necessary maintanence?

[BLACKonBLACK98]

afaik the op is planning to mod the car, which i assume includes a drop. i just happened to catch him on another forum and felt it my duty to let him know about the maintenance issues before he got in (further) over his head.

[Infinitiguy19]

I agree- 1st change the chain guides, then convert that overcomplicated expensive suspension to conventional using tokiko shocks and standard springs....then you just have the ongoing $3,000 per year in normal Q crap.

If he wants to go with your route, then I say dump the car to someone who can actually FIX IT right instead of killing part of the car. There is already little to none Q45a's out there as it is.

[My President is Black]

well with the active suspension i really have not put to much thought into it i have thought much more about maintenance and my a/c since the suspension doesn't bother me TOO much right now. But when it comes to it i would prefer to just eliminate the system and have one less thing to worry about and just save up for some nice coils.

On another note i took my car to an a/c shop to get a diagnostic test and they said its something electrical and they kept it for 3 days i just got it back today, they said they have no idea how to fix it. So i was like grrreat, so im not sure what my next step is i was going to just get my windows tinted tomorrow to hopefully keep it a little cooler inside. Thoughts?

Also in your guys opinion should i a) believe i have metal guides and forget about itb) take apart my engine to confirm that i in fact do

Another thing i actually live only a few hours from Atlanta where i believe T3 is so that could be an option for something.

Also i was working on my car earlier vacuuming it fixing up a rust spot and so on when it started poring like no other instantly ( f***ing florida ) so i ran into the house not realizing i left my lights on so when i went back out my car was f***ing dead. fail.

[qship96]

To get completely correct with all 9 accumulators and 4 actuators, budget $6K, then $3K /60K miles thereafter.

I cant imagine anyone dropping $6,000 on a old Q to rehab the active suspension with the idea to further spend another $3,000 on it every 60K miles!!!! Conversion to standard suspension is a small fraction of that amount!

Imagine dropping $6,000 on the suspension and the car gets in a minor accident.....insurance company totals it and pays you what, $2,000-3000 max as book value?? Way too many other areas to suck your wallet dry when you are dealing with an old Q to blow it on repairing a marginally better active suspension system.

[maxnix]

afaik the op is planning to mod the car,

Difficult to think of a more advanced or sophisticated modification than the G50 active suspension when it is fully restored.

[BLACKonBLACK98]

well with the active suspension i really have not put to much thought into it i have thought much more about maintenance and my a/c since the suspension doesn't bother me TOO much right now. But when it comes to it i would prefer to just eliminate the system and have one less thing to worry about and just save up for some nice coils.

On another note i took my car to an a/c shop to get a diagnostic test and they said its something electrical and they kept it for 3 days i just got it back today, they said they have no idea how to fix it. So i was like grrreat, so im not sure what my next step is i was going to just get my windows tinted tomorrow to hopefully keep it a little cooler inside. Thoughts?

Also in your guys opinion should i a) believe i have metal guides and forget about itb) take apart my engine to confirm that i in fact do

Another thing i actually live only a few hours from Atlanta where i believe T3 is so that could be an option for something.

Also i was working on my car earlier vacuuming it fixing up a rust spot and so on when it started poring like no other instantly ( f***ing florida ) so i ran into the house not realizing i left my lights on so when i went back out my car was f***ing dead. fail.

electrical problems? rust? sounding more and more like a something you should get away from asap. the g50 is expensive to restore/maintain in average condition. you start adding in irregular problems and... one thing is for sure, i would not be putting a dollar into anything but repairs.

just a thought, but if you really want a q maybe you should consider selling yours and purchasing a road worthy 94-96. savings on the chain guides and active suspension alone would pretty much cover the current going rate. you still won't be out of the woods but if you buy wisely you could eliminate immediate costs and focus on saving.

[BLACKonBLACK98]

Difficult to think of a more advanced or sophisticated modification than the G50 active suspension when it is fully restored.

as advanced and sopisticated as it may be, if it doesn't do what you want it to then it's pretty worthless imo.

[maxnix]

as advanced and sopisticated as it may be, if it doesn't do what you want it to then it's pretty worthless imo.

Some people are happy with the ride of a Conestoga wagon. Should we all be? I think not!

Who doesn't like active dampening? Reduced lean in corners? Automatic load leveling?

Different owners have different aspirations. No need to dumb down to the common mean nor especially below it.

One thing I have noticed in 9 years on these boards is that G50 owners who have driven a restored active prefer them to all other car suspensions.

