Well I've decided I need a thread for my Maxima, it's current modifications, it's future modifications, and for me to beg the smarter members of this community for assistance in my quest to make the ultimate daily driver. I hate to clutter forums so I usually use the noob thread but I've noticed it isn't a high priority for most orgers to check so here it is, hopefully my first and last thread here.

Current Pictures (as of 08/08/08)
Engine


Exterior (Side)


Interior (drivers seat)


Rear (liscense plate frame & muffler)


I'll try to keep this updated and hopefully one day my Maxima will be as famous as Caped's, Pearl's and the half dozen Brian has owned.

Current Modifications (total ~$250):
Ebay 1990-1993 Honda Accord short ram intake. (about $30)
Spectre Performance cone air filter (paid retail...eww, ~$25)
Ebay (Otto Racing) front strut tower bar (about $30)
Spectre Performance spark plug wire seperators (I forget, under $10 I think)
NGK NX91/9090 spark plug wires (my most expensive mod...$75)
Painted valve covers blue ($5)
Ebay oil catch can (about $30)
Blue Silicone Hoses ($15 a pack, 2 packs)
Blue & Silver painted radiator shroud and fans ($10 for 3 cans)

Current BTTNF (Broken Things That Need Fixun'):
Passenger door (stupid people hit parallel parked cars)
Paint (its getting real bad on the top of the rear bumper)
Dings (very minimal of unknown origin, but I despise them)
AC (I probably need a new compressor)

Modifications I need help/materials with:
Ground wires (too confusing, no instructions, no electrical genius)

Planned Modifications ($2500+ to go):
Spare tire removal (extra weight = bad)
Rear disk brake conversion
Paint brakes silver
Lower tie bar
NWP intake spacers (less heat = good?)
Magnaflow muffler (stock muffler is rusting through and sounds bad imo)
Warpspeed Y pipe
Power inverter
Re-mount cigarette lighter 3 way splitter (GF kicked it out)
35% Tint All Around
17" wheels
Yokohama S Drive 215/50ZR17 tires
New springs and struts (Eibachs and KYB GR-2s)
More blue and silver stuff under the hood
VE 5 Speed swap (I can hardly drive a stick though >_<)

Possible Modifications:
Small Turbo (GT25 or GT28)
Intercooler (discretely mounted, no visible front bumper modification)
HKS BOV (either set up before the MAF or recirculating)
Nitrous Oxide (zex probably though NX is possible)
Engine Swap (internally modified VG30/33)
Interior and Exterior lighting
Replace door carpet with "brushed" aluminum/SS or black plastic
Full black interior swap
Rear sway bar
Digital Climate Control Conversion (I hate the way the levers fell apart on the analog)
Digital Dash Conversion (that would be a b****)
Better head unit
Modified speaker grilles
Gaming computer

 

Hey, it sounds like all of your mods are very obtainable and not very hard to do. You shouldn't have a problem with any of them, or getting help on here if you read up. The only thing I would assume is expensive and is very labor intensive is the turbo.

The ground kit will add on to your factory grounds, I assume you have a VG so I would check grounds for all of the stock one's. Traditional locations are; Intake Manifold, Battery, Distributor, alternator, and can sometimes be found around coil packs or spark plug wires. The stock grounds are pretty thin (around 18 gauge) black wires that run to the body, or a bolt somewhere on the chassis; you basically find the wires and add on to them with your aftermarket wires and ground them to the car, or a metal extrusion from the engine (Probably where the Battery's ground goes to)

You can install rest of the Honda CAI if you shave away a little of the metal below the headlight, and buy a 90 degree pipe. Then you just make an adapter for the MAF and connect your other pipe to that and aim it down towards the headlight, install a cuplink and put the 90 degree pipe in below the headlight (kind of going into the fender area) and them mounting the filter in the fender. (You can access it by taking off the splash guard in front of the passenger tire) It will give you a little more torque that you'll notice from the "butt dyno" if anything and is worth it for the price and how easy it is.

