Many thanks and Kudos to NICO!

[JohnPa]

About two and a half years ago I purchased a 90 Q45t with about 92,000 miles on it and immediately got introduced to NICO by a colleague of mine. It has been a long and not inexpensive journey, but the results have been worth it. The advice and posts of this club and the willingness of its members to help novices like me have made the trip a great adventure. It's not over yet, but here's a list/story of what your assistance and encouragement has helped me accomplish.

By the way, I have been a member since I purchases the car, but originally under another name so I have more posts than indicated!

I had the car checked by the local dealer and knew it needed an injector. Then I read the posts, checked the gasket material around the timing chain covers and knew I was in for doing the guides as well. When I tore it down, I found some of the guide material was missing. You know what happened next, I had to pull the pan to clean the oil pickup screen off. Well, that meant dropping the front crossmember, so a guy might as well do the front suspension as well. (Not to mention the steering rack boots which were shot and not noticed by the dealer in their inspection!) Doing the front suspension means you might as well do the rear suspension as well. Then there's the leaking ABS system, the bad BOSE speaker/amps, etc.

After a year and a half of this melodrama in my scarce spare time I finally tried it out! Worked fine except for VIBRATION and an unworking Super Hicas system. A new driveline and used speedometer amplifier along with new tires mounted on 16" 97 Q wheels did the trick and I have been driving the car for about 6 months now. Love it!

Here's all of the stuff that was done (Thanks also to Joe from Infiniti of Scottsdale!):

Plenum job: Everything new, including all injectors, rubber hoses, knock sensors, oxygen sensors, wiring harnesses, etc.

Valve guides: New guides, chains, oil pump chain, oil pump, left variable valve timing mechanism, etc.

Valve covers sealed, and new spark plugs installed.

Front of engine: New water pump, thermostat, all water hoses (heater hoses too), front damper pulley, all idler pulleys, fan belts, radiator with dual cooling tanks for the transmission from a newer Q model, all transmission cooler hoses, clamps, etc.

Front suspension: New upper links, tension rods, Tokiko Blacks and all new rubber parts (springs measured within stock specs), sway bar bushings and end links, etc.

Steering: New tie rods, tie rod ends, steering rack boots, mounting rubbers, etc.

New motor mounts, transmission mounts, and exhaust system hangers

Rear suspension: New Tokiko Blues and all rubber parts, new sway bar bushings, new differential mounting rubbers, right rear halfshaft (used), wheel bearing seals, left rear wheel bearing (I goofed when I tried to replace the seal)

New driveshaft

New bolts and nuts wherever the field service manual recommended same.

I did a few mods to the interior as well such as new door check straps (highly recommended), most notably updating to an in-dash cd player from a 99 G20, and the tweeter system from a 95 Q. Works great!

Enough already. I just wanted to say thanks before I start asking for even more advice as I fine tune the beast.

[maxnix]

Were you SeattleQ45?

The mods can put you back together.

Sounds nice and typical of work pre 1994 require. What nice reward.

[gloucester Q]

oooh, i'm almost there myself, it's good to have this as the motivation. i'm down to that last vibration as well and looking at my oem piepans and thinking it's between them and the driveshaft. i have replaced all the mounts and flexed the driveshaft, but no significant improvement. did you replace the wheels/tires and immediately notice a difference or did you do it in conjunction with the d/s? thanks, and congratulations, sounds like a good job.

[elwesso]

great writeup!!!!!

[96Qowner]

Wow, John. What a treasure you have there! Congratulations. That has to be one of the most well-restored Q45s I'm aware of. Nice job.

[AZhitman]

John, could we get some pics of the Q?

Also, let me know if you need me to "restore" your prior User ID... I'm easy to reach.

[JohnPa]

No, I was under my real name of John Nordling. Since I got back in, I'm going by the nickname of my grandchildren, JohnPa. Thanks for tip, I will follow up.............John

[JohnPa]

I replaced them all at the same time. First, I put the car up on railroad ties and had my wife run it up to 60mph to check things out. The driveline shimmied, the right rear half-shaft wiggled, and the left rear tire (a relatively new Kuhmo HR-rated tire that had to go anyway) wobbled. I wanted wider tires with a lower aspect ratio, so I went to the 97 Q 16" wheels. Worked fine.

Well, almost fine. There is still a vibration at about 60-65 mph. Kind of like a low level rumble, almost imperceptable, but still there if you know your car. I feel it in the seat of my pants, not in the steering wheel. Nevertheless, I took the car to a specialty shop with Hunter alignment equipment because the inside edge of my tires are wearing out after only 4,500 miles! They dismounted/mounted the tires to account for the directional pattern and guess what? Even though I couln't feel the low thrum in the steering wheel before, half of it went away after the alignment and remounting/balancing of the tires. Remarkable!

Good luck on your vibration problems............not easy to fix!

John

[JohnPa]

Coming from you, Wes, that's a real compliment. Thanks!

Are you planning another batch of modified ECU's for the early Q's??

Hope so...........John

[JohnPa]

Well, hardly..............being a Q owner yourself you know the battle is never over, but damn, this car is nice!!

Thanks for the support..............John

[JohnPa]

No pics yet because I won't have a digital camera this weekend when the kids come over from Boise. Nothing special about the way it looks, just a charcoal grey, polished alloys, early Q-Ship with the 't' model spoiler. Can't decide whether to lower it or not (I have the Cali spring kit). Whould look better; ride worse!

Can you hook me up with my original user ID? I was under John Nordling with about 60-70 posts dating from about July of 2003.

Many thanks..............John