Hi all!

I'm thinking about buying an A32 and buy several goodies for it such as body kit, coilovers, brake upgrades, ECU, muffler, etc. I'm from Spain and the engine you see the most is the 2.0 V6 with manual transmission.

So, first things first... How easy is to swap the 2.0 by the 3.0 in case I can find any within Europe so I can preserve the manual transmission? Since I've seen the supercharger kit is only available for the 3.0 and other cool stuff too.

Apart from this...

- How is the parts availability situation? Tons of aftermarket stuff or hard to find?
- Is the 3.0 the best choice for it? Will I lose much staying with the 2.0?

Thanks!

 

Unfortunately, you're too late to the party. 15 to 20 years ago, aftermarket parts were plentiful. Now, they're practically non existent. Being in Spain isn't going to help as shipping is going to be very costly.

I wouldn't get a 2.0L Maxima. Wait until you find a nice 3.0L Maxima with a 5spd transmission.

Here in America, there was no such thing as a 2.0L Maxima. Only 3.0L V6 with automatic being the standard transmission, and manual transmission as optional.

 

yea plus one with that, and that goes for 5th gens too, all these cars are just too old at this point !

you can find some rare 5th gen parts but its rare

 

Thanks a lot for the responses guys @The Wizard @Prophecy99 !

I could imagine , any luck that you may have had with the japanese market? If I recall correctly they call it Cefiro over there but is the same model, any of you bought overseas?

From a quick look I can still find the Stillen body kit, but not the supercharger kit. However I saw a supercharger kit from another brand which I can't remember, must search for it again, but don't know how reliable those would be...

Would you guys still jump on the boat being able to find the minimal tune parts?

I'm suffering the same thing with a Volvo T4 that I own, in that case suspension parts are impossible to find, and coilovers are kind of meh...

 

cerfio a32 or if it is a 1999 cerfio a33

if you have the ability to fabricate parts you may be able to keep a 25 year old car going, but that still leaves all the electronics in limbo, and again you would need to go full custom...

if you are into building custom cars go for it..... if you never built a custom car from top to bottom, you may be better off staying with a car less than 10 years old with parts and support still around

 

The VQ20 Rod to Stroke ratio is about 1.95 The VQ30 is 2.01, VQ35 1.77

Skill level aside, the quickest/easiest way to power in this situation is to turbo the VQ20 and either pick up an old E-Manage Ultimate or see if Nistune supports your ECU. You'll need a clutch, injectors and possibly a fuel pump too.

The Rod/Stroke ratio on the VQ20 is similar to the VQ30 (1.95/2.01 respectively) which will be easier on the con rod bearings. The VQ35de has a 1.77 R/S ratio and always seemed to let go quicker than the VQ30 when turbo'd.

 

Thanks!

Just gave a quick look online to see if I could find any turbo kit for the VQ20 but couldn't find any, should probably look in the japanese market... However, for the VQ30 there is indeed a turbo kit available.

One question regarding the engines... Are they easily swappable? Probably worth buying a cheap base and drop in a VQ35 if it's compatible with the A32?

 

You should search for "VQ35DE swap 4th gen maxima forums" on google to pull up a bunch of threads from years ago. Comb through everything so that you can get a glimpse as to how tedious it will be. I believe if you want to run a VQ35 using your stock ECU, you would need a 3.0 camshaft adapter plate thing. Good luck finding any aftermarket parts, they are so hard to come by nowadays. I spent years looking for a legit stainless steel catback and got lucky this year.

My 2 cents is to google whatever question you have about your maxima and just add the word "forums" at the end. Should you help find alot of information within the forums.

 

Personally, I would forget about turbo charging and VQ35. A well set-up VQ30DE will provide plenty of performance - possibly look at ECU re-mapping if you want more at the potential expense of reliability. My belief is that the manual transmission fitted to VQ20DE is compatible with VQ30DE (but I could be wrong) so if you can find a donor 3 litre auto transmission car, that might be your best route in Europe, given the lack of 3 litre cars in general and, in particular, with manual transmission. Prices for A32 seem to be quite high in mainland Europe. The few that are available in the UK go very cheaply. There is a 1995 3 litre auto on Facebook Marketplace close to Heathrow Airport. Looks in nice condition and apparently runs and drives very well, having had 1 owner from new and good service history though has no valid MOT test. I think the trade seller wants approx. £1000 for it. You could get that delivered to Portsmouth and get it on one of the Santander/Bilbao Ferries.