotors
3.5 swap trouble
Knock sensor install
Radiator hose
300zx fuel filter
The "Speedbump incident" and resulting fuel leak

Page 7: November 2014 - April 2015
New Mishimoto radiator
New intake manifold elbow
sicivic89 3.5 PFTB adapter
AFPR
New garage door lip (GDL)

Page 8: April 2015 - October 2015
Cracked header repair
Axle carrier bearing/support replacement
Dyno with Nistune
Trans fluid leak
Ball joints
ES poly LCA bushings
New GDL
Detailing and photo shoot

Page 9: October 2015 - April 2017
ABS sensor
Sparco steering wheel
Cattman header repair
POR15
Rear main seal and upper oil pan project
Alternator harness
Thermostat
Radiator hoses
Front valve cover gasket
Crossmember bushings and bolts

Page 10: April 2017 - December 2017
Oil pressure and temperature gauge settings
Alignment
EGR trouble and work
O2 sensor codes

Page 11: December 2017 - March 2018
New/used exhaust
PFTB IACV BOP
EGR cleaning
Horn fixing
Heater core hoses
Cold start problems
Coolant temp sensors
New 300zx fuel filter
Rear calipers
Axles, Moog control arms, and bushings project
Coolant drain plug

Page 12: March 2018 - June 2018
Alignment
Headlight projector re-do
Leaking rear caliper
IACV replacement

Page 13: June 2018 - January 2019
2nd gen 3.5 swap talk
Tracking down interior water leak

Page 14: January 2019 - July 2019
Tracking down interior water leak
Polishing Enkei RPM2 wheels
New e-brake cables
Door lock actuators
Stereo wiring
Cleaning K&N intake filter
New front door plungers
New panhard rod (PHR)
Oil catch can

Page 15: July 2019 - March 2020
Poly PS engine mount
Fixing interior water leak
Pinch weld repair and painting
Detailing and photo shoot

Page 16: March 2020 - April 2020
6 speed swap info and discussion
Squeaks and rattles
6 speed parts

Page 17: April 2020 - August 2020
Squeaks and rattles
6 speed rebuild info
SS clutch line
Trunk liner
Powder coating Enkei RPM2s

Page 18: August 2020 -
Making the lift safer
Subframe spacers/collars

Projector headlights and fog lights
 

Attachment 53297


Headlights have never been the 4th gen’s strong suit, and they got much worse after installing non-OEM Cefiros. After baking in the sun for some eight years the plastic had started to fade, further reducing their measly output, so I decided to step up and get some real headlights in this car. I bought a new set of non-OEM Cefiros as well as new fog and corner lights, since my fogs had tons of rock chips and one of my corners was cracked.

I bought all my supplies from The Retrofit Source, and chose their FX-R kit with 4300 bulbs for the headlights and Blazers with 3000 bulbs for the fogs. I had ChrisMan287 do the retro work for me, and aside from the surrounds/bezels not turning out perfectly, I’m very pleased with how everything turned out. Chris also blacked out the rest of the Cefiros as well as the fogs and corners, and I think they look great together.


Attachment 53298

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Patrick turned me on to TRS and their 25% off sale last fall and helped me with the install, but we ran into a few problems throughout the day. The first was the TRS had overnight shipped the wrong ballasts for the headlights, so while we were able to mount the relays and the fog ballasts, I had to wait to get the headlights working.


Attachment 53300

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After the fogs were all wired up we tried to start them but had no luck. We checked all the connections, and even tried to see if the old stock bulbs would work, but somehow my fogs had just completely died. We checked the fuse; it was fine. On a whim I checked the fog relay and switched it with the corner light relay, and somehow that got the fogs to work (and the corners kept working as well). Due to the fogs having to go through the glass in the projector as well as the glass housing for the fog, the light output isn’t quite as yellow as I had hoped for, and the cutout isn’t 100% perfect, but it’s such an improvement over stock that I really shouldn’t complain. I think the fogs are also turning more yellow as I drive them more, so that’s a good thing.

