Well it looks like there has been a change of plans... I got the 1995 Max for free a couple days ago... SO now I need to make a few alterations to my planning....


In the future

Engine Work

New! VQ30DE swap
New! Turbo!
5 Speed transmission of course
New! Megasquirt
Ported and Polished heads, intakes
Custom Tune
Custom Short Throw
Custom Exhaust
Everything is either painted or powdercoated
Full wire tuck & battery relocation
Custom Harness Inside and out! To clean things up and for piece of mind

Interior Work

New! 4th Gen Interior will be fitted! Dash, Center
New! 4th gen Heated Leather seats will be fitted!
Custom Entertainment System, CarPC, Flip Down monitor, touchscreen in dash, in car wifi
Alarm with Remote Start
LED's

Exterior Work

Royal Candy Blue paint
Black Accents
Tinted Windows
Custom Projector headlights and fogs
Custom LED Tail Lights
LED's Again

Suspension

New! Coilovers!
New! 5 Lug swap!
New! 4th gen Maxima strut towers cut and welded in!
All Suspension pieces replaced
upgraded sway bars
All brake components replaced
Almost everything painted or powder coated
Gold Rims

 

Oh geez, now I've seen it all. It's pretty clear your expectations are unrealistic. You're dealing with a care that is nearing 30 years old. You'll be spending more time fixing problems with it than adding performance to it. My suggestion is to keep modification simple if at all, and save your money either for a nice car that you can mod -or- something far more worthwhile and a car with mods.

Seriously? Add 4th gen drivetrain, suspension, and interior? Either you're really naïve, or have no clue what all that work really entails.


I got this far with my car, but ultimately I had to face fixing issues that came up from not only old age, but as a result of stuff I did to the car. Ultimately I had an accident with the car which pretty much sealed it's fate.

 

How are my expatiation's unrealistic? Is it a lot of work, yes, is it unrealistic not at all. I am going to school for welding, and advanced mechanics. I already have my MECP, I know how to fab dashes and work fiberglass and carbon fiber. Look at big-e's max, he completely changed the drivetrain and added a turbo, and that took a lot MORE fab work then I have planned. Granted he doesn't have it anymore for whatever his reasons are. I have a nice car that I drive, I have another vehicle that I am building. It's not the first time someone has taken a car that is over 30 years old and swapped the suspension, interior, drivetrain from a new car.. What about NWP engineering? He swapped a 3.5 vq into a 3rd gen, which aren't much different from the 2nd gens. I work full time, have a shop and do a lot of work on the side. Currently I also have been working on a 87 200sx. Owner of the car wants a rb25det in it. But I guess that is unrealistic too.. And 200sx parts are even harder to find. He wanted to lower it but needed shorter struts. So we used mr2 front shocks and foxbody mustang rear shocks. I haven't had a single problem with the car since I rebuilt the harness.. All new suspension pieces were installed before I even got the car, New struts, new springs, new tires, all new brakes all around. I wouldn't hesitate to take the car to Florida right now. Just because you don't see the point in it doesn't mean you have to bust on the plans//

 

I'm only bestowing you knowledge of my experience. That being said: You missed my point. Nowhere did I say it wasn't possible. However I've seen time and again some kid with a huge list of stuff he wants to do with his car that will never ever happen. I had a list like this myself, and guess what, circumstances prevented a lot of those things from ever happening. On two cars even.

When I say realistic, I mean don't bite off more than you can chew. Understand the tradeoffs your making for the stuff you listed. Do you have any idea the time, and potential cost all of this going to be? How are you going to fund something that can easily cost you thousand of dollars? How much time do you expect to actually work on this?

Then how do you handle the unexpected?

Examples. Big E-Dog's car was a long time in the making...then because of emissions, the entire thing was for nothing.

Another example from myself. I had all the parts and was ready to turbo my 2nd gen, years of work I put into the car, and then one day going to work, I rear-ended someone. All that work was for nothing. Are you prepared for that?

Yet another example, one of the local guys in my area that I sold my Supercharger kit off my total 4th gen too had a 98 with a 3.5 swap and added my supercharger. He lost his job, and his heavily modded car started having issues one after another. No way to fix it. So he parked it at a field at a friend's place. The friend got behind on payments and the ownered of the field seized the car as payment, auctioned it. Guess what that car with all sort of mods, was crushed the next day.

Another example for myself, my S/C 4th gen was 356whp car. Driving, went on a ego trip with a person in a RSX and plowed my car into a telephone pole. Thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of work down the drain.

Then some of the mods you have on the list. Example, 4th gen strut towers welded in? Like front and back? You intend to use the 4th gen suspension? You do realize that the rear suspension of the 4th gen was it's Achilles heel right? How much do you really know about both generations of the car?