You shouldn't be scared of the WarpSpeed Y-pipe, most "local" muffler shops will install them for $50 with gaskets they can make, or if you buy new they'll install the gaskets that came with it. It is probably the best mod for the VG if we're talking bang for your buck. You already have good low end, so opening up the exhaust will make your powerband a bit more broad, giving you more high end. The flex section, bends, and design, is all superior to stock and it's cheap and something should be replaced on 16 year old car's anyway.

If you want a ride that isn't obnoxious, stay away from the magnaflow/flowmaster muffler. It does sound better than canister style mufflers. But it is still too loud for an elegant sporty sound and gives you a ricer feel. I ran with one for about 8 months and then ended up taking it back off. A Warpspeed Y-pipe + Stock muffler sounds pretty good and has a nice resonance at idle. Though I am probably going to get a Greddy SP2 when funds allow. You can listen to sound clips of my car with a magnaflow only, magnaflow and warpspeed y, and stock muffler with warpspeed Y, or all stock. They're on my cardomain which is listed in my profile.

 

Thanks man, I was trying to be realistic about everything. I'm mechanically inclined so my main limitation aside from being unemployed is being young and inexperienced.

The ground wires will probably go in the locations mentioned on the packaging unless someone tells me that one would be better off somewhere else. I took a pic earlier of the packaging thing



the wires are nice looking 4 gauge ones



I didn't really want the CAI, doesn't look as good, weighs more (lol), and when it rains here the streets get pretty flooded and I'm a VERY cautious guy so I don't want the intake getting any closer to the water than the stock one

Installation doesn't bother me a bit about the y-pipe. I know I could do it faster than I can change all 6 spark plugs assuming the stock one comes out without a hitch.

I've seen your video, in fact I think this is the one that sold me on the Magnaflow. It sounds great, not too raspy or high pitched (not that you'd expect a high pitch with a 3 liter engine anyways). If it's too loud IRL I guess I could probably put a second muffler before it. I don't want it to sound "obnoxious" at least not under 3000rpm but I don't like them quiet either.

 

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...r/IMG_0126.jpg

probably the least of your concerns but here's where i put my splitter. i've ridden shotgun in my car several times and never hit it (my friend, for whom i'm assembling another 3rd gen, loves the fact that my car revs past 4k (no joke..) , doesn't shut off 3 sec after startup, doesn't leak clutch fluid, has a/c, and various other things of that nature... so he always wants to drive it)

 

Not a bad list but before undergoing more power mods...consider suspension mods instead and not just only springs and struts. caped and most members on here will agree that the 3rd gen becomes a hell of a lot more fun to drive when its able to handle real well. I like driving the 3rd gen better than my 4th cuz it handles 100000000000 times better but I like driving the 4th better cuz its a 5spd Cant wait to find the perfect VE5 so I can have the full collection

 

I agree with that but I don't really understand suspension that well so it's kind of hard to plan mods. It also tends to trade off comfort for handing and I'm using the Maxima as a daily driver not a track car so if it makes the car less comfortable then it's not much of an improvement.

 

here's a basic rundown of suspension stuff

performance options:
springs (stay stock? upgrade to stock SE springs? aftermarket/drop springs?)
struts (monroe , oe replacement, KYB GR-2, Tokico, Koni Reds) worst to best
front/rear strut tower bars
upgraded front/rear swaybars
tie bars and subframe connectors (fairly up-there in price)
blehmco stuff (rear links, radius rod, swabar links, etc) are all rubber-free and use ballbearings (heim joints)


maintenance:
lower control arm bushings, swaybar-to-body bushings, swaybar endlinks/bushings, ball joints (the lower pivot point for your front suspension), strut mounts (insulation all around, as well as the upper pivot point for the front suspension), rear parallel link bushings, inner/outer tie rods (what actually causes the wheels to turn side to side), steering rack boots (if they tear), steering rack insulator bushings (they keep the steering from having freeplay like mine did)

also keep in mind that most bushings can be rubber or polyurethane. polyurethane outperforms rubber but needs to be relubed so the squeaking won't drive you mad.

 

Yeah...I heard you were having squeeking problems with some of your ES stuff.

Drop springs would be a definite if I did any major suspension work....I think the front end is too low but at the same time my wheels look too low on the body so well I better get good at parking unless the 1.2 inch drop doesn't have any clearance issues with parking stops.