I finally got the new ballasts from TRS and got them wired up with the new headlights and have been blown away by their output. I still need to get them aimed properly, but the light in front of my car is comparable to driving in the middle of the day. It’s quite ridiculous. This whole ordeal wasn’t cheap, but I think it looks great and has greatly increased my safety and confidence while driving at night. I still need to fine tune their aim, as the pictures will demonstrate, but you get the idea. Try to ignore the dust on the lens of the camera, because I can't find a way to get rid of it (old Canon A630).


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Low beams only
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Low beams and fogs
Attachment 53309


High beams and fogs
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Fogs only
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Grilles
 

I’ve fooled around with different grilles over the years. After lots of back and forth I’m pretty sure my favorite is still the stock grille with the vertical slats painted black. Which is your favorite?


Attachment 53291


One day last fall I was cruising around when I noticed something small and silver fly up and hit my windshield. I had no idea what it was and didn’t really care since my windshield was fine. A few days later I was working on the car and realized the Infiniti emblem on the grill had fallen off, and was the UFO that struck my windshield. The sad part is that I was only going 35 mph when it happened :laugh: Now of course, you can’t just go and buy this emblem at the dealership, oh no. You need to buy a new grille. Did I mention the 'chrome' looked a little tired?


Attachment 53292


I did some searching around and found a used one for sale and picked it up. When I installed it, I was reminded of why I had blacked out the vertical bars on my earlier grilles. It might look ok on a stock car, but on my car with black accents everywhere, the stock chrome just looked awful. Thankfully, the 'chrome' looked almost new.


Attachment 53293


So I did my annual routine of sanding down and repainting the grill, except this year I actually tried to do a good job of taping off edges and the results are pretty good IMO. I then took the preventative step of rubber cementing the emblem on from the rear so I doesn’t try to leave me again. I think it’s a reoccurring problem as another grill I picked up was already missing it!


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Enkei RPF1s and Hoosier A6s
 

When I decided I was going to step up and get some Hoosiers for this season, I had some catching up to do in terms of what size I could fit and the best offset for track wheels. I talked a lot with Joe (98SEBlackMax) and Joe at 2JRacing and ended up with some 245/40/17 Hoosier A6s. A6 sizes in 17” diameters are somewhat limited, so my choices were 225, 245 or 275. I went with the 245 because I was pretty sure they would fit in the wheel wells, even though the Hoosiers run very wide for their indicated size. After discussing my purchase with Brian, it sounds like the 225 might have been a better idea to run in the rear to help the car rotate, but it’s too late now and I will run the square setup for this season. Maybe next season I will try a 275f 225r setup :D


245/40/17 Hoosiers on left and 235/45/17 Michelin PS2 on right
Attachment 53282

Attachment 53283


Next up was choosing the right wheel. I’ve always loved the Enkei RPF1, but could never really afford them. At first, I wanted a 16” wheel/tire combo to save weight/money, but trying to fit a BBK under 16” wheels just wasn’t going to happen, so I stayed with the 17s. I know people have fit 9” wheels in a 4th gen, but the sales rep at Hoosier said an 8.5” wheel is perfect for the 245, so I went with a 17x8.5 RPF1. After some discussion with King at Enkei NA, I was able to secure a grassroots sponsorship and got a great price on the wheels!

I also had to choose between a +40 and +30 offset, and got conflicting opinions for various people. I already have my rear fenders rolled, but was wary of the front Hoosiers sticking out too far and getting chewed up by the front fenders when the suspension compressed. However, I was also nervous about rubbing the soon-to-be coilovers. In the end, I played it safe and went with the +40, because you can always space your wheels out, but you can never bring them back in! Luckily, the +40/Hoosiers even clear my Koni/Eibach setup, so I know they will be great with the BCs! Depending on how low the BCs get set, I may get some 5-10mm spacers to widen things up, but that can be decided later.

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They even clear the stock-style Eibach springs!
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LTB effects
 

Ever since I started being somewhat serious about autocrossing my car, I’ve been annoyed with the steering response. This was magnified by driving my friend’s 97 SE (oTranscendental). We both were on stock-style shocks and lowering springs, but I had a LTB and SFCs and he didn’t. For the longest time I couldn’t figure out why his car had so much quicker steering. Heck, the first time I autocrossed with it I knocked over a couple cones in the slalom because I wasn’t expecting it to turn in so quickly. I wanted his steering badly.

