Friday, August 29, 2014

OBX Headers P.2

Well this was fun...

There are still some fitment issues even on a 5th gen.

I will address them in detail as I fix the problems one by one.

For now, some pictures cause I need to upload em to post em on forums....



Thursday, August 28, 2014

The 6MT I35S Dyno's Again!



238/207 on the same Dynojet I do all of my Dynojetting on.

Yes I somehow made less torque than the red car.

This is due the fact that the stock ECU is not a fan of the cams in the 07+ Altima v6 motor.

If you plan on swapping this motor into an older ECU VQ35, have either a way to tune the cam timing or throw some rod bolts in and rev it higher (at least 7200).

I am not sure if this is because of the Maxima intake manifold or not, but until I see more dynos of this setup I will say it is because of the more aggressive cams (which you will see soon when I post the dyno sheet).

There is one saving grace, this car would probably dyno around 250whp (which was my goal) if the operator revved it to 6600 which I've pegged many times on logs, the dyno operator only ran a hair above 6k (not sure why he stopped early).

Anyways, I will return to the rollers this winter after my headers, catback and other mechanical tuning mods are done (trying to lean out the motor via mechanical mods aka breathing mods, getting more air in and out).

Friday, August 22, 2014

Altima SE-R Upgrades

(Photo taken @ Power Fab Automotive)


Well a RACE CAWWWW decided to roll into Aackshun's Garage to get some mods installed.

05 Altima SE-R with some Go-Fast parts, wanted yours truly to put some more on it...


Racingline Highflow Pre-Cats


HLSD Upgrade (The SE-R does NOT come with HLSD from the factory, if you look at your altima's diff you will NOT be able to see through to the other side).

Gutted Y-Pipe



We're going to run at the track soon, I still need to make a post about our radically different dynos though.


Till then, ja!

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

XTD Flywheel Reveiw

Well, after about 12k miles, the XTD flywheel called it quits.


I heard about this happening before but I'm an experienced based person, unless undeniable evidence is provided for me, I take what the internet says with a grain of salt.

With that, I learned the hard way that the great value of eBay parts have to be paid somehow, in this case extra labor.

Fidanza on the Left, XTD on the right (Mi chancla in the lower left)



Anywho, one long weekend, came to an end finally, good news is I no longer have to use JB Weld my crank sensor in place due to the RWD trigger plate, just good ol fashion stock looking-ness.

XTD vs. Fidanza Performance

Well after driving around for a bit, it is quite noticeable that the XTD is a lighter flywheel, and against what people say it's more noticeable in high gear at low rpms acceleration and neutral revving. When holding both flywheels together the XTD is a little bit lighter, but I did not expect to feel an actual noticeable performance change. In this category is XTD is better overall.

In the end, the XTD flywheel was a fun venture, I purchased it lightly used for about $120 so I do not have too many complaints or gripes about the time, money and effort spent on it, I got to write this post and back up what the internet forums are saying about this product.

Headers coming up soon (I want moar powah!)

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Working with the Variable Cam Timing System

Status Report:
Well I'm now bored with just owning a 6MT I35, it's now to make progress in the power department.
Before any progress is made I have to actually finish the swap and get things running 100% 

Plan of Attack:
If you recall my earlier dyno... You can see that the power curve is extremely un-vqlike. Even for a unique setup like mine, so what's the fix here? Well I'm going to get the car running 100% and re-dyno and then plan from there. To do that I have to adjust the VTC plates, I have checked in osiris and I got lucky after a few days of playing with them, Bank 2 is just slightly retarded my .5 degree while bank 1 is at 0 degrees (perfect!). But if you're familiar with any 3.5 you can see that my cam timing on bank two is.... not right. I have been throwing a random code for the cam sensor on that bank so I am going back to the drawing board and re-wiring everything to ensure it's not anything shorting out (which is what I think it is).
So as I can post a better looking data log, I will move on to the fun stuff.....

Battle Weapons:
OBX Headers, 2.5" Test pipe, stock mid pipe and a G35 Sedan Muffler.

Unfortunately the decision to arrive on this setup came after a few weeks of pondering. I would love nothing more to have a 3" exhaust but I do happen to live in the real world and I ball on a budget.
The idea is based on some rumors and a few youtube videos. I am hoping the G35 sedan muffler would not have the same result as using my stock muffler and unleash the bees in a can raspyness. Results again are soon to be found out later on in the summer.

