Hello! As of tomorrow, I will be a proud owner of a 2008 Infiniti G35S in a 6 speed manual. The car is beautiful, runs and sounds great, but doesn't move. I'm looking into options for a clutch kit, I'm looking to replace the clutch, flywheel, slave cylinder, and maybe even the master to make sure that everything works well again. The previous owner says that the slave failed, but I'm looking to be on the safe side.

A couple questions come as a result of that - Should I replace the flywheel to a single mass? The car has 120k miles. Next question, do you guys have any kits you can recommend that include all of these things for a decent price? I saw the AMS Automotive kit includes all of the aforementioned things for like $250, which I don't really know if I should trust. Has anyone had any experience with this, and if so, which clutch kit did you guys choose?

Thank you guys, have a blessed day!

 

You'll probably want the slave cylinder kit to relocate it externally.

I would never trust a $250 clutch kit lol, unless you only need to get 60k miles out of it that is.

Typically a clutch job includes:

-rebuild or replace for CMC and CSC, you MUST replace or rebuild because when they fail it will usually cost you the clutch as well.

-Fluid, use quality stuff like Motul

-Clutch

-Flywheel, SMFW is cheaper but will chatter, the lighter it is the more chatter it will have but the more performance you will have as well. It's a trade-off so decide what kind of build the vehicle will have BEFORE purchase, coupled with an aluminum propeller shaft a lightweight assembly is MUCH quicker through the gears. DMFW will be heavy, feel exactly like OEM, make no noise, cost significantly more money.

-Crankshaft pilot bushing, don't waste your time on needle rollers, just get the bronze OEM one that's like $3. The needle roller bearings are prone to failure and it DESTROYS the tranny input shaft when they fail, if this was a racecar build that's a different story since you go through clutches quicker and replace the needle bearing regularly.

-Strongly recommended to put a new RMS on, I skipped this a couple years ago when I put on a clutch, normally I don't, yes it cost me another clutch 15k miles later. Lesson learned, wait an extra 5 days for a RMS to come in the mail and don't be in such a hurry.

Unless you're sold on a particular brand clutch like Monster, Action, Tilton, etc then you should just stick with a reputable VENDOR who sells a lot of clutches. Those guys normally go for a brand that has good reliability, over the years working on 350Z/G35 cars I've got a lot of faith in Z1Motorsports. Their guys are easy to work with on the phone, deliver a solid product, have helped when I ran into problems with various stuff, and have made me feel like a valued customer even when things do inevitably fail.

Exedy makes a lot of OEM clutch equipment and they're a very solid brand for OEM-style components

If money is more of a problem (doing it right with quality components is a $750 job in just parts) then don't be afraid to deal with your local O'reillys, Autozone, etc if you have a good relationship with them. For the more budget-minded repairs I regularly do for folks I know who aren't so well off I typically use my local O'reillys because they have an excellent warranty and I have a 20+ year working relationship with most of the guys at the counter.

 

I appreciate all the info! I will take all of that into account when I go into this. Couple questions, I'm almost through with my freshman year of college and money is about as tight as can be, so I really would be okay with something only lasting until I graduate and I start making some real money.

Would it be potentially harmful to the vehicle as a whole to use a cheapo clutch kit? It'd be a pain in the *** but I highly doubt I'll go through 60k miles until I'm well out of college.

Next question, sorry if I sound like a newbie, but what is a CMC/CSC? I'll definitely look into replacing them but I'm not sure what they are.

Lastly, I'd like to thank you for your help, it means a lot that there are guys who are knowledgeable about this and are willing to help others out! I'm going to put the link to the one I was considering below.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...780&cc=1442056

 

CMC/CSC = Clutch master cylinder / clutch slave cylinder.

I'm going to be super honest with you even though it's not what you want to hear, DON'T BUY THE CAR!

These things are luxury sports cars, luxury = expensive maintenance, sport car = expensive maintenance. With that many miles on the car it's entire suspension is very shot, it's going to need struts/shocks, wheel bearings, probably brakes soon, and every suspension bushing is shot by 125k miles. Interior components are expensive, TIRES are expensive, there's no cheap parts anywhere on a G35 and they require more maintenance than your average vehicle.

The VQ35HR motor is a good performer but is also fairly notorious for blowing out the rear oil galley gaskets which requires removal of the engine to fix.

Get a beater Toyota/Honda sedan until you're in the position where you have all your debt paid off and are in a position to burn money. Civic's are bulletproof and CHEAP, you can neglect ALL the maintenance and they will still run for 250k miles. If you need 4WD look at the 2000-2006 Yukon/Tahoe.

On the G if you neglect your power steering fluid change interval you will buy a new PS rack & pinion, if you neglect your brake caliper slide pins you will buy new calipers, if you neglect ANY of the suspension bushings you will buy a lot of tires (18 or 19" tires which are expensive...). They're also fairly notorious for having a lot of interior component electrical failures, AC head units are expensive, they have power everything which is EXPENSIVE to repair/maintain.

I'm not trying to talk down the vehicle because they are an amazing platform if you want LUXURY and PERFORMANCE but those things come at a high cost to maintain.

If money is tight you're making a huge mistake looking at the G35. Find a Toyota/Honda sedan without any of the power options but with a good maintenance history (carfax or receipts) and instead of being buried in repair costs for a vehicle that will financially kill you before you even get out of college you'll instead have enough funds to put towards the things that really matter.

 

I understand, you make some great points. I likely will not be keeping the vehicle, I would love to get one in the future but I think as of right now I'm going to get it, fix it up, and then resell it as a working and running vehicle to get some extra cash around.

Thank you!