The first step was to replace my steering rack with one from a 97-99 SE, since those racks are a little quicker than the one in all 95/96 and 97-99 non-SE cars. I installed a remanufactured rack and got some improvement, but it still wasn’t as quick as Darius’ car. His car was unfortunately in an accident and was totaled, but luckily he was unhurt (somehow!), and I was able to snag his steering rack before the car went to the junkyard! I felt an improvement over the reman rack, but something was still missing.

I had pretty much given up on having quick steering (even the 350mm Sparco wheel didn’t help very much), when I had to take off the LTB to get the headers to fit. Voila! All of a sudden I had the quick steering I had always desired! I realized that while the LTB had provided stability to the front end, that stability hampered response. I suppose it’s somewhat of an inverse relationship. I still have the LTB and am considering making it a stage 1 bar and seeing what that does, but for right now I’m leaving it off and seeing how the car behaves at the first couple events.

By removing the LTB, I was able to reinstall the OEM chassis plates (for lack of a better description) and install the last two delrin subframe spacers. You can see that the only way to use the chassis plates with the delrin subframe collars is to space out the plates with washers. I can’t say what installing these did, as the car changed so much by removing the LTB, but it’s nice to know they’re on the car.

Attachment 53280

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Window switches
 

When I first installed my aluminum dash kit, I was in a rush to get to the annual DC Maxima BBQ and IIRC also had a massive alcohol-induced headache. As such, the results of painting over my “wood” grain dash weren’t perfect, and after some eight years the paint had worn away in some spots and just generally looked sh!tty. While I had my door switches out for the LED work, I decided it would be a good time to revive my window switches. Since I wasn’t comfortable removing and reinstalling the thin aluminum (pretty sure I would have bent the crap out of it), I decided to paint around it. This was much harder than it sounds. Painting off all the edges of the trim took forever, and sanding it wasn’t very easy either. Thankfully, all the prep work paid off and the results are great. I also decided to black out the housings for the door lights while I was at it.


Attachment 53268

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After sanding and rubbing alcohol:

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And after painting:

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Door light before:

Attachment 53276

Door light after:

Attachment 53277


Before:

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After:

Attachment 53279

Interior LED work
 

The LED overhaul was done by Matt (TunerMaxima3000). Most of the lights in my climate control had died, and I’ve been tired of that pale green of the stock bulbs, so I figured it would be a good time to upgrade and make everything match. All LEDs are white, although some appear bluish in pictures. I had red LEDs installed as the indicators for the front defrost, rear defrost and re-circulate buttons. Both the clock and ACC display are now white as well.


Before: (95/96 Maxima SE stock gauges)
Attachment 53262


After:
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Before:
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After:
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Before:
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After:
Attachment 53267

You can see that none of the lights for the ACC were working before, and now they all do! It's so nice to not have to guess which button I'm pressing at night. BTW, the door picture is a more accurate representation of the color of the LEDs than the gauge cluster picture.

We ran into problems during the process, mostly involving window switches no longer working and a hazard light that no longer engages after the installation of LEDs, but Matt has made an effort to get everything fixed for me. It has taken longer than I had hoped, but I think the results are worth it. I also wanted my turn signals and key ring to light up red, but after numerous different LEDs/turn signal housings/key ring harness, none of the LEDs work and now both key ring harnesses (I bought a spare to see if my stock one was the dead part) don’t work, so I’ve pretty much given up on those. The turn signals are still the stock green and the key ring doesn’t light up at all. At least it’s better than green ;)

BTW, that green display is my Techtom MDM-100. I usually have the top line displaying my speed in MPH since the small diameter Sparco wheel blocks most of my speedo and tach, but I've been monitoring IAT lately in preparation for another project :)

Wilwood 12.6" 2-piece rotors
 

I had installed my Cobra/Q45 brake setup around 2006 and was pleased with the results. I noticed improved pedal feel and much more resistance to fading. Even with Hawk HPS pads, they survived 20 minutes of WOT around Summit Point’s main circuit, hitting speeds up to 120 mph. Sure, there was fade by the end of the session and the pads were glazed over for the drive home, but all things considered, they held up remarkably well.

