Is anyone interested in a car specific forum for the M45. I would love to see on but who sets it up?

I'd be glad to do so for you guys and split it off from the Q forum - Round up the troops, if there's enough interest I'll get it crackin'.

Thanks AZhitman but it looks like there is not much interest in a car specific forum for just the M45. ooooooooohhhhh weellllll

M45's are badass. I would drive one religiously. My .02.

Hey repo man.... I can't say enough about my M45...it kicks ***!! Too bad for those who over pay for other cars and don't realize what they can get!!

Hey M45'ers:

Take some pics and post 'em up in our members ride section.Link is just below this post in my sig.

Fred...:thumbup

Also:

Sont forget you M45'ers please be sure to join us in our Infiniti General section!

Fred..

werd

I got me an M45, now I am looking into getting some basic information about upgrades, shocks/springs, wheels/tires, chip maybe, nothing crazy, but I am having a hard time finding info. Checked Tirerack for the first two, of course. Any ideas about vendors, brands? Tires are easy, wheels do not appear as easy...

Whatever happened to the M45 forum? Is there one?

Regards.

M45

I'll be the first to say welcome to the forums. As for your questions above, no one ever really visits these forums, so you might want to post in the infiniti general section.

so true.

mods hardly even come here.

True, this is kinda like the Island of Lost Toys, or Mr1der's playground. Go to Infiniti General, as there is a lot of Infiniti knowledge there. I'm not up on current aftermarket suppliers for the M45 unfortunately.

I'm so gonna kick someone's *** an take their milk money:D

Mr1der wrote:I'm so gonna kick someone's *** an take their milk money:D

That's gay. :thinker

uh, why the idea light?

is this some sorta code for getting gay?

you're not riding my slide mister!

Code? No code. Just a random smilie. Get over it you homophobic basturd! lol.

my slide is still off limits.

I know, I know. It belongs to Skwerel...:rolleyes

I sense jealousy.

it's not my fault his ladder is bigger:D

You two need to stop. Really.

Back on topic, don't expect a big demand for a separate forum or for aftermarket M45 stuff for that matter. As 1st gen Q45 owners know, there is little incentive for manufactrurers to invest in upgrades for an unpopular car, as grand as it may be. If I recall right, the sales numbers for the 2003 M45 was like maybe 200 vehicles for the *year*. I could be wrong, but I do know they aren't selling well, given the discounts dealers are giving to get them off the floor.

Ah, found it. They sold about 1000 M45s in all of 2003, and sales appear to be slipping fast for 2004. This could be a better performance bang for the buck in a few years than the 1st gen Qs ever were, as long as you're ok having no aftermarket support. With that small a market though, good luck finding a tech who's worked on more than a few.

http://www.nissannews.com/corp...shtml

Wow, not many. The Q is not looking that healthy from a sales number perspective either.

I thought I share the information I have so far regarding aftermarket parts for M45:

Suspension: I worked with Grant from Tirerack, and they have the Eibach Pro Kit Springs becoming available in about July for the M. 1 inch drop, which is all I want. No shocks, though: The Eibach's are designed to go with stock shocks. I will get them when available.

Regarding wheels: Tirerack has a reasonable selection, and if you are looking for "very wide" for the rear, they have SSR GT3's at 19x10.5 which will fit 275's for the M45. Also, according to http://www.coolwheels.com, the M45 is close to the bolt pattern and offset of the 5 series BMW, therefore, almost all the wheels you see for the BMW will fit on the M45. I haven't seen a wheel in 18 x or 19 x wide I really like, though. Alot of the nicer wheels that are available for the M are 20 inch, too big for my taste. Don't want to drive on a rubber band...

Tires: The stock Bridgestone Turanza's are about the worst tires I have had on any vehicle, so I will throw them out shortly. Traction has not been good, I have to turn the VDC off on a regular basis to get power. Tire wear rating is horrible. Will replace with 245/45/18 Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3. More aggressive tread pattern, better life, better dry and wet traction...

ECU: I contacted Jim Wolf Technology and Stillen, no info as of yet.

That's about all the mods I am interested in at this time.

Here is a link to a supercharger upgrade for the 2003 Q45.It may or may not be available for the M45 (since it's the same engine):http://forums.freshalloy.com/u...art=1

I'm going with Volk TE37 wheels. 19x8.5 in the front (+.29 offset) and 19x9.5 in the rear (+.43 offset).

These wheels are forged (strong and less likely to bend) and very lightweight (about 20 pounds for the 19x8.5).

The Eibachs for this car are already available. They are a special order from Tire Rack. Mine are going to be shipped to me on May 1st (that's when Tire Rack gets the one I ordered from Eibach).

Here is a picture of the M45 with 19" wheels (not the Volks I'm getting though):

Here is what the Volk TE37s look like:

Sizes and weights:http://www.upgrademotoring.com/wheels/te37.htm

I would like to get thicker anti-roll bars as well as a strut tower, better exhaust and headers, etc. But unfortunately, I haven't been able to locate any of those yet.

I think with a supercharger and the right suspension, this thing could be every bit as good as an AMG E55 or an Audi RS6 but for a little more than half the price of either of those.

Also, the tires I'm going with are going to be the Pirelli P-Zero Rosso Asymmetrico. 245/40 19 in the front and 275/35 19 in the rear.

These tires weigh less than most high end tires and since tires are the outermost part of the rotating mass of the wheel/tire combo, that would translate into better acceleration and braking distances (especially combined with the low weight forged TE37 wheels). The better tires by themselves will almost certainly reduce braking distances not to mention improve handling considerably.

