I was looking at the engine compartment in my 84 and it hit me (there is a lot of wasted space in there.) So I started to wonder......

What if I mount a 375hp chevy 327ci engine and tranny in there. I think it would be fairly easy to do with some customized brackets a custom drive shaft and a rear end from some old monte-carlo or something.

it would have a lot of would be racers looking like this

 

GO FO IT!!!!! if u got the skillz and the $ it would be so cool

 

They do it often in Z's. I think it's very feasible and you might be able to use parts Z's use to make it work.

S

 

dude that would be so sick.

 

It would be awesome to see how it would come out. that would be a serious ricer killer if it works

 

Well, I have to say that I do not like V8's in z-cars, 810's, or Maxima's. To me they are six only cars. I don't even like the SR conversions done to the Z-cars, it takes the character of the car away to me. There is also so much you can do with a L-series.

But, yes you should be able to. the only issue that would be different from the Z-cars is the engine mount positions.

If it were me, I would see about getting the engine from a Infinity Q45.
TWIN-TURBO INFINITY V8 CONVERSION

Still, given the 1st gens limited appeal, I don't expect a rush of 910 V8 conversions...So, you could have something very original and it should stay that way...

 

Im not exactly sure of what a 910 Maxima
But i know what a 910 Bluebird is and i think they might be the same thing

If so their quite popular over here and people put all kinds of engines in them from rotaries, FJ20's, VG30et's, all kinds of V8's and even RB series engines

They were raced over here and had Z18 turbo engines huge body kits and were bloody fast

 

a v8 swap in a first gen sound be alomst exactly like a 280z v8 swap...but why 327?

most of the 280z take a 350, the accual size isnt any different but your bores are bigger and i dont see why you should short you self on power and compatability with other parts...therea alot more inexpencive 350 parts than there are 327 parts...and not to mension theres something like 1 billion 350 blocks made by chevrolet alone, then add in aftermarket companies that make their own engine blocks...i mean come on, no contest

 

hmmm i think the bluebird is equivalent to the altima.

 

The 910 Maxima and 910 Bluebird are the same car, to a point. The other markets like Australia got better engines and better equipment, like cool one-piece headlamps. The market in Australia has always been different than the USA. It seems, in the adopted homeland of the GT-R, that even ordinary saloons are monsters under the hood. Maybe it is because the Australian market, not being controlled by the "big 3" and not having the "American Muscle" segment of the population controlling the buying end reins for so long, had more exposure to the "real" versions of Japanese cars. It could also be that the laws in Australia, were and are, better for getting the best engines and cars into the country. Or the Australians just crave power in any car even if it were a Geo Metro. Whatever the case, the USA has always gotten the short end of the stick until now...
But, the real factor for much of the USA was and is, that a car just has to be nice and go from point A to B. Most Americans don't care if the car is fast, just as long as it can go on the freeway. That would explain some of why the USA never got the good versions of the Maxima (and why a Scion will sell here)

In the USA, the 910’s were luxury cars with the L24E in-line six. It made somewhere around 120+ to the rear in stock form, and in 81 the L24E got downsized connecting rods, that again will tell you what the 910’s market segment was in the early 80’s. Most of them have automatics, and that should tell you about the target market for the 910. There are still a fair amount of 910's running around the USA, but a vast majority by now are in the scrap yards (just a guess). I have seen a few nice 910’s in my travels, but most are clapped out (not really trash level, but you get the feeling that it is just un-maintained) on their last legs and in need of saving.

HISTORY OF THE MAXIMA IN THE USA

I think that there are MAYBE 20 people, or less, that have modified this car in the USA. It is just a very heavy (3810 lbs. for 5spd and 4,000 for automatic) car with a boxy styling that you really have to like before you own it. The other problem is that, like the 280ZX and Z31 300ZX, it has semi-trailing arm rear suspension that suffers from things like "roll over-steer".
There are some people here on the forums that have, or are going to, turbocharge their 910's. Some people have put in the SR20DET (that would make the car weigh less) or the L28ET. I have not seen or heard about anyone with an RB into the 910 in the USA.

What does the Australian version with 5-speed weigh, and with what engine?

