The Max

Honestly, I feel that CAIs and plenum spacers are a waste of money, like most NA upgrades. The real power gains are in forced induction and given the cost of all these NA upgrades, it would be wiser to save that money towards either turbo or supercharging your vehicle. I went through that whole NA upgrade phase with my old Maxima and I learned that spending all that money to gain a measly 15kW was pointless. The only real NA upgrade that was worthwhile was my old Jacobs Pro-Street ignition system because of the fuel economy I got in return. From a performance standpoint, it was only about 10kW gain. Nothing significant at all.

I have the Uprev Osiris Tuner cable (US$700) which does remapping as well as removing the speed limiter (well, more like you can set it to whatever speed you want, like 300km/h, heheh). I haven't changed the cluster from the factory 180km/h thing. I figure I can always look at my GPS if I want to know where my insanity is at. But, if push does come to shove, I might consider going for an Impul cluster.

This is what I believed too but it looked like either I got shafted on the auction sheet, which specifically stated it is an SP, or the Bose system was optional even on the Premium packaged cars, considering I have all the other premium stuff, such as the dual climate control, heated seats, navigation, voice command button separate to the phone button (according to the G37 2010 FSM, that is a combined button on the base stereo as opposed to separate on the Bose). I did do a little homework though and found that the Bose system was indeed an option even for the Premium packaged vehicles. Thankfully that's all I've missed out on so there's no drama there. Taken from JL Imports' website: "Nissan Skyline V36 370GT Type SP - same as Type S model but with leather interior and an Adaptive Steering Wheel and Door Mirror position system (moves with the drivers seat position)." No matter. If I didn't make this discovery, I'd still be absolutely chuffed with this vehicle and I am anyway. It just means more work for the audio upgrade.

We'll see how we go. My old Maxima was all about top speed rather than acceleration when I turbocharged it. With the speed limiter removed from this V, we'll have to see how he performs on the open road. If I see the same top speeds like I did in Max, then I might just leave it as is. If I get the urge to race, then it'll be a different story.

No need to alter my vision to my detriment. I just don't like it. That doesn't mean what you've done is wrong. I'm just saying it's not my cup of tea but all the same, you get my respect for the effort that has undoubtedly gone into that. I got ripped on for turbocharging my old J30 Maxima but I built it for me to enjoy, not to parade. I wasn't about to embark on a mission to convince the infidels that I created something they must like. If you like what you have, that's all that should matter. My opinion shouldn't make you defensive and certainly wasn't intended to insult.

I'll give it an A+ for effort but an F for final result. Sorry but it's just fugly to me.

A double check of the boot floor shows that I have the HICAS unit where the amp normally is, at least according to the 2010 G37 FSM. On the right hand side are the GPS and Telephone Handsfree units. Looks like I'll be using the speaker outs of the deck to feed the MS-8 after all. Damn.

Linear power curve (which makes it friendlier to automatic transmissions) and less work involved as there's no need for custom exhaust piping. Besides which, there's not a hell of a lot of room underneath from what I saw when I had it up on a hoist.

Bugger. That answers that then.

Well, didn't I make a shock discovery today? Ready to embark on my speaker replacement phase, before getting into the more laborious task of doing the amps and subwoofer for the boot, I had prepared myself with MDF to make the adapters for my 6.5" Boston Acoustics to fit into the 10" Bose space. But once the door trim was off, I was greeted with evidence that my Sports Premium package did not have any Bose 10" speakers but rather a crappy Blaupunkt 6.5" in each door instead along with the large tweeter located next to the door lock handle! I still proceeded with the upgrade and installed the tweeters in the side mirror finishers with a little creativity and a lot of professional effort on my part but now this throws a major spanner in the works, which will be confirmed once I remove everything from the boot floor to probably find not a single Bose amplifier exists either. This will entail rewiring the doors to accommodate the separate feed the tweeters will need from their crossovers as well as taking the speaker outputs of the head unit and feeding them to the JBL MS-8 DSP I've got. If I'm feeling really adventurous, I may look into modifying the head unit so that I can extract the line level output for the MS-8 instead. My only other hope is that I find the wiring harness for the Bose set up in there anyway and just buy a Bose headunit to replace the existing one, again, provided the harness will accommodate this changeover. Somehow, I doubt that's going to be the case. I'm guessing the Bose stereo was also an option in Japan when getting an SP?

