Hey guys, it's been a good while since I've started a thread in the 3rd gen section but I'm happy to announce that today, my third gen will be back alive!!!

It's been parked since June 2008 due to some strut tower rust on the driver side front strut. All thats wrong with is an injector (piece of cake) and the rust. So I'm getting ready to head out to Edgerton, Wisconsin with 1992maximase30 to another buddy's who's able to fix this issue for me.

I've missed my 3rd gen so much!! Its just so much more comfortable than my 4th gen, handles way better, has a few more features than the 4th, and feels a bit more up scale than the 4th, if only it were as quick...Oh and its a way better car to drive in the snow.

I'm leaving in a few but will be posting some highway pics of the two maximas on the drive there and of some of the progress.

Wish me luck and hope that its not a headache!

 

is it fixed, yet?

noob, you need to be here, at home, in the 3rd gen section more. it's been kinda dead, since you stopped whoring around.
lol

 

ah the good old days..

having ridden in both, I like your 3G better too. stiff but not harsh.. and pimp in-dash GPS haha

 

Ah yes, good times lol... I'll be around more often. Finished the 3rd gen about an hour ago and it is looking nice... I've got TONS of before and after pics as well as in between pics as we worked. The 100 mile drive even seemed to have cleared up the miss

Right now I'm just working on his laptop since it was part of our payment agreement. I fix his laptop plus some cash and he fixes my strut tower, works for me

 

Cool deal you're fixing it. Show some of these pansies around here that a little rust isn't an insurmountable problem

Can't wait to see some pics!

 

 

Got home a few hours ago but went out driving around town with the g/f so I'm just barely uploading pics and video now. It's 147 pics and they're uploading to photobucket now, I'll post up the img links later on when I wake up

Car drives so much better and there's no more clunking, only a bit of squeaking from the rear sway bar poly bushings but thats no biggie!

 

nice dude, I can imagine how great it must be to get back in.

 

I will post pics of the entire event so some may not be strut tower repair relevant, I apologize but some may find it alright

Leaving early morning around 7am, thats my 95. My gfs black 97 I bought her, and 1992maximase30's new 1997 (yes it needs a grill and hood but still nice lol)


A bit of 8am chicago highway traffic


Got a couple of these but only posting this one, yes I know it needs a drop lol


After we got to my buddy's. Dont worry about the fender, I've got 2 replacements in the garage


EVIL!!!!!!!

 

F U MIDWEST RUST BELT


Notice how the driver side tower is way higher than the passenger, as soon as we took off the FSTB, the thing popped higher. God bless suspension mods


A bit of Jimmy-riggin' closed it nice n easy


Oh God, look at that! Time for a brake fluid flush!


GR2's and Assurance TripleTreds, cant go wrong with those. oh look at the crack

 

Tossed on a paint/rust removed on the air grinder and got to work


The other side


Full view


Self explanatory


Shaping the support to be welded

 

All done with bracket, just waiting for prepping on strut tower itself


Ugh... I want a clean shell from the Souf


Another one


Well, its a start =]


Some more

 

lol, can you see the 2x4 holding the driver side down?


Measuring for the wheel well side


Almost done with this side!!!11one


A bit of primer

 

Zhe other side


zhe OTHER side lol


I guess I didn't take pics of both sides paint with some cheap white Duplicolor paint but oh well, here's after we were putting everything back together


Notice the angle of the strut tower compared to earlier


A side view of it all done

 

My buddy's Impala


Leaving his place... 4300kHID + FX35 projectors > stock 3rd gen lights + fogs


I MISSED THIS SPEEDO SO MUCH!!


I can see my 3rd gen on my 4th gen!


This pic should be the first one but I'm lazy, notice the gap between hood and fender! its not there anymore =]

 

Grinding video.. quite boring if you ask me

BLA I also have a video of the strut tower being pushed down and closed but PB is being ghey and freezes at 60% meanwhile I'll upload something else, maybe a pic

 

Can't tell much but I love the way the FX projectors look stock in there..thanks kzoosho

 

 

Forgot to mention, Sprayed the crap out of the wheel well with truck bedliner coating after it was all done

 

Finally got photobucket to upload this video, enjoy

 

pictures came out nice. the whole time you were bout as happy as a fat kid at a candy store.

 

nice welds...

but really good job! its good to see another 3rd gen on the road!

 

wow great job man. looks good

 

That's it, fix that sucker up. I got a 92 VE and as far as I can tell it feels as peppy as my old 97 SE did.

 

3rd gens FTW!!! period.

