Love the pic of the Nismo at the old gas station. Crazy

NICE MAN!!! You have the Compasss!!! I'm gonna switch mine with your next time I see you. Along with the leather shift knob and steering wheel. :icon17:

Damn that homelink mirror with compass looks nice! How much did it run you?

It was about $150 shipped and came with the harness.

So I just ordered the AEM cold air intake in gunmetal. It should be here this week along with my long tube headers. I'm planning on potentially doing an install along with my Setrab 25-row if all goes as planned.

I might be doing a baseline pull with just the test pipes this week just so I get a good starting point.

I would love to see how you do on the dyno with just test pipes. Do you know what dyno you'll be testing on? I used a dynojet on a base with sport + test pipes and made good numbers, maybe your #'s will help show any differences between the base and nismo.

Nice man, can't believe you got the AEM intake too....you're modding your car a lot faster than me. Can't keep up with ya man. What happened to saving for a ring? lol

shhhhh gf doesn't know about the ring...or the intakes for that matter! LOL :icon23:

lol, she found out about my oil cooler....sucks about living together....i got some floor mats too. I think that's enough of my spending for this month. We're suppose to save up for our honeymoon too. Sigh.

Interesting. I might try to find a dynojet around here.

What did you put down with test pipes?

So while I'm having some down time in between new installs, I thought I'd share my newest JDM goodies with you guys. I wasn't expecting this to come in until at least Monday but the FedEx guy came earlier than the tracking said.

Straight from Japan :tup:
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/4920/dsc01426tt.jpg

Billion Radiator Cap
http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/705/dsc01448u.jpg

Nismo Registration Holder
http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/2688/dsc01428sz.jpg
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/373/dsc01445s.jpg

Nismo Carabiner
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/4347/dsc01444v.jpg

Moonface-R Magnetic Drain Plug
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/623/dsc01442t.jpg

I also got a small Nismo tool bag...no good pics of that unfortunately. I know this is a small update but I'll be updating this soon with more parts!! :D

So the other day I installed a few more things. I was actually not planning any power mods for this car, but I got a really good deal on the Fast Intentions long tube headers that I couldn't pass up on. So wheels and brake upgrades will definitely have to wait for a while.


I love the construction on these. It's been a while since I've seen quality welds on an exhaust manifold. Too many shops use machine tig or slather chrome all over their welds, making them look cheap. Fast Intentions really did a great job on these.

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/1540/dsc03937m.jpg
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/1543/dsc03940p.jpg

I had the opportunity to work on my car at a shop my friend owns and operates, Vex Motorsports. Great guys, all friends, all race in some way or another. I felt so bad for taking over their lift for almost two full working days (Friday and Saturday). Herb helped me with most of the work in removing the stock headers. If you guys are ever in the area and need something feel free to hit them up.

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/5611/dsc03946e.jpg

The stock driver's side manifold was a complete pain in the ***. Not only did we have to remove the steering linkage, a whole mess of hard coolant line and hoses were in the way. We had to raise and lift the car numerous times to figure out the best way to access the bolts.

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/9469/dsc03941q.jpg
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/1078/dsc03945p.jpg

After a few busted knuckles and tools, we finally managed to get both stock headers out. It took us about 4 hours to take them off, another 1.5 to get the F.I LTH on the car and bolted up. So about 4.5hrs total install time. I do regret not wrapping them though. Time to take them off again :bowrofl:



Just kidding.

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/268/dsc03952v.jpg
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/4096/dsc01466c.jpg
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/514/dsc01468o.jpg

Sound wise, there's not a big difference between these and test pipes, however they do definitely make more power. There's a little more RASP, but nothing totally nasty sounding. I like a little bit of rasp in the exhaust note. Construction, as mentioned earlier, is top dollar. These look miles better than anything else offered on the market currently (Stillen, PPE, etc). Cost-wise, I'd be hard-pressed to pay full retail on headers given the gains aren't as large as most other bolt-ons, however I got these at a good price so I think my dollar was well spent.

Overall a 9/10 for build quality, construction, and power delivery.

While I had the car on a lift, I decided to make a little more use of my time and install some more stuff.

I didn't take very many pictures of this install and actually had every intention of turning it into a DIY. But honestly, I was a little disappointed with some of the problems I encountered. You would think that after doing a header install, an intake install would be a cinch.

http://img532.imageshack.us/img532/6015/dsc01451hw.jpg
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/2095/dsc01470k.jpg

The main issue I am having is the included washer bottle does not fit due to the added ducting on the Nismo bumper support. This is where it is supposed to sit-

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/4337/dsc01463et.jpg
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/7756/dsc01464bm.jpg

I know it's a relatively simple fix but I'd rather not cut it unless I really have to. I'm planning on calling AEM on Monday and asking if they're planning on making a different washer reservoir/mounting area for the Nismo models, or if I should just cut it.

I also have a rather annoying sound coming from the passenger side intake tube that only happens at WOT. I did a long tube header install at the same time, but it's unlikely that the culprit could be these as fitment/flex was all verified on a lift. The only possible scenario I can think of is that the included brackets/rubber mounts do not allow for enough flex to accomodate the moving engine, or the intake piping is hitting a metal area of the radiator support during engine movement.

It's not all bad though. Fuel economy has improved over my previous setup (just test pipes). Again, I don't know if this is due to the FI long tubes or the intake but I'm averaging about 20mpg compared to my previous of about 17. Intake powdercoat color is almost an exact match with the PG paint, just a shade darker. And the combination of the AEM intakes with the FI long tubes made a huge difference in low through upper mid range power.

wow nice pics!!

great job man, i gotta check it out next time I see you. It's nice you have a shop you can work in. After all these mods, u thinking about hitting up track soon?