My B16

[aebstract]

Hello, I've lurked for about 2-3 days and just got my car washed and waxed and got some photos. I've got a lot of plans for it, though it'll probably take me awhile to get to where I wanna be on it.

Photo time:



So, the plans as of now are:Front lip (black 3" strip prob.)Probably will paint that grill and then get a mesh one down the line and put the SPEC V logo on it.Tint.. Thinking about 5%Might powdercoat the wheels gloss black and get several layers of clearcoat protectant of some sort, probably paint the word nissan in the center of it red.. would make little red dots when driving, would be pretty tight

*Gonna be making a custom 4" pipe CAI with possibly a 5" filter, everything will look sharp and professional. I'll have mine powdercoated probably black, maybe red. I would like to know, if it turns out right and you guys liked how it looked (and maybe I showed results on a dyno?) if anyone would be interested in purchasing them, I may be able to have them manufactured through work if I can show my boss there is an interest, and this pretty much goes for any part.*

Continuing..Would like a 2-3" drop, maybe put it on bags so I can drop it when parked and whatnot. Thoughts/suggestions on this?New exhaust? down the line somewhere, may make this custom at work as well..Would like to get the backlight for the dash lights/radio backlight/etc changed to a red, is this even possible?I wanna get a new hood for it and the aero back trim I've seenShaved door handlesI really want my headlights and taillights to be solid black but the lights still show up when used, does anyone know how to do this or a kit or where to buy them? I haven't seen any B16s with them, but I definitely have seen them on other cars, but I think it's the actual light that they buy?

More stuff as I am getting more ideas every day but thats my car and plans

[cycspec-v]

looks good man congrats !

[jdansmith]

Wish I had got the SER but the 2.0S with CVT is doing well. Nice car and welcome, keep the pics. coming with updates.

[aebstract]

Will do, I'll keep the thread as my project thread as well. I got some shots of the engine with all of the airflow stuff taken out at work, I'll post those tomorrow. I took it all out to get measurements and stuff last weekend so I can plan out how I wanna do that CAI. I got time to design it because I won't have the money for that specific project for a few weeks probably

I think my first projects are the front lip strip, powdercoating the wheels, painting the grill and smoking the lights. (I found out how it is done)

Thoughts on getting 5% tint?

[aebstract]

Shot from engine, got dimensions and whatnot for CAI fitting. Gonna do a little mock up of the right side of the engine and model the piping in solidworks. What material are strut bars made out of? I may make the strut as well.. I could actually do that this week sometime.

I'm gonna get straight on shots so I can model this section up, I'll be able to show the CAI modeled before I make it. I'm gonna see if I can get an auto shop to lift my car up so I can get a photo of under the front lip so I can model up a bracket for the lip rubber attachment thing.
Modified by aebstract at 4:54 AM 9/15/2009

[Godofelru]

Good choice on the car!

I do however wanna throw some things out at you.

Why would you invest the money into a 4" CAI with a 5" filter. Our engine bay is incredibly cramped and that seems OVERKILL for our minute sized throttle body. You're better served using something that is already available to be honest. Our ECU is also incredibly finicky and something like that might completely throw the MAF off causing your car to run worse than it did stock. This is just my opinion.

All your other ideas are fine, and yes you can change the LED's to red, it's a lot of work though if I recall correctly.

The wheels will look great on the car, a lot of people have done it and it always looks great, especially when dropped a bit.

Having your headlights and taillights being all black seems like a good idea but if you drive the car at night you will change your mind. If you're lucky 30% of your output can get through the cover or film and then you're pretty much begging for an accident.

These are just my opinions and are exactly that, worth nothing to you if you don't agree with me, but I've had my car for 2+ years and I know what issues I've ran into and what other spec v owners have as well.

