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Dex Build/Progress/Mod Thread

28K views 196 replies 31 participants last post by  sprocketser 
#1 ·
I started liking cars a long time ago and have always been a fan of the sedan. Call me crazy. My first car was 1990 Accord EX Sedan. That’s when I started modding. After the 1990 Accord I bought a 1994 Accord and then a 1998 Accord for the wife. I then started looking into my next project. I looked at the Altima for a little while along with other cars before choosing it. I'm glad that I did. I've made so many new friends and some that are as close as family. My decision was made after seeing an SER. I looked at a few that had been dogged out and was so ready to dump the 1994 Accord.

After visiting the local Nissan dealer and test driving a code red SER my decision was solid. The dealer wasn’t dealing on the code red but they had a 2005 fully loaded extremely clean 3.5 on the lot that was 6K cheaper than the SER. After test driving it and making a cash offer the deal was done. The salesman told me that if I needed anything parts, labor, etc that help me out to use his discount. I found a local who had Eibach ProKits that were only a few weeks old and purchased them and installed them as well as a used S5 grille. Well after purchasing the 3.5 but really wanting the SER I called the salesman with my SER conversion parts. After paying for the parts the car were dropped off to my body shop and the transformation began.
The car started off as a fully loaded Super Black Nissan Altima 3.5 with NAV. Nothing out of the ordinary. It looked very similar to this one:

http://images.gtcarlot.com/gtgallery/photo.php?id=23896307

After the body shop finished with the car I picked it up and was very pleased with the outcome. The smaller 3.5 exhaust tips bothered me as well so I ordered bigger tips to just fill in the space until a exhaust could be purchased, but still wanted SER wheels to complete the look. So I found a guy on Craigslist with a set for sale and purchased them. The SER gauge pod interested me as well and so that was researched and purchased and wired so that the gauges lit and the volt meter worked but that’s it.

The car at that point looked like this:







As time progressed the Nismo Maxima wheels were starting to be seen on Altimas. I thought that they were nice but wasn’t sure if they’d fit until after seeing a few other members run them such as Spike. After seeing them on his car I was convinced that I wanted a set. The thing was to find a set. Well a guy on the Maxima site had purchased a new set and gave me the number for the Nissan parts guy who assisted him with a nationwide search. The gunmetal color was not available but the grey color was available at one dealer. All were brand new but one had been mounted on a tire as a display. The dealer was indeed willing to sell and ship. So they were purchased and installed with Nexen 245/35/19 inch tires. The SpeedZ GTR soiler was also purchased and installed around the same time along with a Racing Line Y Pipe and a Place Racing Cold Air Intake. The car at that point looked like this:






The progress continues in the next post:
 
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9
#2 · (Edited)
The Y Pipe and the Intake made me really want to get more into modding. So I looked at NWP products. The 5 piece spacer kit and Block Off Plate was then purchased and my dad and I installed the kit one Saturday afternoon. Racing Line came out with the High Flow cats and since I liked the Y Pipe I decided to get in on the initial group buy for them for a few reasons. They were a bit cheaper than Cattman headers and the install was easier and there would be no issues with CEL. Being in NC we have emissions and with a CEL I’d automatically fail. At the same time many Maxima owners were raving about the ebay exhaust. The eBay Maxima exhaust was purchased and taken to the muffler shop to be installed. I was truly happy with the note of all the components.
I had been researching tuning as well and decided to pull the trigger on UpRev. My review of that can be found here:

http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/engine-performance-2002-2006/315228-my-expierence-uprev.html
Here’s the video of it:
National Speed: Dexter's 2005 Nissan Altima - 232.14whp/236.62ftlbs... - YouTube

Here was the outcome:



