Okay, so I didn't modify my car, but last week I went from this:



To this:



The first thing I did was purchase new tires (HANKOOK VENTUS V12 EVO K110 XL) from Tirerack, and then got the car tinted with Virginia legal tint.

Next on the list are:

1) K&N air filter
2) Qwiketz intake elbow (will do before/after dyno)
3) Mina Gallery 1.5lb pulley (dyno once again)
4) Mina Gallery exhaust
5) Magnaflow high flow cats
6) Magnaflow X-Pipe

Stay tuned...

I dont blame you, mini vans don't have much power.

Congrats!

Enjoy the new to you STR.

Why not just drive it for a while and see how you like it in stock form?
It's no slouch, at least in a straight line ...

If you decide you don't like it then it's a lot easier to sell a stock car than a "hot rod" version.

Very nice! Was it expensive changing the colour of the house too?

Nice! Love the color! I didn't think there were any 2004 STRs though?

looks great! cant wait to see what you do to it in the long haul!


good luck!

Lol. Still have the mini-van. The pathfinder is my offroad fun vehicle that's in the driveway b/c I'm working on it.

Thanks! I am enjoying it... a LOT!

Very true, but I like to modify things... motorcycles, cars, IKEA furniture, houses.

Nope, the original pic was whitewashed by the sunlight.

Thanks!

Thanks! I'll be sure to post my dyno results/mod updates.

Welcome to the club! *secret handshake* As my Nissan friends always say: "Enjoy the ride."

Looks good...I'd say skip the Mina exhaust and get new struts and springs...If you go with the pulley, might as well swap out belts while you're at it...

If I were you, if you don't know when they were replaced, replace the DCCV, coolant expansion tank and lug nuts...

Congrats, welcome to the club. Like someone mentioned earlier enjoy the Str as it is then gradually move on up. That's my take, but for sure skip out on the Mina exhaust, and get yourself a low temp thermostat when you upgrade to 1.7lb pulley sold by Mina not 1.5lb.

There's debate to that...

Sorry I must be out of the loop on the debate about its use.....sooo whats the whole fuss about it? Its cheaper than OEM thermostat sold by Jag dealer plus its benefit of being a low temp thermostat, whats there not to like about it?

Thanks.....

Is the OEM unit known to fail? If you need a replacement it isn't a bad idea to save some money...On the otherhand if you're doing it for the preceived notion that your coolant is going to run cooler and you'll gain power, it's a waste of money...

I won't get into the cons, but I'll get into the extemely small window of opportunity of the "pros" of the low temps...

The fact is, on a warm day, once warmed up there is no difference between the low or OEM thermo...This is because both units fully open and are going to flow the coolant at normal operating temp...Only difference between the two is when the thermos open, which is when the car IS warming up...Once you're warmed up, both are fully open...

As everyone should know, you shouldn't be doing WOT runs until you're somewhat warmed up...After one WOT run on a warm day and perhaps a few on a cold day depending how warmed up you are and how long you go WOT, you're pretty much fully warmed up and either thermos will open...

There are only two opportunies where any benefits can take place with the low-temp...
#1 You're close to fully warmed up and you go WOT
#2 The car is parked for a while and has cooled down slighty, you start it up and go WOT

In either case, you'll only benefit from the lower coolant temps for mere seconds during WOT thanks to the super hot S/C that ensures it will open either the OEM or low temp thermo at some point during WOT...

Agreed - I just fitted a low-temp stat and expected to see the temp gauge steady out at less than the usual halfway point. Not so. It seems as though the max temp is actually controlled by the rad & fan. Like Bacardi says, all that really happens is that the thermostat opens a little earlier after startup.

Kinda disappointing, I had high hopes of running a little cooler and reducing the pressure in the coolant hoses.

Thanks Bacardi , what you just detailed about the pros of the Low Temp Thermostat is dead on. Thats the same thing the Jag techs told me and I wasn't really expecting high results from day 1 since I installed it. My main reason I bought It was as a cheaper price replacement and the small added benefit of being a low temp thermostat.

My main concern is has anyones Low temp thermostat from Eurotoys failed on them? IF its been reported by other users that the low temp thermostat has indeed failed on them I would have rather paid the extra and bought the OEM with peace of mind.

Nice and in my favorit Jaguar color too. and since you like Nissans. here's a pic of my 05 Frontier with bumper and tire carrier I just finished building. Heading to Moab Utah in the morning to Rock Crawl with 100+ other Nissans.

Thanks! And you suck! (I mean that in the nicest possible way) I'm too far from Moab but would love to go someday. Have fun!

Congrats! British racing green, wire mesh grill, it doesn't get more UK than that

That looks like Jaguar Racing Green, not British Racing Green (which is darker). Door sticker will have the code (JRG is HGZ aka 1957).

Michael Star - Plenty of 2004 STRs were made (I have one lol).