Hey guys not sure if you all remember me but I was interested in the 06 g35 with the stage 4 clutch, it didn't work out due to rust and the fact it had so many upgrades. Ive recently been looking at an 07 that is very clean, rust free, and very well taken care of but want some of your opinions.

To start, the car is completely rust free, the body is great but the title is rebuilt due to a front end hit but it was professionally repaired so that's fine. Its a 2 owner car with 117K miles.

As far as modifications it has tomei headers, motordyne art test pipes, and a motordyne exhaust. Along with that it has a motordyne mrev2 and motordyne plenum spacer. My biggest worry about the car is how he does not have a tune for it but I'm really interested bc the fact its so clean and well taken care of by all the pictures he has had over time. The modifications were installed 10 months ago so that seems like a bit for me with no tune. What are your guys thoughts because this is what will make or break my decision bc I don't wanna buy the car then have it blow or something bc it has ran lean for so long. I'm 50% sure the car has an aftermarket intake from the pictures but it was not listed in post but I can find out

Other modifications is a mishimoto radiator, JWT clutch and lightweight flywheel, SPC upper control arms, Z1 rear toe arms, and a rear camber kit.

If anyone has some information that would be greatly appreciated, pics will be added in a sec, Thanks!

If you haven't seen it in person yet I can't help with advice for now. I will say with all the mods the car is most likely running lean but hard to say if there's been any damage to the motor, my guess is he runs it hard and that's not good in it's condition. You didn't mention price but if you go see it make sure he lets you get a pre-purchase inspection from a trusted mechanic or a Nissan/Infiniti dealership.

If it's not throwing an engine code it's probably fine, so etimes the ECM has enough range of adjustment still that it doesn't throw the light. The check engine light being on for those kinds of lean errors just mean the ECM is having to compensate for extra fuel outside it's normal parameters, it doesn't mean the combustion chamber conditions are ACTUALLY lean, just that it's having to add more than +25% extra fuel.

Now if it's PINGING when accelerating then yes you are actually running lean lol.

Get a 3rd party inspection, preferrably one from Nissan AND the most reputable body shop in town, probably cost you $125 apiece but that will give you the peace of.mind about the purchase.

​​​​​​Verify the check engine light is working. Turn the key to ON and it does a lamp check, you should see the service engine soon light

Well I wont be able to look at it since its out of state far away from me but I got his word and he saying everything's great, no grinds, engine is good and all so I'm convinced its a good car. I don't know how hard the cars been driven but he showed me his Instagram of his progress with the car and its quite obvious that its been taken well taken care of. Right now with how money is im not going to be able to get a pre purchase inspection bc a plane ticket out there and gas to get back home is gonna be a lot of money already, I'm willing to take the risk though as my reason was pointed out before. I will definitely check for a pinging sound if I go see it. My overall reason for making a thread on this was to get all your opinions. I will also check out if the engine light works as cleric stated. Thanks again for all the help!

So do some searching and find someone at the car's locale that can do the pre-inspection. Seriously...don't cheap out at the beginning. You are going to lay down some serious money. Better to spend a little and walk away if it's not right, than spend a boatload and find out you made a bad deal. Have a neutral mechanic inspect it for you.

Never ever buy a used car without a professional pre-inspection, if you can't do it yourself. Don't let your emotions take over. There are lots of these cars still out there. Patience rules.

I got my 2006 two years ago with 26.5K miles. Unicorns exist.

Not what you want to hear but...

Don't buy it, if getting the finances together for a plane ticket and some fuel is already a stretch then what are you going to do if the transmission dies in a month? There needs to be an emergency repair fund available for any new car purchase, there's always something that's overlooked or just randomly fails and if you're not financially in a position to drop an extra $1k on the car at the drop of a hat then you need to wait.

These things are "luxury sport sedan/coupes"

Luxury = expensive to repair
Sport = expensive to repair

They're amazing vehicles but they're not cheap to own.

