Over the weekend I performed 4 mods on my 2k2/BOB/6MT. Here is my summation and review of the modifications as I see them.

One thing to mention prior to beginning and this may or may not have any relevance on the subject, but the Max that I purchased was meticulously maintained with fluids and service, I have receipts for oil changes every 3k miles as well as transmission fluid changes routinely. And the car was Garage kept for the entirety of it's 77k ownership.

ES Shifter Bushing:

Super easy install, took me maybe 15-20 minutes tops. The hardest part was getting the bushings back in, but after messing around with it for a few minutes I regreased it with white lithium grease and leveraged them in with a pair of channel locks, after getting the leverage on them they popped right in.
One thing I did notice was the stock bushings compared to others mentioned here did not appear to have near the damage. The rubber still looked fairly good with no cracks.

ES SB Driving Review:

After the install I took a short ride and I immediately noticed a slight improvement but nothing major. I was disappointed with the performance results of this mod, but I attribute this result almost entirely to the condition of the stock bushings. And it didn't bother me that much considering I only spent 25.00 and 15 minutes of my time

Redline MT-90 Tranny Fluid Change:

This was also an easy mod that only took about 30mins which included drain out and refill time. One thing to note is the drain plug and filler plug require a 10mm Allan wrench.

Redline Driving Review:

I noticed an immediate shifting improvement after the tranny was warmed. 3rd and 4th gear hardly ever ground but under duress was slightly prevalent, I no longer notice this. On the whole, it wasn't a great improvement but again I attribute this to the prior owners **** maintenance regime, the oil that came from the tranny was almost brand new and there were absolutely no metal shavings at all.

Free Short Throw Shifter:

This was by far the most irritating install and the irritating aspect is totally attributed to tapping threads in the metal. Other than that is was easy. The directions given from Deckdout2 are spot on. One thing to note for future installers is follow the directions in that you don't want to drill all the way through, you want to hit the bottom so that the shifter cable has a place to move and is not tight, if you tighten it down, your shifter will be stiff. I used a 8mm 1.25 x 35mm bolt, the proper drill bit for that is a 6.8mm bit which can be picked up from a machine shop, a 9/32 can be used but you run the risk of hitting bottom and stripping out.

FREE STS review:

This was a great mod, as listed here at maxima.org it does improve the throw significantly, at least 30% but closer to 40% I think. I did notice as others have said that it was more notchy, which I don't care for at all, I prefer a smooth shift, but the notchiness is all OK when the throw is reduced and burn the rubber off of 2nd gear. An easy mod, well worth the time and the 1.99 from auto zone for the bolts and washers.

JWT Popcharger:

This was by far my favorite mod that had the most noticeable results. I picked it up from Bryan Catts (Kudos to you for a pleasant experience ) from cattman performance for 109.00 on sale when I bought the ES bushings. Super easy install, I think it was like 6 10mm bolts to take the old intake off. To install the JWT was maybe 12 minutes. No problems arose.

JWT Popcharger Review:

Before I did this I took the max out with some noise canceling headphones and made several passes down some roads, the point is I didn't want to hear anything, being in the middle of nowhere and the absence of a Dyno I wanted to get a feel for the power while I was in silence knowing that the intake would create noise. After the install I took it out with a friend who immediately noticed the roar that comes on after a 3500rpms. A very pleasant sound comes from the motor when you jump on this thing now, I really enjoyed the sound, it almost sounds like a Indy car when you get on it. Unless you get it above 3500rpms it will make almost no noise, so cruising and daily driving is still a pleasant experience. One only slightly irritating thing about the intake is the existence of a small whistle when you first tap the gas, it almost sounds like a turbo getting ready to spool up which makes the sound kind of ghetto. You can almost audibly here it to on the interstate to when you go up a hill or under duress.
As far as power gains, I can tell a difference, use of the noise canceling headphones again revealed that top end power gains were there though minimal. Where I can tell the most is from a 3rd gear pull above 4k. I would guesstimate in the range of 5-10hp. I could feel no losses in torque or low rpm.

Hope this thread was useful to anyone interested in trying the above mods. If you want pictures of anything, I'll be happy to oblige.

Andy

 

cool little write up im sure it will help some people out

 

anyone know if you can get the jwt pc w/ a apexi filter instead of the oiled filter?

 

Nice review. Now it's time to change your signature.

Can you please post a link and your pictures of the free sts? Although I have an auto, I still like learning new things.

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....light=free+sts

I'm also a pleased user of this mod. I have the MT90 oil and ES shift bushings and I'm impressed with the improvement over stock.


If you give the bushings some time to work in they will feel much better. They will remain solid but not as stiff. And like you mentioned, you can't tighten the bolt down onto the bushing but rather tighten it down until in bottoms out in the hole. I had to try several different lengths of bolts before I found one that was long enough to bottom the bolt out so it was tight but still tall enough to allow free rotation of the bushing. Also make sure that the nut inside the car where the other large bushing goes is not too tight because that too will make it harder to shift. Don't forget to LIBERALLY coat the ball joint at the bottom of the shift rod with white lithium grease to smooth the overall shifting action.

 

the ES bushings, MT-90, and STS (i paid for mine) make a world of difference.
greatly improves loose, notchy, clunky shifter throws.
shifts are stiff and precise..you know you are going in to gear

 

Great Post! I also have the JWT Pop-Charger. I agree with what you state 100%, however I did have an issue with the JWT mounting bracket. For one reason or another, it seems as though it was too short. One day, the rubber intake tubing connected to the Pop Charger (Just past the MAF) disconnected from the second half of the intake and obviously, the car stalled out. I had to modify it a bit so that it had more flexibility.

 

that seems like a standard problem...same thing happened with my stillen intake and then my berk. i sent the stillen back (for other reasons) but made the berk work

 

i had that happen to me once too. i immediately made it short enough that i didnt need a mounting bracket...no problems since

 

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one. Maybe at least JWT will correct this for future buyers since they seem to be the Nissan specialists.

 

Can you post pics of the pop-charger? Where can I order one?

 

They’re discontinued, maybe try and prove me wrong by reading the first post.

 

The JWT Pop Charger that I got just this week was from www.courtesyparts.com I did a pick up since I live so close.
Here's a link to the pop-charger
Retail Price: $160.00
Your Price: $120.00
ON SALE NOW - REGULAR PRICE $120.00
NOW ONLY 109.44

Here are some pictures of the pop charger, I have an 20th Anniversary Edition Maxima with a majestic blue color.
I took off my upper front strut bar and haven't install it back on yet.






The pop charger does sound a lot louder when accelerating from 1k to 3k then becomes quiet above 3.5k and idling, but does make a hiss sound like a turbo when shifting gears.

 

How did you modified the mounting bracket because my is a bit short also but I manage to extended the rubber tubing.

 

Dude, really? Reread the first post. lol.