Hello,

I have just recently discovered this site and thought what a great way to get to know some other Nissan Maxima owners. Maybe we can swap horror stories? LOL!!

well I'm the proud owner of a 1981 Maxima and a 1984 Maxima.

The 81 is stock while the 84 is heavily modified.

the 84 is a work in progress but completely drivable. It has the L28 engine and 5 sp manual from a '82 280ZX installed. I put an early 280Z head on the L28 block as well.

I am having a problem with the fuel system though. the car seems to stutter with the revs up high off the line. I think this is because the car picks up such speed it actually starves the fuel pump maybe?? It won't do it if the fuel tank is full (must be 1/2 to 2/3 empty) and thats what leads me to this conclusion. I'm not sure, maybe someone has experienced this and can tell me how to correct it?

Anyways, that's about it for me. Gotta run.

Cheers!

PK

 

I have a very nice '81. There are not too many of us around! Anyway, welcome aboard, send me same pics of your rides. Send to rwhitman@geaf.com.

Sorry, I don't know what is causing your fuel problem. Connect to the link below to see my '81. Robert in K.C.

 

Hey, I'll say nice ride! Yours is EXACTLY the same as mine, color and all! Mine is in pretty rough shape though, rusty as can be. The '84 is in way better shape not quite as good as your 81 but close. I'll see what I can do about getting some pics.

Cheers!

PK

 

nice to see another owner of 1st gen.
i was also interested in swapping L28e engine to my 84 max wagon, how did you do it? how expensive was it for the whole project? did u install the 280zx turbo? and how fast does it really runs?

and for ur fuel problem, u can try changing ur fuel pump, or fuel filter, and check the fuel injectors also.

 

PK - I have seen very few of these 1st gens around and was wondering what some of the differences are to the 4 years it was made. The obvious change was the new egg-crate grill and new tail lights for the '83-'84's. Only the '81's said "810" on the trunk. Leather came in later years. Since you own the 2 versions, I thought you would be the expert at knowing the differences between them. What do you know (or what does anyone know?)

 

Actually, they are very, very similar. The tail lights and the *** end basically are the same or at least I can't see a difference actually. My 84 came with an electronic dash and leather interior which I replaced with the analog gauges (basically what comes in the 81). I kept the leather seating though :c)

The '81 is refered to as an 810, the '84 is refered to as a 910 as per the owner manuals. The 910 is nowhere to be found on my '84 (just Nissan Maxima) like the 810 was on the the trunk of the '81.

The front of the car is slightly different, different grille and the body of the car seems to have a slightly different curve to it?? if that is how one would describe it? or maybe I'm just imagining it, lol.
I also removed the stock hood ornament and replaced it with a flat one from an '86 Maxima, I like them better, less drag and more aerodynamic you know, LOL!!

The side mirror on the '84 passenger side is one of those dang-fangled "objects appear farther away than they actually are" type side mirror, the driver side one is normal.

Window controls are slightly different for the power windows. On my '81 the window controls are on the center console (I think the two back windows have their own controls as well - I know for sure the passenger window did not have it's own control on the door), in the '84 each window has it's own control as well as the center console (except for the driver window for some strange reason, it's control is on the door only).

That's really all I have noticed. All the other controls, gauges, radio/stereo, sunroof, interior, exterior is all the same as the '81.

I will see what I can do about maybe getting some pictures of different angles and posting them up on the web somewhere....

Cheers!

PK

 

That would be awesome to see comparison photos of the 2 cars, parked side by side, front and back. You may learn a thing or two about them. The 2 cars should have different tail light lenses (shape and backup-up lense size.) I like the '81-'82 lense a bit better. I am sure the front ends are identicle, except for the grille and hood ornament. Should use the same front fenders? I wonder what else we may learn? Maybe different trim? Or bumpers?

Why did you not like the digital dash? Is the talking in-dash woman the same voice? She just has more to say? Can't wait to hear!

 

I went out this at lunch and snapped a few shots of the Max. These show the badges and details of my '81:

 

More:

 

[B]More:

 

Here's a few pic's of the '84 --

Here's the interior dash. This used to be the electronic model but I changed it back to the analog style gauges.

