Matt's 2017 Nismo Blog - 'Gizmo'
 

Morning Guys,

I wouldn't really call this a project thread, or a build thread, more of a place for me to keep a log of the things I do to the car over time. Won't really be anything too extreme but I do like to keep my hands busy with little things over time, and like to add custom / DIY pieces where possible.

So last week I was lucky enough to pick up my 2017 Nismo Z in pearl white. My first ever brand new car so it was pretty special! My OH works for our local Nissan dealership which gave us access to a very attractive deal!

Prior to collection I had the car taken down to a wrap guy I know for paint protection film (front end and roof), window tints all round, and gloss black A Pillars. Once that was ready the car went back up to Nissan for me to collect.

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First thing I did to the car was remove the front Nismo arch trims. The rears I am still un decided on, but the fronts looked way to stuck on for me! Looks great now.
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Then swapped in my GTR Start button from my old Zed.
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Popped my lucky mascot in the centre console :)
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Saw these opaque decals on eBay so had to get them as they said Nismo! haha.
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Picked up some ART Test Pipes before Christmas in readiness for the new car, and got those installed over the weekend. Still waiting for the exhaust to soot up before I make my final decision but its still pretty quiet. I was hoping to keep the Nismo CBE but may have to change that in the future.
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Latest touch was some red tint film over the clear sections of the rear lights. Looks much cleaner now I think.
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I still have a heap of stuff at the office ready to fit and will try and keep this up to date as I go along. But so far I am over the moon with Gizmo. The kit, the seats, all the little touches compared to my '09 Z are just great!

Nice ride and welcome to the family!

Man I love those seats..kinda jealous! Same for the lift..that would be very nice to have. Nice idea on the tail lights, looks like it matches just fine. What did you end up doing with and from where?

Congrats dude! :tup:

Congrats!

Personally I'd have had them swap the steering wheel to the proper side before all those other unnecessary mods but I'm funny that way :p

BTW if you decide to sell your front Nismo arch trims let me know ;)

Congrats! Q? Have you had any problems with adding the ART pipes with the cel coming on? Thanks

Congratulations and welcome. :tiphat:

Congrats on the pickup, thinking about removing the arches from mine but I purchased used with 18k and I'm worried removing them may leave marks on the bumper. Anyway keep up the good work man.

Congrats and welcome to the family!

Thanks folks, I'm really pleased with the car!! Just getting the engine run in and doing as many miles as possible. Want to take it for a proper drive ASAP :)

Mine came off pretty easy and just needed to spend some time cleaning up the sticky stuff they use to hold them on the wing. You should be OK, the only thing to watch is it the paint underneath looks any fresher when you remove them. Should be fine after a good clean.

They've been on the car for maybe 180 miles now and the CEL light has remained off! Which is good as I was worried I would have to be resetting the car every now and then. It may come on once I start driving the car harder though?

Unfortunately I keep all the stock parts ready for when I sell the car. So I can put it back to stock and sell the mods separately. It's a popular thing to remove them though so there must be plenty kicking around?

It is on the 'right' side already :icon17:

Yeah I really liked the mod on my old Zed so had to do it again here. It is just some VERY cheap red tint film from ebay. I think it came from Hong Kong or similar, and was less about £3 delivered! bargain!

Another question on the ART pipes, do you have any video or sound clips yet? I'm looking at doing the same setup that you have on your Z now. Can you let me know.

The exhaust note will be increased but it depends on what exhaust system you have to how loud it will actually be.

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

looking at keeping the stock CBE since it's the Nismo version. just waiting to change to the art pipes only. I've watched to YouTube videos of Nismo's with the art pipes and stock CBE but not seen any on the 2015-2016 Nismo's yet.

Very nice. Congrats!

No videos just yet as I'm still running in the engine and figured the video would be pretty boring if I'm just cruising around at 2-3kRPM :driving:
Will sort some out once I've got the oil changed over.

Mini update from last night, went back to my friends unit for finalise the wrap. Got a tinted sun strip installed, and I set about removing the rear wiper and nozzle from the boot.
Looks 100x better now!

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The results will be similar to those of previous years. You will get increased performance and your exhaust will sound louder but not a whole lot. Those big *** Nismo mufflers work lol!

Lookin good. Enjoy the car :)

Looking good! I love the tail lights!

question, what is that hole on the right lower of the hatch?
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Rear window wiper

Yep, as above. I removed the stock rear wiper as it looks so much cleaner on the back. Just hope it doesn't rain too much now :icon17:

So when did Nismo had a rear wiper? or US model don't come with it?

