UPDATE: 7/2/08 (everything else is in chronological order, but this is the most important update :up
As some of you know, I’ve been looking to get rid of my car and move into something cheaper, RWD and with track potential for quite a while. I’ll be going college at either Fordham (literally across the street from the Bronx Zoo) or Northeastern (from the roof of one of the senior dorms you can look into and watch a game at Fenway Park), so I wouldn’t be taking the SER to school anyway. There are 2 subway stations on campus at Fordham and 3 at Northeastern. On top of that, I’ll STILL owe $504/month on a car I’ll only be able to drive a few months out of the year.
So the game plan is to trade the car into Armory in March (my car is worth the most in March/April/May) for a 2007 Jeep Compass. I know it sounds very, very gay, but my sister turns 16 in March (no pix, sry) and will have her license by August when I’ll be leaving for school, and this is the car that my dad was going to go 50/50 with her on anyways (she’s already got a few grand saved up from babysitting). My dad won’t have to pay sales tax on the Jeep because of my trade in, so he said he’ll pass that ~$1,000 savings on to me. I’ll drive the Jeep until I go to school and won’t pay anything for it except gas, and then by the time my sister is ready to drive it full time to school/her babysitting jobs, I’ll be gone. It’ll work out great for all three of us (my dad, my sister, and myself).
I’ll still keep my 3 jobs and work my ass off over the summer, but instead of the money going directly to my dad for car payments, it’ll just be piling up in the bank. I’m very excited to actually be able to afford to have more than $50 in my wallet this summer, I couldn’t do that last summer.
Between what I’ve got in the SER so far (factoring in depreciation), the ~$1,000 from the “no sales tax” bonus from my dad, and the money I’ll make this summer, I expect to have $13,000-15,000 stowed away before I leave for school. Then, during the late fall/early winter, when the prices will be as low as they’ll get, I’ll start my search for an e36 M3 coupe. I’ll get it looking and running right over the winter and come spring '10 I’ll be back in action with a fully paid off M3 with money to spare 
Overall, I’m both very happy and pretty sad about this whole situation. I really do love the SER, I love the way it looks and the way it drives around town and on the highway and the torque and intake/exhaust note put a smile on my face every time, but it’s just not practical right now for me, both financially and with how I’m looking to get into auto X and HPDE’s more seriously. An M3 will fit my budget, taste, and driving style like a glove, and it’s worth missing a season of LVD/auto X/HPDE’s in order to get it.
I’m sure some of you will doubt me and say “ah, he’s just a punk kid, he’ll change his mind 2372345 times between now and next fall”, but trust me, this is for real 
I had been telling my friends since the summer of '07 that I’d be getting an 05-06 Altima SER 6MT in the spring of '08, and I don’t think a single one believed me, but look what happened :up
Hey everyone, I’m Ryan and this is my 2005 Nissan Altima SER.
Here are some quick stock specs-
-3.5L DOHC 24v FWD V6 (VQ35DE, extremely similar to G35, 350Z, Maxima, FX35, etc.)
-260hp @ 6000rpm, 251lbft @ 3400rpm (6600rpm redline)
-6 speed manual
-C&D’s 1/4 mile time- 14.8 @ 97mph
-My best stock-ish time (motor mount inserts and shortshifter)-14.595 @ 97.46mph 2.327 60ft
-18x8 forged aluminum wheels, 17.2lbs a piece
-Leather interior, heated seats, 6 disc Bose 8 speaker sound system
-An enormous trunk
3279lbs
My only modifications so far:
-Racingline motor mount inserts
-Axxtion short shifter
-245/45ZR/18 Dunlop SP Sport MAXX tires on stock wheels
That’s about it, now onto the pics:
^OEM HIDs and fogs
^Left lane
Those are the only good ones I have, I’m ashamed of my 5 finger front wheel gap :haha so I don’t have too many side shots.
This is my first car, I’m 17, but I am paying my dad back in full for it. I have two, soon to be 3 jobs and pay my dad 80% of every dollar I earn to pay off the car, the rest goes to gas, mods, and spending money. The car was $22,000 and I’ve already paid $8,500, as of June 21. That being said, here are my planned modifications for the next few weeks…
-Nismo cold air intake (installed)
-Eibach Sportline lowering springs (2.0" f/1.8" r drop) (installed)
Feel free to leave any comments, good or bad, and I will update this thread as I do more mods to it.