 

Thanks guys, I shall have the plates/tags updated soon as they are from 2008 lol all I have current is insurance as that's something I dont play with and neither does Illinois lol

So there's a to-do list I've got jotted down and so far I'm happy with how many of those things I've scratched out. Today I went to get some spare injectors from the g/fs dad and should be taking care of that this week, tossing the Premier (Pioneer) headunit back in it as well as the "in dash" garmin GPS I fabbed up in it 2 years ago. I also plan on winterizing it by waxin it soon. Should be fun.

 

Glad to hear/see that you were able to revive her! Nice work on the weld job!

 

and how did it drive....nice work/dedication.

 

NIce work, I especially love the color of the speedometer cluster, how did you do it? I wanted to get the SE cluster for my GXE but was afraid of having different odometers, that blue light would go great with my blue exterior! Again great job, cant wait to get my max back rollin. havent driven her in almost 3 months!

 

Thanks, it was my buddy, I just helped disassemble and clean up

Drives awesome, smooth, quiet, and straight. misfires randomly here and there but the average person can't tell lol

I used 4 -194 Single wedge LEDs from superbrightleds.com

What happened to your Max?

 

Well The tranny blew out, ive been looking for a replcement within my price range, as they have none where I live. Most yards only have a tranny for the DOHC engine. Most shops want 1500 and up to put a used one in or a rebuild, and I dont want to spend that kind of money right now. I was going to get rid of it, as I had alot of repairs I needed to catch up on to get it running back in top shape, like fuel injectors, timing belt, heater core, shocks, and crankshaft seal. But I looked at it the other day, and fired up the engine, and said i cant get rid of it! Despite the little problems it still took me everywhere i needed to go. I just got it painted in Febuary of this year and installed lots of new parts. I found a transmission and am getting it soon! will be back on the road soon.

 

May as well fix up the one you have (maxinout). Don't forget, if you aren't buying a much newer car as a replacement, the game will start ALL OVER AGAIN, you'll be re-setting back to zero and have to start replacing all the parts in the replacement car too, when they start blowing up.

Actually, A family members 2005 maxima already blew out the OEM wheel bearings/hub assy, so even if you have a newer car, it'll start blowing up too. How the wheel bearings already blew on that thing, makes me wonder how robust the 2005 parts are.

 

Yes you are right, a friend of mine has a 99 mazda 626 with 135,000 miles and the wheel bearings went bad. My other friend has a 2001 Maxima and he had to replace the radiator at 105,000 miles. My car has 225,000 miles, and I didnt have to replace any of those items as of yet, one thing about this car is that it takes a while for things to brake on it with quality parts. I plan to get another car possibly another maxima only after I fix this one, but I dont want to get rid of it like I did my 1987 Maxima. I replaced my 87 Max with a 91 Baretta GT- 5 speed. It was a pretty peppy car, but with lots of annoying repairs and problems. I only drove it for about 3,000 miles until the oil pump started to seize, then the engine blew and left me stranded far from home.

 

Front wheel bearings? I've found the hubs aren't torqued enough from the factory on a great many of the 6 gens I've worked on. several were finger tight, held on by the cotter pin (phew! that coulda been ugly!). All of them I've worked on, I'll at least pull the wheels and un/retorque the axle nuts on them to max of factory spec.

 

i think you spent more time taking pictures than working on the car...lol

 

lol of course. I'm not the metal guys nor the welder I only helped out in regards to removing stuff out the way so he could work on it

I strongly believe a pic is worth a thousand words, correct me if I'm wrong

 

Good Lord, John! As much as you love that car, I am sure I could have found you a nice shell down here to swap parts over to...It's good to see it back up and running, though.

Have you checked what the rear fender wells / strut towers look like lately?

 

Sweet fix buddy. Good you didn't give up on it. I really hope my rust bucket VE doesn't have rust there. My friends in big trouble then since he just bought it. What are your plans for the 4th gen?

 

Yessir, I'm super happy its back on the road. I just may be replacing an injector or two tomorrow depending how soon I can get done with my clients tomorrow. I was quite interested in your VE but no moolah, hope your friend can get it back on the road and take care of it.

As far as the 4th gen.. Not sure, I suppose a couple of light mods. I've got Progress springs going on it after winter and I'm thinking tossin on a rear swaybar and 00vi and I'm done. Afterall my 4th gen is just at the boarder of reaching 324,000 miles Damn thing is a beast, just youtube my username

 

In my opinion for all of those who live in snowy climate areas of the country should invest in this. http://www.counteractrust.com/counte...tm#automobiles

It protects not just the body but even bolt ons.