Super overdue update, Lots of minor things, and lots of tweaking of previous things done to the car. As with anything I do my best to do everything right the first time around, but this car has evolved to the point now that I can't possibly anticipate how certain things will work with one another. So I do what I can, and then there is shakedown periods where I will come back and button certain things up, or change something to better suit what I want. It's a constant evolution.
Over the winter there was certain things I wanted to tackle:
First big thing was the wheels. There were marks on the wheels from before I even got them, so they needed a refinish. I opted to go for a matte gunmetal face, with Gloss Black inner and outer lip. So the wheels were completely dissembled, blasted, and powdercoated. Hardware was all tumble polished and then the wheels were re-assembled, tires mounted, and I had them coated with Gtechniq which is similar a brand of ceramic coating.
Next up was mounting the new coolant overflow and PS bottle:
The power steering bottle can be attached onto a factory captive nut used for a ground strap. However I had to add a nutsert for the coolant bottle to situate it where I wanted. Overall install is pretty straightforward, you will need new PS hosing. These are nice pieces, and I love the custom look.
Right now the coolant bottle sits higher than the PS one, I cant decide if I should lower the coolant bottle or lift the PS tank. So I've just left it for now.
Next one was these:
I F*UCKING HATE these. So I have chosen to get rid of them from wherever I can. Which as it turns out is quite a few places. I started off with the grill mounting ones, I just used M6x1.00 Nutserts:
Throw em in a rivet gun and have at 'er. Most of the holes are usually a little undersized for the nutserts so I use either a unitbit, or a drill bit to widen them out:
Ended up like this:
You can also see in the picture above a different grill. I picked this one up off of Soonster. It's good if I'm going on a trip or something and I don't want to damage my badgeless grill, this is a nice option.
VS.
I did also try installing this:
However I had a problem with the wiring, and it would just kick on whenever the battery was connected. Irrelevant of the key position or anything. So I took it off until I can figure out what is going on there.
At this point is was into summer, and I had been away for work and stuff, and hadn't driven the car hardly at all for 8 months. I had a trip to vegas and LA planned, and for the hell of it decided to drive. I drive a lot for work, and it's honestly nothing to me, pretty easy for me to relax and do a few thousand miles. With that said, having my FX only made the entire thing that much better. When I drive for work, it's in one of my work trucks, and while it's nice not needing to worry about the truck hardly at all, I truly do appreciate driving the FX.
I do have some pictures, but not many on me where I am, so I will post some more later, but for now, at the Aria:
It was hot:
That's 120 Fahrenheit for you my American friends. The FX didn't even hiccup.
In LA getting In'N'out:
Some serious murder:
Overall the trip was great, went to Vegas through Idaho, then over to LA to see some family, up to San Fran, up the coast to Oregon, into Portland and then back up home. Took about 2 weeks. Unfortunately that's all the time I had with work, but it was still good. Best of all not a single issue with the FX, save for bolt from one of the rear undertrays an oil change technician didn't put back, so somewhere along the highway near Malibu I had to pull off and replace that bolt to keep the under tray from dragging. Luckily I heard it right away and no harm done. Also no tickets which was a plus, driving through Idaho was a highlight with that 80mph speed limit. I was easily doing 100mph and I was barely even passing others.
In the end:
So that's about 3700 miles.
When I got back home, there was more parts and things I tried to knockoff the to-do list. I was back to dailying the FX for whatever I could during the nice summer months.
Got myself a Kuda Mount:
Super straightforward install, takes less than 10 minutes. And I'm impressed at how well it fits and works. Its not a complicated thing, but hey that's the beauty of it. It just works.
Using the kuda for my Accuair Controller, and the Panavise for my phone or LED Controller.
Around this time I finally got around to installing the AVS Vent Visors I bought so long ago. I was torn about this one, but I decided to see how I felt about them once on:
Before:
After:
They are certainly nice pieces, they fit good as long as you take some time to install them straight and perfect. I'm keeping them for now.
I was sick of these junk fuse holders:
and I wanted an easy way to trigger off the air system and sound system if parked for extended time. So I bought a couple circuit breakers:
These Bluesea CB's are beauty's. Work like a charm and tough as hell. Cleaned up the wiring put some lugs on the end of the wires from the battery, and Installed:
This is also when I decided to nutsert a whole bunch more in the engine bay and clean everything. So I took the hood off for the first time in this cars life:
I ended up doing nutserts for all the wiper cowl mounting points, and for the battery and brake reservoir covers:
So these will all get fender washers when I manage to grab another 15 or so of them. So many plastic push pin things gone...!
Also I cleaned the underside of my hood so nicely:
and the engine bay as well:
I polished up all the bits with this:
AND FINALLY just a couple weeks ago, my old steering wheel:
Came out, to be replaced with this:
Totally impulse purchase from a G35 that was parting out his car. This is a totally one off custom steering wheel that was reshaped and wrapped in custom leather and carbon fiber. The cruise control and audio controls were also done in real CF. It's honestly a joy to hold this wheel, I love the flat bottom, I love the reshaped sides. I love the finger grooves in the back. With the paddle shifters it's just the cherry on top.
I think that's about it. As always my shelf of parts waiting for install grows, and I'm always adding to the list of stuff I want to do. Side skirts are the biggest priority. I hate the black that low down. So that will be something I tackle this winter, I already have a sent of Nis-rookie G35 sedan side skirts that I am looking to take to a body shop to cut and modify to fit the FX. Not gonna be cheap with the cost of labor near me though. Anyway.