As you could see there were some issues with my tune. Well that was a bummer and after researching and replacing the fuel pump I was convinced that the tune was the issue. I decided I wanted more and was pleased to see the results that Tuko had received with the SFR manifold. I decided to see if we could get a group buy going on it and contacted Turbo Tim and set it up. It was successful and the manifold was purchased along with a 3.5 inch intake with integrated MAF along with 2K9 Throttle Body and wiring, as well as BC Stage 2 cams and springs and retainers. Then the new/different car bug bit and all the uninstalled mod parts were sold and a buyer for the car was lined up. After looking at different cars it was hard to get rid of the Altima so I decided to keep it and start more mods. Another manifold was purchased and installed. I then knew that I needed to straighten out my tuning issues and starting looking. So after finding Joe (Seymore4) and purchasing a cable my lean issues were then resolved and my tune was spot on. Thanks again Joe. Here are the results of that:



I had been playing around with the idea of new wheels as well as upgraded breaks. I pulled the trigger on a set of 300ZX breaks with the hard to find adapter. I wanted the calipers Powder Coated so Lawrence was the first one to come to mind. The seller shipped the equipment to Lawrence and the progress of the job can be found here:

http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/ni...r-coating-calipers-follow-progress-along.html

So front calipers seem to be covered and when my Lawrence finishes them I’ll install them and hope to have a rear solution as well. Pics will be updated when they are installed. I also purchased BC Racing Coils and installed them as well as Active Tuning Side Mirrors. As was mentioned I had been looking at wheels and the Volk TE37 caught my eye. Well the price made me think twice so I found Varostoens but the offsets seemed to be a bit too extreme for me. A few other members had run them with no issues but it seems that what works for most doesn’t work for me. I found another set of wheels that I felt were a good price and the offset seemed to work a lot better for me and they came in the hyperblack color instead of a flat black in which I’d have to pay more to have powder coated another color. The specs on these are 19x9.5 with a 38 offset. I purchased them and installed them along with my same 245/35/19 Nexens. After a quick wash and a few quick pics these are the results:

Just before the install:





After the wheel install:






I feel that the Altima will be with me for a long while to come. It’s been long overdue for me to make a thread such as this and now I have one. I hope you enjoyed the read. I’ll update the thread as more mods come.
 
#5 ·
:headbang:

car looks dope. only thing i dont love is the deflector for the hood. like the new shoes too. ur car looks so good its making me miss my altima. :(
Thanks. It was a tough decision to get the wheels but the price was good. I'd rather have the color Nismos you had. Your car is nice as well, I like the mods you're coming up with on the Evo.
 
#4 ·
car looks dope. only thing i dont love is the deflector for the hood. liking the new shoes too. ur car looks so good its making me miss my altima. :(
 
#6 ·
Great thread Dex. The new wheels look sexy. I like the specs too. Can you possibly post or pm more prifile pics of the rims and tires? Do you rub at all?
 
#10 · (Edited)
Sure thing Tuko. PM me your cell number or email address and I'll snap a few real quick after work. My friend who has a GTI was supposed to do a shoot with me on Sat but somethings came up and I got lazy. After the brakes are installed I'll do a full on shoot but I will def get you some quick ones. As far as rubbing. I haven't yet. IF I do rub I suspect it would be in the rear. I have my rear fenders rolled already and rubbed on steep inclines with the A34s. I have yet to expierence rubbing with the new setup.

Thanks for posting this. Good read. Question do you know if they still make the spoiler you have?

Sent from me
I'm not 100% sure. I thought you were selling you're SER. A quick google found this:

Speedz GTR Lip Spoiler Urethane Nissan Altima 02-06 | Spoilers | eRacings on Bootic VERY $$$$ :crazy:

There was another member on here who had one for sale a few months back. If I can find it I'll post the link. It was in the for sale forum though.



Nice ride! I love the black 3rd gens.

I really like these rims. I've seen lots of members with em, I guess I'm a bit lazy to read all the above but what are they?
I feel you on the reading part. It was something I wanted to do for a long time but never took the time to, so it probably snowballed. The wheels pictured are the Nismo Maxima Wheels aka Nismo A34 wheels.

One of the cleanest! Good stuff Dex. Now its time to enter the Nissan of the Month?
Thanks Ducz! I really appreciate it. I feel that I have a long ways to go before being entering Nissan of the month status. I may give it a shot but there are so many nice Nissans on the site. I'm just glad to be a part of the community.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for posting this. Good read. Question do you know if they still make the spoiler you have?