To be able to get such a powerful V8 (340hp@6400rpm, 334 torque@4500rpm) is just amazing for the price (I paid $35,500 for a 2003 with a sunroof).

I only wish there were more aftermarket options, especially exhausts, headers, and superchargers (I would love to really be able to HEAR this engine).

I just installed the TE37 wheels, pirelli tires, and eibach springs.

The car just handles amazingly now. I would say with these modifications, the M45 becomes a dream of a car.

heh, hey hot rod, you should post that in the Infiniti General, they'd drool for it.

much like I am.:drooling

Here is my M45 with the Volk Te37 wheels (bronze, silver and white are also available but silver is a special order -- takes longer).

They are 19x8.5 +29 offset in the front (weigh about 19 pounds) and 19x9.5 +43 offset in the rear (about 20 pounds). As reference, the original wheels which are 18x7.5 +35 offset weigh 26 pounds on the same bathroom scale.

The old wheels are cast aluminum, I believe. The Volk TE37's are forged all aluminum monoblocks. Forging is currently the best manufacturing technique for wheels as it produces a very lightweight wheel that is also very strong and resists bending. It is also very expensive. The wheels were $2350 including shipping (plus tax) for all four. The center caps are extra ($35 each).

I got them from speedstyles (http://www.speedstyles.com) in Charlotte, NC.

I got McGard *tuner* wheel locks to protect them (http://www.mcgard.com/automotive/new_prod.asp).

The tires are:Pirelli P-Zero Asymmetrico 245/40 19 front (24 pounds), 275/35 19 rear (27 pounds). The original 235/45 18's were about 25 pounds each. The tires were about $310 each for the 275's and $269 each for the 245's.

For some reason, the original wheel/tire combo (the spare tire) came out to 54 pounds. But (without the valve/stem/tire pressure sensor and weights) the wheels were 26 and the tires 25 separately (51 pounds total). I'm not sure why that is.

The rear fender lips had to be rolled so that they wouldn't rub against the tire sidewalls when the tire goes up into its wheel well. After that was done, there was no rubbing.

I've settled on 35 psi all around for now.

The tire pressure sensor meters on the original wheels fit on these wheels so I can see my tire pressures on the monitor. There was nothing special that needed to be done. Just use these in place of the wheel's own valve stems (the tire pressure sensors are the valve stems on the original wheels).

The car now rides on Eibach springs. As of the date of the pic, the springs had not yet fully settled (taken the day after installation). I've had them on for 10 days now and they are slightly lower but expect them to settle just a little more.

The ride with the new springs (and original struts) is definitely firmer but far from harsh. On most rough surfaces, you wouldn't even be able to tell they are different from the very smooth original equipment. You definitely feel them though the first time you take a turn. You will KNOW that you could have taken that curve much faster...there is almost no sway. You do have to slow down a little more for speed bumps (before I could just run right over them at 5-10 mph with little guilt, now it's a little stiff to do that) .

I would definitely do it again though as the safety and feeling of sure footedness of the car has obviously increased.

Before, I felt as though I could only approach about 7/10ths of the cars full performance potential. It seemed to wallow quite a bit and I did not feel comfortable using all that power in reserve. Now the wallow is nearly gone and there is very little squat when I either gun the throttle or hit the brakes. I can take it up to 9/10ths of it's potential now. Still waiting for Eibach to put out anti-roll bars for this thing to hopefully close that gap even further.

The installation of the springs, tires on the new wheels along with the tire pressure sensors and the lip rolling was about $1000 in labor. Well worth it though as the installer (Cosentino Hi Lines, Charlotte, NC) did a superb job rolling the lips.

There is a little bit of negative camber on the rears now (negative camber is when the top of the wheel leans inward and the bottom outward). I will take it in for an alignment to the same installer after another 2-3 weeks to be sure that the springs have completely settled.

I don't have a digital camera yet, but will post pics as soon as I get one. Most people who see the car are amazed at the width of the rear tires. One person said they looked the size of a Corvette's rear tires.

I would definitely recommend doing this if you own an M45. The handling is much, much better now.

If the G35 is a gazelle on its feet, then I would have likened my M45 to a hippo before these mods (fast and powerful but not very nimble). Now I would liken it to a giraffe -- big yet graceful and very fast.

The best description of this car now (and I'm absolutely serious) is that it is just like the Porsche 928 S4 of old but with 4 doors.

I started a thread under Infiniti General where I posted a couple pics:http://www.nissaninfiniticlub....66552

The worst part about owning a rare car, is that when the vehicle ages youre screwed if youre want thorough service.

I had a couple Mazda 929s, both nice cars. But the only service documentation was a booklet for all Mazdas of that vintage, and the only thing they kept parts available was that it shared many components with the MPV through 1997.

The dealer was no more knowledgeable than independent shops. I remember looking at a piece of plastic with a Mitsu logo that had a hose connected to it. My tech asked me if I had any idea what it was. We were able to order a replacement, but its function was a mystery.

On the plus side, the VK45 is becoming more and more common. FX, M, Q, and hopefully a G45 later on.

-Jesda

DAEDALUS wrote:Ah, found it. They sold about 1000 M45s in all of 2003,

http://www.nissannews.com/corp...shtml

Hmmm ... I read it a bit differently. They sold 4755 M45's in 2003, almost double the sales of the Q45. The 2004 sales look slower, but by April 2004, they had sold 700+ M45's.

Did I misread something?

Z