here's the deal, I have a 94' gxe. I've always loved my max. period. This max is my first car ever and I've had it for about a year now. My dad is a mechanic, so the car runs great. There're basically no mechanical problems with the car, mayb a few chips on the paint at a place or two. There're minor problems like the sunroof is busted, passenger side tail is cracked by pervious owner and bumper scratched from the same incident.
I respect the max's power. it is indeed powerful for a sedan, but i'm just fiending for more power. I know that there's only so much bolt-on can add in terms of hp. The vg has 160 hp but after 115k, it's way lower than that. My max is pretty much stock and I was very close to getting a CAI and new exhaust but I figure i should start with something that has a good a$$ potential, like the 300zx!
I'm a college kid. So i probably won't be able to get my hands on a TT. But i am willing to settle for a '90, non TT. That's already 222hp stock (300hp turbo). I will probably need to add a few k if i'm going to sell the max for the z. how much is a 90 or 91 non TT going for? I'm in ny albany area. The main questions of this post is Should I get the zx or should I just stick with the max and mod it? Are there a lot problems with the z? How expensive are the parts since the z is so rare?
I appreciate any opinions or response. keep in mind im only a college kid, i don't have much dough to throw around, mayb a thousand or two and depending of how much i can sell my max for. I have a personal mechanic on stand-by most of the time (my dad) so I'm willing to face minor to moderate mechanic problems that comes with the z.


--------------
'94 gxe black stock as hell

 

300ZX?!?! Stick with the MAX!! Maybe you should upgrade to a 4th gen or something. Last time I talked to you, you said your friend has a nice a$$ 4th gen...maybe you should save up and buy his car when he gets his new car new 2002 altima or acura that he is getting..o that friend is me haha

 

as a broke college kid myslef, I'd stick with the Max....and you say you don't have a lot of money, so why even think about getting a new car???

 

300z is not a car you want to just scrape up the money and buy. You have to have some good $$$ in reserve for maintanence. ESPECIALLY FOR THE TT! The 60k tune ups are insane!

 

the 300zx is not an all-year-round car, even though u can drive it in the winter, it's not the best car in the snow....

by the way, i live in Albany... who are you? i may have seen your max before, is it lowered w/ like 17" Konig Tantrums?

 

Being in the same situation as you, college kid looking for a new car. I looked at the Z, but insurance would have killed me. You might want to check it out with your agent before you make any decisions. Just remember, you are driving a 4 door family sedan, almost any other car will have higher insurance.

 

TORN.....torn like an old sweater....im a broke a$$ college student to, stay with the max...save some money then get the TT in acouple of years.

 

(TORN.....torn like an old sweater).....I love those commericals, Charleston Heston rocks! "HE GRABS HIS SEAT!....actually i said i grabbed a seat. WHATEVER"

 

A 300zx will kill you in the wallet. Maintenance costs on a 300ZX are well over $1000. Everything on a 300ZX is expensive. If you want speed then don't buy a non-Turbo 300ZX. A 92-94 SE maxima 5-spd will beat a non-Turbo 300ZX in the 1/4 mile.

 

Im also thinking of getting into a last gen Z...

What are some key elements to picking out a promising looking Z from a busted Z? Twin Turbo of course... and what are some decent prices?

I test drove one 2 weeks ago. 1990 Black on Blac leather Automatic @ 132,000 miles... I couldnt tell if it was TT but it had two dual tip mufflers and it wasn't 2+2. The driver side window or lock wouldnt quite work, the transmission was like crap getting into 3rd and it to tell you the truth it didnt look like it was taken care of, I even thought that it looked suspicious of some past collision. Anywho, the price was $6,000.

 

HAHAHAHA. Did you just say a 92-94 SE Max will beat a 300ZX NA in the 1/4 mile? I highly doubt a stock 3rg gen will even make 15's much less a 15.2, which a stock 300zx with a good driver can hit. Show me the 3rd gen SE that will hang with the 300ZX. That is unless you are talking Z31's.

 

Either Johnnymax or Czar did a 15.0 or high 14 w/ just an intake. They have a 3-gens. Here's a short lesson here. VE powered 3-gens. 190hp/190ftlbs torque. DOHC heads, varible intake manifold, varible timing on the intake cams. Near 7,000 rpm rev limit. Limited slip differential STOCK. Questions?

 

Why should those numbers impress me? 300ZX has everything you listed, but with a higher rev limit, and 32 more hp. Tell me why the Max should be able to hang, or where it makes up for the lacking horsepower.

 

Ah lesson #2. The 300z does NOT have the varible volume intake.

And I don't give a doo-doo what impresses you. I just told you two 3-gen maxima guys ran a high 14 or 15.0 1/4 mile. Does that or does that not prove to you that a 3-gen can hang with a na 300z? Remember what you just posted? sheesh

 

I hate to jump in between you guys, but the numbers answer you question for you....
5spd VE max 190hp mid/low 15's and lighter weight....Z32 NA mid/low 15's heavy as all hell and expensive to maintain. why would you want the latter if you were on a budget, but could still have an almost equally fast car when driven right?? I think the N/A Z32 loses its advantage to the Max's lack of "extra" weight!

 

300ZX DOES have variable intake timing. Oh wait, yeah it does. Sorry to tell ya bud. As for the TWO guys that ran those times, those are damn good. I dont really know what to say about the 1/4 mile times thread below where most times are in the 16's. I guess majority doesnt always rule huh.

 

Did I say varible intake timing?? I said varible volume intake manifold. Can you read? As far as the 1/4 times, these cars were pretty stock but were 5-sps. So anyone that knows how to drive, should be able to repeat those times. Just like your precious "good" 300z drives correct?? 5-sps are fairly rare in maximas anyway. So you should really know what the hell your talking about before trying to school me.

