Striker2237

So I got a loaded 1995 maxima for free, just have to go pick it up from my grandparents place in FL and its mine. It has 80k miles and a blown plenium gasket or dead IACM or (hopefully) just a few dead vacuum lines giving it one heck of a rough 400 rpm idle that gets happy at higher rpms last time I drove it (last summer). It's a peppy little thing and I quite like it, much different from driving a TQ monster stroker V8 and is very well behaved on the roads. I came here to get more info on the car and in particular its characteristics and engine (like how is this motor put together? valve size, spring type, journal size, main bolt number, piston material, egr or no egr, how revvy etc......) so I can give it some light mods (CAI, exhaust, nitrous and a tune if engine permits it, simple stuff like that) to make it more fun to drive about in as my daily car. Planing on doing a bunch of visual mods and changes to make it interesting as my truck is a sleeper and 90% of people who don't know about cars or don't look closely think its a base model stocker! Overall I'm looking forward to getting this thing running is great shape and having fun with minor and visual mods and my first use of NOS

Cotozic

You definitely want to look into the all motor section of the forum to see the engine builds, bolt-ons, etc. If you're interested in forced induction, check out that section to. Just search for builds. There are a lot of members who document their entire build process here on the forums. They'll normally tell you what you need and don't need, as well as what works best. There's a lot to be learned here! Enjoy.

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

Lucky for you that you have the 1995 model. Tuning it gives you the most options like ECU compared to all the other years 96-99, which are 99% the same car. In fact, there are many threads here where guys with 99, 97 etc Maximas "downgrade" their ECU to a 95 just to take advantage of the greater aftermarket support.

Check out JWT and their ECU which will raise your redline from 6500 to a screaming 7200 rpm;

http://www.jimwolftechnology.com

If you add a JWT ECU with an 00VI (variable intake manifold from a 2000-2001 Maxima), your top end will be screaming. Don't know if adding NOS to that would be a good mix

The infiniti I30 from 1996 to 99, like my car, is the same car too, just with added snob factor. Helps with looking for stuff at the junkyard

Your motor is a VQ30DE. Wear it like a badge of honor

Welcome!

CS_AR

The mod that gave me (and many others on the org) the most bang for the buck was a Warpspeed Performance Y-Pipe. We have members in the Northeast who have coated their Y-pipes with ceramic primer and paint who I'm sure will chime in with additional tips.

http://www.warpspeedperformance.com/

Check out the How-To section.

https://maxima.org/forums/4th-genera...tall-pics.html

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Put the performance y pipe on it, give it a complete tune up, change all the fluids etc. might want to give the suspension a good look, maybe replace the struts and shocks, check the brakes, make sure the FL sun and age hadn't dried the tires out.

Then just drive the **** out if it and you've got a vehicle ready for anything.

theWalkinator

It is a 20 years old car, even mileage is kind of low but not worth a lot of money so if I were you I won't spend money on any performance mods, just do regular maintenance, keep the car in good running condition and enjoy the ride.

Striker2237

All on the table already, I always make sure suspension and brake are at or above oem specs for the sake of safety, fluids I normally use insist of royal purple for diffs and oil and Valvoline for everything else. Probably just going to weld myself up a whole new exhaust thats more mid rpm optimized.

Striker2237

Thanks for the welcome! Its great to know that I've stumbled upon a 2nd awesome to play with engine lol! I will see if I can pick up one of those variable intakes before I head down to pick the car up......I can't believe that they had variable intakes that early! Really impressive! Would my ecu be able to control it or is it controlled by something else?

CS_AR

Is your Maxima a 5-speed or Automatic?

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

You would need an RPM switch like the VAFC2, summit, e-manage etc. E-Manage is a bit over-kill, but it also doubles as an auxiliary controller to tune the motor. Also you need a vacuum store to operate the 00VI.

The all motor section has the info, a good read;

https://maxima.org/forums/all-motor/...swap-info.html

You will also find that quite are few are doing VQ35DE swaps now. That's going really hard core.

Striker2237

I probably won't swap anything in, vaccum reservoir and controller seem simple enough though! Probably gonna get that y pipe though, seems worth it. Is's an auto unfortunately

Striker2237

So i've done some reading on here and on other sites and I'm quite pleased with the engine I have here! From what I understand a V6 in tuner circles is akin to a large displacement V8 in muscle circles in that it is easy to get excellent power out of them and they are strong and reliable. I am intrigued by the fact this engine uses two cams and how cam swaps would work in this sort of a setup. Another thing that interests me is the fact that there are 4 valves per cylinder! Can someone chime in what the total valve curtain area is? I would like to know just how much potential this thing has......and if its possible to install different (bigger) valves in a 4 valve setup. However the thing that would help me the most is someone stoping to explain to me what is the main way to build one of these up? Please bear in mind I'm used to dealing with 350ci plus V8s with pushrod actuated valves that you normally change cams in and replace valves and port to make power with.....I'm not sure what path to take with engines like the VQ30DE (wow, even this engine's name sounds high tech.....)

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

Download your factory service manual (FSM) from the links that CS_AR provided in his sig.

also, you should do quite a bit of reading in the advanced performance->all motor section.

Search for some dynos. Some people have reached a very impressive 200 hp to the wheels on their VQ30DE NA builds. If you were to dyno your car now you would be at about 160ish whp.

Oh, and the VQ30DE is 4 valves per cylinder with DUAL overhead cams. And outstanding reliability to boot. You'll see members here putting 300 to 400K miles on their motors. These aren't fanatics...they just do regular oil changes and other regular maintenance/tune-ups. It's a great motor.