However, last year I really began to notice problems braking from low speeds. The ABS seemed to be overly active and the car always felt like it was on the verge of locking up. This sensation was made even clearer at the last BMW auto-x of the season in 2011. It was around freezing and was raining/sleeting pretty badly. We took some fun runs after we were done and I drove my buddy’s stock BMW 330 with the sport package. We are both on similar tires with same amounts of tread.

At the end of the course there was a section of heavy braking from about 30-40 mph. When we did this in my car, the brakes half locked up and my car skidded to a stop in something like 100 feet. The whole time the pedal was kicking ABS feedback at me and not really stopping the car. I then hopped in his car and did the same thing and the car just stopped like it was dry out. No ABS intervention, no drama, just a quick hard stop. I was blown away. His car stopped in less than half the distance my car took. I needed brakes like that.

It was then I decided I needed to get a real BBK on my car. I wasn’t yet sure if there was a problem with the Q45 calipers, or if this was normal for them, or if there was something amiss with the ABS system not getting along with the bigger setup. I knew that Wilwoods would be the only setup I could afford, and the only vendor I could find was FastBrakes, so I ordered their 12.9” 2-piece rotor kit with Superlite calipers. I initially thought about getting their 12.2” 2-piece rotors and Dynalite calipers to fit under 16” wheels, but it sounded like that just wasn’t enough material on the rotors to resist fade, so I went with the normal setup to fit under 17s. Just before they shipped, I found my buddy Albert selling his used 12.6” 2-piece Wilwood setup (from Josh’s old 5th gen) for a great price, so I picked them up off him and paid the restocking fee at FB.

The installation drama that ensued can be viewed here

It turns out both of my rear calipers had seized (A1 Cardone calipers suck!!), so I got some new rebuilt WBR calipers. These seemed to be nicer than the Cardones, and it’s nice to have a functioning e-brake again.


Attachment 53261

After doing some thinking, I believe there’s a good chance that part of my earlier braking problems (and also current) are attributable to a bad front brake bias. It probably didn’t help that my rear calipers were locked up, but even now that they’re working my braking doesn’t blow me away. Yes, the pedal feel is much improved over the Q45/Cobra setup, but I don’t think my stopping distance has really changed much at all. Enter the rear BBK........

NWP DE-K intake manifold spacers, EGR repair, aluminum radiator
 

Starting in early 2011, shortly after installing my “built” transmission, I started feeling an odd vibration/hesitation feeling coming from the motor/trans. I did all the normal checks, and came back empty. I did a full tune-up, including nice new platinum spark plugs to replace my old copper plugs that I had intended to use for nitrous purposes, replaced two coil packs with OEM units, replaced my aging and broken Walbro FP with an OEM unit, replaced another O2 sensor, etc., but nothing made a dent in the vibration. I began to worry that the problem was something inside the transmission, since it whined pretty good in reverse.

Fast-forward to installing the NWP DE-K IM spacers, new knock sensor and unclogging an EGR tube, and voila! The vibration was gone (well, almost gone). I had been throwing an EGR code for a few months (failing emissions in the process), but never really thought much of it. Well apparently one hose in the EGR system got clogged with carbon and ruptured, throwing the whole EGR system out of whack. Now I can’t say for sure that cleaning out this hose and replacing it solved the problem, since we did the IM spacers and KS at the same time, but I’m fairly confidant the clogged EGR was the main source of my engine vibration/hesitation.

Since I had an aluminum Mishimoto radiator lying around (thanks 2JR!), I figured it would be a good time to install it since you need to drain the coolant to get to the KS on a DEK. I got the radiator used, and it had been lying around for a while so I wanted to make sure it wasn’t going to leak when I installed it. I had it pressure tested at a local shop and luckily it passed. It dropped in fine, but when we went to close the hood, we realized the radiator was sitting up about an inch higher than the stock one. To remedy this, we removed the round rubber grommets that space up and hold the radiator from the bottom, and this got us pretty close to clearing the hood.

