Okay, So i have been out of the Maxima scene for quite some time. But having totaled my last car i went and bought a 98 black on black 5sp se. The car runs well and I am interested in modding it.

I am going to start a list of things i would like to do. Please feel free to add to it. I have a budget of $2000 and i want to do a minimum of these things.

Headers: Best performance and fitting with Ypipe
WSP Ypipe: $200
B Pipe: ? whats the best cash for dollar ?
Suspension: Should i do coilovers? springs/shocks combo? What are the best sway bars i can get?

Basically i want a sleeper. I dont want to do intake or change the stock muffler. Please share with me your thoughts as to whats the best bang for the buck!!

Thanks!

 

best performance mod for the buck is still the y-pipe. Warp speed makes a decent quality one but cattman is better and more expensive. It's a matter of you get what you pay for.
I don't know much about b-pipes and possible gains.
Suspension... depending on how low you want to go and what sort of ride you want will determine if you go with coil-overs or not.
Sway bars... addco is good enough for most people on this board. But please make sure to add the strut tower bars. Both of them. Front and back.
I would look at 00vi or mevi for power adders.
That's my take on it anyway.
good luck and let us know what happens.

 

Thanks for the information. I had a Y pipe on my old max. It was great! I completely agree about you getting what you pay for.

Whats 00vi? Whats MEVI?

 

2k huh? Vq35! The rest on maintenance.

 

Okay, i researched what MEVI and 00vi are and what they do. Please excuse my ignorance, lol.

My question now is where can i Find me a MEVI at a reasonable price?

 

For a MEVI, you will probably have to find it from someone on here. Honestly even though it is more work, I recommend the 00vi. The 00vi is superior to the MEVI, and you can get it for pretty cheap. Going to a "pull it yourself" junkyard, if you luck out and find a wrecked 5th gen Maxima you can get everything you need for 110-250 bucks.

 

There are many for sale in the 4th gen classifieds... It is a popular item

 

I agree with the vq35 if you have the tools and equipment.

This is also another good route but i would do 00vi,a good piggyback and WB

 

swallow your pride, get a short ram intake (leave the snorkel on), get a catback exhaust, get a y-pipe, and lower it ~2". that's my opinion anyway.

that will leave you way under $2000 and will add substantial power to your car...you already pwn lots of cars out there, after those^^ you will be able to keep up with the rest! (imho)

if you want to really throw down some cash, do the above, but with a 3.5 swap. (or wait for a FWD 3.7L. *I THINK* there is one right around the corner, but that's just my opinion.)

 

sell my Max..and with the additional 2 grand buy a manual....

or get a Y-Pipe, Catback Exhaust, drop the max..probably just get some maintenance or something too.

 

If you like power, buy a used blower kit and run 11 PSI on stock injectors/maf. Get a Y and exhaust later.

If you're more interested in cornering, buy some used coilovers and lightweight wheels w/ T1rs. You should also be able to get a shortram, Y, and exhaust for under $2000.

 

Buy a y-pipe. A decent set of tires if the ones on there are bald. Good wash, wax, and detail. Maintenance items, such as air filter and various cleanings.

Then, take the remaining $1900, and open up a savings account.

Don't get me wrong, I think 4th gens are great, but in terms of value, every dollar you spend on it is a dollar wasted. Don't expect to buy a stock 4th gen for $3,000 and add $2,000 in mods and get $5,000 for it once you decide to sell it. Is this the car you're going to be driving in 5 years? If it is, then go for it, because for $2,000 you can make the Maxima faster and better. But if it isn't, spending serious $$$$ on mods is not a smart investment.

 

spend it on a stripper

 

mod your car...

 

Most insightful response ever.


Anyway, if you have 2 grand, I'd say:

-Coilovers (not ksport) - 800-1000
-Y pipe - 100-200
-RSB - 125
-LTB - 100 - 200
-Projector headlights - 200 - 500
-nice stereo/navigation - really depends on what you get

That will probably bring you close to 2 grand and you'll have some much needed improvements to the max.

 

finally a realistic answer... what i would do is just fix whats bad and drive the car.. these are getting old and just arent worth putting money into...

savings account FTW!

 

He's right, interest rates are in the tank, I say by a small cap value fund and hold it for a few years,drive what you got; cash out and buy a new car ftw!