Up on deck:
Rewiring, data logging, re-dyno. 

See ya guys later!


Saturday, April 5, 2014

Working with Rust on Coilovers :'(

I mean, it is a blog, why not talk about everything?

Part of the reason why I was not able to complete the work for the track day was that I lost about 20hrs fooling with this....



Yup, a bit of rust can go a long way when it comes to removing parts from coilovers.

Took quite some time and work to get it off as detailed in the videos below:


After I broke it loose a bit I moved forward without the hammer and used leverage to turn the coilover instead of impact force as detailed below:


And the final results!



Don't worry there is sunlight at the end of the tunnel, I used one of my struts from my 4th gen for the time being (using the 5th gen lower mount) and I ordered replacement collars (WHICH TOOK FOREVER TO ARRIVE) to replace the ones I chewed up during this process.

Anywho, the videos should have covered everything you would need to know, and as usual if you have any questions just drop a comment!

Braking Test Results

Just posting some numbers of our little experiment.
70mph to 0 mph braking distances*:

2012 Kia Sorento sx 143 ft


2003 Infiniti I35 6mt 147 ft

1995 Nissan Maxima gxe 169 ft

Each car was in average shape for their age and mileage.

I will come back with the upgraded dual piston brake caliper #'s soon.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Well.... Sigh

I failed to get the car ready in time for MSR, it was just too many problems...

On top of trying to finish all of the modding, it was just a bit much for 24hrs....


On the other note, I have finished a lot of things I've always wanted to, yet I still have more to go!

(Excuse the dirtiness)

But in the end, I definitely enjoy the experience of a 5.5 gen on coilovers, which is oddly.... Different from a 4th gen. For the millionth time this week working on this car I have to say.... "This ain't no 4th gen." The chassis of this car is noticeably stiffer than the A32 but also noticeably heavier, but with the rigidity of this chassis, it does not feel as big as a difference as it seems on paper.

Also on another note, I have scrapped the "IPL" ideas, I now want to go a 100% stealth modding approach on this vehicle, while reading this blog you'd think, "wtf?" But in reality, no one knows what the hell this car is stock to even compare with, so I can fool literally everyone that right now as it sits... That the car is 100% stock.

I'm going fully committed to this route, buying an OEM Infiniti Sport "S" (To keep things subtle) and the JX35 engine cover (Ugly, but it's not expensive, it's worth a shot).

Friday, March 28, 2014

Less than 24hrs till launch....

I have a track day at Houston MSR tomorrow morning and I have yet to finish working on the following.....

G35 brake caliper upgrade.
BC racing coilover install
Replacing the many stripped\crossthreaded lugs
Obx header install

I have successfully installed the following though....

Energy suspension control arm bushings
Moog ball joints
Moog end links
10k / 8k spring upgrades on the coilovers

Seems like a small list but I have been wasting time on a rusted coilover mount which I should have worked on ahead of time.... But I purchased them from what I thought was a salt free environment and under proper care but i was wrong.

Anywho y'all are like kids and only look at the pictures anyways so here....



To see more info on these and what I used to remove em... Click here.



The typical moog vs OEM end link photo.

Bleh, back to work for me

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Review: 350z / G35 Dual Piston Upgrade

Ok, been gone for awhile but now i'm back in the game.

I have posted about this mod before as seen here and moved the How-To to this blog to be updated. But i have never put it to the test up until now.

Just like the other informative post, i will update this as i go along.

So for now just a teaser shot of what i received in the mail today.


Used Dual Piston Rotors from a 2007 350z
Duralast c-max ceramic pads.
Duralast rotors (for a g35 but autozone and nissan all agree that the 12.6 inch rotor is the same across the whole board)

To be continued with lulz. Stay tuned.

3/26 update: The before data has been collected.

3/30 update: The brakes are on!! More grinding of the brackets are needed, but man is it nice having new brakes!! I haven't started doing nose diving braking yet but once I have 0 noises coming from the brakes I'll give them a real test

How To: Upgrading to G35/350z Dual Piston Brakes and 12.6" Rotors

How To: G35/350z Dual Piston Brake Calipers (And 12.6" Rotor upgrade for some models)

Caliper Models: G35 Coupe and Sedan 2005, 2006, 2007 (Coupe only for '07) and Non Brembo Equipped 350z 2006, 2007 and 2008 models.