[aebstract]

Cool, feedback is great to hear. I was gonna run 4" pipe because I've done the measurements and everything will fit, though it will be close/tight fits. The fittings to the throttle body stock are almost 4" as well. The reason I want to make one is for the enjoyment of having a CAI that I created personally, and it'll be 1/3 cheaper than buying one already made. I have a full machine/fabrication shop at my hands and we already make several performance parts for 03/04 cobras. I'm doing research on CAIs and trying to make sure I do it all right, it'll look 100% professionally made though.

Do you or does anyone have any photos of blacked out taillights/headlights turned on at night, so I can see what you're talking about? I'm not gonna go 100% black, it'll be smoked out pretty dark. I found a tutorial someone made up on these forums somewhere, I have it bookmarked on my home laptop. I really wanna black out the entire car though.. I don't want it to become a hazard, this is my dd. I'm not sure if it's different from what you are talking about because you said 30% would make it through the "cover film", but with the method I found, you use a spray made for doing this. Maybe it has something in it that allows light to pass through easier?

What is your opinion on 5% tint? My last car was 20% all the way around and I had like an 80% sun protectant tint on my windshield. I'd like to go 5%, only worries are night vision and of course it's illegal. Would like to hear if anyone else is running 5% and how it is.

Do you or anyone else have any idea of where there may be a tutorial or short explaination on changing the LEDs?

Thanks for the comments everyone!

[Faja]

What is your opinion on 5% tint? Thanks for the comments everyone!

I think 5% is a little too dark. In the summer it might not be that bad but for the winter months and nightly driving, I could see it posing a problem.

Plus you might not see those flashing red and blue lights in your rearview mirror!!!

[fun240]

5% in georgia and you're waiting for a ticket

Just go with, 5% On ALLLLLLLLLL THE BACK WINDOWSA 0% Visor across the topand 32% on the driver and passenger windows

BUT

Your blind spots at night are worse, and you cannot see headlights at all through 5%

BUT

its your car and your safety

So do whatever lol

[aebstract]

Well, like I said.. I had 20% on 5 windows and like 80% on my front window of my last car.. wasn't too bad, though 5% IS definitely a different story. Not sure what I am going to do yet, won't have the money for a bit anyhow. I should have my front lip done this afternoon and will post pictures.

[cycspec-v]

i had 5% on my last car and loved it ... but so did the cops .. i got 10% on my spec now and knock on wood havent had a problem in the last two years .. cant wait to see the lip

[aebstract]

yo cycspec can you explain what you did with the lip to make it look good? I got the trim and some double sided tape indoor/outdoor stuff, so the wetness shouldn't ruin it. Do I just put pieces of it on the bottom of the lip and work my way around and just go slowly around with the trim? It's almost like an Ibeam, so I think I need to cut the bottom flat piece off all the way across before I do it. One side is rigid, one side flat.. obviously flat side out. They had a rubber and a vinyl, the rubber didn't look like it would work well so I got the vinyl. So, like I said I think you do the tape in short sections, since you can't get a long piece of tape to curve nicely with the lip. Any tips you can give me would be awesome! About to start on this in like 5-10 minutes.

I know someone that has a powdercoatin machine, I'm trading some services for him and getting my wheels powdercoated gloss black, hopefully in the next week or two =] I don't know if powdercoat works well with plastic? If it does, I'll get him to do my grill as well.

edit: the s*** I got for garage trim kinda sucks, gonna put this project on hold!
Modified by aebstract at 3:30 AM 9/16/2009

[cycspec-v]

for the lip i used the whole roll of tape as one piece and the lip it self i used the side that looks funny .. basically the longer side .. uhm wow i guess i really cant explain this lol i am having like a brain fart ..

[aebstract]

heh, I'd just like to see some close up photos of it on the car, from the back side/front side/side/etc.. just every angle and a little bit better description of what you did. Can't wait to get my wheels powdercoated HOPEFULLY I can go down to the guy this weekend and get it done!

[2009SentraSE-R]

You need HID's!