 

Here is a shot of the center console, you can see the manual 5 speed that was added from the 280ZX.

 

Front of the car...

 

Back of the car....

 

Side profile....

 

another shot....

 

more pics....

 

And last but not least.....

 

Yes, now that I look at the backends I see the difference in the tail lights, very subtle but you can see it!!

Cheers!

Recordings of the "autopilot", as I like to call her, coming up as soon as I get my hands on a portable tape recorder!!

Cheers!

PK

 

We were doing some testing today. The car tops out at approx. 210 KM/H?? We had to guess because we buried the stock speedometer at 160 KM/ @ 3450 RPM, we went to about 6000 RPM so we have no idea how fast we were going but everything was a blur....

We will see about doing some time trials at the local 1/4 mile race track when they open up. I'm curious to see what she'll do!

 

Here is a small list of what I have done to the 1984 Maxima:

ENGINE --

1982 280ZX L28 2.8L - F54, flat top pistons, rebuilt 06/2000
1976 280Z N42 Head rebuilt 06/2000

This block/head combination runs at 10.5:1 compression and requires 94 octane petrol to avoid the 'pinging'.

TRANSMISSION --

5 speed manual Borg-Warner T5 with a 4.11 rear diff.

TIRES --

15" rims with 215R60/15 Goodyear Tires

FUTURE PLANS --

adding the turbo and reconfiguring the fuel injection system, possibly go with the triple carb kit.
Bodywork.

Total cost to date (rebuild 06/2000 to present): $3500.00 CDN

Cheers!

PK

 

I would still love to see a comparison photo with both your '81 and your '84 side-by-side. A front and back image to compare. I noticed you removed the badging from your trunk lid. I don't recall a "nissan" badge on a grille, did you add that to the grille?

Your interior on your '84 looks identical to my '81 (except you have leather and that stick shift and the window and voice controls on the center console. I have all 4 window controls on the center console but not on the front doors.) My interior is that cantelope color. Even the steering wheel is the same, the little badge in the middle of it is identicle except mine says "Datsun" and yours says "Nissan".

 

I'm just curious as to how to view the pictures PK_Zone posted, thanks, Chris

 

Waht kind of times did you get at the 1/4?

SuDZ

 

Hmmm, I'm rebuilding my website so the links are probably broken. I'll try and get them fixed tonight.

Cheers!

PK

 

Or if you did the pics as an attachment on here they will not show up right.

SuDZ

 

nothing is posting

 

He might have attached them back when the feature was still working. Since it has been turned off you will now not see anythign at all.

SuDZ

 

My website is somewhat up and running. If you would like to view the photos of the car you can come here --

Click Here

Cheers!

PK

 

So you going turbo with your '84 max? I'm about to do the same thing with my '77 280Z, I'm droping the block, head, and the turbo into my car and i'm using the '77 intake manifold, wiring harness, ECU, and distrubuter, along with the '83 Trottle body, injectors, and a hybrid of the '77 and '83 AFMs. I'm using the 83 automatic tranny and '77 rearend for now but I plan on using a 280ZX 5-speed tranny and a 3.7 LSD from a 87-89 300ZX turbo later when I get some more money to spend on the project.

BTW, you might wanna lower you CR before you add that turbo, the p90 head will help you a little but I'm not sure if it'll lower it enough. I know of a few guys running a 9-something compression ratio but they have built l28s with o-ringed blocks and forged pistons.
If you wana go the carbed route, dont rule out dual SU carbs. I know of a guy who runs a desiel crank, shaved dished pistons, 240Z rods, a shaved head(n42?), full port and polish, hot cam, headers, and some slightly modified SU carbs and he runs 12.8s with slicks and very low 13s on street tires.

Good luck and have fun I know I will.

 

Well, good luck to you and let's see what our cars look like in the summer Things are progressing rather slowly right now, not a good time money wise right now for spending on the car have to pay off all those X-mas bills haha! So perhaps when spring comes we'll be able to start again full swing and hopefully have some major work completed before the end of summer.

Cheers!

PK

 

when you guys are done please send your car specs and pics over to customrides.net and vqpower.com because this sounds like some wicked custom jobs.

 

haha 15" 200sx rims. nice. I used to have the 200sx turbo rims on my 510.