I want to do a build up but it seems hard enough keeping the tranny working with stock power. I can imagine getting big power out of my grocery getter and having to fix the tranny every month!

 

I've been told 3-400 easily by several tranny shops (that know their stuff)

the big thing is how you drive it. powershift on stock power, it'll last a few years.
powershift on boost/NOS, it'll last a few months.

If you're really THAT concerned with it, the first stop would be to pull it out and have it cryo treated before you ever try to beat on it with big power adders like NOS or boost.

Also take a new clutch in with it to the cryo treaters.
downtime will be about 4 days, and cost will be about $200 for the cryo treating. ($150 for tranny, $50 for clutch assembly)

 

So are you saying that cryo treating would be the only real thing you need to do? Not getting different gears or anything?

 

(reffering to your sig) your speaker wires don't count as a mod..

 

 

I HIGHLY recommend cryo treatment on the tranny. I haven't done it yet, so I can't speak from experience. Though, it seriously reduces the stress and heat the tranny is put through. If you can get it done for just a few $100 than it is definitely worth the money. I think the auto 3rd gen trannies could definitely benefit from cryo treatment, since they SUCK so bad! I have one so I know what I'm talking about! I'm pretty ****ed at mine right now.

 

It's not the only thing you can do, but it's the most cost-effective.

the other thing is to get chro-moly gears put in it, but that's $$$$$$$$...
other than that, there's not a whole heckuvalot that can be done (that I know of)

 

Mmmmm.....Chro-moly! Almost like the billet titanium UDP that Hekimian can make but, of course no one will be able to afford!

 

About $1000 probably, but it's out there or can be made.
It's all in how crazy you are and how much money you have.

 

I should of brought my tranny up there when I had it out I my picnic table a month or so ago. Damm it I was just to in a hurry to get my beast back on the road

 

Join the club.. I almost skipped on some stuff, as it cost me another $300 in rental car fees and overnighting parts.. oh well it was worth it.

 

Ahhh....ok...so cryo treating it is!

 

Please let us know how it turns out, if you get cryo treatment done. I don't know if you'd even notice much of a difference but it would definitely be more durable.

 

According to other web boards, especially Subaru junkies, are envious of our gears..according to them, Nissan puts some strong a## gears into their trannies. You think we have tranny probs? they chew gears all the time. Nissan Synchros and bearings are another story, but that's the word. Cryo is definately a great idea. I am going to cryo my whole drive train..tranny now, and when I build the motor, that will get the deep freeze too. I have heard from some sources that treating the gears themselves can do more harm than good. Cryo changes the characteristics of the crystalline structure at the molecular level..theory is that is makes em strong, but can cause brittleness. You want your gears to be a little ductile as they are engaging/disengaging frequently, not like your shafts that spin with fairly consistent contact loads at the bearing journals and such..there you want toughness with little ductility. But the jury is still out on that. I'm going to do it anyway. If it's good enough for NASCAR, I think it will help my beater!

 

I agree with the brittleness thing, but I'll tell you that the OEM gears aren't incredibly strong.. you shoudl have seen the innards of my last tranny. I didn't believe the shop when they told me I'd shattered 2nd, 3rd, and 4th at the same time. I had to see it to believe it, and yes.. It was there. about half the teeth on the gears were gone, and one gear had an obvious crack right through the center. Several synchros were also fubar'd, and they just rattled around on the shafts.
He did confirm that was the first one he'd ever seen that bad, but said that they get Zs in there all the time in worse shape. (but then again, they can easily push over 400hp)

 

Tranny shops told me that maxima gears are pretty strong and usual not the problem. But matt the exact same thing happened to my tranny

 

ok...so the trannies aren't that strong....and cryo can cause brittleness sounds like there is some serious thinking to be done here, changing gears out may be a better idea, especially since i'm in ro rush and i have a functioning tranny right now...damn...decisions, decisions!