-Ryan
UPDATE: 6/30/08
Here are some pics of the Sportlines, we only put in the front because I LOVE the stance now, and we would have had to roll the fenders caus of my larger tires and didn’t feel like dealing with that BS. I’ll probably get the Nismo rear suspension later in the summer, it’s only a 0.5" drop, which is all I want/need with the 2" drop in the front, but the springs and dampening are much stiffer.
BEFORE:
AFTER (sorry, sh’es pretty dirty):
The handling is quite a bit better, nothing enormous but you can definitely feel it. The back end squirms around a lot, obviously, because its stock, but i should have the nismo rear shocks/springs either in 2 weeks or next spring, depending on what I want to do with my next few paychecks, or what I actually get to keep out of them :
UPDATE: 7/2/08
Got t3h tintz on y0!!!1
35% all around…
(every pic from here on out has them on ;D)
UPDATE 7/3/08:
Got my Nismo cold air intake on, I know you all know what a CAI looks like but I don’t have any engine shots up here to begin with so here are a couple:
I’m taking the new setup to LVD on Wed the 9th. I’m shooting for 14.200@100 with a 2.200 60ft, but we’ll see.
UPDATE 9/26/08:
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve updated this and I’m bored, so here goes.
That Wed July 9th was shitty, couldn’t hook up and bested a 14.6 @ 98, if I remember correctly. My best times are still from my first time ever at the track and are in my sig.
I’ve sold the intake, VIAS block plate and Nismo caps since then.
Anyways, since becoming addicted to Auto X over the summer, I’ve dropped all plans of making the car any faster in a straight line. An official list of what is currently done to the car
Removed intake silencers, still sounds pretty good
Eibach Sportlines in front
Nismo springs/shocks in the rear
Racingline front strut tower bar
Racingline motor mount inserts
Racingline adjustable rear swaybar endlinks (car comes with Nismo sways stock so no reason to touch those)
Axxtion short shifter
38% tint
The only modifications I’m going to do to the car before I call her a finished project are:
This fall:
Custom Borla Turbo mufflers, will run me about $400, will be done early/mid November at the latest. ~.0001 whp gain, I’m doing it for the sound though ;D
That’s about it, I planned on upgrading the soundsystem, I had a JL Audio 8w7 in a box and an Infinity REF7501A in my garage but just got rid of them, it’s just not worth it. I’m just doing the above stuff and it should be pretty competitive in auto x and I’m fine with that.
Anyways, there she is, and I guess I’ll throw in pics of the mufflers:
^I’ll put autozone 4" tips on there, that’s the size on the car stock.
UPDATE 10/1/08:
Got new all seasons on the stock wheels for everyday driving… all 4 seasons ;D
225/45/18 Goodyear Eagle F1’s, the one with the carbon fiber sidewall or whatever, just so I can keep my mAd JDM bling going on in the winter too :lol
They’re a thinner tire than the Dunlops I had on it and I like the low-pro look already.
UPDATE 11/12/08:
Got the Borla mufflers on, they droned like a bitch for the first week but they’ve gotten considerable quieter since then. A few soundclips, the first two are great the second two aren’t that great:
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I love the way they sound, but I’m putting them up for sale. If I get a good offer for them I’ll let them go, if not I’ll just keep them. I’d honestly rather just have the $$ right now, but if I’m going to lose $200+ on the resale, I’ll keep 'em on.
UPDATE 11/23/08:
Went out with dkid15 and his new EP, cazwrx187’s WRX and my car to downtown Albany last night to take some pics with my friend and his ridiculous camera setup. He used some canon lens and then a peleng fish-eye lense. Some of the pics are on the blurry side due to the long exposure and his tripod being borrowed by someone else. He took about 100 pics and these are the good ones of my car at least:
^us in front of our cars :lol
UPDATE 11/30/08:
Kind of a randomly put together photoshoot after I got out of work a few nights ago, we did a few rolling shots then we were just driving around and decided to go to Kurver Kreme, I think the pics turned out pretty good:
definitely my favorite^^^^
