Owner: Nick

Year: 1996
Model: Infiniti I30
Color: Grey
Trim: SE
Engine: VQ35DE
Transmission: 5-Speed Manual

My name is Nick (95maxrider on the forums) and this is the story of my 1996 Infiniti I30. I bought the car in my senior year of high school in 2003 as a replacement for my automatic 1995 Maxima. The I30 was a base car with no sunroof or Touring package, but it had the manual transmission that I desired, and I liked the gray leather interior.

Since then, it’s had a few suspension and stereo setups, but it wasn’t until I got a “real” job that I was able to do the things that I had always wanted, but didn’t have the money. A smarter man might have sold this old thing and gotten a proper car (E36 M3 or S2000 comes to mind), but I wanted to finish what I started. I wanted to make the best A32 I could, and more than a decade later I think I’m pretty much there.

245/45/17 Michelin Super Sports on 17×8 Enkei RPM2s (+45 IIRC) with a 15mm 2J Racing spacers in the rear and 10mm in the front. Stance, yo!

Here are the alcantara covered door panels that I made. I got them to follow the curves of the stock leather, but for obvious reasons, was not able to sew them around the edge to match the OEM design. Oh well, I still think they turned out remarkably well!

Check out those matching (to the dash) aluminum scuff pads on the doors

Here you can get a pretty good idea about how much bolstering the Recaro has over the stock seat. It’s so wide that it grazes the door when I’m in it!

Let’s see, 95/96 SE gauges, full white LED lighting (not shown), gunmetal gauge rings, AE/350z pedals, Sparco wheel, “gunmetal” aluminum dash trim, out of date gauges, Techtom MDM-100

This wheel is one of the best I have ever felt, it’s just perfect for me.

Matching alcantara boots!

It may be old, but things like water temp, air intake temp, and rpms can be handy to have in digital form. Speed is the most important of all, because the Sparco wheel is 350 mm vs stock at 390, so it blocks out the top half of the speedo and tach!

I love the stock gray leather in this car.

Would ya just look at that shine!

12.9″ Wilwood front BBK with 2-piece rotors

12.3 Fastbrakes Rear BBK

Mod List:

Engine/Transmission:

• 2002/03 Maxima 3.5 motor, no SS IM mod
• K&N filter, velocity stack
• 2001/02 Pathfinder 70mm TB, custom adapter and throttle cable bracket from sicivic89
• NWP thermal intake manifold spacers
• NWP Block off plate
• istune ECU, 7k RPM rev-limit
• Cattman headers
• Resonated test pipe
• 2.5” Budget resonated b-pipe
• 2004 G35 sedan muffler
• Aeromotive AFPR, Autometer fuel pressure gauge
• Quaife differential in rebuilt/refreshed transmission
• 2000/01 DEK Maxima clutch and flywheel
• 97-99 Maxima shifter with 1” cut out
• Sola Luna weighted metal shift knob
• Custom aluminum radiator brackets
• Put down 210 whp on old DEK motor

Suspension:

• BC Racing coilovers 9k front, 8k rear and valved to match dampers
• 2.5* camber front (maxed out camber bolts), custom 4.7* caster (up from 2.2* stock, drilled new holes in front strut towers, rotated coilovers 90*), 0.1* toe out
• Corner balanced, 60.0% F, 40.0% R, 50/50 left to right
• 3130 lbs w/full tank of gas, empty trunk, full interior
• 2J Racing converted to panhard rod rear suspension from a Scott-Russel linkage
• Progress RSB at max stiff
• Energy Suspension poly bushings for sway bar frame mounts, sway bar end links, control arms, cross member and F&R motor mounts
• Poly side/trans mounts
• Delrin front subframe bushings/collars
• Super Pro poly rear trailing arm bushings

Brakes”

• Wilwood 4 piston front calipers with 12.9” 2-piece rotors w/Wilwood Polymatrix E pads
• Fastbrakes rear 12.3” BBK with stock calipers and redrilled Accord rotors, old Carbotech AX-6 pads
• Track pads are Carbotech XP-8
• SS lines
• ATE racing fluid