How to Applies to the following Vehicles:
-J30 (89-94) Maxima
-A32 (95-99) Maxima
-A33 / A33B (2000-2003) Maxima
-A34 (2004-2008) Maxima
-L31 (2002-2006) Altima
Maybe more, the above vehicles are the ones I'm familiar with and I know for sure will work with the below directions.

To see my review click here.

As usual with anything on the internet... Proceed at your own risk....


This will work easily for 89-08 Maximas. Not sure on any other years, I will find out on other years some other time. This is a work in progress, should be finalized soon.

If you have a 89-01 Maxima Please follow these directions first:

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generation-maxima-1995-1999/568098-how-5-5-gen-front-brakes-4th-gen.html

Then goto step 2.

Needed Equipment:
-05-06 350z / 05-06 G35 Sedan Dual Piston Brake Caliper, Bracket and Rotor (Rotor NOT needed on a 04-08 Maxima).
-02-08? Maxima Caliper Bolts
-Brake Fluid.
-Aviation Snips (Some type of sheers for cutting metal).

I'm not going to hold your hand through this one, just make it to the point where your car is safely on jack stands and you're looking at this....


(02-03 Brakes on a 4th gen 99 Maxima)

Step 1: Remove the unnecessary components. (If you're a 89-01 skip to step 2)

-Disconnect your brake line

-Caliper

-Bracket

-Rotor (6th genners keep this on!!)

Keep track of your two caliper bracket to spindle bolts, YOU WILL NEED THIS! You can NOT use the bolts off of the G/Z they are tooooo long. If you're swapping from a stock 4th gen setup, I suggest ordering these from Nissan. If not then goto your local hardware store and purchase replacement bolts (Will update with the correct size).


Step 2: Install Dual Piston Glory

-There has been confirmed fitment issues, I am working on a easy sure fire way around this. It looks like grinding down the calipers are needed to clear the rotors because of the bracket not moving it out far enough from the center of the hub. I will get around to putting this on a running car to see what is needed to get these on a Maxima, I really think not much is grinding is needed.

-Install rotor
This is where you need your handy dandy shears for 4th/5th gens... Start snippin away at what comes close to contact with the rotor or control arm (have both wheels in the air and the steering wheel unlocked so you can check the clearance while turning the wheels). I have yet to fully test on a 6th gen spindle and their dust shield, I will on Monday. 6th gens and L31 Altimas shouldn't need to modify their dust shield because they accommodate larger 12.6" rotors already.

-Install bracket
You may still need to continue to hack away at your dust shield. During this step it'd be wise to give the disc a good ol whirl around to check for any rubbing.

-Install Brake Pads

-Install the Dual Piston Caliper

-Re-install your brake lines

Make sure to check the rotation of the disc again. And you have to use the bolts for the 02-08 Maxima. The 3rd/4th Gen bolts will NOT work and the 350z/G35 bolts will NOT work.

After your done it should look like this:



Then proceed to step 3.

Step 3: Prepare for WAR!

-Bleed brakes

-Bed in pads (you should be using new pads and rotors :squint:)

-Troll Q45/Z32 front brake owners :cool:

Quick Facts:
-350z/G35 brembo's will go on following the same procedure it takes to install them on non brembo 350z/g35s (Just replace the bracket/caliper/rotor!). If you're a real baller you can get the Akibono (spelling?) Brakes and relocation kit for the 350z and do the same thing..... Remember, this is a game for ballers and only ballers can participate.

-I have yet to test this mod on the street!

-The dual piston pads use more sweeping area than the 300zx pads.

-It BARELY! Clears AE wheels on my 4th gen if you're running the stock wheels I suggest getting a 5mm
spacer for safety sake.

-Rotor Comparison:

-Caliper Comparison (4th gen and G35/350z, the 5.5 gen on my car looks just like the 4th gen, who cares)

-4th top, 5.5 Gen middle, G35/350z/6th Gen on the bottom.

-4th, 5.5 gen, g35/350z/6th gen.

Review of the Braking will be posted on this blog at the link below:
http://aackshunsgarage.blogspot.com/2014/02/350z-g35-dual-piston-brake-upgrade.html