I definitely agree with all you guys on the fact of getting a pre purchase inspection and how these cars are expensive to fix. I appreciate all the help but I'm sad to say that car sold this morning. I'm now looking at the car I talked about before in a previous post which is very close to me in great condition. Thing with this car is its an 06 with 98k miles no rust and very clean all the way around. 2 things I don't like about the car however. 1. It has a stage 4 clutch 6 puck unsprung, I was told before that this clutch is way to aggressive for the road and how its too strong putting strain on the other components. I spoke with him about this and he said its find as long as the bushings were upgraded which he has done but it still worries me, if it needs a new clutch that's not as aggressive Ill buy one no biggie, I think he told me its been installed for 5k miles so far. 2. Car has a cai, 1320 headers, Blackhorse y pipe, and isr exhaust with no tune. I asked him about it and told him these are the 2 reasons I don't want to buy the car but he said its running fine but the engine light comes on every so often because the fuel trims are compensating for the upgrades. If there is not much engine damage which there is no way to tell I will definitely get the car tuned. What are your guys thoughts on these 2 (issues) with the car? In my opinion I feel he is very honest and knowledgeable and the car will be fine but I like to hear from you guys. Thanks again!

The check engine light is not indicative of engine damage, the ECM will just turn the light on to let you know it's compensating more than +25% extra fuel. It's got the ability to keep adding fuel up to 100% duty cycle of the injector which is roughly +50% fuel trim on most vehicles.

Additionally the G35 (all VQ35DE equipped Nissan vehicles) lives off the knock sensor, it's incredibly hard to find a Nissan with these motors that doesn't ping, they ALL ping, the knock sensors causes the ECM to subtract -2 degrees timing every time it detects knock on rotation, they're built from the factory to run right at the ragged edge of predetonation and isn't a dealbreaker. More on this at the end of the post.

Getting tuned on this engine would be a great way to not only add performance (expect 20whp gains or so) but to also just make it run better since the baseline fuel will be increased and it won't be relying as much on fuel trim recalculations.

As for the clutch, the biggest issue you're going to have is just how much more difficult it is to drive with a stiff clutch, they get really "grabby" when you're using grippy friction material and harder to physically press the clutch pedal due to the much stronger pressure plate. As for it being an unsprung hub, yes it will cause extra vibration to be transmitted from the gearbox back into the engine, yes it causes "premature wear" of components but that's mostly during RACE APPLICATION when you're banging gears hard, under normal driving conditions the extra wear is usually MUUUUUCH less. My previous clutch was an unsprung hub simply because I like the feel, it's less forgiving though and when my RMS failed I did go back to a sprung hub one.

It's always something you can replace in the future.

There is a way to measure engine damage, it's called a compression test and an engine oil analysis. Anything else is just speculation, the compression test is an easy one that any reputable local mechanic can perform for a small fee. The oil analysis is a bit more complicated since you want to put 1000 miles on the oil under your normal driving then order the sample kit from Blackstone and send them the sample for analysis. Turnaround time is about a week and the report shows all the levels of the various metals found and what it MIGHT indicate.

If you feel hesitant about the vehicle then just wait, keep saving money, buy the EXACT vehicle you're looking for. It took me almost 2 years before I found the EXACT vehicle I was looking for in a 3 state region but I was looking for something very specific.

Now for engine knock on the VQ35DE. Yes engine pinging/knocking is harmful to a motor. The fuel is prematurely detonating in the combustion chamber causing the pressure to be exerted against the piston/connecting rods while it's still traveling upward. On most motors this is a 100% indicator that something is VERY wrong and needs to be shut down and corrected immediately. However the VQ35DE is just a knocking bitch that doesn't seem to mind, there's been TSB's by Nissan when these vehicles were much younger trying to resolve the knocking, thousands of complaints from customers who had new engines that were knocking, it's just one of those hard truths to accept about the VQ35DE. They burn oil and they knock, theres a few hundred thousand of these motors on the road hitting 200k+ miles, it's just the way they run unfortunately.