[cycspec-v]

99 bucks on TSVB ^^^

[ABNRML4U]

Nice B-16 you have there. GL on your project.

[aebstract]

Thanks Abnrml4u!

I went up to work today to build a strut bar. Got most of it done, I'm not too good of a welder so I am having my friend come up and weld the bar to the brackets tomorrow morning. Then I'll spray it either red or black and bolt 'er on. Here are a few pictures from today:



I'll post some photos of the bar completed and in place tomorrow when I get it finished. I'm gonna draw up some new mounts and cut some nice ones out on the waterjet and re-weld the bar to the new mounts, sometime later this week probably.

[ABNRML4U]

Ahhh, Don't you just lov the GA dirt in the wheel wells. My sister lives in Augusta,Ga. go there about 2-4 times a year it's about a 8hr drive but I like the back roads threw Ga. Ga just keeps on growing im just a little bumed out when the Augusta Lynx hockey team doesn't play there anymore {resesion} So, keep up the good work Man.

[aebstract]

Okay, finally got it all welded up, sandblasted and painted. Bolted it on and got a few pictures:



It was storming when I left the shop and it's been raining for a few days almost nonstop.. so I don't want to go really testing it hard until it dries up some. Though, just from my ride home I could feel a difference.

If anyone is interested, these most likely will be for sell. Can be whatever color, designed custom and a hell of a lot cheaper than those stillen bars.

[Faja]

I'll be interested, depending on price of course How much are we looking at? I have a 2009 2.0S

[Godofelru]

Props on coming up with a design that fits the spec v's for the strut bar. I for one am no scientist, but I don't think you can feel a difference in the car. I would probably place it under the placebo effect. I didn't feel a difference installing my intake, it just made more noise. I didn't feel a difference installing my exhaust. Just made more noise. The header was a little bit different. I could notice the powerband shift higher and have a little more fervor up top.

Strut bar? Not so much I suppose. I think you just wanna justify what you did and from a psycological standpoint my point is 100% valid. Almost all aftermarket strut bars are useless without being combined with numerous other suspension mods.

Out of all my mods, by far switching to more aggressive tires has been the single most noticeable change. Nothing else comes close. Intepret that as you may.

I have 35% all around, it's great during the daytime, but it sucks at night and my tint is incredibly light compared to most modified cars. If you think 20% was manageable more power to you but I can hardly see through my stuff at night.

Also the spray you mention, VHT nightshade I presume, is up to you how dark you want to go. However, if you're saying you want to be blacked out use the window tint example to compare. Can you see s*** out your windows at night with 5% tint? How about 15%? How about 35%? How about 50%?. The point I'm trying to display is that it's going to 100% comparable to your visibility, except imagine that light is trying to pass through that. Even HID's won't cure that problem. If you keep it lightly tinted you might be ok, but if you want the blacked out look, paint your inner housings a gloss black, I think that will give you the look you're after.

Also, before you purchase HID's think of this: If it's too good to be true then it probably is. Cheap HID's are exactly that, cheap. They are terrible at producing output, color doesn't equal brightness infact it's a negatively correlated attribute. The reason OEM HID's are expensive is because they are quality. Car enthusiasts don't need the rap of blinding people with bright lights in addition to having loud cars and so on. If you want to pursue that route, spend your money right once and get a projector retrofit. TSX projector produces absolutely stunning light and is a great price alternative to a lot of the more expensive ones. http://www.lightwerkz.net/gall...=1818Scroll through the galleries and look at the output and color on these. These aren't cheap but why spend your money wrong when you can spend more to do it right and never have to worry about it again?

Our throttlebody is no where NEAR 4". I mean not even close. We have a 60xmm(unsure of exact 68mm IIRC) TB and you're using a 4" intake path which is over 100mm. You running into a HUGE bottleneck and it isn't going to help you at all. Like I said the turbulence near the MAF could actually rob you of performance.

