So I'm guessing the odometer won't work in the 98 when using a 96 ECU?

 

Nitrous

you'll still be na most of the time.

 

Its tempting... How tough of an install is it? How expensive? Would I have to mess with my ECU? I know zip about it... can you direct me to a good resource? Tnx!

Edit: Stupid me- reading FAQs in nitrous sect...

 

dont do nitrous. its bad. it reduces the life span of the engine and its internals. i hate it. but thats just me.
one thing you can do is gut the entire car. rip out all the door panels, the back seats, the trunk lining, carpet, and any plastic molds. make it a rolling chassis. but if its a daily driver, and you carry people around, well then dont do it obviously. but itd make the car soooo much lighter. dont they make cams for the vq? i think its jwt that has em..? also the cattman headers is a possiblity.

 

I'm going to echo some things that have been already said, and add a bit..

1) Make absolutely sure that you are not running 1-step (or more) colder plugs. You should run the stock heat range, stock gap Coppers for best spark.

2) Headers are near useless and cost too much, especially for an already almost full-bolt-on NA car.

3) The S-AFC would be useless for you because your AF is already at a solid 13 across the board with the JWT ECU. You don't want to lean it out any more than that.

4) There is no possible reason you would have to change injector size. You are not running anywhere near full cycle on those. You would need to add a lot of boost before you hit that point. See the boosted forum for more info.

5) The pathfinder TB mod has been a successful mod for both NA and FI cars. Exact hard improvement numbers are hard to guage because so few have done it. But those that have generally swear by it. Doing this mod would not affect your ECU or Injectors in any way.

6) Brakes are useful. The stock ones are pretty lame. At least invest in some performance pads.

7) Nitrous is perfectly safe if you know what you are doing (it's not that complicated). It will of course reduce the life of your engine somewhat, but not enough that you should care on a car that is now probably worth around $5-9k. You can step up shot sizes as you like. The major drawback to Nitrous as far as I'm concerned is that to get max power out of a larger shot, you should run colder plugs, which will in turn hurt your NA performance. But you can run a 50-75 without that problem, and as long as you're not on it all the time, it's reletively inexpensive and not super hard to install.

8) Since you auto-X, you might consider sub-frame connectors, even though they will make your car a bit heavier. A good set of struts might help there too. Or maybe some good coil-overs!

9) Definitely get the MEVI if you do much freeway driving or are up in that rev range a lot. Especially with your ecu but dont forget that you will lose some low-end torque in exchange for the top end.

10) 5spd stuff: Clutch/flywheel/short throw - also consider a Limited Slip Differential like the Quaife. Pricey, but you would probably again find it useful for the track and definitely in everyday driving

 

No...no upgraded ECU's will work with your car. That is, unless there's an upgraded 98 ECU I'm not aware of 95-96 upgraded ECU's will work on a 97, but not a 98 or 99.

No. Which would also be illegal, because you wouldn't have a working odometer. There may be other stuff different about it also, but I'm not sure.

Important thing is, don't try and use a 5-spd ECU with an auto

 

This rumor needs to stop being spread. I'm going to say this in capital letters so everyone sees it. This is not a flame or bash against you Tatanko, so please don't take it that way. I'm just trying to get my point across here.

MARDIGRASMAX (AKA MATT) THE GUY WITH THE 11 SECOND MAXIMA USES A 96 ECU IN HIS 1998 MAXIMA. IT WORKS JUST FINE.

It's the 99s that have the problem (and I don't even know specifically what that problem is and if there is a way to work around it). But a modified 95-96 ECU WILL work in a 1998 Maxima. I don't know about the odometer or any other non-essential stuff. But performance-wise, it works great.

 

Also, two issues regarding what hakk97se said:

A) You won't be able to run the nitrous with the JWT ECU unless you get the JWT ECU modified with the nitrous daughterboard (which is like another $400 and you can't change the shot size without reprogramming the ECU yet again). The JWT advances timing too much and leans fuel too much to run nitrous safely. You would likely blow your motor if you ran nitrous on a JWT ECU if the ECU is not set up for nitrous use. With a stock ECU you would be fine.

B) Subframe connectors are AWESOME, there is no doubt about that. But since you are an avid autoXer you need to be aware they may bump you out of your chosen class. I'm assuming you are running in STS and subframe connectors are not allowed in STS. The would bump you into a street prepared class (can't remember which, it's been a while since I checked). You could get away with them likely at local events, but if you like to play strictly by the rules, or if you were winning a bunch of events and moving on to larger regional or national events they would definately cause you a problem.

 

Thanks for the reference page- I check out with the same heat spark. PHEW!

 

Thanks Nealoc, this is critical info... I appreciate it much.
-E

 

I see that this is just your opinion, but what are you basing this on? If tuned properly, nitrous won't be much worse for your engine than a SC or TC. And with nitrous you're not using it 24/7, which isn't really an option with a SC or TC.

For the thread, I don't know what weight reduction you already use, but try taking out the passenger seat and back seat. Should take off about 50 pounds. SFC's are awesome, but like others said, they weigh about 45 pounds and might bump you up to a higher class.