If I based all my decisions on price (at least primarily), then I'd have a lot of junk on my hands. I'm a firm believer in paying once to get good so that I don't have any regrets and end up paying even more in the end. How did I make up my mind? I relied heavily on what I had already heard when I was thinking about buying a V36 back in 2010. At that time, I had the advantage of working in Vancouver for 4 months and there were a reasonable number of G37 vehicles going around. I would actually walk up to the drivers of these vehicles and ask them questions about the cars but more importantly about their upgraded exhausts. Some went the Motordyne ART approach, some went HKS, many went for the Megan Racing bolt-on. I heard each exhaust and they all sounded nice and throaty, which was what I was after. I only asked them about the drone in the cabin but never stuck my head in the cabin for the fear of being a rude bastard. Hell, I wouldn't trust a stranger in my car so it's only fair I didn't expect them to trust me either. And so after hearing the various systems and chatting with the owners, my ears told me the Megan Racing path was the way to go since I wasn't interested in extracting the most possible performance out of the exhaust system. All I wanted was the respectable note. As previously stated, the performance will come from a supercharger which will find zero benefit in changing the headers and pipework leading up to the muffler. The price was just a consequence of what I liked and luckily for me, it worked out mighty cheap.

And I'm all for dirty but twins are only fun to play with, not to keep long term. Even Hugh Heffner doesn't keep his for long. Thinking long term, twins are a costly approach given the upkeep involved later on not to mention the custom belt that was supposedly produced for the set up. For that reason alone, it's less of a hassle to just go with one for the long term.

Front/rear split is around 67/33. Is it worth it? I still upgraded all four of my rotors to the DBA4000 series slotted variety and whacked in EBC Red Stuff pads all around too. May as well give them all the same treatment and the savings in not doing so isn't that significant.

Only if the tubing itself is Teflon. Supposedly, given Teflon's greater rigidity, it is more prone to fracturing and leaking than rubber so it's not really well suited to components which are in constant motion across the X and Y axes, as is the case with your wheels given the suspension moves them up and down while the steering moves them left and right. It was never a problem on the Maxima but it was of zero benefit too.

I had SS brake lines on my old Maxima which I used to track now and then. Zero difference between them and the OEM rubber lines. The theory is sound and there would definitely be some swelling taking a little bit of the pressure away from the calipers but the pressure difference was (measurably) minute. Instead, what you're experiencing is the fluid getting hygroscopic at the higher temperatures so you need to use something better. A full flush and replacement of the fluid is a step in the right direction but you need to find one that will operate at temperatures typical of track racing if you want to keep that sponge pedal away.

EBC Red Stuff. Love 'em. Low dust, great stopping power and so far, my discs aren't terribly unhappy with me.

Hahah. Twin supercharger was even admitted by GTM as being a "why dogs lick themselves" project rather than cost vs benefit. I'm going to stick to the idea of a single supercharger but I probably won't buy into their kit until I've had a good play with the car on the open road or otherwise if the exchange rate is in any immediate danger of rendering the value of that kit too costly to ship home.

Sonic Motor - http://www.sonicmotor.com/ Muffler was US$405 and shipping (USPS) a further $153.84. With the exchange rate at the time, it worked out to be around AUD$550. Only downside was that it took them almost 3 months to get one from Megan Racing and ship it to me. Not sure what the hold up was on it and as I was about to call Megan Racing to find out why Sonic Motor were experiencing ongoing delays since ordering it in May, I got the email from Jim at Sonic Motor letting me know that they received the stock and shipped it the same day. It took about 2 weeks more to arrive at my mate's workshop while I was still overseas.

