Farooq

Hello,

I bought a 1997 GXE and have a few questions.

1. When shifting into 1st from second, the shifter seems to have a little difficulty when the car is still rolling (5 - 10 mph). But at a complete stop, its 4 out of 5 times, smoothly goes into 1st.
a) is this a safety feature so drivers dont shift into first by mistake (my old BMW 530i didnt stop me, and it would make a horrible sound, so :. i ask)

b. is there something wrong with my shifter/trans, because in most cars at those speeds (5 - 10mph) you Can shift into 1st gear


2. My front brakes upon inspection showed the car had 25 - 50%. I want to replace them, but with the good kind, lets say brakes rated at 7 out of 10? 5 being OEM. What would you recommend, any advice would appreciated ,since I am not familiar with "mods".

3. I've read a teeny bit on the "Y-pipe", would you recommend it? what are the gains and losses, is it worth the cost? and whats the cost?

4. I live in Canada, so harsh winters and ice.. so i want to have the car well-balance since its weight distribution is in the front. In my BMW, which has pretty much 50/50, i would place weights in the rear footwells to help with traction. In the front-heavier Max, should I put them in the
a) rear footwells too
b) as far back as possible in the trunk (i.e. right over the rear wheels)
c) as close as possible to the trunk opening
since I'm not entirely knowledgeable in the physics of this matter


thanks in advance,

Farooq

Kolyan

1. I think it's safety since i have the same thing
2. Many people here will recommend Raybestos QS. this is what i have and so far i lke them.
3. Y-pipe cost from $160 to $350(cattman), i got mine used for $200 (cattman). if it was today, i wouldn't buy it, unless u are really in to hooking your car up.

jackiss2888

iTrader: (3)

welcome, cant help you out, for i dont have a manual or live where its cold, but welcome.

mansurxk

iTrader: (14)

from a stand still, ptu the shifter in 2nd, then shift upto first, ive seen that itll go in smoothly 5 outta 5 times. from a rolling, you cant shift into first, its a safety, you can do it under 5 mph.

the ypipe is great, it gives awesome gains and it shines on the highway.

Farooq

Thanks for your reponses, if others could answer my qstns re: balance of the car and 2nd opinions on the brakes, that would be a great help.

Also: do Raybestos contain asbestos (stupid qstn, but arent they illegal)
Next: why would you not use a Y-pipe any more?

thanks again,

Farooq

Kolyan

i don't know what they contain but since they are sold in stores, they are legal. and the y-pipe......i just don't feel that much difference (maybe it's just me). hey, if you have extra time and money then buy it. i would spend the money on tune-up or something.

SlackR237

I don't know about the brake situation, but I may offer some help with the "winterizing" of the car.

I live in Michigan, and the winters here can get pretty brutal due to lake effect snow and such. I don't put anything in my trunk to weigh it down besides the stuff I normally carry with me which I'd guess is about 20 lbs in all (or 9.07 kg haha), and the maxima handles just fine with that. Just don't drive like a maniac and you should be fine.

Terran

iTrader: (6)

I wouldn't worry about redistributing weight. In the max the weight bias is over the drive wheels so adding weight won't have a benefit as far as traction to get going. As long as you know how to drive in the snow then you shouldn't have any problem with this car.

This may or may not be true in canada, but technically a y-pipe is illegal because it eliminates the pre cats (they reduce emissions until the main cat warms up). Just make sure you get the car warmed up before taking it for emissions testing.

When my brakes need changing I plan to go with OEM pads from the dealership.

You should check out http://maxmods.dyndns.org/ for the brake and y-pipe questions and bookmark it as it will likely answer most of your modding questions.

The cheapest place to get a y-pipe is warpspeed ($160US if you tell them you're with maxima.org), but after duties or whatever getting it into canada you might be better off with budget (since they're in canada too).

ThurzNite

iTrader: (13)

I thought most Nissans were 50/50 balanced? Guess I was wrong.

If you double clutch, you can get into 1st. I only do this in AutoCross... otherwise, I take my sweet time grinding out 2nd gear low rpm torque.

Jae

Terran

iTrader: (6)

The maxima is far from balanced. Probably something like 65-70/35-30 F/R, but I really don't know. Even the G35 isn't perfectly balanced with a slight front bias.

ThurzNite

iTrader: (13)

The front bias for g35/350z makes sense, cuz if you're accelerating, you want the weight in the rear for traction. If you're braking, the fronts do most of the work anyways. If you're turning, the fronts will initiate the turn and when you gas to shift weight rearward, you get your 50/50 balance which's easy to control in mid-curve.

I remember somebody with Coilovers weighing each corner of their car to set up their suspension.

Jae

sryth

You have difficulty getting into 1st when rolling because 1st gear has no syncros. You could double-clutch it, but that's another post. Don't worry about it, it's normal.

It's not uncommon to have trouble getting it into 1st sometimes when the car is still; I usually release the clutch and try again...that usually does the trick. Changing the gear oil might help (GL4 only; I recommend MT-90)

When you say upgrade the brakes, I assume you mean pads/rotors. My recommendation: Brembo blanks w/Raybestos QS pads.

Absolutely the best (relatively) inexpensive mod! I can't recommend this one enough! I can't help with the pricing.

I wouldn't worry about trying to even the weight distribution. You won't gain any traction by adding weight to the trunk; remember that the Maxima is FWD.

A good site to check out is http://maxmods.dyndns.org/

It has a lot of real good info!