My M37X to M37Xs Conversion

[ddiimmaa]

Hello forum.. So I went into infiniti dealership to buy a manual sport G and ended up with an awd auto M. I went from an Altima SE-R to this car and am happy with it but its a change. I like my car sporty but being the fact that I live in philly and we get pretty s*** weather up here AWD was a good way to go.

Here is my car..


15% tint all around and partially smoked tails



So far my S conversion list is as follows:

Akembo Big Brake Kit
20" Gunmetal OEM M56 Rims/ Hankook V12 tires
Stillen Intake System
Tanabe Lowering Springs 1,1.2 drop.



I am looking for the "Aero Kit" but I think based on its ridiculous price unless a dealership has a take off somewhere Im going to settle for the S bumper.
I am also looking for the blacked out headlights from the S model w/out the AFS.
Id like the illuminate kick plates, and am partially done with the LED Swap in the car.
I do not plan on taking this car to an extreme level of any sort as it is truly an amazing car, however i do want to make it mine.

Waiting on some brake lines for the BBK will do that and the springs together, in the mean time have the rims installed


as well as the intake system which BTW was a HUUGGEE disappointment. Currently talking with stillen directly about their design flaws and how it will be fixed.


Will keep updating with progress BBK should be installed on the 11th hopefully the parts will come on time.
Thoughts suggestions? Has anyone else done a CAI on this model car?

[equetefue]

Congrats on the car. I love mine too. The thing I hate is the 4x4 look I have. Those tanabe springs are for just for X models? how much they run and what made you choose those over the eibachs? Also are you having alignment (camber,toe) issues?

Like the CAI. What dont you like from it?

Ed

[TDot]

I've always meant to ask
1/ What exactly is the Stillen Intake System supposed to do?
2/ What do people ACTUAllY get out of it?
3/ What is your issue with it?

[ddiimmaa]

Thanks man, that's exactly why i made it a project car.
If you look at all other manufacturers they make 4-matics, awd etc that look identical to the S etc.. Infiniti decided make the M AWD look like an EX lol. The Tanabe has a more "stock" ride. I did a lot of research on the springs, there is no company that makes them for the AWD model.
My search showed one guy i think in these forums that did a drop on an x model with springs from japan he paid 600 for them. I paid 280 for these, simply from what i can understand the car is engineered to ride higher. I didn't want to go with the eibach pro kit they are a more drastic drop i think its 1.2-1.5 and i was worried about having CV joint issues in the AWD system the car is under full factory warranty and i was a bit edgy about doing it. Ill see how these are with the sport wheels and if they close the gap, my understanding is the s model sits 1 inch lower stock.. so maybe ill end up going with the eibachs in the long run. Buddy of mine is running 750 LI dynan stage 3 and hes got it dropped 1.8 all the way around with no issues and its an awd.. but its also a 100k beamer lol so maybe CV joints there are a bit better. Im not a mechanic so if anyone has input on this would be great to hear.

[ddiimmaa]

I've always meant to ask
1/ What exactly is the Stillen Intake System supposed to do?
2/ What do people ACTUAllY get out of it?
3/ What is your issue with it?

Its supposed to just give more unrestricted airflow to the engine. Add about 2-4 HP in this setup. What it actually did..
Firstly the fitment on it is terrible. For the time being im not going to slam stillen as I am working with them right now to come up with a resolution.
But someone f*ed up big time. The entire intake system is hanging on a thread. There is no contact point between the pipe and the chassis of the car. So vibration noise in the car is horrible. Until 4-5k rpm sounds good after that sounds like a del sol crx on crack.

The only thing holding the intake in is the flexible shroud and where it connects to the intake manifold.
Check out the fitment issues below:





Its actually a very disappointing product esp from stillen. After communication with them it seems like it may have been a "design flaw" looks like im the only one thats done this? So well see what they come back to me with as far as solution.

It also feels like i lost bottom end torque from this. I was planning on doing exhaust intake and uprev but i put that on hold for the time being until this is figured out.

[ddiimmaa]

Congrats on the car. I love mine too. The thing I hate is the 4x4 look I have. Those tanabe springs are for just for X models? how much they run and what made you choose those over the eibachs? Also are you having alignment (camber,toe) issues?