Unfortunately, the cap that came with the Mishimoto was bad and leaked, so we had to use my old Z32 cap, which has a bleeder valve that sits about ½” higher than normal, which kept the hood from closing. Even with a stock style cap it was rubbing a little bit, so we decided to notch out a section of my hood to get it to close. I’m not sure if the I30 hood is designed differently than a Maxima hood in that section (I know the section in front of that is different since it includes the grill), but either way you can’t see the hole unless you look for it, and the hood closes normally now, so I’m happy. The car does seem to take longer to reach operating temperature, but it’s a small price to pay to ensure my motor is staying cool. The car definitely holds more coolant now as well.

When I measured the thickness of the stock and Mishimoto radiators, I believe the stock one is 1” thick and the Mishimoto is 1.75” thick. I also finally upgraded from universal green coolant to the Toyota red stuff. Apparently right after I did this Toyota came out with a new antifreeze that’s now pink. I’ll have to find out more about this and see if the red stuff is going to be discontinued and if the two are compatible.

You can read my NWP DE-K IM spacer review here.

Please continue reading to see pictures of the nice shiny radiator!

Recaro Speed seat
 

The seats in 4th gens are pretty terrible at holding you in place during hard driving, especially if they’re leather. After two days of SCCA driving schools my left knee was bruised from supporting my body against my door during hard turns. A CG Lock was a big help in keeping my torso in one place, but my extremities were still flopping all over the place when driving the car hard. Not to mention that when coming to a stop I could feel the seat rocking forward (maybe ¼”) then back when I was fully stopped. This was not a pleasant sensation, and from what I understand it’s not uncommon with Nissans. Still, for being some 17 years old, the stock seat was in remarkably good condition.

Enter the racing seat. I looked at Sparco, Recaro and Corbeau seats and found a couple that I thought looked promising on their websites. Actually sitting in the seats was a little more complicated. There are only one or two dealers for each vendor in the entire DC area, so one day I drove around to three shops and sat in all the seats.

First was the Recaro dealer, who happened to be a few miles from my house. The seat I initially thought I wanted (Sport Topline) wasn’t aggressive enough to justify its massive price. They did have a much more aggressive seat on display (the Speed), and it was somehow more comfortable than the other seat, but it was still expensive.

Next was Sparco. IIRC, they only had one or two reclining seats available, and neither was comfortable. I felt like the padding wasn’t in the right place and my thighs were pinched.

I then sat in three Corbeaus, but none of them were right. One felt cheap, one felt like you were sitting on the seat, rather than in it, and the other just wasn’t comfortable. I’m not a big guy (5’ 10”, ~160 pounds), so my size shouldn’t have been a limiting factor.

I then went back to sit in the aggressive Recaro Speed, and low and behold, it fit like a glove. I don’t know how the most aggressive seat I sat in was the most comfortable, but I wasn’t going to argue. I chose the black leather/gray suede option and waited the 4-6 weeks for it to show up.

Attachment 53257

The install wasn’t terrible, but the seat bracket was a very tight fit and I had to start the rear two bolts first, otherwise it wouldn’t line up properly. Going for a drive was a revelation; I could actually feel what the suspension was doing instead of being thrown half way across my car! Now I can go as fast as I like and remain calm and in control. I don’t have to have a death grip on the wheel or use my left knee as a brace against the door. It’s simply incredible. However, if any part of your body is much bigger than mine, this seat probably won’t be right for you. The biggest complaint friends have had is that the seat is too tight in the hip area. Now I’m kind of glad I didn’t buy two of them, because aside from breaking the bank, my passengers would all be riding in the back seat!


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After a couple weeks with the new seat, I can honestly say there hasn't been an uncomfortable moment yet. I'm still blown away by the amount of support I have and by how much more fun and engaging the car is to drive. Between the seat and the CG Lock, I really don't think I need a 5-point harness! :o :wall:

God damn E55-R shrouds suck! lol LMK if you want me to swap them out.

They look great on the car though. I wanna see the Enkei's.

reserved

Subscribed.

This is awesome. Ive been hoping to see more on this car.

NICE!!!

nuff said!

