Renman's buildup thread - winter 2007

[renman]

Hey everyone

I haven’t had my S14 for two years now, but I had decided to stay in the Nissan family by getting an Infiniti I30. The car has the Maxima drivetrain, suspension, etc., but the Cefiro body. The purpose of this thread is to help me document my current build this winter.

I’m not sure how interested people will be since it’s not a 240sx, but I hope the thread will be tolerated anyways

I’m not going to give away the winter plans just yet though, but I will post as I go through it.

First things first, I took out the spark plugs, and I’m going to replace them, but first, I’ll squirt some oil down the holes to prevent the engine rusting from the inside out.

Then, I’ll remove the awful looking stock headlights, and remove the battery and attach it to the battery maintainer that I bought:

Time to jack up the car, put all four corners on stands in order to remove the summer wheels and tires. Once that is done, I can remove the suspension (FOR SALE) and install the new suspension I will be installing.

Lastly, for the night, I’ll quickly mock up the new headlights I recently bought.

Next post: Removing my suspension!!!

[renman]

Time for another update:

First off, here is a pic of my battery maintainer:

Tools for Suspension Removal

Since I’m installing coilovers eventually, I need to remove my current damper and spring setup. I’ve never done this before, but I think I’ve got a good handle on mechanical things, so I printed the 6 pages from the FSM and off we go!

Front Suspension

First thing, take a pic of the three top mount nuts and the two bottom mounts nuts and bolts:

Before you begin, don’t forget to remove the clip for the line to the ABS sensor and the clip for the brake line.

Alright, time for the impact gun to get some use:

After removing the two bottom bolts, we are left with a front unit with some play. Don’t yank it around yet, we’ve got the top three nut/bolt combo’s to undo.

After removing the top three nuts (no impact gun needed), the damper and spring should be removed as a whole unit. If you can’t remove it, it may be that your jack point is on the lower control arm. That arm must be able to drop in order for the shock and spring combo to be removed.

Same thing for the other side and you are now left with two front units and an empty wheel well.

Rear Suspension

I found this to be much easier. Only three nuts/bolts to remove per side, versus the five per side on the front.

First things first. Jack up the torsion bar under the car. I used a piece of wood in order to not damage the rear axle. While it looks like I have jackstands holding up the axle, that’s not the case. The jackstands are supporting the car, and the jack is lifting the torsion bar.

This take some stress out of the rear suspension components and make removal a lot easier.

Quick picture of the driver side rear assembly:

Now it’s time to remove the upper mount nuts. Only two:

Time for the impact gun again. Used to remove the big bolt on the bottom:

After doing the same with the other side, I lowered the jack under the torsion bar, and pulled out the rear spring/damper assembly.

Here is what I’m left with. These are slightly dirty, but they will be given a cleaning before being picked up by a buyer.

All in all, a pretty easy job. I’ve still got to borrow a spring compressor to remove the tophats with the bearings on all four corners.

I’ll be waiting for a bit before installing coils, so I’m going to do some cleaning off the components, and I have to replace the passenger side axle, as I’ve been driving with a ripped CV boot through dirt, water, etc during the fall. I might do that next, or I might start on the electrical components.

LED’s and HID’s vs. more greasiness? I think I’ll start on the electrical stuff.

[renman]

I picked up my rims and tires from John this past Sunday. I’ll post some pics later this week.

[Fobwall]

Nice, I can’t wait to see. Post pix asap!

[reconJDM]

renny the project is looking good.
can’t wait till you finish piecing everything together :).

[renman]

Thanks gents, I’ll take some pics this evening and post pics of the rims.

And just to clarify (because someone will ask,) about the intake shown in this pic:

I’m using the short ram intake instead of a true CAI (which I also have) because the short ram is dyno proven, on my actual car, to make more HP at the top end. That is what I needed when drag racing this down the strip. I’m not sure if I’ll be doing that with this car anymore, but I’ll see. I may put up my VAFC2 for sale as well as my WBo2, but that’s still speculation.

more pics to follow later.

[reconJDM]

renny is that a jdm cefiro bumper??

[renman]

@JDMpanda

renny is that a jdm cefiro bumper??

Hey Ryan,

No, that’s the stock USDM I30 bumper. The jdm cefiro one looks like this:

[renman]

NEW RIMS AND TIRES

I’m very excited about these rims and tires. Thanks to John (Jammin) for his great service!

Falken 452’s

19x8 +30 Privat Netz (division of Konig)

They look darker than they are. The colour is polished silver with a polished silver lip as well.