Seriously this is what these forums are about knowledge and opinions. Take it with a grain of salt. At the end of the day, I really don't care what you do...it's your car...it's your time, it's your money. However I serious doubts you'll fulfill that list of yours. If you do fulfill it, good for you and I will admit I was wrong.

 

This is exactly how I feel. I had to part ways with my 4th gen last month. I'm stuck with the 2nd gen. It works and I'll use it as long as I can. Every day it continues to run will be a blessing. I do have some thoughts for mods but it will be a short and sweet list. More or less a drop, some wheels and cleaning it up a lot (It's in pretty bad shape on the inside) I won't be doing much to it.

Honestly OP, I wouldn't go through all that effort for a 2nd gen. If it was a 1st gen I'd say go for it. RWD Maxima = win. But I wouldn't bother going through all that work on a 2nd gen. Just my 2 cents.

 

Hey sorry for flipping out like that, it was a little uncalled for, some punk in a civic was talking **** about the max and I get a little sensitive about my cars. Thanks for all the advice and knowledge.. I wish I had a 1st gen but I haven't seen any forsale around me. I was toying with the idea of swapping it to rwd but I shut that idea out quick. It's just gonna be one of those builds that I'll keep adding to until I have it the way I want, how ever this build is second on my list to finish. My ranger build is first because that has been sitting in the yard longer.

 

No worries. It's hard to see tone and intend from something you read on the internet sometimes. In really life, I'm still an *******. What you're doing is an expensive hobby, so just be ready for it.

As for the Ranger, what year? I seen a guy with a late 90's ranger with a Cummins 6bt install on youtube. That's insane.

S

 

It's a 93 splash. That truck really is sick but a more common swap in the ranger is a 4bt

 

I believe I seen both done. The 6bt is a lot of weight in the front...

 

Mounted my gauges, fixed my power steering, cleaned up some wiring, installed an CAI, tried to fix my radio but no luck. Installed new adjustable strut cartridges kyb agx from a mr2, ordered my new coilover sleeves. Pics coming soon

 

 

Hey can you take a pic of the whole engine. I'd like to see what you removed and how everything is set up.

 

Sure no problem, Ill do it in the morning when there is some light

 

Update! I have gotten 90 percent of the 4th gen wiring harness put uncut. One step closer to having the worlds first vq swapped 2nd gen

 

damn you are going to beat me to it, hope it goes well for you.

 

Got the entire wiring harness out of the 4th, got the motor and transmission out of the 4th gen. I have to remove the transmission and throw the engine in my scrap pile because it is unfixable. The block is cracked, timing chain is broken, and it threw a rod or two. I am going to pick up a gently used AND running vq30de with a 5 speed transmission from a local seller. I decided on my new daily/shop vehicle so as soon as I purchase that I can start getting some serious work done on the max. I started to mold the trunk panels out of fiberglass and cardboard and I removed my spoiler.

 

I see you threw all that emission crap in the pile also!

 

You oughta build a heat shield for that intake every little bit helps.....also see if JWT can flash your ECU!

 

I already had the car tuned by my local dyno guy. And yes I did get rid of all that emission crap. It made for a great scrap day lol. I was thinking about building a shield for it but decided against it because of the motor swap. I'll build one into the new intake with the new motor. I am gonna sell this motor and transmission when I get my new daily. It runs great

 

Was your tune ignition and AF? Or just AF?

 

Why not stuff a 2009 In that 2nd Gen Creating the first 2.7 Gen! Lol.....Yours will be a 2.4 Gen!

 

Haha I wish I had an 09 donor car. If you know anyone giving one away for free ill take it lol. That's why I'm using a 4th gen.

 

And I got both tuned

 

UPDATE! I AM NOT DEAD, OR QUIT. things just got a lil hectic around the shop recently. Got a 82 Porsche 928 that needs some body work, 87 300zx with a low mileage, never maintained motor, Needs a full rebuild at 93,000 miles and a lot of rust repair, Got an 88 300zx for myself that has a snapped crankshaft.

VQ30DEK Pulled
5 Speed LSD Transmission Pulled
Headers Ordered!
Hose Kit ordered!
Aluminum Coolant, Powersteering, Catchcans ORDERED!
Aluminum Radiator INSTALLED
300ZX Daily Driver IN THE DRIVEWAY

 

Man you look like you're in the right spot....for some Z31's.....

 

Ill get some pics of the driveway lol

 

My Max

1982 Porsche 928

My New Z 1988 300zx Digital Dash

My New Z 1988 300zx

Porsche 928

All Three

87 300zx with the low mileage low maintenance motor. Engine is currently getting Rebuilt. And the max, Sporting some NICE rear end damage.

S12 RB Swap Same owner of the Z

87 300ZX

 

Was this ever completed?

 

Ha. Almost 10 years later and no updated posts? I HIGHLY doubt it, altho it woulda been nice to see it followed thru to completion. I still have a soft spot for the 2nd gen's, as a previous owner of an '87 manual, in the same merlot color.