I don't think most places outside of Europe have them, although I'd be happy to have one on mine sometimes.

Yeah most cars in the UK atleast have them, other than German Saloons. They are useful but don't half ruin the line of the car! Luckily easy enough to whip them off!

Should have some small updates on this towards the end of the month, the weather is awful so just waiting for temps to improve! Got a new CBE too which should arrive end of Feb. I can't live with the Nismo system any longer, too quiet!

Post weekend update!
Spent Saturday afternoon and pretty much all of Sunday working on the car, starting to get through the items I have been stock piling at the office. Not many left now! Had a good time working on the car, even if it was a little frustrating on Sunday.

Saturday.
Start with the easy job - clean and install some K&N drop in filters. Bought them from a member before Christmas, in great condition. Hopefully get a little improvement whilst retaining the stock air boxes.

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Next up I took a gamble on a DAB module from Nissan. Another Nismo owner local to me bought one and said it works well with the stock Nav system. It didn't look like 'too' big of a job, so I set about getting to work. Removing all the centre console and stereo components was pretty straight forward, along with the A pillar for the arial wires.

I took this opportunity to fit the hardwire kit for my cash cam also (looks so much better now without wires dangling infront of any passengers). It runs down the passenger side A Pillar, under the footwell and crosses to the driver side fuse box. I have piggy backed off the cigarette power fuse so the camera comes on with ignition :)

The initial install of the DAB unit went very smoothly and everything seems to be working great. So I set about putting the car back together, which may have been a little premature. As on the drive to work this morning I kept getting drops in signal, then after a while it just stopped all together. So I will need to revisit this at the weekend.

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Sunday.
Early start as I wanted to install sound proofing to the boot floor and wheel arches. The road noise from the Nismo seems just as bad as my old 370 despite Nissan adding 'improvements' over the years. So I ordered up some 2mm alu sheets along with a load of 6mm sheets of closed cell foam. The boot panels all came out pretty easily and I made a pile in the living room.

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It didn't take long for curiosity to get to the better of these 2! They had a great time :)

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Then I had a quick brain wave....oh, whilst the boot is empty I can 'quickly' install the LED fog light I ordered ages ago. So I grabbed it from the man cave and set about removing the old fog light. No pictures of this as it's been done to death on the forums. I got the new unit fitted nice and easy, then ran the cables up to the rear light so I could tap into the wires. Feeding these cables took far too long and cut my hands to shreds, but we got there in the end. A quick test of the fog light showed no signs of life and after much faff I figured I'd blown a fuse. So took the fog light back out (and wiring) and checked wires, footwell fuses, even the IPDM in the engine! All good.....

So I had some lunch, when I came back the wires were working as expected!! No idea how or why, so I set about re-installing the running cables (again, hands...pain etc). I got it all wires up just as the light started to fade and things almost* worked as expected. That will do for today!

No lights on, just smoked rear fog
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Side light
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Fog light
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Reverse light
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My original plan and wiring diagrams (scrap of paper!) was to use the brighter red light for both brake and fog. Using 2 diodes it is a pretty easy circuit. However once I had it all wired up on the car the fog light would not work correctly. Brakes were fine and the fog would light up bright red on pedal press. But when turning on the fog light it the bright red would come on for a second, then turn off (even though the fog light was on, on the dash). So I whipped out the diodes and will run foglight only for now until I workout how to bring the brake lights back in.

All in all, a good weekend, just need to work out whats up the DAB module.

Cheers, Matt :D

Nice! We have the same fog light! But I nabbed a Smart-Stop module so it flashes momentarily when I press the brakes :D

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Also sub'd! I love these threads. You guys do all the things I wish I had money to do...

We also had very similar cars. This was my old 370, seeing yours really makes me miss the colour!!

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High time for another update here. Not had much time to do much to the car for a month or so as been busy with work and general ‘stuff’. But 2 good jobs have been done so here are some pics.

First up I managed to complete the sound proofing in the boot area. It hasn’t made a massive difference, but certainly helped reduce the general road noise when cruising at 40+. Don’t get me wrong the car is still very loud, but every little helps as they say!
I went for the two layer approach using both 2mm Silent coat tiles, and 8mm (I think) mass loaded tiles. Took a few hours start to finish and everything went back to gather as expected - some panels were a squeeze though as there was an extra ~10mm of stuff between them and the car.
The boot area is now pretty good for sound levels, but it has now made me more aware of other cabin areas that need further sound proofing. Such as the footwells and under seat etc. So when I have some money I’ll continue working through the car to reduce road noise. It does add weight but I think it is offset by the comfort levels.