I, myself, have two 910's, both factory 5-speed. One is sunroof and the other is hardtop. I am putting in the L28ET, 3.54 R200 differential, 2+2 flywheel, and maybe the late FS5W71B transmission from the 81+ 280ZX into the hardtop 910. Of course, I don't plan to stop the mods there, but it all depends on how far I feel I need to go with this. And of course I don’t plan to just mod the engine, but also the suspension and brakes.

The Altima has no relation to the Maxima.

 

LS-1 please. All aluminum pushrod V8. Very light, very small, very powerfull.

 

Where did you get the 3810lbs and 4000lbs number? That sounds like the vehicle weight rating. I think the actual weight is down near 3000-3200lbs in reality.


S

 

Sounds like it would be tons-o-fun!

 

3900 lbs is the g.v.w. on the lable on my '84 wagon, with a 900 lb load! Earl

 

Yes, I take you would put a $6,000+ engine into a $1000 car?

I think the gentleman mentions the Chevy V8 because it puts out respectable power on a budget. Let's not dream too much here

 

That's what I thought it'd be. That's weight that'd I'd see from a full size car or a half-ton full sized pickup. The 1st gen in no way is full sized...the motor wouldn't be able to handle that big of a load very well either if the weight was that much...without anyone in it.

S

 

While I agree you have to be insane to put a $6k motor in...that would be one helluva car. Chevy or even Ford V8 drops have been popular because they are cheap, mods are very easy to find, and tend to be the best bang for the buck for this type of conversion.

 

This isn't really the reason at all. In fact this is the most dumbest thing I heard ever. Almost every car is capable of going from point A to B, and is capable of driving on the freeway. Else everyone would be driving friggen Gremlins. The real fact that imports tend to be watered down is 1)Emission regulations and 2)DOT safety requirement/approval. This makes it really difficult for import companies to prove the quality and performance of thier products. Having an import car with an engine that didn't have much power and looks hidious compared to it's japanese/australian counter parts doesn't help much for appeal...and appeal generally is why people buy cars. Case in point: SUV's.

Also what do you mean the US never got the good version of the Maxima here? The Maxima was really good from 89-94 in either SOHC or DOHC form. This is when Nissan began figuring out how to make power and still have low emissions. In fact if you compared the US and aussie/japanese version, you would have a very hard time telling the difference. Now with the VQ line of motors have easily lived up to be just as good if not better as the L-series and is Nissan's mainstream motor no matter what continent you're on.


So the problem with edmunds is it doesn't really follow how the generations truely came to be. While the 810 is where the Maxima evolved from, it really was consider more of the "zero" generation than the 1st generation. Even Nissan considers the current generation Maxima the 6th generation...not the 7th.

I've already called your bluff on the weight...I'd be interested in finding out where you got the idea that the Maxima was ever this heavy....even the brand new ones don't make it passed 3500lbs, and they are a lot bigger.
There are some people here on the forums that have, or are going to, turbocharge their 910's. Some people have put in the SR20DET (that would make the car weigh less) or the L28ET. I have not seen or heard about anyone with an RB into the 910 in the USA.

Actually that relation actually does exist. It's indirect but there is a relation. When Maxima was redesigned 84 as the 85 model, it took on the U11 chassis. When Stanza was redesigned, it too also used the U11 chassis, albeit the body was different. When the 3rd generation introduced it moved on to a new chassis (the J30 chassis in FWD form...then the A32, then A33, etc). However Stanza kept the line. The next version was the U12....and when Stanza was rebranded Altima, it had the U13 chassis. U12 and U11 suspension parts are interchangeable, and there are U13 aftermarket parts you can get away with using on a U11 chassis. Yes the cars are and look very different....but one evolved off the other.

S

 

Ahh thats old news... the new LS-7... its a 427 small block that has 500hp, 475ft.lbs and a 7,000rpm redline.... Now if that isnt an awesome engine then i dont know what is.


http://www.corvettemuseum.com/specs/2006/LS7.shtml

 

well hell he might as well just go for the 572 then. screw modifying it at 620HP out of the box in a 3200lb car, your power to weight ratio would be

 

Why not go a 327 its a rev happy little engine
parts are easy to get as every thing of a 350 will fit and if you want to change it to a 350 all you need to do is change the crank as both the 327 and 350 share a 4" bore, up the stroke to 3.8" and you got 383ci

 

V8 + Datsun = Fun. A friend of mine has a 77 280Z, sporting a '90 Z28 350 with 5-speed, converted back to good ol carburation with an Edelbrocck intake and carb, cammed, with gear drive, and headers. We haven't timed it, but i'd estimate it'll do 0-60 in about 5 sec. easily. I've got to remember to snap a few pics one day.