[BLACKonBLACK98]

as usual you have managed to acknowledge personal preference yet be condescending at the same time.

active suspension is a compromise. the car retains ride comfort while gaining marginal performance. those who prefer it are those concerned with ride quality.

now personally i do it for looks, however i do everything in my power to retain/restore function. ride quality is out the door but performance is through the roof. styling speaks for it's self. just about everyone in my neighborhood (average age mid 40's i'd assume) has stopped to talk to me about my car, as well as the frequent head turns and occasional cell phone snapshots even in it's current sub-par exterior condition. no need to dumb down to mediocre.

seniority is irrelevant to me, as are those who prefer active suspension. if that's what works for you so be it, but if it doesn't do what i want it to do then it's worthless to me.

but this thread isn't about you or me, it's about the op and his car.

[My President is Black]

electrical problems? rust? sounding more and more like a something you should get away from asap. the g50 is expensive to restore/maintain in average condition. you start adding in irregular problems and... one thing is for sure, i would not be putting a dollar into anything but repairs.

just a thought, but if you really want a q maybe you should consider selling yours and purchasing a road worthy 94-96. savings on the chain guides and active suspension alone would pretty much cover the current going rate. you still won't be out of the woods but if you buy wisely you could eliminate immediate costs and focus on saving.

well there is only very minor rust because it came from a snowy area, its just in the bottom of the back right door in the crack, which im not concerned about i already got it to look 10x betters, and the electrical is only the a/c and thats only what "tires plus" said so im gonna try taking it to a a/c specific shop.

I would love to sell and buy a 94-96 the only problem is ive never found any in my area at all and the only couple i have they're firm on a very high price way out of my budget.

[aces805]

Dude, the chain guides are uber important. Just do a search on this forum about those notorious guides and you'll see that you're playing with fire driving around with those plastic guides still on your car.

My friend had his 91 Q fail on him while cruisin from LA to Las Vegas back in like 1999. Luckily he made it to Vegas, but his engine took a dump right as he started to ride around town. Car towed to a shop, he was told something about "massive engine failure". Extreme anger and logic now gone, he sells the car to the shop owner for enough $$$ to buy a plane ticket back to LA. Now, he firmly believes that Nissan is out to build failing engines as a car company and will refuse to drive any Nissan product. All because of plastic chain guides.

Replace your chain guides, pretty please, with sugar on top...

[oldmako]

Dude, the chain guides are uber important.... Now, he firmly believes that Nissan is out to build failing engines as a car company and will refuse to drive any Nissan product. All because of plastic chain guides.

Replace your chain guides, pretty please, with sugar on top...

You must admit that putting those damn things in THIS engine was monstrously stupid, and the guy has valid bias. They are clearly the achilles heel of the earlier cars and for no good reason other than for Nissan to save about 30 cents during production. Sure, 30 cents times a gazillion units it a ton of coin and all that, but plastic is notoriously life limited, particularly when it lives where there are large temp fluctuations. Guys here go ape regarding cracks in the plastic fans after all....

If the ride were mine, I'd fix those damn things ASAP, and put the high dollar suspension issues on the back burner. But that's just me, and I am suffering from USA Meltdown 2009.... (no $$$). These are OLD cars now, and at some point there are diminishing returns with regard to rehabbing them.

I look at mine with 150K and think about replacing the trans, the rear end and the drive shaft......UM...NO. Fortunately mine are all fine, but reading this forum leads one to believe that they are life limited to the extreme, and idiotically expensive to repair. The last part is certainly true.

Good luck with the car and have fun.

[Haitian_King]

well there is only very minor rust because it came from a snowy area, its just in the bottom of the back right door in the crack, which im not concerned about i already got it to look 10x betters, and the electrical is only the a/c and thats only what "tires plus" said so im gonna try taking it to a a/c specific shop.

I would love to sell and buy a 94-96 the only problem is ive never found any in my area at all and the only couple i have they're firm on a very high price way out of my budget.

Hey. f*** Tires Plus!

Don't listen to those idiots. I had a random flat one day and had my car towed to the nearest Tires Plus. They told me they couldn't save my tire and sold me a crappy house brand. I was driving around with mismatched tires for a couple of months with the old tire in the trunk. I went to the shop where I bought my old ones and asked the guy to look at it, and see if it could be replaced under warranty. He looked at it, tested it, mounted and balanced it. It holds air and it's still rolling. There was nothing wrong with it! I had a hard time finding Bridgestone Potenzas in my size. I was happy to have the old one fixed.

Ever since, I've lost faith in chain places like that.

[AlabamaDan]

You must admit that putting those damn things in THIS engine was monstrously stupid, and the guy has valid bias. They are clearly the achilles heel of the earlier cars and for no good reason other than for Nissan to save about 30 cents during production. Sure, 30 cents times a gazillion units it a ton of coin and all that, but plastic is notoriously life limited, particularly when it lives where there are large temp fluctuations.

I'll be those engineers designed the car to last 100k with very little maintenance then be discarded. They're probably think we're idiots trying to get 200k+ out of these cars. After all this was a long time ago when it was designed. I remember when I was growing up if a car had 80k on the odometer it was time to rebuilt the engine.