Note: this is a redux of the post I left on 4dsc.com, just trolling for a few more thoughts...

I've loved the 3rd-Gen Maxima since high school and I finally landed one - a stock '92 SE 5 speed with 100k. If you were starting from scratch with this car, with limited time & money (say, $1500, and no auto-repair experience) what would be on your short-list of must-have upgrades?

Based on browsing some Maxima 101 sites I've got a sense of a few things - swapping the stock wheels for 17-inch rims, a front strut tower brace, a Pop intake. But it seems to get bewilderingly more complex beyond that in terms of both cost and learning curve. Rear sway bar? Y-pipe? Better suspension? I thought you guys would know based on real-world experience - which upgrades give the greatest all-around bang for the buck? Which would you do first?

Humbly,
unconvinced

 

Read the FAQs on www.maxima.org, and the sticky posts above.

Welcome to the club.

 

Good place to start would also be the search function. With $1500 you can buy a lot of stuff. See what you need but most importantly before modding a car you must make sure everything is running well and give it a tune up if you haven't yet. That's more important than any mod, maintenance is the key to the life of a car in some aspects. Also what good is a mod if the car is not running 100%