 

I speak of "normal" people. When most people go to buy a car, they never look at the power of the car, they consider that is dependable and goes where they want it to go. Hence that the most of the Toyota line-up sells very well, and Honda too, but most of the cars they sell are about as exciting as a toaster. Even if they have decent power, most people consider other factors before that, and yet we still get cars that look like they need liposuction.
The last really great car to come out of Toyota was the MK4 Supra TT with 5spd, and even that did not sell that well. Since then, Toyota has only been selling "safe" cars. Boring to us sport minded people, but very appealing to normal people. Even if looks are factored in, it is still more about "A" to "B" and not really anything of real value, hence the small Evo market compared to the larger Lancer market.

Maybe I should have made myself more clear: I was only speaking of the USA spec 910 up to 1984. In stock form, that car is not exciting at all. It gets you there, but there really is not much power and the handling is not great. The Australians got better stuff at least on the engine front.
Nissan, like other Japanese auto makers have really started to understand that Americans will buy much of what the Japanese will buy. Even the Cube is slated to come to the USA.

It's good for getting the basic idea, but I never said that they were the end all of Maxima History. Yes the HG910 was really the "1st" gen; I am not one of the people who think such a thing about the 810, but you could give the people who somehow buy that the 810 was 1st, a little in that the concept was there.

Again, maybe I should be more clear on this; I speak of the 910 only. Have you seen how much the bumper alone weigh, not to mention that the car is mostly real metal? In quoting the GVWR, I am speaking of the weight in the "real world", or at least what I consider the real world. The car without anyone in it may not be that much, but how often to do see a car driving around with no one in it? Most times it is at least two people or more and some stuff, that adds up fast. Next time, I should, again, be more clear on this.

OK, true, if you state it that way. It is like many other Nissan cars, they share roots.
Heck, really the 910 is related, "Indirectly" to the 280ZX 2+2, and just about every Nissan is related to the others mostly because Nissan does not make any part it does not have to. Hence the 350Z and G35 are really very much the same underside.

 

Um sure! Crate engines are what? $6000? Might as well twin turbo that biach too for another $4000.

Or use the Supra TT engine. 500hp is like a drop of water on engine.

 

So your saying normal people go to the dealer...and the first thing ask is "Will this car get me 3 miles down the road?" Or "Will this car make it to the grocery store?" no...they don't. When getting a car, they know already that it gets from A to B...and that doesn't factor into thier decision. The main reason is appeal, which includes quality, style, performance, safety, and pricing. On top of that...people in the US especially tend to be overly obssessed (sp?) with materials things as a form of status. Hence you get talk about "my car is faster than yours"...."my car get better mileage than yours"..."my car cost more or less than yours". If everyone was what you dubbed "normal" then everyone would seriously be driving Geo's...because it goes from point A to B, and gets on the freeway. Seriously...think about it. There is a reason SUV's are really popular....and getting from point A to B wasn't even considered in thier decision. That is the basic principal of the car.

Alright, I can agree with that....I was just arguing that point because you worded it in a very general way. However I'd like to add what I stated before...technology has advanced in a way that now you have a hard time seeing the line between US spec, and japanese spec cars unless you look really close.

I was just pointing out accuracy of how history was really laid out. While it has good info, I just figure I'd point out how Edmunds.com put generations down isn't really how it is. Nothing more or less.

Well even that still isn't all the accurate. Most times there isn't always 2 or more people in the car. Majority of the time you find a single occupant in the car. Don't believe me, ever been in traffic jams in places like Seattle, L.A., hell even Dallas? The number of single occupancy cars vs. multi-occupancy cars is huge vs. small. Majority of the time people use thier car to get to/from work. To say the car is always fully loaded when it's in use is simply not reality. So unless the single occupant plus lets say a bag with work items, or grocery some how equals 900-1000lbs...I'd say that even your numbers is not reality and unrealistic for being all the time. So at most the car would be loaded anywhere from lets say 120lbs-250lbs...that isn't much.