Like the CAI. What dont you like from it?

Ed

Sorry didnt hit quote up top.. I will let you know once i have the springs on, I decided to wait and do the springs at the same time as the BBK.. why remove wheels one extra time. Im trying to sell some of the stock parts rims etc so i can continue building this thing Parts for this car are $$$$$$ lol anyone want to set up a donation fund? haha

[TDot]

Does more unrestricted airflow to the engine do anything more than that little bit of HP? Is 2-4 HP noticable/worth the price? Is that HP hitting from the jump, or do you have to hit 6K rpm like the uprev stuff?

[equetefue]

I have always lost bottom end torque on my cars when installing a CAI. This time around I put drop in KNs and throttle response improved without loosing some torque.

Ed

[ddiimmaa]

Does more unrestricted airflow to the engine do anything more than that little bit of HP? Is 2-4 HP noticable/worth the price? Is that HP hitting from the jump, or do you have to hit 6K rpm like the uprev stuff?

I guess in this case beauty is in the eye of the beholder.. on my other car a nismo CAI added 13hp on the dyno. that was big it was noticeable all the way through the power band. In this one really until you hit mid 4's i dont see anything but id have to get it on a machine to tell you. As far as worth the # compared to k&n drop ins youll find many people argue about this on the forums so its a matter of preference. In this case hell no. I dont think it was worth 400 dollars for it and unless they send me something that changes my opinion i will be ripping this out and putting it up for sale here and/or on ebay maybe a G owner can take it off my hands. I think what happened was they tested it in a G and said hey M same engine just put an M sticker on it and call it a day. Really annoyed with stillen right now for this. I expected more from the company. Im driving around praying the shroud doesnt rip or plain disconnect somewhere and damage my car.. Im waiting for them to reply if they dont give me something concrete its coming off and a big nasty amount of hate mail/calls will be coming their way.

[kermit the guy]

thats alot of goodies!

[TDot]

thanks

[mexillis]

Does more unrestricted airflow to the engine do anything more than that little bit of HP? Is 2-4 HP noticable/worth the price? Is that HP hitting from the jump, or do you have to hit 6K rpm like the uprev stuff?

I think anything under a 50whp gain is hard to notice, depending on the car. CAI are good from the box but perform better when it gets tuned afterwords. As for Uprev it doesnt kick in at 6k RPM's I had gains through the whole powerband, meaning from 1k+.

OP the mods will make your ride even nicer, sucks that stillen didnt make supporting brackets for the M37 and hopefully they will send you something better. how did you measure the 2-4hp gain, did you let the car adapt to the new flow yet or reset the ecu? Check out this you tube of another CAI for your car. Only thing is this is in Japan and would be expensive to ship.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qLwWrr6JPA[/youtube]

[ddiimmaa]

thats alot of goodies!

I decided to do it all at once

[ddiimmaa]

Does more unrestricted airflow to the engine do anything more than that little bit of HP? Is 2-4 HP noticable/worth the price? Is that HP hitting from the jump, or do you have to hit 6K rpm like the uprev stuff?

I think anything under a 50whp gain is hard to notice, depending on the car. CAI are good from the box but perform better when it gets tuned afterwords. As for Uprev it doesnt kick in at 6k RPM's I had gains through the whole powerband, meaning from 1k+.

OP the mods will make your ride even nicer, sucks that stillen didnt make supporting brackets for the M37 and hopefully they will send you something better. how did you measure the 2-4hp gain, did you let the car adapt to the new flow yet or reset the ecu? Check out this you tube of another CAI for your car. Only thing is this is in Japan and would be expensive to ship.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qLwWrr6JPA[/youtube]

I saw this on youtube do you know who makes this?

[mexillis]

satisfactioncai is the company http://item.rakuten.co.jp/morisan/satis ... -fuga5137/

[ddiimmaa]

Does more unrestricted airflow to the engine do anything more than that little bit of HP? Is 2-4 HP noticable/worth the price? Is that HP hitting from the jump, or do you have to hit 6K rpm like the uprev stuff?

