blackmaxima88

...so I figured I'd ask the experts. I'm looking for a few things that I'll probably have trouble finding for the Maxima (still unnamed). this won't be for a while though, cos the car needs a little bit of work. if I can't get my 1500 RPM idle back down to 750, I'm gonna lose all my patience (it's low as it is) and have my mechanic do it. I also have an exhaust leak, but because PA is becoming a bunch of d!cks and starting to enforce emissions testing, I'll need to have that fixed. then it's body work and a paint job. I can do the body work though.

anyway....here are the parts I'm looking for, in no particular order.

(1) ASCD Control Unit. Normal people refer to this as "cruise control". I can probably get one in a junkyard, but should I take my chances?

(2) Sunroof wind deflector, as mine was broken off while I was driving 85 miles an hour down the highway with my friend standing up out of the sunroof. yes, we are bright kids! again, maybe another junkyard part.

(3) Smoked tail lights, or smoked taillight covers. my maxima is black, and I got a set of smoked headlight covers off e-bay for like $20 and they look SWEET!!!! so now to make it complete, I think the smoked tail light covers would look kinda cool too.

(4) a small spoiler in back, nothing too queer or obtrusive, not some god's handle or large steel tower on my trunk that can pick up AM signals from alaska, like you'd see on some honda civic. just something that's small, maybe sits up 1-2", that would complement a 4-door boxy sedan rather nicely. I might even think about another factory spoiler like what's on there now. I have the factory SE package spoiler on the trunk, but it's deformed and doesn't seal right, it's coming apart, so it lets water in. I think when I have the car painted I'll take that spoiler off if I can get a new/better looking one.

(5) these PIAA hyperwhite/superwhite headlights everyone talks about. which is the best route to go? I have the ones you can get at pep boys that were like $35.... they're decent but not exactly the best. what can I expect for pricing?

(6) good fog lights to match the headlights. I have fog lights now that are pretty good but I'd like something a little better looking. as long as my current fog light relay can handle it. it's the original one with the car, except I took the purple aux wire from the relay (wired into the low-beams) and connected it straight to the battery with the main power wire, so that I could use the fog lights regardless of the headlights. the factory relay setup was wired so that you could only use the fog lights with the low-beams, if the headlights were off or the hi-beams were on, the fog lights would shut off. that feature was not staying.

(7) some sort of ground kit, at least for the front end. I used to have the factory underbumper air dam thing but it was deformed too and looked like ****, so I took it off when I put the foglights that are on there now on. it looks pretty good without it there but I think it would look better with something there.

(8) window ventshades, but I'm sure I can special order them from anywhere. I can probably get the sunroof wind deflector with them...

as of now, everything in/on that car is stock, or standard aftermarket replacement. prolly the only person in this forum with an all-stock 2nd gen. I'd like to switch to cone intake, and whatever, to boost performace a bit, the thing is I'm having a lot of trouble with regular accessories catalogs because most of their maxima options start with 3rd gen 89-up. that and the widely-experienced limited funds problem everyone has.

Charles Bisel

• A junkyard would be the best place to get the cruise control device. If you go to the dealer, I'm sure you'll pay through the nose for it. I haven't heard of them failing that often, so I'd check all of the vacuum lines, switches, brake light bulb, etc... before you dish out the money.
  
• Sunroof wind deflector, again, probably the junkyard. You may be able to get that for a reasonable price at the dealership, assuming they still have them, so you might check out there first.
  
• There's nobody that makes smoked taillights for our cars. You could try and get that taillight tint paint, though I don't know how well it holds up against the elements. You may have to touch it up every few months or so. You can get that from most online stores that sell automobile accessories, but beware that it's illegal to do it in PA.
  
• http://www.erebunicorp.com sells nice spoilers for our cars. A BMW M-style spoiler would definitely look the best on our cars. They also have body kits as well. You can order just the front end if you want, but I think it would look best if you got the whole kit.
  