Please don't let my cynicism get you down and don't mistake it as anything but helpful insight. I admire the effort you're putting into your car I just wouldn't want to waste my money if someone knew something I didn't, especially from personal experience.

[aebstract]

Thanks for the information Godofelru. When and if I decide to get HIDs I will make sure that I don't go with some cheapos just to save money. Paint the inner housing.. as in the backside of the actual light housing? Is it fairly easy to get inside of that housing? I'll have to take one apart and look at it. Might do what I want, was almost thinking of cutting tint to go around the lights, but this would look MUCH better.

As far as the strut bar, like I said before it's been raining nonstop. I wanna get up to one of the many mountains surrounding my city where I LOVE to let loose and tear it up.. but there is no way I am doing it with it wet out. I did take a road that I usually don't, to work this morning, and pushed somewhat hard in to the turns and it DOES feel tighter. The overall ride feels stiffer, but it seems to just make turns that much easier and smoother. Maybe it is some sort of a placebo, but I did notice it tighten up. It makes sense that it would work, in a nutshell you're closing up the chassis across the top of the engine (be it not as strong as the actual chassis, it does do that).

Window tint, I've decided to do at least 10-15%. This will be in the next 2 weeks. After hearing your ideas on the the cold air intake, I'm going to do some more research about air flow and whatnot, but if you measure that black tube going to the throttle body, it is almost 4". It IS under 4" but it is close. With 4" I would have had to cut a part of the chassis on the front, dropping down to a more standard size for this car will make an easy fit.

Me and my friend would like to start building performance parts and parts in general for cars. He's in school right now for machining, has been a fabricator for years and we have a full shop (waterjet, 3 cnc mills, lathe, etc) at our disposal.

[gray07]

How much would you charge to make the strut bar... I would like to have one??

I am ready to get one NOW if you can!! Maybe in RED??
Modified by gray07 at 7:47 AM 9/21/2009

[aebstract]

Let me get a price figured out, just need to see how much is in material. Give me a few hours and I'll have a price up for you guys on the strut bars. The brackets and everything will be waterjetted and precise to fit the strut towers on future bars. I'll get back to you guys on price here in a bit!

[aebstract]

Just talked to my buddy that welds and helps me make these, and looked up our materials. We will sell them for $85.00 + shipping. Might have to tack on an additional $5 for painting, not sure yet. If the price sounds good and anyone is interested let me know.

Gonna draw up the mount brackets and try and get them put on the waterjet this afternoon, if so I'll get some pictures of them.

[aebstract]

How much would you charge to make the strut bar... I would like to have one??

I am ready to get one NOW if you can!! Maybe in RED??

Modified by gray07 at 7:47 AM 9/21/2009

I was gonna do mine in red, though we didn't have any good red paint so I just went with black. I will go buy some paint and do a red one for you.. most likely we are going to have to take a check for now and get it built as soon as the check comes in. Lead times should not be too long. You can give me a call @ 706-254-1287 or just respond here. If you get my voicemail just leave me a message and I'll give you a call back. (I'm at work atm)

[gray07]

Email sent to you directly

[Godofelru]

In order to get to the headlights you have to place them in the oven to heat up the glue, if you're not familiar with the process don't try it. Try to find someone local who is.

here is a stock IS300 headlight housing vs. a custom painted black one. You'll see that this is drastically different aesthetically.

Stock: As close up as I could find.http://www.netcarshow.com/lexu...7.htm

Painted:http://www.flickr.com/photos/radiantmark/473294996/

[aebstract]

I've looked at like 50 tutorials today on how to do it along with pictures and it doesn't seem too bad. Heat in oven to get the glue to where you can pull/pry apart, when you get done painting you need to put it back in for a few minutes to get it so you can reseal, correct? The only thing is that I was looking at the lights on my car and it seems like it is all chrome/reflective material and you wouldn't paint all of that would you? I'd kill for some photos of this already done on a B16 spec.