 

Buy an OBD2 reader......go from there.

 

Thanks for the advice. I actually did just that. I got 16k from insurance, baught the max for 3900, and put the rest in a CD. I am working though, and with my new, cheaper liability insurance coupled with a decent paying job, I kinda wanna make this car a real sleeper.

In a year, I will probably be buying a new car (everyday driver). Then My max will become a project car. I love Maximas! A 4th gen was my first car when i turned 16, and its great how with simple mods such as MEVI and ypipe i could be sitting at low 14's.

So for now I want the best bang for the buck because like most of you that post on this board, I cant stand it when i drive a stock car!

I also have no time lately to scratch my own ***, so thats why i think i wanna go with MEVI (quicker install). How much you think i should spend on that?

 

I think most of us here are car enthusiasts. As to take a car and making it better and faster.

Some like to hold to money and take it to the grave others like to spend it on vacations with the family. Other could only pay bills with it.

So please don't give someone a advice like put it in a savings account. Becasue in the long run its ones money and if spending it on a car is what makes them happy who are you to tell them not to be happy.

I for one love making my pain jane GXE and turning into a head turner. No better feeling then having someone in 4th, 5th 6th and even a 7th generation MAX telling me "MAN I LOVE YOUR CAR" and yes it happens to me all the time.

Show me how one could take $1900 and buy a small cap fund and in a few years buy a new car.

I for one am down 75% on my jobs 401k that I had for a few years.

 

love these posts, where someone has a $X amount and asks how to spend it.

If your car isn't a southern car (i.e Rust free) I wouldn't put a darned cent into it, other than what it needs to keep running. These cars are getting old now.

I made the mistake of swapping a high milliage car a couple years back, and it has been nothing but a headache, now I'm faced with a rusting heap of **** that wont run, worth more in parts than in one piece.

overall I've started to look at the maxima brand as a car designed to lure in middle aged buyers who need, or convince themselves they need a big car and want a heap load of power with it. They eventually get tired and sell them, how many original 4th gen owners are still here?

Besides the bulletproof engine design of these cars, they are not designed with the long term owner in mind, many things break, or go wrong that really shouldn't in a car this day in age. (why is my rad support rusted right through in only 10 years? Salty toronto winters are not a good enough excuse, why didn't this car come with a bloody OBDII reader in the glove box?, it seems to be a requirement to owning this car, why does the car shake at high speeds?)

Honestly, just put gas in, and fix whatever problems come up or on wear items, the $2000 will be gone in no time....

 

So where is it you can buy a Y, a set of tires, cleaning and detailing products, and maintenance items for $100?

 

$2,000 = Sell the old 4th gen, take the 2G's plus what I get for the Max and step into a new TL.

Easy, really.

 

New TL FTMFL. They are gross. The older ones are ok but very very heavy. If it were me i would boost it, but hey i boost everything. I have well over 6k into mods this year and i dont expect to get that back. Who cares. Its my car and i did what i wanted with it. You only live once. Enjoy it.

 

Even if you end up with $6000 in a $3000 car, if you like it and can keep it on the road for a few years, you are well ahead of the curve. Heck, you could spend $10,000 on a used 2003 max and still have to do the same kind of maintenance...

 

What I'm saying is decide if it's a car that you're going to keep around for a long time.

If you're going to sell the max and buy a new car within 3 years, let's face it, it isn't really worth doing a lot of major mods, because you won't get any money back from them when you part it out and sell it. You're better off doing a few inexpensive bolt-ons like the Y pipe, then saving your money for the next car.

If you plan to have the max 5+ years from now, then I'd say it's a smart idea to do some upgrades to it, since you're going to get plenty of use out of it.

Since you want to keep it for a long time, my suggestion would be to deal with smaller things that won't neccessarily improve your 1/4 mile time, but will help the driving experience. Get your radiator core support checked for rust asap, and if it's rusting, fix it, and if it isn't, put a few nice thick coats of POR15 or another rust-inhibiting paint, so it doesn't start. Check your motor mounts, and replace them if they're not as stiff as they should, since you'll reduce wheelhop. Replace your shifter bushings and adjust your clutch correctly, so it's better to drive. Check your CV joints and steering rack for leaks. Check your exhaust for rust. Replace your knock sensor if it's not working right. Check all the suspension bushings and replace if necessary. Get front and rear sway bars, front and rear strut tower bars, subframe connectors, and a stage 2 lower tie bar. The 4th gen has a flimsy chassis, and doing these mods might not increase your times, but it will help cornering, and it will make it feel like a new, tight car.