I'm not going so far as saying every Nissan is the same. I'm just pointing out that chassis design for Altima was orginally based off the U11 chassis that came out as a Maxima, the relation does exist..where you say it doesn't at all.

S

 

There are two Late model Camaro owners that live here that have the LS-6 and the other has the LS-7 swap + some mod. Everybody here call them Cobra SVT killers. Ive seen the black one with the LS-7 driving around occasionally but havent seen the second one. Pretty intense.

 

Maximase86 is right about the U11 chassis design. There is proof left and right about that stuff. Its even in the 2nd gen Stickies..

 

Yup, an 89 Stanza is pretty much just a re-skinned Max with a 4 cylinder. They're actually pretty nice cars, it'd be cool to swap a VG into one. It would be like the 3rd gen that could've been, but wasn't.

 

No, I don't mean that people ask that, of course they know that, but they think about it. What I am saying is that most people really, at the heart of it all, really just care about getting someplace where they want to go. Style, power, price, etc. are all secondary to that; hence that most people don't even really know if there car is a 4-cyl, 6-cyl., or V8 many times, they just know it goes from one place to the other at a reasonable pace. They really just don't care about much else as long as it goes from A-to-B and looks OK, and many people don't even care how it looks, I know many of these people! Again, A-to-B thinking is the reason that many boring cars and trucks sell well.

If I go out and ask most people, the first thing most will say is they want a "reliable car", and many don't really care that much if it looks like it was styled by Bertone or that it has power and such; hence that "A-to-B" and "reliable" are in the same category, and are very much the same thing in many respects. After getting past point A-to-B, then you get down to looking at things like style, and that may sway them in favor of one car over the other.

As far as the SUV; point A-to-B is in the equation. What is one of the number one reasons that people buy an SUV? Safety (not that they are safe, a sports car has more safety)! So, it gets you from A-to-B in the manner you want to get there, never mind that the beast of an SUV may look like it was designed by some drunken Huns from the Roman period, and again, we get back to A-to-B.

I never said ALL people only care about A-to-B, if that were the case, then many cool, but very high strung cars would never have sold as well as they did. I am just stating that many, and a majority, consider A-to-B at the top of the list when considering a car. This would explain why little, slow cars have sold well in many cases.

I would say that the people who put A-to-B (and hence "reliability") at anywhere except at the top of the list is 10% or less of the car buying public.

Really, A-to-B is a quantifier for all other aspects.


Well, maybe I should say; "worst case scenario" when the 910 has several people and some stuff going at say 300-450+ (i.e. 3 adults at about 150lbs. + stuff). Still, I would think that the 910 would weigh more, even dry and unloaded, than the 280ZX 2+2 (dry weight). No mater how you measure it, the 910 is not a light weight car, even back in the day, not to mention cars today with more light weight parts.

Still, it's not as if they are carbon copies in later generations.
I am saying that, even if you have to stretch it, all Nissan cars/trucks share elements and sometimes direct roots.

 

Again, your not listening to my point. A to B is always implied. That is what a car is for. You keep ignoring that. I've asked several people at work the question "When you make a car purchase, is getting to point A to B an underlying factor?" Of everyone I asked not one of them said yes it is. I asked why and each and everyone of them said that unless the car is a big piece of crap, thats the main function of a car...if it can't do that job, it's pretty obvious something is wrong. So I asked "What is the main decision factors when buying the car". The answers I got is: Value, ability to meets thier needs, asthetic (sp?), quality and reliability. I notice that you tried to make A to B the same as reliability. I like to seperate those because reliability changes and has various degrees, and going from A to B is a static "yes I can" or "no I can't". They relate, but don't neccessarily mean the same thing as you put it. Either way, from what I've asked, I've consistently got the opposite of what you argue. Albeit it's a small number of people compared to the whole...what are the chances that all the "un-normal" people live in just my area?

I still say the weight is average weight. When I think heavy...I think 4000lbs plus. I wouldn't say the 910 is heavy, but I would say it's underpowered for it's size.

As for the last point, please show me where I say the cars are exactly the same or are carbon copies? If you show me exactly where I said that, I'll retract my statement

Anyway, interesting debate...it's kinda nice to stretch the brain on stuff like this every now and then.