Stripped out
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Step 1
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Step2
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The miles are certainly racking up on the Nismo now. Took a trip ‘Up North’ to the JAE Reps meeting in P’boro, then up to visit family in Nottingham. The following weekend saw us take a trip near enough to Doncaster to get view (and purchase) a new car for the SO. Here they both are parked up together on the way home. A very tasty (and very rare) White Evo X with manual gearbox. Comes loaded with plenty of carbon extras, and a remap. The only snag is it makes the Nismo look like it has cream paintwork :/

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Next up was to fit the Berk Tech exhaust I’ve had at home for a while now. I had the centre pipes repaired as there was a crack on one of the welds, gave it a quick polish and it was good go!

Load up the car (Snug!!)
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Up on the ramps
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Back on the deck
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My initial plan was to return Gizmo to OEM Cats, and just run the CBE exhaust. However time was not on our side last night so we took a vote and the ART Pipes are still on the car, along with the shiny Berk CBE.
From garage to home is around 15 miles……yet some how my drive home last night was almost 70 miles :lol:

On idle, gentle driving and motorway cruising the setup sounds incredible. Then under WOT the sound is insane! Super loud and gives a sound to match the looks! I need to live with this for a few weeks just to see how I get on as it’s certainly loud! I’ll try and grab some videos once I bust out the GoPro :D Off home to Wales for Easter so this will give some good seat time to see how the volume is.

However for now it is very addictive. I am leaving the car in gear for far longer whilst driving around just to make noise. It will no doubt hamper my MPG’s but that’s not why we buy these cars!

That’s all for now, thanks. Matt :D

Quick update from the weekends activity:
Finally got around to removing the rear arches, been meaning to sort that for ages now. Looks so much cleaner!!

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Next up was to remove the rear badges. The sticky stuff left over once you remove the badge is awful! But got there in the end. This was done in ready-ness for the gloss black centre badges & door handles :)

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And finally I found a hidden mod Sunday morning (pic below). The joyous Shipping spacers that the PDI "technician" decided to leave on the car for me. Was said previously in the thread I was lucky enough to have access to the car prior to PDI so I could have it PPF'd and tinted......so I got to see the car right off the transporter complete with all the packing and wrap from the factory. I part of this was a very large warning stuck in the inside of the windscreen telling the dealership to remove the shipping spacers. My technician, and many others it would seem, cannot read.

From a quick look I only have one per side, others have had 2 even 3. So either my guy only removed a few off my car, or didn't remove any and the others have simply snapped off during driving. I am not amused by this but from a quick search it shouldn't have had any bad effects to the cars alignment or geo. So I'll just whip them off and forgot about it. I will however tell the other 2 guys that bought Nismo's from the same dealership as me, at the same time. They will no doubt also have them.

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Looking good, what was your way of taking off the little fender arches? Got idea's from others but any other helpful tips wouldn't hurt.

Hey bud, sorry only just saw your post! As luck would have it I wrote out a quick guide for a guy on another forum. quick copy and paste:

For each wheel:

• Remove the 3 screws/poppers from the larger trim in the wheel arch (keep these handy to reinstall once finished)
• Drill out the 2 rivets holding the smaller arch to the bumper. I think I used about a 3-4mm drill bit to remove the head of the rivet
• Gently pry the trim away from the bumper (it's stuck on good!!)
• Next pry away the trim from the wing (also stuck on well)
• Then spend a lot of time cleaning off all the glue and gunk that gets left behind
• Pop the screws/poppers back into the arch
• Sit back and marvel at the sleek clean lines of your lovely car :D

Been quiet here for a while as busy planning our wedding (the misses & I, not the Nismo & I), so time for a quick update.

Not a great deal has changed but managed to get a good deal on an ARK Grip exhaust. I missed it a lot after having one on my old 2009 GT. Sounds and looks great.

I also fitted some DIY side stripes. Picked up 3 colour strips from eBay and spent the afternoon creating them with a buddy of mine. Very happy with the result.

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Very Nice!!! Keep it going!!! :tup:

rear wiper
 

Hello Matt,
I have a 2009 and have the rear wiper installed. I'm having issues with it working. In the USA this option was not available so there is nothing anyone even Nissan said they couldn't because not a USA installed option. Would you happen to have the wiring diagram for the rear wiper. It's only one page from the WW section. I have purchased over 8 different sets of manuals on line and they all are a rip off. All they do is copy the manuals from the NICO website. Also if you do not have it can to tell the location of the two wires on the BCM in the right kick panel. Your help would be greatly appreciated sir.

Best Regards
Javier

rear wiper
 

Matt,
Uploaded pics.