I bought my first FX in 2004 and loved every second of ownership. I took her through a full custom build - ending up with a built motor, built transmission, Haltech EFI, custom intercooled turbo, coilovers, BBK, etc. In December of 2011, I totaled that car on a wet road going 45mph. Only the body and radiators were damaged - all other goodies were salvaged and set aside to be part of my next project.
Enter my 2003 Brilliant Silver FX35, after her first bath under my ownership.
I thought this car deserves it's own thread. My plan is to rebuild the previous project with improvements. I already know what to expect from a performance standpoint - I'm going for efficiency changes. What didn't work for me or didnt sit well with me before is going to be revised this go around.
I settled with insurance and kept Big Red for salvage. First order of business was to completely swap out the Willow interior of the Silver FX for the black interior of Big Red. This included getting the driver's side seat reupholstered after the side airbag deployment.
Now that the interior is pretty much back to stock, I started on the "improvements". Really just little projects to give a little bit of originality to the interior.
The custom sub enclosure, JL 12" sub, JL amp, Epicenter bass processor and Optima Yellow top swapped over.
Matte vinyl wrap on the clock trim - I like this little mod, a lot.
Leather wrap on the passenger side A-pillar
Custom leather wrap on the gauge cluster - brand new as of yesterday.
BC coilovers, 20mm Ichiba Spacers, Stoptech BBK & GTSpec Strut Tower Brace Installed:
Upper and lower billet grills installed, added the Infiniti badge after a week without it.
And that's where she stands today. I have an all aluminum driveshaft on order - 27 lbs, down from 77 lbs from the OEM shaft. That and lighter wheels should give me a noticeable bump in power (all other things being equal). I am currently working with Powerfab to redesign the cold side of the turbo system. We are looking into custom radiators and intercoolers, custom mounting solutions, custom bumper bars... essentially planning the cold side from scratch rather than working with available space.
The motor and transmission from Big Red is waiting at the shop - Silver could go in for surgery before the end of this summer.
Enter my 2003 Brilliant Silver FX35, after her first bath under my ownership.
I thought this car deserves it's own thread. My plan is to rebuild the previous project with improvements. I already know what to expect from a performance standpoint - I'm going for efficiency changes. What didn't work for me or didnt sit well with me before is going to be revised this go around.
I settled with insurance and kept Big Red for salvage. First order of business was to completely swap out the Willow interior of the Silver FX for the black interior of Big Red. This included getting the driver's side seat reupholstered after the side airbag deployment.
Now that the interior is pretty much back to stock, I started on the "improvements". Really just little projects to give a little bit of originality to the interior.
The custom sub enclosure, JL 12" sub, JL amp, Epicenter bass processor and Optima Yellow top swapped over.
Matte vinyl wrap on the clock trim - I like this little mod, a lot.
Leather wrap on the passenger side A-pillar
Custom leather wrap on the gauge cluster - brand new as of yesterday.
BC coilovers, 20mm Ichiba Spacers, Stoptech BBK & GTSpec Strut Tower Brace Installed:
Upper and lower billet grills installed, added the Infiniti badge after a week without it.
And that's where she stands today. I have an all aluminum driveshaft on order - 27 lbs, down from 77 lbs from the OEM shaft. That and lighter wheels should give me a noticeable bump in power (all other things being equal). I am currently working with Powerfab to redesign the cold side of the turbo system. We are looking into custom radiators and intercoolers, custom mounting solutions, custom bumper bars... essentially planning the cold side from scratch rather than working with available space.
The motor and transmission from Big Red is waiting at the shop - Silver could go in for surgery before the end of this summer.
