Originally I was just going to upgrade the rods, bearings and rings. I knew I would regret not adding the forged pistons, so I spent a little more. The cylinders cleaned up great after 178k. I honed the block with a flex hone (dingle berry looking thingy) and it works awesome. I also hand polished the crank with autosol polish and a strip of microfiber, worked awesome...

 

At a minimum I would upgrade the rod bolts. For not much more you can upgrade the rods. I paid $500 for a new set of Eagle rods... pretty much a no brainer

 

Are you shooting for more than 500whp? Where are you having the rotating assembly balanced for the rod / piston swap? Would be cool to see a build since not many are doing X builds, especially 7 speed builds. I'm building up a 5AT right now with Titan internals, but later on after that I want to do a 7AT the same way. You'll probably be on the same path if putting down more than 400-500.

 

I'm still debating on if I am going to have the rotating assemble balanced. The rod/piston combo wlll be balanced and is lighter than the stock combo. I'm pretty sure it will be fine without a rebalance, but may pay for the added insurance. If I do, I'm not sure who I will have do it, probably someone local to me since balancing isn't something specific to this platform. I don't have the flexplate yet, probably 4-8 weeks out and will need that if I do balance it. I'm leaning toward just running it and using an ATI dampner.

Yes the goal is north of 500whp. Probably between 600-700 if I can get the transmission to hold, which I know no one has done yet. I found a local guy that claims his build will hold the power and he is willing to warranty it for 2 years / 24k miles. He is extremely knowledgeable and will help with the tuning if needed. My gut tells me this guy knows his ****, guess I'll find out, lol. Oh ya, his price is half what the other shops charge, so its a no brainer to give it a try. He is upgrading all the internals possible, billet input shaft, solenoids, valve body, etc, and is giving me a detailed build sheet. He mentioned there are a lot of scam companies that just use stock components and then tell you if you open the case it voids the warranty, so you never know what was actually modified. If I'm paying for something I want to see what was installed, they can save the trade secret bs for someone else, lol. Like it's rocket science...


 

Yeah, I weighed my eagle rod and wiseco piston set and it removes a ton of rotating mass compared to stock. The stock crank will need weight removed and fully balanced or it will tear itself apart. It would be interesting to know who builds your tranny, I only know of two shops re working the valvebody on the 7 speeds and they charge about $900. Been thinking about laying out a 7AT valvebody and my 5AT to compare spring rates and fluid hole sizes. Probably wouldn't be too hard to do the transgo thing on a 7AT.

 

You are correct, weight needs to come off the crank, wasnt thinking. I have a local shop that is going to do a valve job, flow the heads and balance the rotating assembly. I'll send you a PM about the valve body I'm going to use

 

Funny watching this thread develop over half a decade.
Price most certainly depends on the year you are shopping.

I am seeing that I need to spend somewhere between $8k to $10k minimum to get my hands on wildly different range of G37's.
* Wild variance in mileage
* Wild variance in condition
* Wild variance in Packages

I am going to probably pull the trigger on a "1 liner" ad - those always seem to be the best. Where the seller does not really know the
* Specific Model
* Options

You have to fish it out of them or the pictures. To the seller... the car is just a liability... as they want something new. To me? All the difference in the world if there is an S after the G37, or an X, ... manual vs auto... this year vs that.

So far I am seeing
* I want a G37
* I think I am targeting 2010 or later (but I dont understand all the details quite yet)
* I will accept a Sedan with Automatic
* I want lighter leather (the dark leather does not seem to age well)
* I am shooting for 125,000 miles or less
* I wish to spend not a dime over $10k
* I have grown fond of white paint, but any paint will do
* I would prefer to get the creature comforts if I can get them for free*
* Back seat looks cramped on all the models

I am always drawn to cars with suspension upgrades, but... those always leave me raw. Some kid romping on it, losing parts, zipTies everywhere (sigh). I want something owned by some lady who just cruised it on the freeway back and forth to work. I actually prefer high freeway miles over low town miles. Stop and go, cold engine running... meh. Freeway are easy miles. They rack up and lower the perceived value of the vehicle.

I am seeing a lot of
* Roached interiors
* Salvage Titles
* 3rd+ Owner

Happy to roll the dice on a Salvage. That can mean any number of things
* Insurance Triggered
* Stolen
* Totally stacked

If it accelerates straight and does not rattle apart at 120MPH, well... then Salvage is not that important. If you know... sometimes the paint is real obvious, but... after I own a car for a few months... My paint just looks like road dust.

-methods