Chassis:

• Warpspeed Stage 1+2 Subframe connectors (welded)
• Custom fender braces, welded to chassis
• Stillen RSTB (front won’t fit over 3.5 IM)
• No sunroof (stock)
• 97-99 Maxima SE steering rack, B15 SE-R rack coming soon
• NWP engine torque link
• Aluminum steering column bushing
• Relocated battery to trunk, 0-gauge wire
• 95 Maxima aluminum front bumper support (-30 lbs)
• Rolled front fenders, rolled and slightly pulled rear fenders

Cooling

• Mishimoto radiator w/19 psi cap, Toyota red coolant
• Racer Parts Wholesale 24 row oil cooler with -10 AN lines
• Derale power steering cooler

Other Fluids

• Mobil 1 Synthetic 5w-30
• -Amsoil MT fluid

Exterior:

• The Retrofit Source FX-R projectors w/ 4.3k HID bulbs in Cefiro headlights
• TRS Blazer fog light projectors, 3k HID bulbs, independent fog light rewire mod
• All front lighting housings blacked out
• 1998/99 I30 tail lights (heated up with heat gun, pressed center section together to fix common leak issue)
• 35% tint
• I30t spoiler
• Painted grille black
• Black OEM mirrors
• Removed three bars front lower front grille, filled, sanded, painted
• Garage door front lip
• All chrome window trim blacked out
• All original paint (except spoiler and some touch up work on bumpers)
• Nissan Murano windshield washer nozzles
• 350Z horns

Interior

• Recaro Speed seat w/gray alcantara center section, CG Locks
• Gunmetal aluminum dash trim, matching aluminum lower door panels
• Stock light gray leather (less than 5% of A32s)
• Sparco steering wheel
• 350Z aluminum pedals, dead pedal
• Custom gray alcantara door panels
• Matching gray alcantara shift boots w/black stitching by Redline Goods
• Redline Goods black leather arm rest with some extra foam cushion inside
• Techtom MDM-100 (Set to display speed and water temp since the smaller steering wheel cuts off view of 20-120 mph)
• 95/96 Maxima SE gauge cluster, gunmetal aluminum gauge rings
• Innovate Motorsports LC-2 Wideband O2 Sensor
• Innovate Motorsports MTX-D Oil Pressure & Oil Temperature Gauge
• 99 I30 Limited aluminum door scuff plates
• All interior lights are white LEDs (Gauge cluster, door switches, HVAC display, dome lights, door light, etc.)
• 97-99 Maxima flip-over cup holder in center console
• Fuzzy pillars (stock)
• Replaced cracking chrome interior door handles

Stereo:

• Premier DEH-490IB head unit (4V pre-out)
• Focal P165V15 6.5” front speakers
• Hertz DCX 165 2-way rear speakers
• Subaru Audio PVC custom speaker adapters
• 12” JL W6 subwoofer, Sonic Electronix 1.15 sealed box
• Boston Acoustics GT2 (125w RMS x 2 for fronts)
• Alpine MRP-M500 (500w x 1 for sub)
• Clifford RS3.5 alarm with remote start
• MDF trunk floor with bracket to hold sub box in place
• “Big 3” 0-gauge wire upgrade
• 12g speaker wire
• E-Dead sound deadening in the trunk, front doors and rear deck
• Frost King insulation in the front doors and other areas
• E-Dead sound deadening on front fender liners

Wheels/tires

• 17×8 Enkei RPM2 with 245/45/17 Michelin Pilot Super Sports
• 17×8.5 Enkei RPF1 with 245/40/17 Hoosier A6
• ARP extended wheel studs
• 2J Racing 10mm front, 15mm rear wheel spacers

Maintenance

• Replaced windshield
• Replaced radiator core support
• Touch up paint to bumpers
• DS front door hinges replaced due to door sagging