'95 Q45 newbie from San Diego

whats up everyone, 
my name is Ira, I'm from San Diego, CA just bought a 1995 Q45 in decent condition. I own a 2009 TSX it's my main toy and DD. 
I'm looking forward to fixing it up and pretty much bought it to learn something new, that I have no idea of, aside from seeing VIP style cars at car shows I really don't know much about the culture.
I bought the car from a friend who needed the money and got it for a steal. I had seen pictures of the President and it pretty much sealed the deal.
I'm on a tight budget and with the strictest of constraints since my main focus will be on my TSX.  
Here's a couple of pics


[URL="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/el_shady/B6DEAD79-B45C-4B03-91CA-FD2E0024E37E-23551-00000F7B1A766814.jpg"][IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/el_shady/B6DEAD79-B45C-4B03-91CA-FD2E0024E37E-23551-00000F7B1A766814.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/el_shady/315A597E-4390-4E91-8311-561D618C123B-23551-00000F7B155D0576.jpg"][IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/el_shady/315A597E-4390-4E91-8311-561D618C123B-23551-00000F7B155D0576.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/el_shady/2BCCFFE7-727F-4469-A621-B33350AE83ED-23551-00000F7B0A41D580.jpg"][IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/el_shady/2BCCFFE7-727F-4469-A621-B33350AE83ED-23551-00000F7B0A41D580.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/el_shady/C9E75A06-0FD5-4FAC-A6D5-B271566CFE5D-23551-00000F7B10B2FFEE.jpg"][IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/el_shady/C9E75A06-0FD5-4FAC-A6D5-B271566CFE5D-23551-00000F7B10B2FFEE.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/el_shady/9F1B91BB-6368-4E14-830A-01A415B25271-23551-00000F7B0DB9701F.jpg"][IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/el_shady/9F1B91BB-6368-4E14-830A-01A415B25271-23551-00000F7B0DB9701F.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
 
I already reserved the following parts at Panda Garage

 [URL]http://www.pandagarage.com/products/images/nissan/g50/index.htm[/URL]

minus the headlights and taillights. He doesn't remember if he sold them or if he misplaced them, so he will let me know sometime this week. 
(Also a steal)
But this weekend I will start with minor tune up and making sure it will run well enough to make it from point A to point B, or my case make it from the body shop, to the upholstery shop and the mechanic before and in between the two. 
depending on how long it takes me to source the possible missing parts I'm shooting for 7 months to a year to have the car with a stock conversion as completely as possible done, painted, upholstered, replaced or repaired broken interior parts and pieces, and without any major mechanical issues.
If there is any tribal knowledge, must-do's, must not-do's things please share, I'm all ears

respectfully 
Ira Fouquette

Sup man, can't wait to see a president conversion rolling around SD :biggthumpup:

welcome to the g50 fam. i'm not gonna claim to be the resident g50 guru, even if it is true, but i know a thing or 2 about a thing or 2.

let's start off with the bad news: if you're on a budget you may want to get out while you can. these are great cars, but they're finicky. they cost a lot to maintain, and if your car's maintenance has been neglected you have some catching up to do. since you have a 94-96 you have avoided the plastic timing chain guides, which is good news. the injectors are still somewhat prone to failure as well as the knock sensors. these are located under the intake manifold which is connected via ~20 now very brittle hoses. if you have to go in there expect to spend some stacks to get back out. i spent ~$6500 between parts and labor on the motor in my first q just to get it in tip top shape, granted it was a '90 and i tackled eveything in one swoop. the transmissions are also prone to fail, and an oem rebuilt unit will set you back a couple grand. the cause of failure is insufficient cooling, so an external cooler is a must asap if yours is still good (write up on my blog, link in sig). tranny flushes are debatable but the g50 community cosigns bg transmission flushes w/ in pan filter replacment. as you have already found out, a lot of the interior plastics have also become brittle, so you'll spend some time at the yards finding misc. pieces. good news is they're not super rare and the used parts usually come fairly cheap.

the good news is the cars are awesome. they share a lot of design with the nissan sports cars and have a lot of interchangable parts. they drive different than the other platforms and look like slugs when they're dumped. the motor has power on tap, although it is geared down a bit.

the president conversion is pretty basic, although there is some fab involved with the one you posted. you will need to make brackets for the hood latch and lights, and the fenders will have a gap to the top of the rail in the front. the only way around this is to buy a front clip and transfer some metal (cut and weld), or source the missing bracketry from japan (not sure how feasible this is, welding involved). you should also familiarize yourself with the variations. bumpers, lights, grill, hood, fenders, and trim all changed in the 11 year run of the g50 pres.