So, I have finally arrived back home and my first point of order was to get this muffler on the car. Off I went to my exhaust guy, got him to cut off the gay burnt titanium tips and welded on a couple understated oval tips which have a reduced height compared to the stock tips. Under his advice, I did not replace any other pipework. The rest is all bone stock and even he was impressed with how well Nissan decked out this car. The end result, a nice deep note which is understated but that also makes itself known without being obnoxious and loud. Absolutely NO drone in the cabin. This is definitely the best $500 I've spent. Power gains? Don't know and don't give a rat's arse. If I want power gains (which I do), I'll look to forced induction for that. In my opinion, the cost vs benefit of a top notch complete exhaust system is simply better spent on a supercharger system instead. I've seen guys fork out $5000 on an Akrapovich system for their 370Zs and the way I look at it, that's about half of what one pays for a turbo kit only to receive much less power in return. It just doesn't make sense to me. I'm just glad I took the usual piecemeal approach rather than buying a complete system only to find that the muffer alone would have been just fine. Photo and audio clip (properly recorded for authenticity) coming up soon.

Careful with the buffing machines. You really need to master the motions with it as having it at too high a speed and left on one spot for too long will result in excessive heating of the paint to the point where it discolours. That's why I prefer to do it all by hand. Sure it kills my arms for the remaining week but that 6 hours of love is worth it. Anyway, doesn't your V35 have the button next to the backrest release which moves the seat forward to allow rear passengers in and then resets it back to the last position you had it at? Or is that only the V36 vehicles?

Sounds like the switch is mechanically buggered. Check for any obvious signs of dirt, dust, gunk, etc that may be possibly jamming the switch. Next, try to loosen it up with some contact cleaner+lubricant - squirting as deep inside the switch as you can. There may be some disassembly involved to remove the switch from its mount and access the innards of the switch with the spray's nozzle. You can get this stuff from Jaycar and the like. If still no go, then the only fix will be to replace the switch.

Sorry to dredge up an old thread here but now that I've arrived back home from a 5 month stint overseas, I did try this before I flew out on my 2009 model V36 and it did not clear the error. However, after having the battery disconnected for that 5 months, the first startup (after a fresh oil change and a squirt of oil down each spark plug hole) resulted in a Check Engine Light situation too. So, I took advantage of the Nissan Consult 3+ tool that I bought from China along with v15.12 of the Consult 3+ software and found a whole bunch of CAN error codes (U1000) across almost every system in the vehicle along with a bunch of other DTCs related to the VVEL, BCM and a couple other things. No doubt the vehicle didn't like being unplugged for so long I guess. Consequently, I erased the DTCs related to everything but the Pop-Up Hood. Then I retried the procedure noted above but unfortunately, still no clearance. The only way to wipe that bastard out was with the scan tool. For those who are keen on buying their own scan tool, at a fraction of the cost of the genuine Nissan deal (especially because Nissan sell their kits only with a Panasonic Toughbook laptop), I got it from this mob: http://hdautotool.en...for_nissan.html Best $1300 I spent for being my own mechanic, as I always prefer to be.

You don't need ballasts for halogens. The reason why is because HID lights require a really high voltage to initially excite the HID lamp and then maintain a moderately high voltage to allow the HID lamp to continue to operate from that initial jolt. Both voltages are far too high for a 12V halogen. Therefore, you have no option but to cut the 12V wires going into the HID ballast and connect them to your halogens. Thereby taking the ballast out of action altogether. I don't know about retrofitting the halogen bulb in the assembly as I haven't yet converted mine back to the factory HID (as it was converted to halogen for ADR compliance, as it's meant to be). I agree the ADRs are ridiculous to say the least though. Thankfully mine has the auto-levelling system but no washers so if worse comes to worse, I could always stick on a couple of fake washers if it becomes an issue here in NSW.

Hmmm. Looks like a single SC kit will be the way to go for me then.

Check out this new twin-supercharger system they've come up with. I don't know what the specs are but I'm very tempted to shell out for one, if it is done right as it seems to be!