 

The numbers dont lie man. You have yet to tell me how your maxima makes up for the lacking hp. By the way I WAS talking about stock cars. Not the most modded cars on the 3rd gen forum hitting 14's. I highly doubt a stock max, even 5sp. can hit a 15.2 . Look at the #'s, rethink your argument, and present an intelligent post. U been schooled.

 

I just told you the times for a nearly stock ve 5-sp. How much can a freakin' intake be worth. What an idiot.

You freaking read the thread again. If you weren't a complete idiot, you "MIGHT" notice that the high 15/mid 16 times are from 3-gens w/ different engines. Not the Ve30de. If you had 1/2 a freakin' brain, you would know the 3-gens came in 4 different ways. VG-auto, vg-5-sp, ve-auto,ve-5-sp.

From where I sit, you don't know the difference between a varible timing and a varible intake manifold. Who schooled who?

If I school you anymore, you'd be back in grade school.

$20!

 

sweet, i didn't know 300zs had VTC......

 

Yup. But the good thing is that they are right in front of you. N/S engine orientation. Bad thing, it's still a big pain to work on those engines.

I'm sure lawnboy is aware of this, him being so smart and all.

 

whats a VTC??

can I buy it for my Max?? where can I get it cheap?? how much HP?? is it yellow? can i help me beat a Porshe?? will it stop the gnomes from stealing my fuses?? will it work with my new SS O-pipe and Jet-coated Muffler bearing??? whats a Maxima anyways??
MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.......

 

Originally posted by DA-MAX


a ticking time bomb that supposedly makes more power



About $1200 from your local Nissan dealer



stealing them off a 92 to 94 SE Maxima that runs quietly (WARNING: this is VERY rare)



at least 100......the slow-butt VG only has 100 ponies or so....



silver is preferred, as yellow eats up a few ponies



of course



yes, as the ticking will cause them to commit suicide like lemmings



THAT'S THE ONLY WAY THEY WORK CORRECTLY! PLEASE GET A NEW O-PIPE AND MUFFLER BEARING FROM B.S. RACING



The absolute best car on the planet, bar none.



[criticism]

You forgot one question:

are you doug?

[/criticism]

 

Dude Im not trying to get you all worked up here. I would bet I know more about Max's than you know about 300's, and a hell of a lot more about 300's than you do Max's. Just what I think, Im not uneducated here. Look the last thing Im trying to do it talk **** about the Max. I love em, they are great, but they cant hang with the 300. Enough said about that. Ive driven em, Ive raced em, ive read about em. I give them more than enough credit where its deserved. And dont take a thread personally, seriously.

 

Maybe you do and maybe you don't. But from what I've read, I don't see it. Varible intake cam timing does not = varible volume intake manifold. About you knowing more about maximas than I do about 300zs, well which years? pre-Z31? The L-series? I've taken apart, modded and worked on the smaller L16,L18 and L20s(which were the 4 clinder versions) The Z31 series? The VG30 based ones? I know my way around those but never wrenched on one yet. The new Z32 series? I know about them but don't wrench on them. Don't want to.

Now let's see how much knowledge you need to know about the 300z to take me. I've taken my VE30DE out and replaced my VTC, redid the headgaskets, cleaned all the oil gallies out, fixed my broken exhaust manifold studs, had my fuel injectors out to get balanced by rc engineering, was the first to get my VE flywheel lightened balanced, informed most of the maxima crew about the crappy Nissan key value clutch kits, prototyped one of the first ve y pipes, etc.. list goes on. So if you haven't taken your engine/tranny out and did some serious engine work, I really doubt you can state that you know more about maximas than I do about 300zs.

So I still don't understand where your logic is. You just said the na 300z runs about a 15.0 or so w/ a good driver. I just told you about 10 times that a well driven VE30DE powered 5-sp maxima runs 15.0. Where does "can't hang" come into play?

Not getting worked up but just because I don't have a long list of rice mods, doesn't mean I don't know my stuff. I can still remember all the metric bolts sizes from my Datsun 510. I've written more than 1 tech article for this board also.

 

preach on BROTHA'.......

 

wtf... a 90 - 96 n/a 3z and ve maxima are about the same.. regardless of driver.. incase u didnt know... n/a 300 zx are about 3600 pounds.. even at the lauch they are kinda slow.. only the TT model ownz us
hell... my lil brother beat a n/a 3z with his base model SOHC stealth which that car weighs 3800 pounds.. all because my lil bro knows how to launch right

 

*sigh*

We know the Maxima is fairly equal to a N/A 300ZX, we also already drive Maximas and are wondering if we should switch on over to the 300ZX Twin Turbo. Because, why would anyone in the right mind spend more money to get into an N/A? Lol... Anywho...

Can we drop the whole comparison deal between maximas and N/A 300z's and get back to the topic.

 

Funny someone dissappeared rather quickly

 

 

Ok Lawnboy,

Hopefully you aren't an owner of an N/A Z32, but if you are and your d i c k is small, then here's some numbers for you. 14.8 1/4 with a cone intake and thats it, period. I know how to race, and set up my car. I have driven a N/A Z32 before, and I was surprised that it was SLOWER than mine, even with 32 HP more!! What the Z32 does have is handling which my maxima cannot touch and sportscar styling. And for your information, the first day I ever raced my car, totally stock, and with horrible 60' times because I couldn't launch, I hit 15.5.

 

LALALALALALALA!

 

I just thought I'd share my Z32 experience. I own a Z32 N/A 5-spd and I have friends who own them too. Let me tell you that it's pretty hard for a N/A Z to hit low 15's STOCK in the 1/4 mile. The gear ratios on the Z are not spaced out well, the car is very heavy, launching a Z can be very difficult, plus it's a 10 year old car so there is always wear & tear & abuse.