Yeah what he said OG covered it all :biggthumpup:[QUOTE=OG;475139]welcome to the g50 fam. i'm not gonna claim to be the resident g50 guru, even if it is true, but i know a thing or 2 about a thing or 2.

let's start off with the bad news: if you're on a budget you may want to get out while you can. these are great cars, but they're finicky. they cost a lot to maintain, and if your car's maintenance has been neglected you have some catching up to do. since you have a 94-96 you have avoided the plastic timing chain guides, which is good news. the injectors are still somewhat prone to failure as well as the knock sensors. these are located under the intake manifold which is connected via ~20 now very brittle hoses. if you have to go in there expect to spend some stacks to get back out. i spent ~$6500 between parts and labor on the motor in my first q just to get it in tip top shape, granted it was a '90 and i tackled eveything in one swoop. the transmissions are also prone to fail, and an oem rebuilt unit will set you back a couple grand. the cause of failure is insufficient cooling, so an external cooler is a must asap if yours is still good (write up on my blog, link in sig). tranny flushes are debatable but the g50 community cosigns bg transmission flushes w/ in pan filter replacment. as you have already found out, a lot of the interior plastics have also become brittle, so you'll spend some time at the yards finding misc. pieces. good news is they're not super rare and the used parts usually come fairly cheap.

the good news is the cars are awesome. they share a lot of design with the nissan sports cars and have a lot of interchangable parts. they drive different than the other platforms and look like slugs when they're dumped. the motor has power on tap, although it is geared down a bit.

the president conversion is pretty basic, although there is some fab involved with the one you posted. you will need to make brackets for the hood latch and lights, and the fenders will have a gap to the top of the rail in the front. the only way around this is to buy a front clip and transfer some metal (cut and weld), or source the missing bracketry from japan (not sure how feasible this is, welding involved). you should also familiarize yourself with the variations. bumpers, lights, grill, hood, fenders, and trim all changed in the 11 year run of the g50 pres.[/QUOTE]

Thanks a lot for all the insight and help OG.
I think I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and that I probably instinctively jumped into this project head first and not knowing how deep the deep end of this pool really is.  
Hopefully I'm in better shape than what I fear.

ok so I cleaned everything out of the car, washed it, removed old decals... pretty much tried to make it look as clean as possible. Took me about two hours especially getting out over five dollars in change between the seats and all kinds of crazy stuff from straws to wrappers and hair pins. 
Did the well overdue oil change, and when I say over due, the viscosity was that of cold almost frozen Hershey's chocolate syrup. 
Need to replace front brakes and do the injectors, fuel rails, coils, for sure, so far.
Also the speed sensor most likely is out, which causes it to feel like P/S is out and the traction control light to turn on. Nvrmnd found the TCS button LOL... :/
three windows don't roll down, the sunroof doesn't open, and the pass door doesn't look, unlock.
need to check fog light fuse or possibly both burned out.
need to replace 1 brake light bulb. <---(DONE)
Everything else works great, radio, A/C, power seats, seat heaters, power steering wheel, CD changer, the antenna rolls up and down pretty much all in good shape so far.

I'll be headed to pick up the parts for my conversion up next week and to the body shop straight after that. Hopefully my tail lights and headlights come in on time too.
fingers crossed.

Ok so far, so good... I hope.
found the injectors and knock sensor. 
Python injectors remanufactured injectors for $46 each plus $12 CORE $568 (almost twice as much of what I paid for the car)
knock sensor $5.50
After cleaning up the interior I do not need to replace any switches or panels or plastic pieces. What needs to be done will be fixed at upholstery shop.
Just waiting for Friday now to get the ball rolling on the conversion.