Infiniti Q50 LED DIY Conversion

I have never seen a vehicle with so many LEDs already in place and frankly done very well.

The Q50 uses LEDs for:

• Low Beams
• High Beams - Believe it or not - it's just 1 LED
• Day Time Running Lights
• Fog Lights
• Front Blinkers
• Side Markers
• Side Turn Signal in Mirrors
• Brake Lights
• High Mounted Brake Light
• Backup Light
• Front Passenger Map Lights
• Outside Handle Light

This leave regular bulbs for:

Installing K&N Drop in Air Filters into the Q50

Don't do it!!! K&N filters do nothing but allow more silicon /dust / sand into the engine, they turn the engine oil darker sooner and wear out the engine components quicker. I have been an idiot all these years and have fallen to marketing hype. Bravo K&N. I removed all K&N filters from all vehicles last year. Not only has is my oil lasting longer before turning darker, but Blackstone Labs Oil analysis on the Q50 and my GT-R have revealed that the silicon has gone down considerable.

Read this: https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest1.htm
and this: http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/kn-vs-oem-filter.html

and feel free to draw your own conclusions. As for me engine life is more important than 2-3 more HP at the top of the curve near red line, which is impractical.


Don't waste your time and money, simply buy paper filters the Q50 HEV or non-turbo engine gets no benefit from these these terrible things.

I have been using K&N Air Filters for the last 10 years in all of our cars. In most cases such as the G35 Coupe, EX35, and GT-R, I have found that using the drop-in air filter (like this) is much better than any after-market intake piping + conical air filter combination (like this).

I have tired, compared and contrasted the "intake piping+filter" on the G35 Coupe, Pathfinder, Altima, and GT-R over very long period of time to give them a fair shake, but in most cases, and in all cases of Infiniti cars, the net effect of using an aftermarket air intake + filter has been:

- Engine sound and exhaust sound gets louder increasing the perception of more HP. The reason for this is really because all the baffles are lost by swapping out the stock intake.
- Most of them lose the ability to "ram air" into the engine intake manifold, which the Q50 is actually designed to do.  This is of course unless the aftermarket pipes and air filter drop past the radiator (often called "long ram air intake") and come just behind the front grill. If not, then HP is lost rather than gained.
- Most of these after-market ones (especially the shiny ones that sit completely in the engine called "short ram air intake") soak up more heat than the stock plastic piping and thus make the air hotter going into the car, which actually reduces HP and mpg.
- If the filters are positioned just behind the grill, then get dirtier quicker defeating the purpose of longer lasting filters, end up getting completely soaked in rain, the car wash and ice/snow. Worst case for me has been a carwash in winter, where a filter was wet and froze in seconds, denying air to the engine.
- Most of them do not have an alternate emergency by-pass opening so that if the above were to happen, they could let out the water before it gets to the engine and also serve as an alternate intake for air.

Nitrogen Fill into Q50 Tires

#1 Myth about filling Nitrogen in Tires: It does not expand and contract as much, and does not leak out of tires, so there will be no low tire pressure warning light.

Wrong!

Air is about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon, 0.1% carbon dioxide.

Specific Heat Capacity is the amount of heat that is needed to raise the temperature of volume of a substance without changing state (Remember you Chem-101 class?)

Air has a specific heat capacity of 1.01 kJ/kg K 

Oxygen has a specific heat capacity of 0.91 kJ/kg K 

Nitrogen has a specific heat capacity of 1.03 kJ/kg K 

Since air has only about 21% oxygen, by using the just nitrogen, the change in capacities are only 0.02 kJ/kg K. Thus Nitrogen fill tires will still expand and contract almost as much as air filled, just a slight difference, immeasurable really. 

Generally, 10 degree F in temperature change results in 1 PSI change in tire pressure -  Air or Nitrogen.

So why put in Nitrogen?

My reasons for using Nitrogen:

Photo-shoot of the Malbec Black Q50

It was an overcast weekend weekend so I decided to take some quick shots of the Q50 between running errands. Not too many words for this post. It was definitely more compliant than taking pictures of a 2 & 5 year old.

Enjoy the pictures! You can click on any picture to see the high resolution version.

Hello (Wink!)

Safety & Driver Aids in the new Infiniti Q50 Deluxe Technology Package

Back in college and also at work, I often have to write whitepapers that summarize and explain a specific topic or concept. The objective is usually simple - explain some complex technical aspect in simpler terminology and relate it to real life. In the same spirit is something that I have actually enjoyed researching and writing about as it combined my two passions - automobiles and complex computational systems.

The recently released 2014 Infiniti Q50 comes with some very high-tech systems that aid the driver in maintaining safety while driving. One might even say that it is an evolutionary (not revolutionary as these concepts have existed for a while) step closer towards "self-driving vehicles" (save the Google Car). By using multiple analog sensors., interlinking various vehicle systems, performing complex computations in fractions of a second, and controlling the main driving systems, the computers on the Q50 are able to produce the best recourse in order to avoid an accident, which is always better than protection in an accident, which is also important.

The manuals are rather complicated and disjointed, therefore I have tried to simplify and organize the information as best I can. If I have made some errors in my understanding I welcome clarification on any topic.

Let's examine the systems that Infiniti (& Nissan) have had standard on most vehicles until today: