Hello, newbie to the forum and to the world of Infiniti. I currently live in Orlando, FL and took over my wife's G35 six speed with 40,000 miles on it. Have a little one on the way and she didn't want to be climbing in and out of the coupe. Personally I was never big into them but you have to do what you have to do. I come from the other world of mustangs and a little new to the import world. Me and my friends built a 93 mustang coupe with a 351W built 5 speed, rear end, etc etc.... I recently sold it to make some money gains for the future little one.

I was contemplating on selling her G and going back to the world I'm more familiar with but have been driving it around for the past couple weeks and kind of started taking a liking. Like everyone here I love speed and power but have a great respect for the notion that with great power comes great money expense. I've been trolling through the forum for the past couple of days and doing a little research on exhaust, suspension, intakes, and looking for advise from experience personal in which direction to go in.

First I would like to say that the car is completely stock and looking at changing the exhaust first and adding possibly an intake. Any suggestions???? Don't want anything ricey and annoying. I do love the distinct exhaust note that the G's have and looking for something that might capitalizes on it with some more throaty sound. Any input on intakes, meaning one more that the other?? I really haven't looked into them that much.

Sorry for the long post but looking for advise in which direction I should start looking into and want to spend my dinero wisely. The car will be a daily driver and used to pick on my buddies stangs from time to time

 

Searching will be your best friend.. I would suggest starting with Motordyne Plenum spacer + MREV and ART pipes. Should free up a good amount of ponies!

 

Welcome from Ky and congrats on the little one!

 

Welcome to the forums dude. I'm in Orlando as well. Got a Motordyne 5/16th spacer and Fast Intentions HFC's which both helped somewhat. The HFC's kept the stock sound and increased the volume a little. Hopefully with a full exhaust replacement will only add to this.

Good luck on the hunt and enjoy the new wheels.

 

+1 on the MREV2 and plenum spacer...if you have the funds then get an hks exhaust, intakes are arguably more for sound than anything but i would still get one.

Congrats on the baby! and GL

 

I would go with the INJEN exhaust.. throaty and not raspy

 

I would recommend a Stillen exhaust. Sounds just likes stock until you let her rip, then it's like a throatier, louder roar than stock. Best of both worlds if you ask me.

As far as intake I love my Injen cold air, but since intakes don't realistically do all that much for this car (mostly sound), you can choose what you prefer.

Lightweight pulleys would also be a good start and you should also consider a Stillen Engine Damper mount to reduce motor shake and help get more torque to the ground.

A Motordyne 5/16 plenum will also help boost your curve a bit (doesn't really add much top end, if any), which will help with usable torque and mid-range for daily driving.

I have an 04 6MT as well and I daily drive it. I have everything I listed above with the exception of the plenum spacer and exhaust (I have a stock exhaust). However, I also have a lightweight flywheel with sports clutch, sway bars, and stainless steel brake lines with much more aggressive brake pads and slotted rotors (braking performance is very, very important to me).

With my mods I felt no sacrifice of any luxury or amenities except for the lightweight flywheel, which chatters from time to time (but eventually my driving habits adapted to almost entire eliminate it except at idle sometimes). To me, this was totally worth it, but I noted it just in case you emulated my mods.

Also, I should note with my modifications, my car sounds great with the stock exhaust. My car is not as deep as a stock G (has a slightly milder but slightly higher pitched hum rather than a deep gurgle), and I absolutely love it. However, under full throttle it is a full on roar that much louder than stock (from what I can tell). The biggest mods were the lightweight flywheel and pulleys. Turned it into a whole new car. First and second are so much quicker now and the car rev-matches easier/quicker and is just totally more responsive.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome and input. I definitely agree with the search button, trying to learn the new lingo and brands

Revo-your setup seems like the way I was intending on going. I love to drive a car instead of just going fast in a straight line so I will be upgrading the brakes in due time. When she bought the car it came with some ruff racing wheels that I can't wait to get rid of lol.

Out of curiosity what seems to be the the weak point in these cars?? I've looked on the forced induction board and see people pushing high numbers on their stock engine. Just wondering on what I should start looking at replacing.

 

If you don't touch engine internals and don't add boost, the motors are pretty solid. I rev mine to redline almost everyday I drive it and it has yet to hiccup. Synchros in the tranny seem to be a problem for some. Pretty much every gear except 4th and reverse are ones that I've heard being the "culprit." I have the problem in 5th from time to time on a really cold day.

You can get a little bit more of a robust clutch when your stock one goes out, but there's no reason to upgrade if your current one is still good. It holds stock and mild bolt-on power levels just fine.

Suspension wise I'd look out for your bushings...one of mine have gone out and I'm looking to replace it.

You mentioned wheels - I'm still running stock ones for my year - the 7 spoke 18's. They look better than any set up I've seen so far (in my opinion). If you do swap out rims I'd say keep the size at 18 and go for a lightweight setup. 19's seem to have less traction because the tires do not conform to the road surface as wells (20's are worse - don't even mention 21's or I'll flame you lol).

 

I also forgot to add that I have a rear strut bar that goes across my trunk. It cuts across the middle of the trunk so it really reduces overall trunk space so you'll have to decide if you want to make that sacrifice. You can still put smaller stuff past the bar. I felt the strut bar really helped with the stability of the car. There seems to be a good bit of flex in the back - probably because it's not braced at all other than the body structure.

 

Go with a Z-tube and stillin intake combo. Its not that much money and is worth the money.

 

Can you toss a pic of that up?

 

Yeah... here they are.

 

Congrats!! Stillen exhaust is nice.