Alias6's 5.5 Gen (tons of pics)
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 81
From: MA
Alias6's 5.5 Gen (tons of pics)
Weird, I bought this car exactly one year ago from today with 128,500 miles on it!
I haven't really done much, and need some ideas for not-to-expensive mods to do.
Few days after I bought it:
Rust
Got that fixed for $400, but the paint is coming off and its already rerusting. The guy who fixed it for me is going to repaint both sides for me for free:
After I washed/clayed/polished/waxed (took almost 4 hours):
Ran my Ipod connector through the center console and out the small coin thing:
Replaced the dome light, map lights, courtesy door lights, and trunk lights with LEDs:
New exhaust tips that i put on yesterday. I only bolted them on since the bottom part of the casing (right word?) of my muffler is torn and I had to keep it up by wrapping wire around it. I don't think it'll last much longer.
And i just had the rotters (spelling?) in the front and a baring in the back right replaced.
Next up is lifting my front bumper to remove the gap under the headlights and maybe some clear side markers.
Suggestions/comments?
I haven't really done much, and need some ideas for not-to-expensive mods to do.
Few days after I bought it:
Rust
Got that fixed for $400, but the paint is coming off and its already rerusting. The guy who fixed it for me is going to repaint both sides for me for free:
After I washed/clayed/polished/waxed (took almost 4 hours):
Ran my Ipod connector through the center console and out the small coin thing:
Replaced the dome light, map lights, courtesy door lights, and trunk lights with LEDs:
New exhaust tips that i put on yesterday. I only bolted them on since the bottom part of the casing (right word?) of my muffler is torn and I had to keep it up by wrapping wire around it. I don't think it'll last much longer.
And i just had the rotters (spelling?) in the front and a baring in the back right replaced.
Next up is lifting my front bumper to remove the gap under the headlights and maybe some clear side markers.
Suggestions/comments?
not bad so far, have you thought of smoking the corner bumper lights? maybe a light smoke, just a suggestion since its hard to do mods when mods available are limited. other than that i cant think off the top of my head on m"cheap" mods. LED reverse lights?
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 81
From: MA
@MaxiNone, I know..theres almost nothing I can do haha. I was planning on swapping my reverse lights to LEDs at some point. What did you mean by 'corner bumper lights'? The red lights on the sides in the back? or on the tail lights?
@VQtHuRtY 5 days after I got them sanded down, bondo-ed, and painted we had rain and the paint was already oxidized haha new england SUCKS. I'm hopefully going to do a drop towards the end of the summer. I need to save money for books for next semester and don't have the money to drop on springs yet.
The only things I can think of doing are fixing a huge crack in my grill and a future drop
@VQtHuRtY 5 days after I got them sanded down, bondo-ed, and painted we had rain and the paint was already oxidized haha new england SUCKS. I'm hopefully going to do a drop towards the end of the summer. I need to save money for books for next semester and don't have the money to drop on springs yet.
The only things I can think of doing are fixing a huge crack in my grill and a future drop
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 81
From: MA
@maxinone i reread what you wrote and then was like "why did i ask that, he wrote it right there" hahaha I really want to smoke them, but one of my friends claims that it might be illegal?
@felorojas14 dirty..very dirty, i'll upload a picture when i lift my front bumper early next week
@wesCTR Hopefully when he repaints it it'll take longer to come back. He fixed it maybe 2 or 3 months ago and its not bad. I think its only a problem because they didn't put a lot of paint on it
Anyone know what is under the plastic 'pins' that hold the front bumper on? do i need to make threads when i put everything on, or are there already threads?
Hopefully this week i'll have the bumper lifted, waxed with NXT 2.0, and maybe the crack in my grill fixed.
@felorojas14 dirty..very dirty, i'll upload a picture when i lift my front bumper early next week
@wesCTR Hopefully when he repaints it it'll take longer to come back. He fixed it maybe 2 or 3 months ago and its not bad. I think its only a problem because they didn't put a lot of paint on it
Anyone know what is under the plastic 'pins' that hold the front bumper on? do i need to make threads when i put everything on, or are there already threads?
Hopefully this week i'll have the bumper lifted, waxed with NXT 2.0, and maybe the crack in my grill fixed.
if you smoke them lightly to where u still see the color of the lens, you should still be good. but i figure if clear corners are ok (with the law) smoked stock corners should be too.
I've had mine color matched, at one point, and now smoked mine cause I cant stand them. I've never had any problems with cops nor passing inspection, but thats down here in TX and thus far... (knock on wood)
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 81
From: MA
Hmm i might.
Washed with meguiars gold class wash and waxed with NXT 2.0. First time using an actual wax, i've just been using quik wax. The difference is unbelievable:
I haven't really gotten a chance to take a lot of pictures, today is the first day that it has not been raining :/ but! it isn't supposed to rain until wednesday, so i'm going to take a ton of pictures of other things I've done and fix my bumper sag monday or tuesday.
Washed with meguiars gold class wash and waxed with NXT 2.0. First time using an actual wax, i've just been using quik wax. The difference is unbelievable:
I haven't really gotten a chance to take a lot of pictures, today is the first day that it has not been raining :/ but! it isn't supposed to rain until wednesday, so i'm going to take a ton of pictures of other things I've done and fix my bumper sag monday or tuesday.
cheap mods
grounding kit - if made your self can be under $40
FSTB - under $30
cleared amber in headlights - under $10
bluebat taillight overlays - under $50
side marker lights - under $50 for all 4 $30 for 2
grounding kit - if made your self can be under $40
FSTB - under $30
cleared amber in headlights - under $10
bluebat taillight overlays - under $50
side marker lights - under $50 for all 4 $30 for 2
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 81
From: MA
Thanks for the list of cheap mods man! Two questions though lol: what's the pros of adding a grounding kit? And what's 'FSTB'?