Sent from me
 
#11 ·
.....Not just yet. "We" have a few more things to come first! :)
Dex you know where I stand with this. Simply a well thought out path and determination to get there. There is more between the pictures here than most will see, but this thread is great! The progress is both inspiring and heart felt. Keep this going!
One of the cleanest! Good stuff Dex. Now its time to enter the Nissan of the Month?
 
This post has been deleted
#20 ·
Thanks. Before you get too deep into mods I suggest you make the thread. You can always update it. I kept putting it off saying I'll make one when... Well when never came and I was getting more and more mods completed and hated that I never took a before pic. You live and you learn.

I've spent a many hours reading on nissan club and maxima.org. So I give the credit to where it's due. This site has wealth of knowledge. If you're willing to look for it and learn from others you will learn ALOT!

Great read, I enjoyed how you described where you began to where you are! Love the ride, glad to hear you are enjoying it and hope you get many more years from it :)
Thank you. I know it's a long read but I wanted the readers to get a good mental picture of my background since not everyone knows me personally. I most definitely am enjoying the car. It's been fun and I surely hope to keep it for many more years. Nice progress on yours as well.
 
#19 ·
Great read, I enjoyed how you described where you began to where you are! Love the ride, glad to hear you are enjoying it and hope you get many more years from it :)
 
#21 ·
$850 spoiler, wow! Did you pay that much? And I think that's unpainted.

Sent from me
 
#22 ·
NO!! That's :crazy:!!! Yeah that's unpainted. I had the same shop that did my bumpers to do the install and paint. I do remember the installer saying that it took quite a bit to get it to paintable and installed.

I don't remember where I ordered mine from because I bought it with the y pipe, spacers, exhaust and a few other parts. I bought them from different places and don't remember where I purchased the spoiler from. I went to look for receipts but couldn't find them for another buyer. I know I didn't pay more than $100/$150 for it though. Did you find the seller on this site that had one?
 
#23 ·
looks good
 
#25 ·
I appreciate it.

Yea I finally found the most recent lol. Lookin real nice dex those rims really good with the black. What kind of head unit you got?
Thanks, I like the combo as well. My head unit is a Pioneer.
 
#24 ·
Yea I finally found the most recent lol. Lookin real nice dex those rims really good with the black. What kind of head unit you got?
 
#26 ·
Ok, pics of HU and amp(s) or BAN!!! :)
 
#28 · (Edited)
They are def nothing to get worked up over. It's just a Pioneer AVH3100DVD It's paired with MB Quarts Q series Components and matching Precision Power PPI amps; PPI PC2150 puchsing an Image Dynamic 12 and a PPI PC2100 pushing the MB Quart Q series components. It's a nice rounded system. The highs and lows really complement each other. I'm not going to win any bass competitions but the ID gets loud eough without sacraficing a tun of trunk space, and it's really a clean, clear sounding sub.

How did I missed this! Definitely looking good with the new wheels, and nice update. :)
Thanks. Waiting to see your updates as well.
 
#32 · (Edited by Moderator)
Thanks. I'm a simple guy so I'd like the car to be a reflection of me.

I just reread the thread. Damn, same width and offset as mine and they sit flush. Very nice!
Thanks alot! Now get yourself another SER and rejoin us in modding.
 
#35 ·
Thanks. Gunmetal was my first choice but I couldn't find a set. Found these new at a dealer and snatched them up. I figured that I could always get them powder coated down the road.

nicely done!
Thanks.
 
#37 ·
Thanks. Get the spoiler and get us updated pics on your setup. I can't wait see the wheels on it.
 
#41 ·
Lookin good dex. Got any pictures of those rear calipers?
 
#42 ·
#43 ·
Just saw your thread Dex , keep,it onman , real nice ride mate .

Sub d
 
#44 ·
Thanks. I appreciate it. You should start one as well esp with those nice calipers you have.
 
#45 ·
Well , might be an idea , but I wont have much to tell on my side beside brake stuff .
 
#46 ·
The process starts somewhere. At least it will be a way you could look back on the progress you made.
 
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