Check out that lip:)

Because these are sexy show rims, I decided to put a little stretch on the tires as well. I can’t mount them yet, as I have no suspension, but soon.

I wanted to hold off on showing them off, but I couldnt’ wait.

[DarkForceJackal]

Lookin’ good man…keep us posted!

[Cal]

I havwe to say that I was expecting something more ‘baller’ from the rims.

It is a FWD car though so I understand.

Guess I have to wait to see the outcome. Looking good so far.

[renman]

@Cal

I havwe to say that I was expecting something more ‘baller’ from the rims.

It is a FWD car though so I understand.

Guess I have to wait to see the outcome. Looking good so far.

When I took the pic, I wasn’t that impressed either. However, I have always like the multi-spoke look and these come close enough for me.

This is what they look like on a G35 coupe:

I’m hoping to come close to that look, but yes it is a FWD car, so I’m kind of stuck with whatever lip I can get.

Keep the comments coming, I can take constructive criticism.

[renman]

I haven’t updated for a while, so I thought I ought to:

New suspension waiting to be put on:

---

Well, time for an update. I’ve had the coilover for a while, so I did quick look over and tightening anything that was loose, added some CV grease, etc. All of you riding on k-sports know what I’m tlking about. So I mounted the rears only for now, as I’ve got some work to do on the front. I was also curious to see how the rims looked on the back of the car

So I installed the rear coils (no pics, I was in a hurry, sorry) and mounted the whees. I didn’t realize it, but when I got the rims and tires, I was supplied with metal hub rings (woohoo!) and spline lock nuts! I lucked out! So I’ll be selling my stock lugs if anybody wans them. I even have lock nuts to go with them.

So I mounted the hub rings after putting a thin layer of anti-sieze on them. I also put a thin layer of anti-size on the rim hub (where it meets the axle) so that the two won’t rust together. After mounting the rims, check it out:

I’ll take some better pics later. It’s a good thing I’ve got stretched tires, as I’ll need to roll the quarter panel, but it’s very flush.

I finally mounted the rims and tires after putting on the suspension. I didn’t mount the passenger side front suspension as I’ve got a CV boot to replace, so I’ve got three of four rims mounted.

Rims are 19x8 +30mm. I got hub rings and new spline drive lugs with the order, so I’ve been using those. Please note that the passenger side is slightly lower because I had lowered the jack TOO LOW, so the driver side is slightly higher than it should be in the pics.

Next mod: CV boot replacement, or LEDs or HIDS. Who knows?

[jammin1911]

damnnn renny looks hot!

[renman]

Thanks John. I can’t wait to take it out, have it settle, and then adjust the coilovers again.

I’ve still got HIDS to install, and a WB o2 to install and tune with the VAFC2. I’ve also got my slicks to be mounted to light 15" rims, and I’ve got some auto tranny electrical modifications to be made (so that I can control the solenoids manually.)

I’ll be busy for the next few weekends, and during the week.

PS my wife gets jealous sometimes

I’d also like to than John (Jammin) for the rims and tires. Great service, and I didn’t know I got hub rings and lugs with the order! I’d also like to thank Ryan (JDMPanda) for the HID kits.

I’ll keep updating as I progress.

[Uniac]

don’t be a poser, get a real cefiro.
Cheaper and more fun than a maxima/i30

[renman]

^^^ hahaha I wish Then I’d be RWD too.

[GreyGandalf_S14]

good job Ren!!! thats gonna be a pimp I30!!!

mmmmmmmmmm… RWD conversion?

but this is a really sweet ride man, the G will come one day soon bro, glad to hear all is well!!

[renman]

Time for an update.

Within the last two weeks, I’ve been trying to work on it, as well as help my sister with her upcoming wedding.

• Replaced passenger axle
• Cleaned small EGR tube (clogged with carbon buildup)
• Put on front passenger coilover
• mounted rim/tire (slight stretch on 19’s.) Thanks Jammin!
• put together throttle body and idle air control valve

I installed the HID fogs (H3’s) and HID headlights, which are shielded H4’s. Thanks Ryan!

The cutoff is surprisingly decent on the headlights, but I don’t have any pics of that yet.

Took it out for 20 minutes yesterday. Coils feel great. Firm and not bouncy (Can you tell I hit the rippers on the weekend!?)

I still have to wire up my o2 simulator for the rear o2.

Anyways, on to the pics!

[jammin1911]

ddaaaammnnnnnnnnn looking good renny