one of my goals, within a year time span, is to convert to 5spd. I was wondering if it is possible to convert to RWD at the same time. Has it been done before? What possible parts might I need to do such a conversion? I have a couple of friends that own a shop and do swaps/conversions; so I have the help. Just want to know so I could prepare for the full RWD and 5spd conversion. (The 5spd conversion is no problem but would like to do RWD as well).

 

check out this thread

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=368829

 

If you want RWD buy another car ... IBTL

 

There's no point in converting a maxima to RWD, no matter how good you make it, you'll still have countless troubles with it and rebuild the car over and over. Good luck on the 5speed swap though. IBTL

 

be cool if they did it on tv like a mg show or some ****..

 

This has nothing to do with the previous posts, but I'm sick and tired of hearing people talk about this and getting nothing but flames, stupid/incomplete answers, and "I have a shop, therefore I am superior to you and if anyone's gonna do it, it's gonna be me!" So here's a more complete answer:

There is no car that has the same chassis as the Maxima with RWD. Because of that, you can't transfer parts over and you'd have to custom-fab your way around the following issues:

1. Your rear suspension would have to be completely cut away, and you'd have to design and attach a new one. Your handling would probably suck then because you most likely don't have thousands upon thousands of dollars to invest in testing the new suspension.

2. You'd also need a completely new chassis, and at that point it wouldn't be a Maxima any more. The current chassis's tunnel is barely big enough to mount the exhaust comfortably, let alone the exhaust and the RWD driveshaft. You could do side exhausts, but good luck passing noise and emissions regs.

3. Even if you did that, there's nowhere near enough room with the engine bay the way it is to house an engine of any decent size along with a transmission. That pretty much kills things right there.

And even if you did somehow get around all this, your car would still have much more weight in front than in back, and your traction would suck. It'd be no faster than it is now, and you'd have to forget about going anywhere when the road gets slippery.

It's theoretically possible, but it's WAY too expensive for what you'd get out of it. By the time you finished, you'd have paid enough to get a G35 and your car will be horrible in comparison. Other cars (like the Ford Focus) have had this done, but Ford runs the Focus in rally racing (AWD cars) and it has an independent rear suspension, so it already has the basics in place.

 

x 10e^10

 

just take the frame/engine/suspension from a 240 or a 300zx and then build the maxima body around it!!! .............

 

buy a N/A 300ZX . . .

 

yeh well put doodfood. not hatin on thinkin outside of the box but some of those ideas can be very stupid and even worse if considerin about it. save urself A LOT of time and hassel and just buy a manuel, RWD car or just do the 5sp swap.

 

Get a 05 GTO be a real man and get some real power.

 

put the headlights in the back and drive in reverse. nobody will ever know! i dont mean to flame you but it will guarantee cost $10k and be pointless by the time it is all said and done. if you want to do something diffrent, put 600hp down out of a vq35 and tub the front end somehow. save yourself 10grand and pioneer something worth doing!

 

we should all send an email to monster garage and tell them to make a 4th gen maxima into RWD

 

thanks for all your unbiased inputs. just wanted to know what's up with this mod. I was either planning on spending about 7-8k on the max to convert it to 5spd and SCin it/other things or just getting a 350z. i'm still debating if i should stick with my max though.

 

Dude. It's your money and your time. If you have both, plus the engineering talent, then go for it. There IS a tranny hump in the car which would suggest that at some point it MAY have been RWD. The first Maximas (810) were...You wouldn't be able to use the VQ tho....
I figure if someone can put a Chevy 350 in a Porsche 911 why can't a Maxima become RWD?
One thing is obvious. You're not going to get the answeres you're looking for here.
Good Luck.

 

A 350Z will be much harder, much louder, much less comfortable, much more fun, much faster, and much better handling. A supercharged Max will be much more livable.

Take your pick.

 

heres a thought i dont think anyone has ever mentioned, buy a J30 (already rwd) and see about buying a rwd vq30det engine and do an engine, and 5 spd tranny swap. probably wont be cheap or easy but if im sure you'll have a hell of an easier time with a j30 than a maxima.

 

Good call, and mad props for showing someone some support.

Even if you could fit an engine and tranny in, though, you still have three problems:

1. The only place to run a driveshaft to the rear wheels is through the tunnel that the exhaust occupies. Either you run side exhausts or you have your exhaust hanging below the driveshaft, which will kill your ground clearance.

2. You still have to totally refabricate the rear suspension.

3. You will still have way too little weight on the rear.

 

the new GTO sucks.

 

We should, id love to whatch that

 

OMG, a Pontiac GTO? What a crapbox.

 

the new GTO is 400hp! they are developing a s/c for it right now that will make it 550-600hp! it will eat almost anything on the street...its got a frigen' 6.0L corvette engine! YOU SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The new GTO is a rip off from an australian car....they also took out the AWD this 400hp machine had in aussie land...so yea it sux now

 

I think people put these posts up because they have the itch in their fingers and have yet to discover

Mas Ter Ba Shun

 

the 7th gen maxima should be rwd

 

NO SHYT!!!!!!!!!
Good luck with the conversion.

 

That's pretty funny

 

I LIKE that idea. BTW, wasn't that a straight 6 in that car, or was it a V6? My Skyline history is rusty, but didn't the Skyline use a straight 6 at some point?

 

Check this one out ogparjay....

This guy is going to try make a AWD maxima.......................



AWD Project

 

my thoughts.....get a j30 as a donor car...use a Z 5spd and custom fabricate away....it will take time and money....IMO not worth unless u plan on keeping this car forever.......if u do go for it good luck

 

omg have fun.. first of all the car is unibody... no frame to remove... how on earth are you going to make a tunnel? Please dont make posts like this

 

again, its not worth the money, rather just buy a new car.