My current suspension is in fairly good condition IMO. Nobody complains about the ride quality till I take a turn doing 25-30 which shouldn't be comfortable. As far as squeeks go I have enough problems figuring out what to lube the door hinges (?) with so my right 2 doors both squeek and aren't easy to open or close.

The main thing that would make me upgrade the suspension would be my suspension going bad on me so I figure lets replace things I know more about and can do by myself (I'm obviously not qualified to do an alignment).

I just don't feel like its worth modifying currently. I've ridden bikes with springs on them and hated the bounce that my pedaling creates. I've got a go kart with off-road-ish tires and 2rwd no differential and no suspension. It's a blast for 5hp but the thing is I've woken up the day after riding it almost ready to scream from how bad my back is hurting and it's not just me - my friend who helped me work on it ended up in just as much pain as me after riding it. I know that stiff suspension isn't always good and I also know soft isn't either but right now stock is doing well for me especially with the FSTB.

 

Notice all the mods in my sig.... no springs and guess what? Its COMFORTABLE I did just about everything first to see if it would handle the way I wanted it before having to change the springs and use different struts. I had/have the money for koni/eibach but I want to retain comfort as well. I rode in Maxitech's max and yes it handles nice but I dont like my ride THAT stiff, I'd say my car handles as well as his considering he didnt have a rear swaybar when I rode in it and he had thinner profile tires on his 17s while I had my 16s with more rubber. Look into it buddy, you will love your max a lot more

 

I'll put it on the possible list....I actually have considered the RSB in the past but then I was thinking "wait...isn't the reason we diss the 4th gens suspension something to the degree of some part of the suspension not being independent between the two sides?"

edit: wait that wasn't the reason, some people were dissing on the addco I believe

 

so why do you need a catch can?

 

NASCAR-style fuel cell w/ catchcan perhaps?

 

4th gens dont have independent rears like ours. the new maxima is the first to have independent rear suspension since the 3rd gen. i think it was the new one anyway

 

I thoought the 2004+ has IRS...

 

Meh don't really need one but I don't even like the idea of blowby oil getting in my intake manifold. If I ever turbo the Maxima it might come in handy, for now just a precaution/monitoring tool.

 

pfff you sound like my firewall/antivirus

 

you are right it was the 04, the 4DSC returned with 09

 

i building a turbo max, and i think im gonna adhere myself to this thread for info and help. i am like this guy, not a genius, but can do the work. but im goin for like 500hp. theres a guy out here,in missouri, who thinks its cool to have a cavaleir. he has nx and a gt35r twin ball bearing turbo, he just got done building and hasnt tuned or drove it yet. but im sure hell see 600+. so it is my goal to by the end of the year or maybe next summer to beat him at gateway international. so im looking at racing axles, ross pistons, jim wolf tech ecu upgrade, jim wolf turbo, larger injectors, so on and so on. im accually not all that sure of what to start with. but i do have a 90 se 5spd and an 89 se 5spd. the 89 does not go in first, the engine smokes, and has 275,000 on it. the 90 i drive everyday but is a rust bucket. i just got the 89 in texas for 300. i have springs and rims, 1 good body and 2 motors and trannys. where do i start? i dont mean to jump in 3g's thread but i figure we can all work together.

 

You're more than welcome to be here, I don't have a whole lot to say so you shouldn't be distracting anyone from helping me.

If I was you I'd swap the 90's engine and tranny into the 89. That or get a VE5 speed tranny for the 89 and fix/swap the engine. I don't know too much about pistons for our cars but searching summit a while back got me these for results http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku
I searched for a Maxima but theses according to applications are for the VG30DETT as opposed to our VG30E but I believe the bore was the same and they should work. Then again we can always bore our blocks out to fit bigger pistons like VG33 pistons or potentially some for other cars like how a bunch of Honda guys will use Suzuki Vitara pistons in their cars. If you are upgrading the pistons I'd think you'd want better con rods as well, eagle makes some for our cars
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...w=1&N=700+150+

 

good luck with 500. our turbo-God "only" makes ~425hp at the wheels.

 

Still, our cars are more than capable of breaking 500hp with forged internals. I wouldn't be surprised to see 1000hp if we had some knowledgeable people who also happened to be insane and have Franklins pouring out their asses.

