Well I've decided to start my first ever build thread. I'm gonna be restoring/modding a 1988 maxima gxe. Picked this car up for 150 dollars and the body is great, crank broke the day after purchase.


My plan is a vg30et, manual swap, rebuild suspension, custom molded ground effects, and some interior work.

If anyone has any suggestions for mods i appreciate all suggestions and helpful critism.
I will post pics as soon as i can.

 

Looking forward to seeing the progress of your work.

 

Well engine is ready to pull once i get my hoist back from my brother. He borrowed it two months ago :/ supposed to be back by friday. So i am kind of at a stand still with the engine for now.

On another note, i pulled my turbo motor apart last night. It'll need pistons and a crank. Looks like a victim of detonation and no oil. So does anyone have any suggestions on where to find pistons for a reasonable price? Also looking for a good engine gasket set as i refuse to use felpro on a boosted engine.

Now my manual trans is another problem. Can't find one. Will the trans fron any other car work? And can i use third gen manual trans?

 

this is my project car. no rust i have found, only 1 dent from someone sitting on hood. worth the $150 i think

 

Wow...that actually looks like a pretty clean body. How's the interior?

 

Interior leaves something to be desired. The previous owner left the door open while out of town for a week and their dog ate the door panels and rear seat. I plan on custom interior though so it no big deal.

 

If your trying to do this on a budget and want quality parts then you should be on RockAuto.com As for getting aftermarket suspension parts good luck. The suspension is the same as the 3rd gen and there aren't much left for us. Glad to see there are still others interested in these relics. Welcome and enjoy.

 

Thanks for the suggestion on rockauto. I'm not really looking for much as far as purchased suspension mods. Probably just springs, gr-2 struts, and urethane bushings where possible.
I will make my strut tower braces.

 

Thanks for the welcome and suggestion on rockauto. I'm not really looking for much as far as purchased suspension mods. Probably just springs, gr-2 struts,addco rear sway bar and urethane bushings where possible. I will make my strut tower braces.

I wish these cars had a bigger following, they are great machines with lots of potential.

 

To that las part: I'm with you. Actually kinda glad not as many ppl have them anymore. Now ppl will see my car and have that look, "damn I haven't seen one of those especially that clean in ages".

As for springs how low do you feel comfortable with? If you can find you some Eibachs good luck.

 

Yeah i agree that they definitely draw attention and in a good way. Its nice being different than the crowd.

And as for springs i'm thinking right around 1.5" of drop. Don't wanna be too low as i'm 6'4" and 300lbs lol and don't wanna drive one of those dragandfly vehicles lol.

 

Then u wanna go Eibachs. Their cool & everyone seems to get them, but not low enough for me (6'1" @ 190lbs). I'm rolling on Sprints. If I weren't with these I'd probably gone with Intrax.

 

What is the drop on those sprints? Or the intrax?

 

Sprints is as low as we can go @ 2". Intrax is 1.7".

 

Oh ok. The intrax may work for me but think i read sonewhere that the st springs were like 1.6 drop. Wiol iust have to see what i can find when i reach that point.

 

Man I keep forgetting about st

 

Well i got my engine hoist, but have to work the next 6 days straight. Gotta love those 12 to 16 hour shifts. Gonna get the out if i can during that period, but may be a week til it gets out.

 

Do what you gotta do when you can do it. I know your anxious to do it but time is the factor. I've been there and done that.

 

Yeah i'm very anxious, but seems like i have no reason to be in a rush. Got a call from the machine shop today. Dropped the heads and block of my vg30et off for cleaning, inspection and valve job. My heads are severely worn in the cam journals, and my block is cracked along the two outer main bearings. Looks like i have to start an engine search all over again. May just stay with the n/a and auto for now and build what i want to transplant in later when i find all parts i really want to put in it.

 

It all what your budget and time can handle. That sounds like the best bet for you.

 

Well til i find a manual trans to swap in i have little choice lol. I got a hit on an 89 maxima motor for a couple hundred, i just gotta switch my intake onto it because i don't like the newer one as well, asthetically speaking of course. I prefer the throttle body location of the stock second gen intake.

Anyone know what the stock auto trans will hold for power? Is 200 ft.lbs. too much for it? I want to do some modifications to up my power a bit. I am pretty sure i can hit 200 hp reasonably if the trans will hold it. If not i will just do the normal minor mods.

 

If the trans is in good condition then it should easily hold it. Do remember they aren't called autotragics for nothing lol. You do know the 2nd gen intake is the most restrictive out of 3. The better out of the z31, 2nd gen or 3rd gen is the z31 intake manifold. I seem to see a few manuals here and there lately.

 

Yeah i know its restrictive, but i plan on either gutting it or building an upper plenom with the same throttle body location. I just like that location for throttle body because it makes the intake piping easier to run, and looks cleaner to me.

Also the trans is almost new and worked great when i got the car. So hopefully it'll be ok.

 

Yeah you should be fine. I'm more for the second option of you making a plenum. I want to see how that comes out.

 

Yeah building one would be more fun, and would probably perform better. I've built numerous upper intakes before for fox mustangs, and some gm v6s

 

All I know is its a system of trial & error.

 

Yeah it is but theoretically the concept is the same with all engines. Get as much air as possible in with as much velocity as possible. Its just deciding which is needed more, flow for upper rpm power or the velocity for lower rpm torque and finding the median that suits the engine best. I'm thinking i'll try to keep my intake suited to the mid range since that is where i play the most. 2500-4500 rpm. Will just have to do the math to figure out the flow needed for thay rpm range.

 

Has anyone ever checked the flow rate of the stock throttle body or intake?

From the math i'm doing the intake system would need to flow around 700 cfm at 6500 rpm which is the z31 rev limiter i believe. For 4500 rpm the flow needed is 490 cfm.

Mind you this is with the engine having the heads, cams, and exhaust to allow this amount of flow. Would make for a near 100% volumetric effeciency i think.

I'm no scientist, or physicist so i may be way off. This is just using the basic math i use for all my builds and it seems to work pretty good for me.

 

Man I don't know the math for the z31 intake/manifold. You would have to do a google search for it.

 

Well i was reading some flow bench results and apparently the maxima intake actually outflows the z31 intake. They are basically the same other than the Z31 has the bend to change the direction throttle body faces.

I still haven't gotten engine pulled due to tons of overtime, and really sharty weather lately, no garage just carport

 

Do you have a link to where tp buy the sprints?

 

GL with the build.

 

good luck! i am also restoring a 86 Max myself. I have a complete 5 speed swap everything from the transmission to the shifter boot if your interested! I will be looking forward to this!

 

Yes i'm interested!!! Well depending on location. Shoote the details

 

PM SENT!!!

 

I will have to look. The 2nd & 3rd gen suspension in pretty much the same. So you can use 3rd gen springs.

 

Well weather permitting the engine may be out tomorrow. Then i'm doing a tear down to see what the condition of such a high mileage motor is. Has anyone ever torn down a vg30 with close to 400,000 on it?

 

Ohhh interesting I always wonder that

Would the adjustablecoilovers from a 3rd gen on a 2nd gen?

 

Ok engine almost out but i'm having a problem with the torque converter. There are only 3 bolts holding it to the flexplate, right? I ask because the converter is trying to come out with the engine and thas is an obvious problem. Anyone who has an idea to what's causing this please feel free to post away

 

You'll have to spin the converter until each bolt (one by one) lines up at the bottom for you to unbolt them. Once thats done it should be free. Oh and usually its bolted to the flywheel instead of the flexplate cuz it spins.