hey guys im kinda new here but ive read alot on here, im looking to make alot more power and better handling. can anyone give me some idea's? its a 90 maxima se 5 speed, 151xxx miles.

 

It depends on how much u willing to spend

 

im willing to spend 2500$

 

It also depends on your purpose and how much you'll gonna spend for future repairs. You can either put a turbo or a supercharger to increase power but going over the limits of the engine presents future problems. You'll shorten the life of your engine and an increase in torque will f*ck up your tranny and differential. For handling, you will upgrade your suspension and steering. Lowering springs or coilovers, stabilizer system upgrade, poly bushings, and your wheels.

 

intake - cold air intake (stock air box can be used to save money K&N air filter)
ignition - msd ignition, open up spark plug gap after msd
exhaust system - muffler, bigger diameter piping, better Y pip
engine - cams, ecu flash, turbo set up or for NA applications thiner head casket for higher compression, ignition timing week (advance),

thats all i have at the top of my head

 

If you get an intake/exhaust and then have your ecu chipped/re tuned you could be pushing an extra 25-35hp or so. That would be a good difference and is easy to do.

 

i'd like to keep it non turbo, just all natural power. and how do you ecu chipped? im totally new to all this. do you guys know specfic brands that are good for lowering and suspendion? post pics of your ride nickdoof.

 

making "lots" of power non-turbo is going to cost a chunk of change. These engines can make good power, but not without a lot of work. intake manifold, head work, cams, pistons, etc. Expect to spend $2500 just to get 220whp. if you want >250, then you're going to be spending some major coin.

Or you could piece together a decent small turbo setup and put 250hp down with stock internals.

In either case, you'll need to upgrade the tranny. the stock open diff is junk for anything above 200hp as soon as you turn the wheel.

 

I have some pics in my albums but here you go:







Also about the chip, look it up on Ebay. You can get a chip for the VG ecu for about $32.99. You email them your upgrades and they send you a tuned chip that will accomidate for your modifications.

 

nice ride and im lookin on ebay now. thanks btw. im from camden ohio, and you? thats too nickdoof. and matt93se what kinda tranny would i look for? and i guess a turbo wouldnt be a bad idea, there just a pain to keep in order. lol.

 

for basic stuff i would do Warpspeed Ypipe, true CAI, JimWolf cams, and MES mandrel exhaust. otherwise, go turbo using Z31 turbo parts.

i would go for handling first though, try to find some Tokico or Koni (probably gonna have to be used) struts and some Eibach or Ksport springs.

 

chrome91. thanks for the info, im really lookin for help like a mechanic for this project. but anybody on this thread im gonna start doing little things too it. nothing major till summer. its my dd and race car.

 

You should sell your car, then take the maybe $4000 total you will have and buy something faster. You will spend a lot more than $2500 to get a big smile on your face with your car, especially if you don't have some decent mechanical skills to save all the labor cost in modding.

Not to be a downer, but these cars are pretty decent stock. However, it takes quite a bit of extra crap to get them to really improve a lot in the power department.

 

Chip? For a VG? Why not just do JWT ECU. Same difference. For power with a VG its as Matt stated you could go small turbo setup or n/a you could do cams, JWT & exhaust. As for handling KYB GR2s, eibach, intrax or sprint springs, poly bushings, lower tie bar if you can still come by one, sub frame connectors and either progress or suspension technique sway bars. GL the market for these cars is dying out.

 

maximo018. what kinda turbo set up could i do?

 

plus im really was wanting to trade the car but after seeing all the maxima can do i think im gonna keep it.

 

Just swap motor n call it the day. Intake n exhaust. Less of a headache

 

2500 for stock z31 setup can be done. Still a lot of fab work. involved. I have over 1k in my heads alone and 3 to 4k in turbo setup, fuel system, nistune etc. Although making around 400whp. It all depends on how much you can fab yourself if not capable of doing it yourself Gunna be tough to get it dne right for 2500.

 

C'mon, man.. surely you know those eBay "chips" are complete BS. Anyway, I have the "real" way to do it - a JWT ECU, and I can tell you for damn sure it's given me nowhere NEAR 25-30 extra HP. I don't even think it's given me a third of that.

BTW - wow, sudden influx of n00bz lately. Weird. We've gone years without any

 

I. Engine
1. JWT Popcharger
2. JWT ECU
3. JWT Cams, Isky Cams
4. Headers
5. MES or Warpspeed catback
6. High Flow Cat
7. Ignition system
8. Adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator
9. High Volume Walbro fuel pump (190 or 255)
10. Ported heads and intake system
11. Lightweight ASP crank pulley
12. ARP Rod Bolts
13. JWT high RPM Valve Springs
14. Turbo
15. NOS

II. Handling
1. Sway bars
2. KYB GR2 Struts
3. Lowered Springs
4. Relocated Battery
5. Front and Rear Strut Braces
6. Poly Urethane bushing kits
7. 15"-17" Lightweight Racing wheels
8. Wider Tires
9. Better braking compound/Rotors


Hope this is enough! I/E/ECU is where I would start

 

thats pretty much where i was going with mine, might not want to hear it but if you want a project race car, get something with a larger aftermarket and RWD (S13, FC, Supra, etc). i know i didnt want to hear it, but look where i ended up

a 3rd gen is a awesome DD, but if you want a race car i would say get a S13 that needs a bit of work for a grand and work on it weekends, learn how to work on it and turbo it. when youre talking the power a turbo can produce, youre gonna want RWD. plus when you have that much power, youre gonna be dropping trannies pretty frequently (IE my Supra ) and a RWD tranny is easier to drop than a FWD one

also as James said those chips are the biggest load of crap ever, theyre along the lines of those air intake "superchargers". they do **** all

 

Z31 setup. The turbo manifolds bolt right up, so no need for custom made manifolds. Talk to Akurtzer57. Hes where you would want to be. Maybe if hes willing he might walk thru step by step on what to get, cost, where, etc.

