Grumpy560

iTrader: (1)

Hello everyone, I am new to the forum though not new to the 3rd gen maxima. I have been lurking around here as a guest for some time and decided to join. I live in southern middle Tennessee, sort of in the middle of Nashville and Chattanooga kinda out in the boonies you might say. I currently do not own a 3rd gen maxima right now but am on the hunt for one.

I have owned several 1st, 2nd and 3rd gen maximas in the past as back in my younger days I use to buy them with bad motors or bad transmissions and resell them once they were repaired though I did get to enjoy driving them for a short period of time before they were gone.

Fast forward 10 years and now I think it's time or past time that I started looking for another 3rd gen maxima.

But......here's the kicker. There is only one particular year model that I am going to look for, only because I have had only one like it before that I have ever since regretted letting go of.

That particular model was a 1989 maxima GXE. It had the sonar suspension and digital dash that I thought was cool in every way, it was pearl white with burgundy leather interior. I sold that car not long after I replaced the automatic transmission though I have sold a lot of cars that I wished today that I had kept them but this one was without a doubt the best one of all.

So my goal right now is to try and find another 1989 GXE similar to the one I had before and go from there. I know there is one out there somewhere that needs some or a lot of TLC that's waiting for a new home.

Let the hunt begin........

Steve

ac max 92

iTrader: (13)

Welcome Steve, Hope you find lots of useful information on the forums and all the best of luck in your hunt.

Grumpy560

iTrader: (1)

Thank you, Yes I have found a lot of helpful information here, truthfully more than I had bargained for.

Steve

Nandiitho

When you limit yourself to a specific car, in a specific year, a specific transmission and a specific color, your chances of finding it become very small, You WILL find it if you really want it but it will be tough. I had been looking for a 5.5Gen 6-speed white for about 18-24 months even in different states, and I finally found it a month ago. It is a great feeling.

3rd generation Maximas are great cars. A 1992 GXE was my first Maxima and my very first car, I regret selling it so much. I purchased it from my uncle for $600 and sold it for $2900 after fixing a lot of things in it, dozens of hours and money spent in it. I used to get lots of complements on it specially after I turned the paint back to live by polishing and waxing it and after I added some wheels.

Welcome to Maxima.org, and good luck on your Maxima hunt!


1992 Automatic 210000 miles when sold.

Grumpy560

iTrader: (1)

Thank you, it looks like you had a very nice 92. I do realize that my hunt for the right car will take some time and it's a good thing that I'm not in any hurry because I know it's not going to be easy but I know one's out there somewhere.

The 89 GXE I bought, fixed and then stupidly sold for no reason shorty thereafter only had 79K on it and I know it will be nearly impossible to find another low mileage car that is purely identical with the exception of color combination but I am going to do my very best to find it.

I will consider other colors and interior but I am set on finding one that has the digital dash and sonar suspension and from what I understand only the 1989 GXE had the optional digital dash but later models also had optional sonar suspension though I could be misunderstanding something somewhere.

I will post in the for sale/wanted section when the time is right. In the meantime I have been searching CL and ebay and I am willing to travel for the right car so we will see what happens.

Cliff Clavin

iTrader: (11)

Welcome to the .org

You are really looking for a needle in a haystack car with three things that are hard to find: sonor suspenion, digital dash and burgundy leather.

Probably your best bet is to hit craigslist and start searching. I would just put in "1989 Maxima" for every town around where you live and start widening the circle. I have found several cars I was looking for by doing that and also on autotrader.

It took me several months to find a decent wheelchair van with low miles under $20k. I finally found one about 3 hour drive away in a different state.

Grumpy560

iTrader: (1)

Thank you for the welcome.

I have been searching CL and Ebay for a few weeks now. I have found a few 3rd gen maxis close to my area but of course they are not exactly what I want. The first one is in Huntsville AL, 94 model with 168K runs/drives w/automatic. I am going to look at this one in the morning if it is still available.

There are 2 of them in the Nashville area. both are pearl white w/burgundy leather interior and both have bad automatics, one with 248K and one with 256K miles. $750 to $1,000 each. The one for $750 is further out and is held at a repair shop I believe, I won't even bother going to look at either one of these.

I might have a lead on the one I want from a forum member here but it's way out of state and would need to be shipped. I am awaiting word from him and if he even wants to sell it or if it is a wrecked/parts car or a fixer-upper I just don't know yet.

This is something I do not want to rush into at all but if I need to have one shipped in from another state then so be it.

Steve

Grumpy560

iTrader: (1)

Uncertain what got into me this morning but I had planned a trip to our local pull a part to check out 2 maximas they had. There were 2 3rd gen's out in the yard, one was an 89 and the other was a 90 model.

The 89 was still complete and was an automatic. The 90 model to my surprise was a manual 5 speed and I went to town removing the trans and all related components to do a manual swap. Both cylinder heads were off the engine but I found them in the trunk so I am thinking this one had mechanical issues and hopefully this will be a good 5 speed transmission.

The odometer showed 128K and I also snagged some other parts, I got the power antenna and some relays, radio trim, fog light switch and a bunch of other stuff too and left there spending less than 170 bucks.

I will go back tomorrow with my portable battery box to check out the window motors/regulators because I don't believe these cars are going to be in the yard much longer and I want to get all the good ones I can for spares later on. Funny thing is, I don't even have a 3rd gen maxima yet but that is going to change in the near future.

The only reason I snagged the 5 speed is because the 3rd gen automatics have a bad rep about going out and I want to be set to go with a manual swap. All I have to do now is clean up some parts and put everything together out in the barn.

Hectic

iTrader: (20)

That's a good collection of parts for $170, including a complete 5 speed swap no less. Even if you end up buying a 5 speed, you don't have that much invested.

Grumpy560

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Hectic, yes it is a very good collection of parts for the money. It took me nearly 6 hours to pull all that stuff by myself and it was nearing 5pm when I went to check out and I was exhausted by that time. Thankfully they furnish dollies or I would have never made it to the front with the trans alone.

I will need a couple of replacement parts later on though such as the shift housing and shifter itself but I can probably source those pieces here on the forum later on.

Grumpy560

iTrader: (1)

Made another trip out to the pull a part this afternoon to retrieve the CV shaft carrier support bracket from the donor car to complete my 5 speed swap set up and I also snagged the ECU as well. I will need to make one more trip out there to retrieve a few more parts that I want tomorrow.

I have located the maxima GXE I was looking for from a forum member here but it's out of state. I will be working to close the deal on it in the next few days.

Once everything is sorted out and the car is delivered I will start a new thread to document future plans I have in mind for the maxima that will most likely include my 5 speed swap.

Thanks again to those who replied.

Steve

shiloh51933

iTrader: (5)

Sounds like my baby but my interior color is brown...everything else to a t.