So simple ..so clean....I like

I'm drooling over the headlights. Lots of other gret stuff otherwise. Nice job.

jeezus christ this is nice

the seat is pimp. on the grille's, i think if you paint the middle chrome strip that goes from the infiniti emblem to the bottom of the grille black would look good

Great thread and progress. I never seen your car in the Rockville area though...

Nice! Good luck with this new racing season!

you can simply say this is a classic car on the org. and all the help you got from everyone thru the org is awesome.

im really confused on your side effects of the ltb though. having that stability upfront from the LTBstg2 made me feel like it had much sharper steering and a better "turn in". i since have added front spacers and that resulted in an even greater "turn in" feeling(almost too much in other words squirrelly)

Also im surprised on your choice of BCs for coilovers, IIRC i thought they are on the lower end of the totem pole for quailty, but maybe it was a cost thing.

Props to the dedication you put into this car inside and out. quite amazing.
:doublethu
btw love the autox vids, keep it up!

Thanks for the compliments!

Yeah, I don't know what else to say about the removal of the LTB, but so far I'm loving the response. The steering feels "lighter" than before and responds quicker. It really makes me look forward to the first slalom of the season at auto-x, because it should be a lot easier now that I don't have to saw at the wheel to get the car to turn. Do you have a stage 1 or 2 LTB?

Regarding the choice of BC coilovers, it was not a decision I took lightly. Part of the reason I waited so long to get coilovers is because of the reputation of most of the coilovers that cost around $1000. I had heard nothing but good things about the JIC FLT-A2s, but at $2000, they just didn't seem worth it. I did a lot of research about the BCs on here and on other sites and kept finding nothing but positive reviews. They seemed to have the highest quality and satisfaction of all the other "cheap" coilovers. I was impressed by their customer service, and it was nice being able to choose my spring rate and get them custom valved to match at no additional charge. Time will tell if they are as good as others say, but honestly, my Koni/Eibach setup rides pretty poorly at low speeds, so I think there's a decent chance the BCs will ride better than the current setup. I will probably take them off during the winter and reinstall the Koni setup to keep them rust free and clean.

Lame I30. J/K :laugh:

The car is coming along nicely, looks mean with all the racing goodies. :cool:

You can give thanks to Matt (Matt93SE) as he was the guy I learned alot of road course stuff from. Along with all the track events I've gone to, all the broken car parts, and road course peoples I've met over the years.

Anyways I am surprised the Recaro Speed seats fit the A32 interior so well, I was about to pull the trigger on a pair of those a few years ago. Luckily I did not because my fat a$$ doesn't fit in those seats. But at least I know the dimensions and so now I can figure out what will work in a A32 interior. HMS Motorsports in Peabody has an amazing showroom with dozens of race seats setup for customers to try out. I found those Recaros do not work for me but the Cobra Imola GT seats fit nicely. :)

You might want to at least try a four point harness. If I upgrade to a 5 point I can send you the old four point harness I currently have if you want. I do not recall if you tried it when you drove my car but it made a huge difference for me compared to the CamLocks.

Keep it coming :)

And thank you Matt for dispersing your knowledge and generally making this site a smarter place :)

Joe, what are you using to mount your harness?

Its a Schroth Rallye 4 harness, the front part is bolted onto the stock seat belt locations over the OEM belt and the rear strap uses two bolts that are the seat belt points for the rear belts. Since it pivots on the front bolts I can disconnect the harness, flip it over, and tuck it behind the driver's seat when I don't need it. The 2nd part that bolts to the rear belt locations I tuck under the bench seat. The angle is not ideal coming over my shoulder to the rear seat but it is within the acceptable range and this application is typical and is based around the way the harness was designed. Eventially I will have race seats with a bolt in 4 point roll bar (some day) and that will provide the best mounting points for the rear straps. I recall you were using it, maybe not. But either way it hides well when you don't need it. :D

Also I can no longer use the CamLocks on track days because of the operation scars I have. The four/five/six point harnesses work for me because it divides the pressure across my body more evenly; instead of just putting pressure around my waist.