 

it's doable. but your nose lifts in acceleration... good for RWD, bad for FWD. so what's the point of 500hp on a fwd car? you'd have to scale it back to like 300 until you got it into 3rd gear at which point the nose won't lift quite as severely because your rate of acceleration isn't quite as high.

and 1000hp?! that's what a Bugatti Veyron makes. it has awd and VERY fat, sticky tires. it's equipped to do that. but a family sedan?

 

first mod will be coil-overs wife will love me for spending my plastic cash on them

http://www.erzperformance.com/product_p/d2-n03.htm

 

I've heard bad things about D2s....they look nice but I want a reliable suspension

I never said a 500 or 1000hp Maxima would be practical, keep in mind what material our engines are made of, how much displacement we have, etc. The block is more than capable of it. Nissan ran the VG block at 900hp or so reliably in the GTP-ZX race cars.

I don't want a Maxima over 400hp, I don't even know that I want one over 200hp.

 

wtf how do you keep the camber from flopping out of spec when you only have 1 bolt hole at the bottom of the strut? or do they drop into the strut casing or something?

ionno they look weird.

 

i mean, i'd like enough power to wail into 2nd and give 3rd a nice hard chirp. which should be around 200whp. i was in a turbo 4cyl the other day that did this. and it was cool.

 

Yeah thats much better for practical use, which my Maxima is made for.

edit: Plug wires arrived and I installed them, looking good.

 

correct

 

those are for an A31 cefiro.

 

so you guys think 500hp is impractical? if i could make roughly 300 na, a turbo, underdrive pullies, intercooler, lsd, forged pistons and rods, and racing axles it shouldnt be too difficult. but...i do want to keep it street legal and drive it everyday, on pump fuel. does any of this sound impossible? everyone downs the idea and tells me itll never happen, not with that car or motor, and i think they are all wrong. ive heard, in the gtp zx blog, that the vg30 can handle 500hp at the crank on stock internals. http://www.vg30et.com/about.html i dont know who wrote it, but i like. also they sell a gtp racing rebuild kit with everything you need for $16,000. and the 1000hp was on and extremely overdone racing vg30et with no restrictor plates. also has anyone on here accually done this?

 

impractical =/= impossible

everyone knows damn well that a VG can make a TON of power, if you stuff enough air into it. but for $16000 you can get something alot better suited to handle 500hp (like something with awd or rwd). if boots comes in too quickly then you're going to have a hell of a time keeping the tires from spinning.

just because something CAN be done doesn't automatically make it a good idea.

besides if you total it, you just lost $14000 out of that $16000. at least get a car that's worth enough to where if it gets wrecked, you won't lose 8x the insurance value of the car.

 

I've heard from a Nissan Master Technician that 425 is when the pistons (at least I thought it was pistons) on the VG30DETT start falling apart. I'd be careful going anywhere near 400hp on a stock VG30E especially with 100K miles worth of wear.

500hp might happen but it might be broken after a year of driving it. Just buy everything you can to beef up your internals and drivetrain. S_mb, I do believe you can do it. I'm not saying it will never happen. I just don't believe its worth it. I may have never driven a 500hp car but I would think that traction would be a b****.

I do honestly think our engine can handle closer to 1500hp with the right internals. After all, the RB26DETT has put out like 1400 from 2.6 liters (well I think they usually are bored to 2.8 but still) of Nissan engineered cast iron. What's a VG30E? 3 liters of displacement with the same material.

Maybe with the VE-5 and the LSD you can make use of 500hp. I cannot wait to see the day when a Maxima gets there whether it's one of you's daily drivers or just an all out stripped down race car (though....I don't know why you'd strip down a Maxima).

 

good lord the bench racers in this thread is strong.

-maxboost
if you want a 500hp VG30E motor...GO FOR IT!!! Show me what you have and show me what you have done.

don't give me a shopping list of parts that "you're gonna to get" show me pics of the parts being installed. anyone can come out and type down a shopping list...it means NOTHING to us.

-3g
no one said it can't be done...but right now it's all just talk. also just because it's a VG block doesn't mean we have the same motor as the VG30DE/TT. you have TONS of aftermarket support for the RB...i doubt you have the same with the VG30E.