• I'll let Sarin handle the PIAA question, he's the expert at that. As for fogs though, if you're going to get the PIAA headlight bulbs, you should also get the PIAA fogs to match.
  
• You should be able to order the ventshades from any auto parts store, or also check online. I just saw them recently on ebay too. I don't know how good they would look on a four door, boxy car though.

-C-

blackmaxima88

thanks man, I'll check that site out, as for the taillight covers I guess I can do without them, but I want to get the car painted before I get the accessories like that. the car is black now, with a few rust spots and quite a few dents and scratches. I'll probably have it painted the same color, although I'm thinking black with a slight metallic tint to it. one rust spot is coming up from behind that plastic strip on the trunk lid that says "NISSAN MAXIMA", which means there is water getting in. depending on how it looks I might get rid of that strip entirely and get the emblems from a 95 or 96 maxima that says "MAXIMA SE", that might look better.

the thing that worries me is there is a small amount of frame rust underneath, I think I might sand it down some day and see how extensive it is, for now I sprayed some rubber undercoat spray on the underbody but I know that's not going to solve the problem. from what I hear frame rust is a ticking timebomb. I don't think it's that bad though.....

blackmaxima88

I think I also need a catalytic converter, I was on the highway today and the whole time I kept getting that classic telltale "rotten egg" smell, which means one of two things, (a) the battery is wasted, or (b) it's the catalytic converter. seeing as how the battery is 2 months old and it didn't include that pungent eye-watering sulfuric acid smell, and I've had an exhaust leak for a few months now, I am led to believe it's the converter. I know they're not cheap though.

Charles Bisel

Yeah, PA winters really do damage the heck out of these older cars. I've got some rust around the wheel wells, some spot rust on the doors and at that black strip on the trunk you mentioned, and one really annoying rust spot on top of the roof at the windshield on the drivers side. The weatherstripping / trim isn't making full contact there, so water is getting trapped there and causing it to rust. I don't think I have any frame rust though, my car was undercoated by Ziebart after it left the dealer lot. I'm still not sure whether or not I'm going to go ahead and restore it or just drive it till it dies. I'll have to get a body shop to give me a damage assessment first so I know what I'm getting into and whether or not it's worth it.

As for your catalytic converter, the rotten egg smell is caused by an excess sulfur build up because your engine is running too rich. I'm sure it also has something to do with your fast idle. You need to get that taken care of first, otherwise you'll just destroy your new catalytic converter. The smell may go away and you might get lucky and not have to replace it. My car was running rich before I did the tune up and I'd get that smell on occassion. After the tune up the smell went away. As long as you pass emissions testing don't bother replacing it.

-C-

maximase86

iTrader: (24)

Well its a matter of preference....if you do like me, and go the PIAA route, expect to pay for it. At the sametime, you'll reap the benefits come with PIAA's. (Great light quality, 100% DOT legal, some nice coloring). I personally use PIAA Xtreme White 9004 headlights, and I just recently changed my fog lamps to PIAA Super Plasma bulbs. They look really cool at night, they a got a purple, blue, and amber hue to em that changes from position to position. I had Xtreme Whites H3's before which were great too.

The other option is to just get some silverstars or philips cool blue. They aren't as expensive, and they can have nice effects to them. I myself don't think thier light quality can compare, but thats more of an opinion.

One word of caution....don't buy those cheap *** Xenon headlights they offer on ebay. Sure they look cool and blue but the majority of the time, the bulb wattage is rated higher than the wiring harnesses in our cars can handle. Often times, they are also illegal to have because they don't meet DOT SAE requirements, so keep that in mind.

S

blackmaxima88

thanks for the more info.

if you decide to drive that car until it dies, I think you'll be waiting a long LONG time....

blackmaxima88

and yeah, I got a set of the "hyper blue" headlights from pep boys a few years back.... I had them in my 89 Sentra until I wrecked it, then I put the bulbs in the Maxima. they do have a bluish tint to them and they're brighter than standard headlights but not by much. I've definitely seen better. these burned up both wiring harnesses and I ended up replacing them. I'm looking for the real thing now.