Hey guys, I just found this place, and i seems to be a great site. Here is my query. I bought a '96 SE 5 speed from a friend this past January. When I bought it the car had 110K miles on it. However the previous owner was **** about the upkeep of this vehicle. the car was perfect in every sence of the word, and ran like a brand new car. Well since then I have put 30K+ miles on it 95% of wich are highway miles. So now I have a car with 144K miles that still runs like i just drove it off the lot. So that in mind how concerned should I be about doing performance mods to this car? It already has a Wolf intake on it and runs like a bat outa hell, for being a nearly stock 6 year old car with 144K miles on it. I am 28 and know how to drive a car fast without abusing it. Mods I am planning are complete exhaust Y-pipe to muffler, lightweight flywheel, performance clutch, and a Zex kit with a 60-85 shot. So do you guys think this will f**k sh*t up? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Davy

 

it sounds like you have one hell of a car there. One of our members recetly put a turbo kit on his car and he was also one who did a auto -> 5 spd conversion. Anyway he just put his own turbo kit on his car and his engine has 140+ also. And it runs like a champ. However, i don't know about the NOS (meaning, i don't know how much is too much) but we do have a nitrous forum. Good Luck

 

also please suggest ony other mods that would compliment my curent choices.

 

MEVI, VB mod, SC/Turbo?, body kit, rims, springs/shocks ...

 

Did you do the 60k-mile service at 120k?

If not, you should.

 

the usual answer to a newbie post:











now, with that outta the way... 144k miles just means the car is finally broken in I have a 140k ('96 SE 5spd) myself and i only started modding it around 120k. The mods you are planning should not hurt your car at all. One thing tho... I recently developed the famous differential bearings problem that's known to occur on the maximas. I suggest when you have your tranny dropped, CHECK YOUR BEARINGS. Also, rebuild the tranny while your at it. Trust me, I learned the hard way... i had my clutch swapped when i first got the car and 10k miles later the differential bearings went bad.

 

Hey MZMTG guess what? I am from Clanton. I added you to my AIM buddy list i will hit you up when I see you online.

 

Cool, I'll probably be on later tonight, I'm at work right now...

 

ACT clutch and home-made polyurethane motor mounts (trust me you'll need them )


Trevor

 

One thing that you will find is that while a y pipe is a good investment, many would say that the rest of the exhaust could wait. You could spend that money on a midpipe to compliment the Jim Wolf Tech (JWT around here, for short) intake, as well as a UDP. The "rest" of the exhaust is only 3-5 HP at the most (correct me if I am wrong, guys), while the y pipe can be anywhere from 8-12. All that the rest of the exhaust really does is lighten the vehicle and make it louder.


If I were you, I would do the y, a midpipe, and then look into a MEVI or the Nitrous kit as far as go-fast mods are concerned. Somewhere in there your tranny mods will be necessary, but if all is running well now, you could to a budget Y pipe and a frankencar midpipe fir under $225. That would free up a lot of ponies, especially in the midrange.

 

Place Racing Cold Air Intake for $230 Shipped from CustomMaxima and you can use just the midpipe if you like and always install the Cold Air section later.

The only bad thing about PR CAI is that it comes with a Monster Flow filter and not a K&N.

 

I was saying that he could land the midpipe and the y pipe for under $225. If I was buying an intake in his position, I would re-use the JWT and put the money saved by not doing a full intake replacement to buy my clutch or flywheel or UDP or...NAWS!!!

 

AAhhhh... My bad

 

Handling mods: Addco RSB, some variety of FSTB... Hopefully will get mine on this winter, I'm tired of slowing down on curves....

 

Oh yeah...I forgot to mention those. And GOOD tires. They go a LONG way...

 

i wouldnt worry about the engine, they are known for lasting long, these VQ's are tough as H*ll. although i wouldnt run nitrious, but thats just my opinion. as for mods, dont worry about full exhaust yet, go with a mid pipe, or cold air intake for that JWT pop charger, y-pipe, RSB, FSTB, and some springs for now, then you can accelerate and turn like a champ, and none of those mods are over $300 a piece. happy modding