S

 

The aussie 910 weighs 2442lbs
Its considered a medium weight over here

Under 1100ks (2440lbs) lighe weight

1100-1500 = medium

over 1500 = heavy

And the a to b thing

Unless the car is for show only or your house
its main purpose is to go from a to b no matter what kind of DRIVEN car it is
start to finish

 

Well, again, let me quantify my statements; I am going off data collected from people I have worked with and my relations (family). Maybe they are just boring people, but the really have expressed that it gets from A-to-B, and then they say things like, "oh, and it should haul something". Still, the first thing they have said and "expressed" is that it should be A-to-B transport.

When you say that people were of the mind set of; "...unless the car is a big piece of crap, thats the main function of a car...if it can't do that job, it's pretty obvious something is wrong.", and to me this does mean they consider A-to-B somewhere in their minds. Of course few will say outright, that they just want A-to-B, because that is already mentally computed, and the mind has moved on to the items that sway people toward on car/truck or the other. Maybe, again, not everyone, but a large number of people really do only car that the car "works" and hence, only care about A-to-B. And that again, is why some cars that you wonder why they sell, do in fact sell well.

To me A-to-B and reliability are very close; because one affects the other. If you have a unreliable car, then A-to-B transport ability is affected, and hence that one of the number one reasons people decide one car over the other is reliability or to put it another way "A-to-B".

Well, compared to some cars of the day and now is weighs in a little heavy. Maybe not 4K, but still not a light weight.

I am not saying that you said that, I am just saying that they are not carbon copies; maybe I should have stated that better.

 

lol, I say we agree to disagree. What I'm seeing now is maybe location has a big part of people's prospective. Being I'm from a big city area (Seattle-Tacoma-Everett) where there are several options of getting to and from A and B, and you might be more in a rural area (just a guess, and I could be wrong...but mid-west US isn't known for it's huge cities) which tend to have fewer options. Needs and prospectives tend to be very different from area to area too.

As for the carbon copies...you're the one telling me I said that when I didn't....and I don't see why you keep arguing that point.

S

 

You said it! Yeah, I suppose it's a case of agree to disagree.

Here, in OK, it's not that cars that are mostly about other things than "A-to-B" do not sell well, or that people don't buy based on looks, either after "A-to-B" or before it, it's just that to most people, even if they like the car or truck it is still mostly an A-to-B mindset.

It could in fact be related to transport options; here in OK, we do not have much in the way of trains and other high-end mass-transit options. The larger cites have a bus service, but it is not as good as it could be (better than it was). Still, you almost have to have a car that at least gets you to where you want to go; there is almost no other way than a car to get around the cities and the rest of the state, unless you like really long and dangerous bike rides. This could explain a major section of the populations’ attitudes toward just having an A-to-B type car as a first priority and then considering other factors as secondary.

I don't know about you, but here you can see cars that should be out to scrap driving on the road because that person has no other options for transport.

As for the copies issue; it is that yes, they are related, but at the same time, they grew to be two different cars. I never said that you said that they are direct copies and hence the exact same car.

 

high end mass transit?

dude, we've got 40 year old worn out diesel busses for "mass transit" and i think there are 4 of them

 

Actually we got some really interesting transportation options here. Obviously there is the bus service. In fact Seattle just invested in about 276 state of the art hybrid buses. Light rail is being constructed now, and there is the Sounder Train. Then there is the mass amounts of rideshare/vanpool/carpool programs as well here. Too bad it hasn't done too much about traffic though.

S

 

My 9.4 liter merlin will fit in between the strut towers but I run a 280zx turbo engine.

Also.....nobody mentioned the maxima has a slightly longer front end than the bluebird to house the straight six..........hmmm.........a lot like a 4 door skyline.



runs out to make some skyline badges for his maxima.

 

Looks like an R30 4-door. But, I would like to see the body spec sheets for the JDM and USDM 910's.

Howler:
What year is your 910? Manual or Auto? Sunroof? Mods (besides the engine)?

 

It has the automatic transmission and a sunroof.

I use a 4n71b out of a z31 turbo but it's best not to run one unless you know how to rebuild them.

I am also running a r200 but the limited slip r200 I have is for the z31 turbo I drive daily.

 

And all that for the low low price of just $13,595. You're much better with LS1/6 and then go crazy w/ heads/cam/etc. to get your 500 ponies.

LS7