I think anything under a 50whp gain is hard to notice, depending on the car. CAI are good from the box but perform better when it gets tuned afterwords. As for Uprev it doesnt kick in at 6k RPM's I had gains through the whole powerband, meaning from 1k+.

OP the mods will make your ride even nicer, sucks that stillen didnt make supporting brackets for the M37 and hopefully they will send you something better. how did you measure the 2-4hp gain, did you let the car adapt to the new flow yet or reset the ecu? Check out this you tube of another CAI for your car. Only thing is this is in Japan and would be expensive to ship.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qLwWrr6JPA[/youtube]

Spoke with stillen today, I was right they just used the boxes from a g37 setup and slapped an M sticker on it. They will be re-designing and sending me new boxes with better fitment hopefully .

[cycler]

How do you like the ride with the lowering springs

[ddiimmaa]

How do you like the ride with the lowering springs

Rides like stock.



Ended up going with an eibach setup. YES the eibach springs that are for the S work on the X. Im living driving proof of that. And no there are no problems with it at all.

[DoN_BLaZe34]

2nd-liberty-state-park-bbq-meet-nj-t559110.html

You should come out!

[ddiimmaa]

2nd-liberty-state-park-bbq-meet-nj-t559110.html

You should come out!

Looks like a good time whos bring-en the beer?

[iculkn]

Your car looks good!

[cycler]

How do you like the ride with the lowering springs

Rides like stock.



Ended up going with an eibach setup. YES the eibach springs that are for the S work on the X. Im living driving proof of that. And no there are no problems with it at all.

Can you tell me which Eibach you went with and how much did it lower the car? And why did you change your mind from the tanabe to the Eibach?

[ddiimmaa]

Rides like stock.



Ended up going with an eibach setup. YES the eibach springs that are for the S work on the X. Im living driving proof of that. And no there are no problems with it at all.[/quote]

Can you tell me which Eibach you went with and how much did it lower the car? And why did you change your mind from the tanabe to the Eibach?[/quote]


Tanabe would have been great on the M37s but since I have the X i needed more of a drop. (The x is one inch taller than the S stock). Right now it looks "stock" the way it should, Im considering coil-overs to get it to close the gap. Was a nightmare to do the work though.. unless you have a lift, highly dont recommend doing it on a driveway. To get to the rears had to take everything inside apart. Took about 1.5 hours per axle removal, compression etc. To do the full conversion took me 3 days.

[cycler]

I ordered the eibach springs. Just one more question. Did you need a wheel alignment once you were done

[audtatious]

How do you like the ride with the lowering springs

Rides like stock.



Ended up going with an eibach setup. YES the eibach springs that are for the S work on the X. Im living driving proof of that. And no there are no problems with it at all.

Nice job. SEX!

[wideopn11]

Very nice, I'm looking to get the eibachs also. Glad to hear that they fit on the AWD.

[ddiimmaa]

Very nice, I'm looking to get the eibachs also. Glad to hear that they fit on the AWD.

Theres more! Im waiting for a sunny day, but i pulled the trigger and splurged on the aero kit. with hid fog conversion Pics coming soon!

[wideopn11]

Very nice, I'm looking to get the eibachs also. Glad to hear that they fit on the AWD.

Theres more! Im waiting for a sunny day, but i pulled the trigger and splurged on the aero kit. with hid fog conversion Pics coming soon!

Nice, I don't know if I'll do the full kit but I am def getting the spoiler.

What issues did you run into installing the rear springs? The last time I replaced a suspension was on my 93 rx7 twin turbo. The hardest part of that one though was getting the height to a good place and level.

[maximus35]

nice car but if you wanted the sports awd model you should of held out a couple of months . the m37xs went on sale in august.

[wideopn11]

nice car but if you wanted the sports awd model you should of held out a couple of months . the m37xs went on sale in august.

Isn't that always how it happens. There is always something better available after you make your purchase. I did get my 2012 a hell of a lot cheaper though, bought it as an executive demo with 2,400 miles on it. About 20K less than the 2013 MxS will be on sale for. I'm happy with my purchase...just need a few mods.