 

I feel the same way. My release bearing is squeeking, so the clock is ticking to get my tranny done. I can't bare to open the trans and not put in an LSD, alum flywheel, JWT clutch and cry the whole damn thing. But is is worth it? I am going turbo within the next 12 months ini pursuit of serious power. I've been talking to alot of Z owners and machine shops and have at least come to this conclusion..The stock crank, rods and pistons can take 400hp. Our main cap (one large piece) is near indestructable, and turbo vG's make tons of torque. My max weighs what a Z31 weighs and they can go mid 13's to low 12s fully worked and full weight. Now the Max's flaws are the trans, high comp pistons(as compared to turbo z31's at 7.8:1)and cv axles. Axles can be made and are easy to replace anyway. If I'm making 400hp, the pistons will have already been changeD, so that's not an issue..The weak link is that transaxle. By the end of july I'll have the LSD, Alum flywheel & clutch done, all cryoe'd and ready for abuse. I'll let you all know how it goes. The way I see it, if those Hoda boys and girls can run 500hp through stock trannies, I should be able to also. We'll see!

 

Are you sure the stock rods and pistons will take it? from what i've found most people change them, the z31 owners usually pull them out of the TT Z and use those, i'm not planning on leaving anything stock on my engine, My car's going to be one crazy @$$ hybris when i finish, and from what i'm seeing i may just tear the tranny apart and replace the gears, i have no intention for redoing the tranny after i get the 5 speed in if i can avoid it. I'd rather shell out an extra grand or so now to do it rather that having the tranny go after it's in my car, because that's money AND downtime

 

Exactly my feeling..I want to do the trans right onces and not have to open it again..until I blow it up from too much power running through it! Right on about the rods and pistons too. We will never get our NA VG engines to 400hp, even with a retrofitted turbo, as high comp. limits boost. It all depends on my budget when I get to the bottom end rebuild as to what parts I use..some custom titanium rods and wristpins will run about 4K, but they'll allow higher revs and add about 30hp just from the reduced mass..More likely that I'll drop in some TT rods and JE pistons. FYI I've heard bad things about eagle rods ie they are poor quality, and we would be better off with TT rods. Sounds like we are on the same page. My project is starting slowly now..just got my new Nissan motor mounts and filled 'em with urethane from McMaster. THose are going in tomorrow. I bought all the stuff to do my rear manifold too. I have a leak, but I am not so convinced it is the manifold. WSP cat, B-pipe and muffler are coming within a few weeks, and the tranny will be done ASAP (ie as soon as I can gather the funds). There's a place called Rallispec in my area that quoted me 395 to rebuild the trans(out of car), 495 in car...thats excellent pricing, and it's within 20 min of me. Check out the website. No LSD if I go through them though..a place called Pro-tech will put in a modified diff for me and rebuild the trans. The rebuild is more $$ from them, but if I want the LSD, no alternative. Protech is in NY btw. I see a 'vette sitting outside my office (c4 not c5)..I can't wait to pull on some of those wiht my turbo VG. I believe it is possible, you just have to be patient and build it right..no ghetto rigging. All that will get you is broken!

 

How many people will build a 400hp 3rd gen? None

 

I must say that I shall. Z31 tuners have made 400hp, talk to Spencer Engloid..he does a ton of VG z car stuff including hand porting intake mainfolds adn heads (for great prices I might add)that flow 25-30% more air (yes he really flow tested the stuff). I have been communicating with him..very helpul and informative. If I employ the same techniques as the 400hp Z cars do, why wouldn't I hit 400hp, providing I have adequate fuel flow and a strong rotating/reciprocating assembly. The hardest part is plumbing the turbo and IC in. The rest is all your usual engine work. It's only a matter of time and $$, I figure 10k should get me there, including suspension and trans..excluding body, and boy is mine rough. But that's ok, less likely to get stolen.