The VQ motors were on the Ward's auto 10 best motors list for the longest time compared to any other manufacturer.

Yeah, I'm a bit of a VQ fan

Striker2237

Thanks! I was about to ask where I could get the FSM, and I see why you are a fan....this thing is really cool and 200 to the ground is not bad at all for something this size. It would have the almost same hp per L as my engine without going to the extremes that I did....impressive....

pMax6r

When you have time, can we see a picture of your new baby?

Striker2237

here ya go, two dents that kinda **** me off but that's it blemish wise.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...size=852%2C639

theWalkinator

Same color as mine, better shape than mine, I like the wheels a lot.

martyl45

I hear you, as I am also pleased with my 95 max gle as well. Still at 58k miles, though the tranny holding 3rd gear is a bit annoying when slowing to a red light that just turned green. As Ive read around its normal for the 4th gen, which is a trade off that Im willing to accept. BTW body looks in very good shape.

theWalkinator

Add 6oz of Seafoam trans tune, run through all gears, run couple of tanks of gas, then replace the trans fluid and filter, add another 6oz trans tune with new trans fluid.

Striker2237

Thanks a lot! Like most (all) cars in my family its a bought new vehicle that has never had any incidents. I was gonna ask if those are stock wheels or not.....I can't figure it out myself but I suspect they are not.....

CS_AR

The nice ones just come out of nowhere. You are SO lucky..

I would focus on whatever maintenance needs to occur to get the engine running optimally. You might be surprised how much power your car can deliver when its running at its best. The since you know the car and know the history, you have a nice healthy VQ30DE to build on.

Striker2237

Yep that's why I'm excited to get a car that's a car! I probably won't do much more in the short term than light NOS and full standard maintenance as I put a huge amount into my truck just recently, kinda dry right now.

CS_AR

Do you remember the 150 MPH Challenge on the "Top Gear" episode in the following picture?

Striker2237

Yeah! that one was a good one!

CS_AR

Your Maxima has more in common with the Q45 on that show than any other car in the picture.

Remember when they turned on the gas and it slowed down? The stock car would have easily met the challenge without gassing by just turning off the governor. All they did was confuse the ECU that refused to allow the engine to burn the extra fuel.

The Q45 community (and I know many) thought the show had lost their mind.
Most of the Q45 owners I know (myself included) run specially built ECUs that provide (e.g. Stage II and Stage III) settings for changing the air/fuel ratios and have the governor disabled. It really takes an ECU that is tuned to what you are trying to do to deliver the full benefit.

You are lucky that you have a 95 model. You have some cool ECU options.

DW is providing some good advice in the post below about the JWT ECU.

Striker2237

Wait wait wait, does this thing have a electronic speed limiter?

CS_AR

Thing is your car or the JWT ECU?. One thing to note is our club does not tolerate street racing.

The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a good club for drivers. Usually each SCCA chapter has AutoX driver training classes at beginning of each season.

SCCA can be a lot of fun.

Striker2237

Okay now you lost me......whats with the street racing reference? I am at a drag strip when I'm doing any 1/4 mile pulls and I don't bother with tracks as my truck can't turn fast at all compared to a car....I don't like any sort of electronic interference (except well tuned ABS) in my car so that's why I asked if it has a limiter or not.

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

Since you have a GLE you probably don't have a limiter. Car manufacturers limit the top speed through ecu depending on what tires the car came with OEM from the factory.

If you had a base model Maxima GXE, there would have been a limiter at about 112 to 117 mph.

flynlr

iTrader: (2)

1995 GXE with the convenience package ie Keyless entry and more do not have the limiter.

CS_AR

I just didn't want to come across (e.g. get banned) for promoting illegal speeding on streets -- that's all..

The speed limiter appears to depend on model that are others are pointing out.

Striker2237

Oh, ok well that makes perfect sense. Speeding is bad and a great way to get pulled over and lose way more time than you would have saved. Mine is a loaded one so I can assume it doesn't have one?

CS_AR

Check out this thread for information on how to determine GXE, SE, or GLE model.

https://maxima.org/forums/4th-genera...tml#post706590

Striker2237

Thanks for the list! From what I can tell the car is a GLE but with cloth seats.....or its an GXE with all options.....great...now I wish it was here so I could tell!

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

Cloth seats and many options (Bose, moonroof) is a fully loaded GXE. Like flynir pointed out, you have no limiter.

Striker2237

Oh! Okay cool, kinda disappointed that its not a loaded top trim but its really still cool with all the options available for playing with the engines.

asand1

iTrader: (1)

Luckily what we call standard is considered optional on most cars.

AC, cruise, tape deck/CD, power locks, power windows, all standard. Anything else is just gravy.

Sent from my XT1060 using Maxima

CRiME

iTrader: (21)

This is true. I was looking for a car for my dad last year, and I found a 2001 Accord. I checked out the interior and the first thing I saw was a manual window handle.

I thought - how on earth could my old '95 GLE have power windows, digital climate control, keyless entry, heated seats, and this '01 Accord requires you to muscle the windows up and down?

Passed on that accord immediately and got him a '99 GXE. Runs great so far

Striker2237

Nice, I guess some cars are just better equipped lol! I'm kinda spoiled because my family always buys fully loaded top trim cars though.....when my friends first started driving I thought it was weird their cars didn't have leather interiors! Fail right!

CS_AR

Actually I prefer cloth seats for driving a car in AutoX. I don't slide around on cloth seats like I do on leather when AutoXing..