MaxWgn

iTrader: (1)

I have seen several people listing a gutted cat on their cars. I live in a region of Texas right now that does not perform smog checks, only the visual inspection. The cat on my car is getting old, and I think starting to plug up. How would I go about gutting out the cat shell?

Also, does anyone know if the Monza system at JC Whitney's is a direct bolt-on fit on a wagon? Everywhere else I look for exhaust parts, they list bolt-on for a sedan, and weld-on only for a wagon, but nothing is listed for the Monza kit.

The following is a list of mods I'd like to perform on the car, an 87 GXE Wagon:

Lowering springs
Poly sway bar bushings
heavier rear sway bar
16" wheels and tires
CAI
good exhaust (see above)
the 240SX TB swap
a set of underdrive pulleys
get a good 3-angle valve job, and the heads lightly ported, if enough material to port from.
a pair of Isky cams
remove the roof rack
black out all chrome trim
find an oex SE front chin spoiler and driving lights
KYB suts all around
A good set of front seats from either a 300zx, or a 240sx.
a new set of headlights (current are is bad shape)
since this is a wagon, it has the ant on the rt fr fender - replace that fender with one from a sedan, to eliminate the ant hole, and get one of those nice stereo ant's that adhere to the inside of the windshield, for a cleaner look.

and finally, a nice paint job. Thinking of staying with the original silver, but doing a fade to a dark charcoal gray toward the rocker panels.

Nismo87SE

First thing I suggest you do is get a nissan service manaul and do a full tune up then Idle/timing set/mixture ratio inspection. Use OEM NGK plugs and spark plug wires, clean the throttle body and intake collector along with the Idle up soleniod. Since your a wagon you only have an auto tranny get a trans cooler (hayden model 401 or 403 from autozone) ASAP. Do about 3-4 drain and fills. I had a protorque high stall convertor in my auto and I reccomend it if your looking for more performance. At this time you will want to get a shift kit installed so that the clutches won't slip as much so the tranny lasts longer. Lastly after you do the tune up Dyno the car. To find the closest dyno center to you follow this link http://www.dynojet.com/lauto.shtml. My 87 maxima with just a K&N panel and 8* timing did 112fwhp/140fwtq. Stock 95-99 auto maximas do around 145-154fwhp/155-165fwtq. With just a custom CAI my car dynoed 123fwhp/153fwtq .

[QUOTE]Originally posted by MaxWgn
I have seen several people listing a gutted cat on their cars. I live in a region of Texas right now that does not perform smog checks, only the visual inspection. The cat on my car is getting old, and I think starting to plug up. How would I go about gutting out the cat shell?
No it would be better to just get a straight pipe installed in place of the cat, if that proves to loud I had a 2.5in catco high flow cat from summit racing installed.

Also, does anyone know if the Monza system at JC Whitney's is a direct bolt-on fit on a wagon? Everywhere else I look for exhaust parts, they list bolt-on for a sedan, and weld-on only for a wagon, but nothing is listed for the Monza kit.
I'm sure any muffler shop could get it to fit with no probs.

The following is a list of mods I'd like to perform on the car, an 87 GXE Wagon:

Lowering springs
Done that mod and liked it, I recommend Suspension technique lowering springs
Poly sway bar bushings
these were included with the addco RSB
heavier rear sway bar
addco RSB will make a major difference in handling, I still have my old one for sale. $100 shipped and its yours.
16" wheels and tires
nothing like a nice set of wheels after a drop to make it look better
CAI
[b]This $60 mod gained me 10hp/13tq at the drive wheels and dropped my 1/4 ET[b/]
good exhaust (see above)
the 240SX TB swap
You will definitly notice this mod, not only does it increase throttle response but if you clean your intake collector. Your fuel economy will increase also, BTW the 89-91 stanza TB will fit too
a set of underdrive pulleys
I had a bad experience with the UDP but others haven't mine was an isolated incident
get a good 3-angle valve job, and the heads lightly ported, if enough material to port from
generally I'm for all power but IMHO this has the least about of power/$$ ratio. I reccomend nitrous or turbo conversion before headwork (been there done that). Its expensive and very labor intensive, but the toppend power rocks
a pair of Isky cams
You would have better results with JWT cams, I'd say get S1 instead of the S2 cams because they don't require as much tuning. Again cam install is so labor intensive

Charles Bisel

I agree with Nismo, don't gut out your cat. This will just make your car louder and you'll contribute to the pollution that's already in the enviroment from automobiles. I'm no tree hugger, but if you can do something simple such as putting a catalytic converter on your car to help the enviroment, then do it. Go with the high-flow cat. It'll keep your car quiet and you'll get better performance. There's really not much difference between the high-flow cat and a straight pipe anyways, if you want big performance gains, go turbo.

I have the Monza/Pacesetter exhaust system on my car. I had to get it because my old muffler rusted out, might as well do a performance mod. It was definitely worth the extra money, a little quicker and a much nicer sound than stock. If you can get it for your car, I'd definitely recommend it.

By the way, I also have the ugly chrome trim that I'm looking to change to black. How are you going to go about blacking it out?

-C-

MaxWgn

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for all the advise, and trust me, I'll be keeping it in mind - I love my old Max, and wanna make her run as good as possible.

The chrome trim should be easy enough, if you have access to sand blasting / soda blasting equipment. Atter removing the trim, strip it with the blasting equip, to knock down any wax build-up, and remove the initial chrome plating. You may find you'd need to do some finish sanding on the pieces also... then, either have it painted with a quality paint, or electro plate it. This would be the the hard way, and possibly more expensive. Most of the trim could be simply replaced with the black trim from an SE sedan. The remainder could be done this way. And some of that chrome trim is just chrome tape, which could be pealed, and either painted, or replaced with black trim type tape.

As for the performance, the car runs well now. I forgot to mention, the previous owner had already installed a shift kit when he had the seals replaced in the tranny.

I was thinking the heads for top end breathing...this seems to be where my car suffers the most. I ran against a 87-89 Formula Firebird (5.0 V-8) the other day, and that was were I lost it. If it could breathe deeper at higher RPM, it would have been a dead heat - a V6 powered FWD wagon which was almost 900 lbs heavier than it's comp., running a V8 powered sports coupe...wouldn't that have made his day????


-Max

maxima561

I gutted my cat a few months ago. I gained some top end power but lost a lot of low end. It was a little louder and made it sound better but i would not do it again. The power tradeoff just didnt seem worth it.

SuDZ

Only a littl louder. On the ones that I seen it done on it was a huge difference and got to be kinda annoying. I would not recomend it.

SuDZ

PeaBodyJones

Im too lazy to mod my car. well i have no money too. oh well. it runs great tho!

SuDZ

Welcome to the club.

SuDZ