I got rid of my bumper sag problem yesterday, but there's still uneven gaps under my headlights :/.
Updates: most likely going to get 35% tint in maybe 6 months or less, going to paint my sub box soon (I'll get a picture of it), and my friend is going to make me a small LED strip (Only 2 or 3 LEDs) to light up my climate control lights since I do not want to open that up and half of it doesn't light up. I'm trying to make it similar to the light that shines from under the climate controls.
I got rid of my bumper sag problem yesterday, but there's still uneven gaps under my headlights :/.
Updates: most likely going to get 35% tint in maybe 6 months or less, going to paint my sub box soon (I'll get a picture of it), and my friend is going to make me a small LED strip (Only 2 or 3 LEDs) to light up my climate control lights since I do not want to open that up and half of it doesn't light up. I'm trying to make it similar to the light that shines from under the climate controls.
Thanks for the list of cheap mods man! Two questions though lol: what's the pros of adding a grounding kit? And what's 'FSTB'?
I got rid of my bumper sag problem yesterday, but there's still uneven gaps under my headlights :/.
Updates: most likely going to get 35% tint in maybe 6 months or less, going to paint my sub box soon (I'll get a picture of it), and my friend is going to make me a small LED strip (Only 2 or 3 LEDs) to light up my climate control lights since I do not want to open that up and half of it doesn't light up. I'm trying to make it similar to the light that shines from under the climate controls.
I got rid of my bumper sag problem yesterday, but there's still uneven gaps under my headlights :/.
Updates: most likely going to get 35% tint in maybe 6 months or less, going to paint my sub box soon (I'll get a picture of it), and my friend is going to make me a small LED strip (Only 2 or 3 LEDs) to light up my climate control lights since I do not want to open that up and half of it doesn't light up. I'm trying to make it similar to the light that shines from under the climate controls.
http://www.blehmco.com/enginegrounding.htm
These kits include 8 awg ground straps to the factory sensor grounding points, alternator, and an additional 4awg ground strap to the battery.
Benefits are a much smoother idle and acceleration. For Autos, the 2-1 kickdown at stoplights is much more noticeable. I'm sure you've noticed that when you slow to 1-2mph and try to take off, the car is extremely sluggish and wants to stay in 2nd-- or even 3rd gear. With the ground kit installed, that is almost nonexistant. It downshifts properly and pulls away from the light. No more mashing the gas and watching your tires go up in smoke when it finally kicks down into 1st at 15mph!
For 5 spd models, customers have noticed a much smoother power band. Cars that were initially barely able to chirp a 1-2 shift were easily barking the tires after the kit was installed. My engine felt like silk as it was running through the gears--smoother than I've felt this engine run since I bought the car three years ago!
There is a small but noticeable power increase, mostly at the low end and midrange. I didn't see much improvement in the high end, but one of the customers that tried the kit on their VQ did notice more top end--I guess it just depends on what kind of tune your engine is in and the engine itself. VG and VQ Maximas see a huge drop in power as they go up in RPM, so they tend to see more improvement than a 3rd gen VE that has a smoother power curve.
Benefits are a much smoother idle and acceleration. For Autos, the 2-1 kickdown at stoplights is much more noticeable. I'm sure you've noticed that when you slow to 1-2mph and try to take off, the car is extremely sluggish and wants to stay in 2nd-- or even 3rd gear. With the ground kit installed, that is almost nonexistant. It downshifts properly and pulls away from the light. No more mashing the gas and watching your tires go up in smoke when it finally kicks down into 1st at 15mph!
For 5 spd models, customers have noticed a much smoother power band. Cars that were initially barely able to chirp a 1-2 shift were easily barking the tires after the kit was installed. My engine felt like silk as it was running through the gears--smoother than I've felt this engine run since I bought the car three years ago!
There is a small but noticeable power increase, mostly at the low end and midrange. I didn't see much improvement in the high end, but one of the customers that tried the kit on their VQ did notice more top end--I guess it just depends on what kind of tune your engine is in and the engine itself. VG and VQ Maximas see a huge drop in power as they go up in RPM, so they tend to see more improvement than a 3rd gen VE that has a smoother power curve.
They are easy to make.
FSTB will very slightly improve the feel and handling up front. Considering its price its very slight but noticable by... some people.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 81
From: MA
Hmm...I will definitely look into a grounding kit. Are they easy for complete noobs to install haha?
Thanks for the quick replies btw!
Update: Spray painted my sub box today, it was extremely messy because I could not get the speaker out of the box (my friend and I put it in too tightly) and also could not get the amp off the side of the box. The paint got all over my hands (paint thinner took it off quickly) and need to do some touchups, but its alright for now.
Just a kicker comp 12 and a rockford fosgate amp:
Thanks for the quick replies btw!
Update: Spray painted my sub box today, it was extremely messy because I could not get the speaker out of the box (my friend and I put it in too tightly) and also could not get the amp off the side of the box. The paint got all over my hands (paint thinner took it off quickly) and need to do some touchups, but its alright for now.
Just a kicker comp 12 and a rockford fosgate amp:
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