 

get whatever you want to look good, suspension, rims, tins, projectors. Save whatever you have for maintenance. I believe i spent around $1.5k in one year on just maintenance parts.

 

as always... maintenance first. since you plan on keeping it for a while i would be very thorough.

second, suspension. stock height is gross. maybe a koni/gc setup and if there's enough left a cattman header/y/b setup.

most importantly,, don't look at it as "i have $2k and want to buy x, y, and, z", figure out what x is and buy the best x there is, then move onto y if there's any money left. so on and so forth.

save all the little $100 parts for later. it's easier to come up with that down the line than it is to try and come up with the big money purchases cause you bought as much cheap stuff as you could get your hands on when you had a lump.

 

Okay. I am sorry guys but this thread wasn't meant to educate me on the fact that I am driving an 11 year old car which inevitably will need maintenance. I understand that and that is part of the reason why I was a smart shopper when looking for a 4th gen max. My car has new tires, radiator, axles, cv boots, batery, clutch, etc (havent gone through all the recipts.) I can hear a faint knock which i want to get checked out. Other than that the car is solid (no rust whatsoever).

I dont plan on selling this car. I plan on making it my own all motor masterpiece while the vq30de is still kicking. When it will die... I will buy myself a new, nice daily driver and work to build a boosted vq35 motor.

In the mean time, I plan on putting in some synthetic oil, flushing and changing ALL the fluids, then throwing some tasteful mods on it.

The reason why i posted this thread is because the org looks like its become much more saturated and it is now hard to find valuable information.

Now...

Is there much of a difference between budget-y, wsp-y, or cattman-y? If there is how big is the difference? (i was thinking about wsp-y)

What are the most comfortable reasonably priced coil overs?

 

The Ys are pretty much all the same, no difference in power. If you want a good sound and a little bit more power, get the Cattman headers + equal length Y-pipe.

Not sure about "comfortable" when speaking of coilovers, but what is reasonably priced to you?

 

For me a reasonably priced coilover kit would be 1k installed and alligned... Possible?

 

if you were installing it, sure. Having a shop, don't think so. A reasonably priced coilover kit is already around $800-900. An alignment is around $40-50 depending on where you go. Labor is going to be more than $50 or $150 at a shop.

 

the reason for this:

is questions like this:

there are not a whole lot of new parts for this car. no major breakthroughs. search if you want a/b answers. it's been covered extensively and shouldn't have to be broken down every time someone has a couple dollars to spend.

 

You are right BlackonBlack98...

My bad I am a noob.

But i did get a lot of valuable information from this thread that i wouldn't have otherwise. I guess I just miss the layout of the old maxima.org... It kinda sucks that there isnt a 4th gen specific performance page. Or a 4th gen specific suspension page. I feel it would be less saturated that way.

 

i just picked up a 4th gen and had a small budget more mods.

what i did was fix what needed to be fixed first, all the filters and fluids, burnt out bulbs and such, just thr little thigs, they add up quickly tho. then i hit the org for parts, i barely ever buy things elsewhere now. i hit up the group deals for brakes. about 300 for rotors and pads, rims and tires for 300, i realize thats a hell of a deal, but thats why i love car forums. y pipe 160, d2 coilovers 450ish. then a greddy catback and 99 sans spoiler trunk and tails. i may have gon a little over ur budget but i ended up with a good start to modding for the car, im not done, but its a good start. i would suggest mods similiar to what i did. its nothign too special, just the basics.

 

sell the max too and put it as a down payment on a proper LS1 car

 

I thought this was an enthusiast website? Whats all this about these cars ar getting old? The value has diminished for them? And? The guy wants to mod it. Bottom line if you plan to mod a car you better cope w/ the fact that you will never see that money again.

Y-pipe.
00vi.
piggyback.
drop.
17's.

 

 

How hard do you guys think an 00vi install would be? I have been searching but either I am bad at searching or there arent any good write ups for it. If you know one, can you link it for me please?

 

Really? http://forums.maxima.org/all-motor/5...pics-vids.html

Check the All motor section