First Infiniti > 2003 FX45

[V8s_R_Gr8]

Hey everybody - I'm Shane. I recently bought an '03 FX45, black on black, 153k miles. Always liked the look of them back in the day but didn't really see too many 45s on the road. My other two rides are a 2006 Mini Cooper S and a 2007 Lexus GX470. I have a soft spot for Japanese V8s and started researching reliable AWD V8s from early 2000s and led me to buy a 2003 FX45 a couple days ago. I typically avoid first years of any vehicle - BUT this one had a ton of service history and was in overall really good condition in and out. And it was only a little over an hour south of Jax on i95, so I figured I'd at least get a chance to test drive one and see if it lived up to my expectations. I'd read online (cars.com, YT FX45 vid comments, forums, etc) most owners loved them and found them to be super reliable aside from some minor issues. And many who had FX35s commented they wish they'd have gotten the bigger V8. But from what I read, only about 10% of FXs from 2003-2008 were 45s, so they are getting harder and harder to find in decent shape. Long story short, I bought it and now starting the journey of just fixing some minor things. So far it needs a new headlight ballast and either a new intake system (JWT) or fabricate a missing plastic cover on the OEM air filter housing - I can see the back of the air filter :/ And I'm realizing it's impossible to find a replacement online. Apparently the '03-04 have slightly different parts for the intake and have been out of circulation for a long time, so looking at alternatives lead me to a post on the forum and decided to sign up.