 

lol i see. so jwt ecu? im gonna get that my next check and start from there. i'll post pics tommrow of my car and i'll update it every payday i'll try and add something new.

how does the jwt pop charger work?

 

also if im add more powwerrrr what kinda tranny swap should i do? i have no clue what tranny is stronger or lighter

 

The ve5 manual trans is your best bet. In the 92-94 se it is factory lsd the hubs and axles will need changed. Do a search on it. Believe there is full ve5 swap fs in the classifieds

 

 

A lot of Mods will say swap to a VG30et but I think you'd be better off keeping your stock VG. Reason being is the stock 9:1 c/r engine, it's not too high or too low. It should spool much faster and retain stock low end power, more power at same boost as the VG30et. You can get 2 rear right side manifolds from a 2nd gen Max or 300zx and get a custom crossover pipe made. 2 90 degree mandrel bends from the manifolds to a turbo flange and you should be good to go. Maybe you could go with a custom header all together. The stock Z manifolds have been tested to flow enough exhaust for 400whp in a Z31, so they should be good enough unless your planning on going for more whp then 400. The JWT ECU is a good choice as mentioned by many already. You'll need larger injectors, a 255lph fuel pump and I'd go with a fuel regulator w/fuel pressure gauge incorporated so you can watch what's going on at all times. You'll need a good tranny with a good clutch, I'd look into having the trans built up before installing. You'll be better off spending the extra time/money now than having to swap another tranny later. Your going want to upgrade your rims/tires and with that your braking system. Then your suspension/steering/frame should at the least be replaced if your 3G has high mileage. There's still some decent choices on catbacks these days and you can piece together the cat/resonator, some members here have encouraged some fabricators to make exhaust parts for our 3g's. If you have 2500.00 to start with then you might be able to make the turbo set up happen if you do most of the labor yourself. It should be apparent that 2500.00 is not nearly enough to build your dream car. I personally have went the other route of doing everything else first before i start on the motor. I've already spent 2500.00 in parts alone since I'm capable of doing most of the labor. I do have 2 other cars that I'm also responsible for and been upgrading. I own a '96 Volvo 850 GLT, which is also a 4 door sports car from the same era as the 3G Max. The 1993 base model 850 comes with about a 170 bhp and the Turbo model is about 220 bhp. That's the 1993 model, in 1996 they had many different versions of the 850 to choose from, including a wagon. At the end of 1996 year the GLT came w/a small turbo set up making around 190bhp. The Turbo model had around 225bhp, the Platinum model had I believe 240bhp and the R model came with 255bhp. They were all offered in the wagon versions by 1996 and the wagon version is kinda sick looking tricked out. My point is, that it's much easier to work with a vehicle that comes from the factory with a Turbo option. Fortunately I'm able to keep my Max as my project car, it's going much slower now that I have 2 other cars but she's not building up mileage while i'm working on her. I'm also hooking up my 5G Lude but that's another story. Unfortunately Nissan never made a Turbo option for the Maxima, they could have easily done it but I guess they might have been cutting there own throats with sales of the Z.

 

There are alot of orgers that use mandrel piping for their intake,....I chose Oem plastic cause it's an insulator and the intake tract run in front of the radiator fans. The JWT is a very good addition and Cattman is your source! I thought I would show you my setup:

 

NisTune is better to run than JWT, JWT you have to send back to get reflashed whenever you change something

 

I've got a JWT ecu and It's driveability is second to none....My tuning experience vs JWT who has 30+ yrs with Nissan ECU programming.....I'll pay for it one time! I can tune mine with fuel pressure and ignition timing adjustments.....

 

Manifolds do bolt up but Will need to make custom relocator pipe or motor mount also custom crossover. I have been debating on selling my kit have some things in mind want to change.

 

I pretty much agree with everything on here but two things: based on what you've told us, you've got a TON of basic stuff to do and sounds like paying someone else to do it. So, you will have to do quit a bit of modding before you even need to be thinking about an ecu or tune. And even more mods before you need to be looking at an upgraded ignition system.
So, go get your intake, exhaust, and suspension stuff. Maybe even look at aluminu flywheell and performance clutch.

Then, evaluate your bank account and go from there. And importantly, those will be mods that will build on whatever else you decide to do.

 

i like this thread alot cause im learning alot of new things which is great! thanks everyone

 

cmax03.... i like that engine pic alot, thats clean. im taking that a pop charger for jwt? and what all have you done too your engine in that pic?

 

I've done alot pretty much the list I gave you in Reply #20:
Engine
1. JWT Popcharger
2. JWT ECU
3. Isky Cams
4. Custom Pacesetter Headers
5. MES 2.5" Catback
6. High Flow Cat
7. Mallory Ignition system
8. Adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator
9. High Volume Walbro fuel pump (190 LPH)
10. Ported heads and intake system
11. Lightweight ASP UDP crank pulley
12. ARP Rod Bolts
13. Overbored .5mm
14. Balanced Bottom End
15. Poly filled Engine Mounts

 

any have any ideals for a body kit?

 

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