tgonza1057

i am planning on getting a stillen intake this christmas but my mom is trippin and she doesent want me to mess up my car ....it has to last me through college (2 more years) she says just leave it alone. I disagreed so we went to my uncle he's a mechanic and has worked on many domestics and imports. He even helped me pick and find my 95se (5speed). I dont doubt his knowlege at all but he also told me to leave my car alone :vampire: what the @#*$@!!! He said I would have to get a bigger maf sensor and all this crap like bigger injectors just so the car will adjust to the new air flow. He also said wait till i pay my car off and then play with the mods...... that wont be till this time next year. All i want is an intake a HKS muffler and ecu upgrade thats it i dont want to mod the heck out of my car. My uncle and mom have made good arguments please make them wrong I really need all of your advise. Please tell me he is not right and if he is what do I need to do so I can get my christmas present.

MaxedOut

iTrader: (4)

my cuzin who's a mechanic also said that if i wanted a new intake then i would need new injectors and a fuel gauge and other crap to monitor the air and fuel flow... i dunno seems to extreme..... but then again im not a mechanic

Victim64

Well, You can start with the UPRD ECU and your Mom and your Uncle will never know. Only requirement will be that you must run premium gas(which you should be doing anyway) As for the air intake, no you don't need a bigger Maf sensor, or bigger injectors. However you will need to open up your exhaust with a Y-pipe or something to see majority of the benefits from the extra air. The engine is "almost" bullet proof so mod away(If you don't mind your car becoming louder). Check out the group deal on the UPRD ECU at http://www.maximadriver.com. Great price Great mod Join the Group Deal......

TexMaximum

Any mod that increases power, increases stress of the car's factory tolerances, and thus may ware out faster...theoretically. HEY..you wanna go faster or not!?

justmax

who's frickin' car is this anyway? Does your mom make your money for you? Pay for the car? What's up here?

Point #1: Ask anyone on this board who's had an intake/Y-pipe/exhaust on their car for a couple years w/out upgrading MAF sensor or bigger injectors... have their engines blown up?

Point #2: Different MAF sensor, bigger injectors huh? What exactly does your uncle think the factory ECU will do with these items? NOTHING!

Point #3: The engine is capable of running 80 extra horsepower without an upgraded ECU, injectors, fuel pump, MAF sensor or any of that crap. It's called a Stillen supercharger.

Point #4: Your uncle is prolly just being overly cautious... I'm a cumputer guy and if I told you how to upgrade your PC, I'd tell you to buy more RAM to go with your 3D video card, cuz I know you'd be happier with the results than just the video card... same logic with your uncle. Do you absolutely need more RAM? no.

My 2 cents

Justin

Keven97SE

No. The factory ECU is setup to adjust for changes to airflow within certain limits. It uses closed-loop feedback from the O2 sensors when cruising and pre-set MAF airflow vs. fuel flow maps for heavy acceleration. Think of it this way: The ECU can compensate for driving at 10,000 ft, where the air density is so low that HP is reduced by something like 25-33%, so obviously adjustment for a minor 15-20% increase in HP is not out of the question.

Tell your uncle that he's not looking at a carburated engine that requires constant recalibration (like for altitude changes)...these new engines can automatically adjust to compensate.

The factory injectors are 259 cc/min ones, the same as are in the normally aspirated 300Z's, which come from the factory with 222 HP. Those injectors are good for at least 250 HP. The factory MAF sensor is gigantic at 80 mm and can easily handle well past 300 HP. Not even Grand Prix GTPs with 240 HP have that large of a MAF sensor. There are loads of folks here with Maximas running upwards of 190 HP at the wheels (~225 HP) with absolutely no engine problems due to lack of fuel. I'd say the only limiting factor with the stock engine is that the fuel pump is undersized if you're running upwards of 240 HP or so. At that point, I'd start getting concerned and think about upgrading the pump, but trust me, you won't be at that level with garden-variety mods anyway, thus shouldn't be a concern.

The Maxima engine can easily handle and adjust for most garden variety, normally-aspirated mods like intake and exhaust. ECU, too...tell him the ECU just advances the ignition timing 5 degrees max. in a narrow rpm range (~3000-5000 rpm) and adjusts the fuel mixture a little to get optimal power. Super unleaded gas is absolutely mandatory with that mod, though.

I've been running my car at ~190 HP at the wheels (225 at engine or so) with NO engine problems for must be over 2 years. The engine runs purrrrrfectly.

MardiGrasMax

iTrader: (14)

Are you POSITIVE about this?

I was told 239cc/min, but I doubted it. I just want to be sure. I have a a complex spread sheet for calculating my fuel needs under NOS and the injector flow rate is critical!

THANKS!

Daniel B. Martin

You have put your finger on the problem. If togonza1057 paid for the car, pays for the insurance, and pays for the maintenance then it should be his call. If mom pays the bills, then she has the right to make those decisions. Okay, tgonza1057, which is it?

JimW

There are quite a few mechanics here also. Myself included (I'm an ex-mechanic) As Keven said, the ECU is able to "adjust" for wide swings in altitude, which is far more adjustment than is necessary for the installation of an intake and exhaust. Sounds to me like your family is trying to use the "scare factor" to keep you from modifying your car.
I personally had run the intake, Y-pipe, exhaust and JWT ECU for close to 30k combined (with the ECU in place for the last 10K) I had no problems whatsoever. The car still passed a NYS emissions test when I sold it. With 94k on the clock.
The only problems you'll find with the intake and Y-pipe and HKS setup is exhaust noise. If you install a y-pipe, you'll need to keep the factory muffler to keep noise to an almost-stock level. You can also expect 10-15 hp with the intake/Y-pipe combination.

SleeperSE

- You all mentioned that the intake/y-pipe/HKS setup would increase power by about 10-15hp. Is that power at the wheels or at the flywheel? Would placing the stock muffler on your new exhaust (for sound level reasons) hamper the potential performance, or just the noise?
- Also, how loud is the HKS compared to the GReddy? What prices have you all have gotten on both systems and what do they include?

ereet

HKS - Quiet, kinda like the stock one.
GReddy - Loud, kinda like a honduh.

Y-pipe alone should put 10-15 on the wheels as far as I know. A guy down here got 17hp out of his at the place where I had mine custom made. I haven't dyno'd mine yet though so I don't know for sure.

The intake should be around 5-8 and the HKS should be another 2-3.

Stillnmax

i have a greddy and i dont think its loud - i just want to know - do the ppl say that the greddy is loud or sounds ricey actually have one - and if not your prolly thinkin about the stillen - there is no way a greddy sounds like a honda - those lil things dont have nearly enough displacement to make a grunt like the greddy...

TexMaximum

I have it, and I think it sounds nice, and not like honduh, even more grunty with the y-pipe and the power boost is noticable on the SOTP meter.

got rice?

iTrader: (2)

I don't know why peeps stereotype the GReddy exhausts to always sounding like a HonduH. The exhaust note of a 6 cyl engine will not sound like the high raspy exhaust note off a 4 cyl. plain and simple. the GReddy is deeper and has more bass.. not a high pitch wail.

Kenneth

iTrader: (8)

some cars you would need to apply these arguments (ie upgrading ecus) but not for the maxima & only adding muffler and intake.

tgonza1057

you guys are right. it should be up to me i pay for the car and insurance. maybe they dont want me to stop putting double payments on the car. i just got it this spring and it will be paid off by this comming spring. I see there logic now. they want me to put stuff on the car after i know its mine.