 

400-450hp max it would cost about $17K thats making it able to handle it reliable. Has a 4th gen even made it over 400hp at the wheel? I don't recall I think the highest is about 375hp

 

375 is pretty close..Realize at this point no one can change my mind..I WILL make big hp. Handle the power..that's the CV axle and tranny issue.WSP Subframe connectors should help wiht chasis flex. If those floppy convertible mustangs are good for high HP, no reason a full bodied Sedan can't. Traction will be a problem, but any high hp FWD has this problem. These are the things I will encounter and conquer with time. 17K? that's ok. In fact 20k is ok. I don't know of any brandy new cars with this kind of spunk..besides, if I wanted a regular car payment and didn't mind an off-the-shelf machine, I'd get a WRX. My reasons are more deep and twisted than that..kinda like the guy who put a 502 BB in a Chevette. Weird. Yes. unique. Absolutley. If I'm the first to push 400hp in a Maxima, that's cool. You guys will know about it. The local drags will know about it. But the ricer or ponycar at the stoplight or on the highway won't..until I pull righ past 'em. That's just my theory for now. Time will tell soon enough.

 

You know one of the reasons the turbo 4-gen guys can get good hp is because they have 4 valve heads that allow good breathing.

But if you boost a 2 valve vg enough I guess it will do it. Alot of teh Z31 turbo guys are getting good hp numbers. Gander at Z31.com or something. There's even a chart.

Turbo VE on the other hand..................heh heh heh

 

Well all I can say is go for it and are you going to use the juice

 

4 valve heads are good yes, substantially more inlet and ex. flow area, but 2 valve heads are proven more durable..less moving parts..more supporting head material in th ecombustion chambers (key in a highly boosted engine)..less weight on the top of the motor..there are pros and cons to both. I like simplicity. People don't give SOHC engines enough credit. Check out the Mercedes Benz V-6. STILL SOHC. SUpercharged etc. MB must have their reasons. So do I. The 2-valvers will do fine. I'm on z31.com all the time..got a ton of useful info there..never saw that chart though. I'll have to check it out. No NOS for me, at least until I hit a dead end and absolutely can't break 350hp without it. We'll see. Obviously this will be trial and error. By educating myself on the subject before getting into it, i try to reduce the "error" part of the equation. That's why it has taken me so long to get the trans figured out. But I think I got it. Have not seen any connections for LSD in a vg 5-spd except the ones I have found. So as soon as I get the tranny done, I'll let everyone know how it goes.

 

Try being useful, no need to take an attitude just wait and see if the person gets it done or not...no need to be overly cynical, plus you'll lookk like an @$$ when you see the dyno for one

 

I am being usefull thats why I sent him a secret e-mail

 

good, hey how come i didn't get a secret email? i'm hurt....



Hmmm, and i just had a thought, if the Z31 can use z32 TT rods, doesn't that mean that we could aftermarket rods for the TT, such as Jun connecting rods....hmmmm...

 

Hekimian Racing has a pre-built VG engine that they say puts out 300hp and 240 ft/lbs of torque... I saw it in a post the other day on here, look that up...
It's about $9k, and you're just stating what I've already planned on doing... Making a Super-VG... It would be the ultimate sleeper, noone outside Max owners would ever suspect it, and how many Max people wouldn't laugh at a 3rd Gen GXE pulling up to a fully loaded 5th gen... Until they got blown away?

 

Yeah we've all seen this engine, not too many people seem to want it, Money perhaps? Who knows, Turbos are just more fun

 

And a LOT cheaper.

 

I'm a die-hard 3rd gen fan but $9k is way too much. I'm just building mine up myself and it should only cost a good $4k (maybe more). I think that Hekimian engine comes already cryo-treated so that certainly is a good $1-2k worth of treatment.

 

speaking of turbos, how's your car looking?

 

for 2,445 i can get forged aluminum racing pistons, total seal piston rings, stainless steel valves, and chrome moly steel rods made for our engine. i still need to find some valves springs though. you can also get aluminum or titanium rods from these guys but prices aren't listed. www.rpmonline.com/zip

 

doesn't someone already have those? Jun i think...

 

has anyone heard of this zip performance. i want to know if people liked their products before/if i get them