You should only ever hear pinging under acceleration, sometimes light acceleration is enough to hear it. Never at idle. Personally mine pings under medium throttle but not during WOT throttle, only in the heat of summer though. I only run premium fuel and even with a tankful of Sea Foam it STILL does it lol, It doesn't even bother me anymore.

Now I'm still new and learning every day about these cars from you guys and from buddies of mine with modded cars. Most of my knowledge is in v8 trucks specifically because that's all I owned so if I understand what you said correctly I can keep the 6 puck and replace the hub to a sprung one or am I not understanding how it works? Also what is the RMS? I've done an oil analysis before on my truck and will definitely do it to my next car and the compression test will be considered. I don't have a problem waiting for the one but I own a high mileage vehicle and only get 1 or 2 people interested in a month which is bad. I don't want to wait for the exact one I'm looking for because when one pops up I can only hope I sell my vehicle in enough time which probably wont happen. Right now where I'm at the truck is either going to sell today or tomorrow according to the buyer so I cant pass it up but I also cant be without a vehicle. From what you said I feel that the car is reliable and not as bad as I thought and I'm highly considering it. Thanks again!

RMS = Rear Main Seal, mine failed and contaminated my previous clutch.

There are two main types of clutches, one is a "full faced" clutch where the friction plate material is a big circle that goes completely around the clutch, the other is a "puck" clutch where the friction material is only in certain places around the clutch.

The reason between the two is it comes down to how many pounds of force is distributed across the surface area, puck clutches have less surface area therefor more PSI of force on the clutch faces. The engagement is much quicker than a full faced clutch where the PSI of force is distributed across a much larger surface area.

There are also different types of puck clutches, a 6 puck will be a lot less harsh than a 3 puck because it would typically have twice as much surface area to distribute it's clamping force.

The difference between a sprung and unsprung hub, on a sprung hub the center section of the clutch is "floating" and held in check to keep it from rotating by very large springs. This allows the center of the clutch to twist slightly away from the rest of the clutch plate, it makes it feel more "smooth" when you engage the clutch as well as absorbing some of the vibration and harshness and smoothing delivery of torque from the engine into the gearbox to prevent sudden shock damage as well as damping vibration from the gearbox from going back into the bearings of the engine.

However adding those springs also adds a point of failure that you don't want in a racecar, as well as a very slight delay in torque delivery that you want to avoid in something like a drift car that's trying to break the tires loose immediately.

Jacob you're painting yourself in a corner which is usually never a good idea. I haven't seen you address cleric's advice to not put yourself in a precarious financial position, you haven't mentioned getting your new target car an inspection before buying it and you're relying on the seller to be completely honest. Maybe he is and maybe he isn't but sadly you won't know until you buy it if that happens. The fact that money is tight enough you have to sell the truck to buy the G is a huge red flag to me that you're setting yourself up for a no-win situation. I have found in my life that most, not all, impulsive large purchases have turned out to be bad decisions on my part.

All I can say is good luck with whatever decisions you end up making...….life is always full of learning lessons both good and bad.

I think you should buy a cheap $2000 honda civic and drive it for a year or more until you can pay cash for the G35 you want. Honda civics are practically bulletproof, cheap to repair (if you do the work yourself), fuel efficient, and cheap to insure (don't buy an Si coupe).

Save all the money and put it in a savings account towards the G35, fuel savings along will probably be close to $1500 per year over a truck, insurance savings roughly $500 but that varies a lot based on age. That's $2k per year CASH MONEY into an account, worst case scenario it takes you 2 years to find the exact car you want and you have $4k cash PLUS whatever else you can throw in per week just by driving a different vehicle. Hell even $20/week extra into that account will be an extra $1000/year. If you can manage to put $40/wk into that account you can have $8k to drop on a car in 24 months. That's enough to get you into a decent G37 coupe...