what performance mods could I do to a stock 96 se stick that will give me the most bang for buck? by next year I should have about 3000$ to spend. I would also rather not blow my engine, so try not to recommend unsafe mods(eg: "you could run 150 shot nitrous for 1000$!"). Frankly i'de prefer to stay away from nos completely because it only gives you speed for a couple seconds.

I know theres a lot of stuff I could do, but what would be fairly safe and give me the most perfomance?

 

I/Y/E Ecu/Mevi is a good combination. Read the Stickies at the top of the 4th gen forum home page. Plenty of info there.

 

get a cheap y pipe from budget or try to get one second hand from the classified section here. not sure if there is anything else cheap you can do.

 

With $3000? Full 3" exhaust from the manifolds back and a used supercharger kit.

 

Cattman Headers & Y-pipe combo
Random technology hi flow Cat + b-pipe & straight through muffler of your choice.
Mevi + JWT ecu (tunned for mevi & N20)
NX Nitrous Oxide kit
Performance clutch + B&M STS
Walbro fuel pump
Place racing cold air intake
1 or 2 step's colder spark plugs

With slick these mod's should be good for low 13's to mid/high 12's depending on the size of the nitrous shot.

 

is it true that not every car gains the best performance by a free flow exhaust? i.e. straight pipe?

meaning..that some backpressure is needed so that you don't flatten out your torque curve?

if it is true, how do u know how much is best for your car?

 

backpressure is bad. Even if you have one straight pipe for an exhaust there's plenty of backpressure for the engine to run right.

 

I know they can tune it for nitrous but they tune it for mevi too?

So they can "chip" 4 diff ECUs?
-regular tune
-regular tune +n20
-mevi
-mevi+n20

???

 

get a y then ready up for supercharger

 

Ypipe is and has always been one of the best bang for your buck mod. Too bad i dont have one .

 

Hey man, I was in the same boat as you. I was excited as heck to get my stock '96 GXE with low kms and wanted to preserve the engine , but at the same time release the potential of the VQ. I got a damn good deal so I had a small budget left for mods.

You've got a great car and it's not going anywhere so spend time (a week or two) and do some research. I say this humbly from one new Maxima owner to another. Long-time members tell you to read the stickies. That's a start but I'll be more specific. I see Nealoc posted on this thread. If you read the stickies pay attention the very first thing he wrote to a noob and then read it again. I went back through the archives and actually read the entire thread and other than a little bit of flaming, was one of the most entertaining, funny and informative reads on this board. It's good to see Ceasar's back posting - check out his website because he has some awesome real-world feedback about products and mods that others always speculate about. I followed every link and read every post on that site. Check out member pages and links. Find a local member, someone in Illinois perhaps, and send them a PM. BlackCat from Vancouver, Canada has been awesome in answering my questions. I'm a newbie too, but I'll do what I can to give you some links or point you in the right direction.

In my case, the PR CAI (used), new polished Budget B/Y and FSTB are paid for and on their way. I saved money on the CAI using the 4th Gen classifieds and we might run into each other for a used RSB or UDP. The write-up and pics by 1max2nv convinced me to save up for the D2 coilovers so be prepared to spend a little extra! So on one glorious day this month I will go from stock to entry-level mod respectable - I think?

In the end, you'll know tons about your car and love it even more than you thought you would. More information will help you avoid wrong purchasing decisions and thus save you money or in my case make you spend more. Either way, after you read this board, you're spending will essentially be mapped out, but you will be happy and confident that other's successes (and failures) have pointed you in the right direction. Cheers and PM me with questions.

 

thanks! This thread's goin on my favs list till I get the dough.
havent decided what I want yet, but ive still got plenty of time to think. A used sc + ecu+ ypipe sounds good.

im not sure about the nitrous...I know I can get a lot of bang for buck but that bang only lasts a couple secs

 

you should put the FAQ's in your favorites list too

 

you can just buy all my stuff here... http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=342894 -ryan

 

Caesars back. Yay . Did the chariot arrive in NZ yet?

You seem to be getting lots of engine mod suggestions. Don't forget the suspension either.

 

im really not as much into the whole suspension thing, my maxima handles curves well enough as-is. I might upgrade brakes though...

 

1.Knock Sensor if bad...2.Cattman headers with Ypipe...maximas 3.suspension SWALLOWS NUT(boat turning radius) 17-19' rims toyos/yokohama tires some tokico/coilovers would work nice..MUST buy some new BRAND NAME rotors/pads cus my GT Profromer got better brakes than my maxy..intake/pulley/exhaust(profromance) and sturt/sway bar(suspension) sucks for there HP for the $$$ when u only got one on but when u have them all workin rite ull fell a nice difference(14's NA that means u can race and win srt4's evo8's sti's lightings 5.0stangs [if u r a good driver of corse] WOOHOO~),,,if i could buy it all over again id do it in that order...DONT BUY NO CHEAP ****!!!CUS U GET WHAT U PAY FOR!!!

 

where do yall see 4th gen classifieds.

 

http://forums.maxima.org/forumdisplay.php?f=61 right there now go get yerself some good parts

 

I though my maxima hadled well too..until i got Eibach springs and Koni shocks and realized that it used to handle like sh*t

 

It's kind of hard to find, but if you look below the Gen. specific forums on the forum menus you will see specific forums for things on sale. If you look above that you will see a link to the classifieds which are catagorized according to Gens and such.

 

PLUS ONE

damn 10 shyt

 

anyone know about that ECU thing? is there 4 diff types or 2???

 

i'd definitely start off with a cold air/y pipe combo first. i got my ebay place racing knock off with a budget y pipe, 2.5 custom bent piping to a dynomax super turbo muffler. after adding my cai, my times at the track went from a best 15.994 (consistent 16+) to a 15.435 (consistent 15.4s). so intake/exhaust would be great. i read to do your mods first before getting an ecu, so get all your bolt ons and then get a TS or JWT ecu mod. jwt is only necessary with a mevi cuz of the raised rev limiter. the UDP and ecu are my next mods before im done with my car. also, get smaller rims, such as millenia wheels, 15 inchers and weigh 11.5 lbs each. ill be doing that before the year is done. check out joosdawg for a y pipe and intake combo. he's got those and other parts for sale.

if you dont wanna keep n/a, get a used v1 or v2. that oughta bang your buck.