New project vehicles coming aboard, others going away

[Nissan Sport Editor]

An FYI, it appears we will be losing a few project vehicles due to the economy (some of our editors have opted to shed some expense from their garages and we can't blame them). We'll have details in the next issue, but don't panic. All project vehicles are getting replaced, so fans of those cars/trucks that are going away shouldn't be too distraught. It'll be a new beginning and a blank slate! Stay tuned.

[HogMaxFan]

How's about some 5th, or 5.5 gen Maximas? I know of 2.

[Nissan Sport Editor]

Hey, we're always interested in new projects. While they can take time to get into the magazine, if the car is mostly stock (at the beginning) and the builder is respected in the community with loads of past experience on that particular model, we'll listen to the pitch....

[Rev_D21]

Willing to share some on my Hardbody build....not a typical minitruck build either, think handling.

[dmuramoto]

Willing to share some on my Hardbody build....not a typical minitruck build either, think handling.

Sounds good, Rev. How about posting a few more pics or details on your Hardbody here? The pic you've got up doesn't do it much justice.

[Rev_D21]

Here's some pics. I try to post pics of everything I have going on but for starts here's the truck...





Mods coming in the very near future include gauges with modified Lotek gauge pod, Hellwig RSB, full exhaust and a decent static lowering. I can write up more if you like.

[OCG35]

as long as we're sharing our "projects"... here's a little of mine:

[audtatious]

Interesting tail. What lights did you use?

[OCG35]

Interesting tail. What lights did you use?

OEM

I'll eventually start a thread with the history of the car and progress photos about how everything was done (the tails were a real challenge, I thought it would be an easy quickie, but not even close )

[Outkast]

Vague, yet I'm more courious!?!?

OEM

I'll eventually start a thread with the history of the car and progress photos about how everything was done (the tails were a real challenge, I thought it would be an easy quickie, but not even close )

[OCG35]

Vague, yet I'm more courious!?!?

At the risk of cluttering the thread – I’ll give history on the taillights (eventually I’ll chronicle the progress of the entire car in another thread) *Mod(s) sorry if this is wrong area for this… please move to appropriate area if necessary.

As you probably know, the first gen G35 sedan tails look like this: (real old pic)

One of the things I never liked about the sedan is the aesthetic design of the rear turn signal (I call them “cat ears”)… So I decided to make them look the way I think they should.

The challenge was to make the tail/brake lights flash as a turn signal (like the first gen FX) so I could omit the cat ear all together by painting over it. Well, this was a real struggle! No one had ever done it and no one had any suggestions when I posted the concept on other forums. I thought it would be a relatively simple wiring change (and even after the fact many ppl still think that) – couldn’t be more wrong!

Cars these days are way harder to trick and make do what you want them to. The BCM is so temperamental and finicky (obviously controls many things, including the turn signals and taillights). The only way to do this by re-wiring would be a bunch of trial and error and BCM combat by using a series of resistors and relays… I didn’t have the time or desires to deal with that – and I wanted a clean way to get it done.

I contacted Kevin Pierson at KPTechnologies to make a module to wire in line (between taillight and BCM) – for the most part Kevin produced what I needed. A small module that tucks in the rear panel (next to the taillight) was wired in. But then the BCM battle began… lots of trial and error still took place. There was voltage fluctuation and in some cases feedback that caused all kinds of gremlins (I won’t bore you with the details)… we tried additional resistors (in some cases helped) and ultimately added one more relay… after a bunch of patience “try this, rule out that” – the end result was this:click to see blinker in action: [IMG][/IMG]Now the seemingly easy task of getting the OEM blinker not to blink... Granted, it would be painted over to match body – but I didn’t want residual light shinning/blinking through… simple enough, wire in a resistor. WRONG again! Tried several different configurations and got a good lesson in Ohm’s law from studying and trying to calculate what should work… well that ended up being as useful as the two years of Spanish I took – I never used what I learned (we couldn’t get any resistors to work entirely)… First thought for most people is “remove the bulb” - problem is the BCM thinks it’s burned out and you get a hyper flash. Result = tin foiled wrapped around bulbs (sometimes the simplest ideas actually end up being the best result.

So for quite a while the car looked like this:

Kida cool and definitely different (that’s the theme of my car, subtly different; one of the reasons it’s named “Grey Ghost”).

For next stage see following post…

Modified by OCG35 at 10:30 AM 10/17/2009
Modified by OCG35 at 10:41 AM 10/17/2009

[OCG35]

cont...

So the taillight mod was finally a success (worlds first and still only, to my knowledge)… some time later I began the trying process of body modifications. More harebrained ideas of how I thought the car should look (definitely subject for a different thread)… and while the car was in the body shop – mid-project, I get the idea to take the taillight mod one-step further…

It never really looked OEM – obviously anyone (even if unfamiliar with a G35 sedan) could tell what had been done (as seen in previous post pics)… so I had them mold in the turn signal portion to the quarter panel. The goal was to have the lower part of the lens assembly look like it’s is separate.

To further the illusion, I had them carry over the trunk lip (previously molded in) across the top of the turn signal (now quarter panel).

The result is what you see today:

Actually – that’s not exactly how they look now… as you can see in the pics, there is still one very telling area; the paint line from dark/smoked to body color looks off since there is no gap… it doesn’t really flow with the reverse light lens on the trunk… so I had the shop paint a black line the same thickness as the recessed gap in the reverse light. This is the only pic I have that show what I’m referencing:

The gap is not as noticeable from far away – but up close it’s the weak link… ultimately I’d like to have a recessed notch dremel or grinded in… but that is a VERY chancy thing since I have no idea how thick (or thin) the lens is in that area. The lens does not come apart so it would be a real gamble to try it (if it was cut through that would really suck). However, I do plan to have the pin strip repainted a deeper/darker color to look more uniformed with the gap off the reverse light.

For those that don’t like the “smoked” look of taillights – or think these are “too dark”; I understand. In fact, they are a little dark for me too… but there is a reason for this as well… the OEM lens has very fine embossed lines that follow the shape of the upper turn signal (shaped like an arrow). This faint line is slightly below the body color line that I have… so the lower portion pretty much had to be real dark to conceal this line. The addition of the pin stripe (primarily to flow with reverse light) also helps conceal.

So that’s my taillight mod (bet you wished you never asked ).

I must give thanks to KPTechnologies, Auto Explosion and Ed’s Auto Electric for their time and dedication to make it happen. And most of *un-edited the pics were taken by Grant @ GP.Photography

[PEZi]

nissan sport autocross truck?

building it in CO... i know muramoto...

here's some pics for anyone interested

end of last season


current mods






























video from back in august
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mqezUfOM6Q[/youtube]