 

Pics are coming. The new engine bay pic with NGK wires is on my girlfriend's camera and I may upload it sometime tonight.

Work is being done, I spent $40 at autozone today so I can fix the temperature sensor for the dash, fix the dings in my body, paint the brake calipers (paint is 500F resistant silver), paint the valve covers (500F resistant Ford Blue) and replace the fuel filter.

Sure its still for the most part a shoping list but none the less it's a naturally aspirated daily driver build up thread that over the course of this year is going to get alot of work done though not all at once. I spent a year building and upgrading a computer, ~2 years buying music CDs (my count is at 200 CDs), built another computer and now all of my income is going into the Maxima. Not that I have alot of income at this point but I have no expenses to be responsible for. When parts cost $150 or so you'll see maybe an update a month unless I find a good job in my city's crappy economy. Either way I somehow manage to make over $2000 a year being unemployed babysitting, changing my mom's oil, having a birthday and christmas, and on occassion working in the orange groves for my dad. I will get somewhere with this Maxima, these aren't just a young boy's dream of owning a McLaren F1. I will make one nice NA Maxima, I promise.

Aftermarket support is a bummer but thats where retrofitting comes in handy. Loads of people use cobra MAFs for other applications, some Honda guys use Suzuki Grand Vitara pistons, etc. With research, engineering knowlege and some fabrication skills the VG30 can be a very good platform.

I myself am not going to go extreme. I'm hoping sooner or later to pick up an 80s Camaro in horrible condition and take advantage of the aftermarket support for small block chevys. That will be my extreme project, hopefully extreme enough to do a wheelie. Probably give it to my 12 year old brother when he turns 15-16 if I do get it.

Edit: Also, to everyone who cares I got 23 mpg out of this last tank, most of it done on streets with 25-45mph speed limits. This is 5 mpg increase over flooring it everywhere like I have fun doing. I'm proud of myself though disappointed I didn't make 24, 25, 26 or 30mpg.

 

I dont know man...isnt that a lil too much power for a 15-16 year old? Not trying to be negative but shouldn't he like start with a Neon or Cavalier before getting something that extreme?

 

My family owns an orange farm. My brother and I have been trusted with tractors that cost probably half as much as the rooves over our heads since before we were 10. He's driven our old Dodge Ram and he is one of the most responsible 12 year olds on the face of this planet. I'm not going to build it alone if I do build this car so he'll figure out very quickly how much power it has and how careful he'd have to be with it. If you are thinking that driving a tractor on an orange farm is nothing like driving on a real road you'd be right but sometimes we need to take the tractors to other people's grooves to spray (herbicide or pesticide), move fruit bins, fertilize, etc. and we aren't going far enough that it's worth putting a tractor on a trailer.

The reason I wouldn't get him a Cavalier or Neon or something relatively weak is it would come out of my money. My mom is too cheap to buy us cars so I was lucky enough to get the Maxima since she hates it and got it for free from my grandma. I'm not going to waste money buying a crappy car, since a nice small block chevy is already on my list of things I want that don't cost an arm and a leg I may as well make it useful as more than just a toy. Besides I never said I'd let him drive it in such extreme tune. Any nitrous I might have on the car would be removed, boost would be limited and etc.

Back onto the main topic. Just replaced the fuel filter, fixed the temperature sensor wiring, pulled out a dent or two. Out of everything I bought at autozone today (so far...I kinda want to go back) the only things that aren't done are painting the valve covers and brakes which I'm hoping my dad will want to help me with tomorrow.

 

mmm oranges... where is this farm located city wise?

 

Terra Ceia Island, it's about 2 miles south of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge which connects it to St. Pete. Dunno if you know where that is seeing as you are from Illinois.

 

I have no idea but a quick google search shows you're in FL...must be nice. I wish we had that weather all year round.

Ok, I'm done with off topic lol..

 

Weather is definitely nice. No worries about having too little antifreeze, being able to run 10w30 oil all year round etc.

It's getting on my nerves though, I can't get the Maxima to start after replacing the fuel filter and I don't know why....maybe its time to call dad.

edit: damnit, dad says I know more than him on this one.