I'm pretty sure that when I drove your car it was with the normal belt. If you have any pics of the harness setup I would love to see them :)

This Recaro is just so tight around the shoulders and hips/thighs, that I feel like I could drive around without a seat belt and still stay in my seat fine. The CG Lock just helps keep the torso in place. It would be nice to have the pressure evenly distributed, but so far this combo seems just about perfect to me. I might feel differently after a couple races, but I doubt it!

What are the odds I could convince you to come to the SCCA Solo National event at NJ Motorsports Park in May? :D

Your right I had the harness tucked underneath the seat. But it has been installed in my car since 7/09 and have tried it on the stock seat and the used Corbeau seat I got years ago. I can never go back to GC Lock when I run R-comps or even with the new chassis setup. So get back to me on how well that GC lock feels on your waist when you step up to those R-comps. :laugh:

Yeah PM me the details, I love the Thunderbolt track at NJMP.

'Tis but a lowly auto-x Joe.....wait, do they actually use a real track for those at SCCA?!

:gotme:

NJMP has two different road courses and some paved service roads connecting the tracks together. I can't think of an area where they could run an auto-x at NJMP. All the events I've run at NJMP they used one of the road courses. That is why I was asking for details, because any excuse for me to run at Thunderbolt is a good excuse. :D

:bowdown1:

You are doing what I could not...
I prefer the OEM grill as well. I tired all the variants mesh, cefiro sport, cefiro brougham or something VIP style(terrible), but OEM ftw.

You should use my EURO center console, extra spot for switches and you can use a single din gauge pod for the guages you had in your center console. = )

a spoiler from the Q45a...

PM me if you get the chance.. I have a piece I will give you for free if interested. it was the finishing piece on my car... but I never got to install since it got into accident etc. It would be neat to see an LPO with it.

BTW, you guys are in the northeast? I want to get into autoxing a bit. Im a noob and would be great to be around peopel that have experience.

Wow this car is simply n amazing project. I'm loving the lights and the grille painted like that is perfect for the car. In fact I had to go outside and look at the grille on my 00 I30 to see if it would work. Now you have me thinking that I should put those Fusion projector fogs I have to use.

Fusion's are good but only with modification.

PM sent!

Yeah, I'm in the DC area and Joe is up around Boston IIRC. I think the SCCA auto-x event at NJMP in May is going to be our best bet of meeting up for a race.

Nick, great to see that you are sticking with the car after all these years. You've come a long way!

Thanks Paul! Don't think I forgot about your help with the MEVI and RPM switch :) BTW, I sent you a PM about that amp.

You should come out to an auto-x this year! CDC has most of their events up there, or you could come to FedEX for an SCCA event.

Fender braces
 

Over the years, reviews trickled in about people getting a set of fender braces installed on their Maxima, but sets were never mass produced and I could never secure a set for my car. Luckily, a member on here approached me about making a set after I had posted up a WTB, and after figuring out a design, he sent me these:


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I would say each side weighs about 7-8 pounds, which I think is a fair trade-off. This how they turned out after sanding:


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I then used some black VHT Epoxy Paint to keep surface rust at bay:

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I went into the installation a little unsure of how I was going to mount the front portion to the car. When mowgli29 installed his a few years ago I believe he just drilled a hole in the fender and bolted the brace on that way. Looking at the thin fender material didn’t inspire confidence. We thought about using an existing hole, but it still would have only been one weak mounting point. Lucky for me, Eric is a decent welder and volunteered to weld them on. We drilled two holes in each mounting tab to use as rivets, and got to work. I went a little overboard with some sound deadening material on the back of the braces to make sure there is no metal-to-metal subbing when these are on the car.


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Fender braces continued
 

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You can see where the two holes were filled up and then smoothed over. Once everything was cool I painted over them with the VHT paint.


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We had to use new longer bolts to hold on the doors as we didn't think the old ones would be long enough to securely thread given the thickness of the fender brace mounting bracket.


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I’ve only been able to put a few miles on the car so far, but I must say I’m very impressed. The front end feels much more solid when going over nasty bumps or potholes. Ride quality is much improved as well. I will update this section as I get more seat time!

There's some very tasteful mods here. Love the brakes, wheels, tires, extended studs, seat, even braces(never seen them done before). So all these supporting mods, what's under the hood?