I’m seriously reconsidering switching my plan to do the trunk and engine bay black obsidian metallic black and go to midnight purple. I sprayed the underside of the roof wing LP2 which is the old color of the car and I forgot how pretty it is.

I masked off more of the engine bay and removed the fuse box and some wiring.

I also finished painting the cold side piping and wrapped them.

Hot side polishing and wrapping next. I ordered more LP2 in case I do change my mind. Trunk wing and hood vent get painted next.

When drifting I could feel my entire subframe moving around. Jacking up the rear to change tires there was about half an inch if gap between the subframdme and frame.

So I bought a bunch of Battler Version stuff to fix it (I finally got bump steer correction rods as well. My bump steer was so bad I hit my elbow on my helmet and tore something in my shouler at turn 1 at Piedmont).

Pulled the subframe and pressure washed it. Then pulled all the arms and diff and sanded it for paint.

I POR15’d the diff as well.

While everything was out I cleaned the bottom of the SC and undercoated it.

Loaded the diff and arms and solid bushings into the subframe and put it back in the car.

Next down there I need to replace the sway bar and endlinks.

When I bought my 1j I picked a halfcut that had steel cold side piping because I read that side tends to rub and get holes in the aluminium. As a bonus I got an HKS intercooler and couplers. The intercooler mysteriously disappeared at a shop that won’t be named…but the piping needed refreshed badly. Originally I was going to buy just piping but prices for JUST the cold side were $600+. So I decided to refresh what I have which is structurally sound.

My space is limited so Im spraying small things like these outside. Not concourse by any stretch but it will do.

Its getting chilly so I’m heating parts before spraying.

Layer of prime down…

You wanna know the dumb part of this? I’m heat wrapping all my intercooler piping. So you won’t see any of this work. But I would not be able to sleep knowing that horrible finish was underneath…

Base coat done. Waiting for the rest of the paint to come in to do the metallic then clear. I may add reflective tape to the center.

Looking through old photos to motivate myself while going through the tedious phase of this refresh. Spirit.jp era of vibes are unmatched. Stylish cars, sick driving, and great media. I’ve been an admirer of @hunterseyephotography ‘s work and his car from back in the Zilvia.net days. So to be shot impromptu at this event by him with this version of my car was extra dope.

Version 8 soon

A decent chunk done this weekend. The focus was the engine bay. Cleaning and prepping for paint.

They won’t be seen but I cleaned up and painted the bumper and bumper cover frame.

I also washed the bike inbetween jobs.

I pulled the intercooler, piping, radiator, and intake and sprayed the bay down with degreaser. I think I’m going to paint the bay with the engine in.

Scrubbed everything I could reach even the fan blades. Tempted to pull the motor but that will spiral things out of control and this car has already been down 4 years.

I masked and pulled the hood to paint the underside.

Masked off the underhood stickers. I was going to pull them and recreate but that’s doing too much.

I have a few more things to pull them I can start adding color. Then I can pull the valve cover and other parts to refininish.

I have an old school Greddy bar that needed some help. I hit it with the polisher and attempted to paint the recessed logo red.

Unfortunately the stamp wasn’t deep enough so I measured and vectorized the logo. I was out of red vinyl so I tried it in orange.

Gave it a second shot and also took the time to cut a 1j logo. I think it will need to be two tone like original. Maybe black and purple.

Second times a charm. I sanded and started to paint the mounts to match the spark cover.

My homies Jonny, George, and I planned to do a TOD trip. We were supposed to go a few years back but I couldn’t make it.  So this spring we planned early. I had already taken the bike and M3 so I wanted to give the G35 a try. But it had lost drive a month before the trip.

After pulling the trans I noticed the splines on my output shaft looked damaged. Then I saw the splines on the disk we gone.  How this happened I was unsure.

Then I noticed the pilot bearing. It looks like I damaged it installing the transmission during the last clutch job which lead to the disk being damaged.

I ordered an ACT disk and a new OEM pilot bearing. Got everything installed and drove the car for the week before the trip.

George and Jonny drove down in G’s new Miata and spent the night. The next day we drove to Greensboro and met up with Dru, my homie from college.

After 5 Hours we made it to Fontana village. There were some great cars at the resort.

We unpacked and hit the Dragon for our first laps.

Unfortunately we didn’t get any footage of the driving which was amazing. The G35 blew a pressure switch on the high pressure ps line so we piled in Dru’s Subaru to go get the part. His axle was sounding like it was going to break with all the excessive weight so G and Jonny waited at the Kill Boy lodge till we got back.

We were able to get the part in and fixed in time for some night runs… which we have no footage of.

The next day we had a surprisingly good meal and hit the mountain for day 2.

On our way out my PS went out yet again. The top of the new pressure switch I bought from Autozone had blown out.  Luckily I had kept the old switch which just had a torn o-ring. So I pulled the o-ring off new switch and put it on the old switch and reinstalled it. Bought fluid from the gas station and all was well.

From there we cruised to Asheville and got some succulent Chinese food. Dru and I parted ways with Jonny and G as they made their way back North.

One of my favorite trips ever. The G35 really surprised me. It had no trouble keeping up with anyone in our group and just about abutting else on the mountain.