I have a long list of mods I want to eventually do, from suspension, to engine work, to exhaust, to little nick nacks, but I've budgeted $1000 out of my tax refund just for my baby.

What would YOU do to the Maxima with $1000?

 

Let's see..... you can go
Self made intake
OBX headers and possibly a cattman exhaust, most likely custommaxima exhaust
You can also do
Home made intake
Cattman Headers
Or
3" Cattman exhaust
And OBX headers... id go with the 3rd ... a home made intake will probebly be 30$ so reguardless I'm sure you can get that

 

Headers/Ypipe,and if you find them cheap and have some $ left over after install.....intake

 

You can also go suspension
Coilovers....
Or spring shock setup with a RSB,
Man just research and whatever you want buy it....I don't think any mod within the price range is better, whichever mod u like, get it

 

what are you looking to accomplish with the $1000?

Speed?
Handling?
Appearance?

 

-Set of Used Teins SS C/O or Illumina / Spring Combo
-LTB Stage 2
-Grounding Kit
- Rear Spacers

 

Exactly,

If handling is more important go with a nice set of coilovers.

If straightline performance is what you're looking for go with headers.

Either of those will be a good base for future mods and give you the most noticeable improvement for the money.

One more thing to consider. If you replace the heavy stock wheels you can loose about 35 pounds of rotating/ unsprung mass. That'll improve handling, exceleration, ride and looks. Plus, there's no down side like loudness, or harsh ride. It'll cost more than $1,000 but it's something to consider.

 

Bingo. OP, you need to qualify your priorities first. Do that, and you'll get a much better response.

 

this, we gotta have a clue at what ur after lol

 

I would start with:
Intake, exhaust and a tune.

 

I would spend my $1000 like this. These mods made my Maxima much more fun to drive.

Stillen Rear Sway Bar $292 - http://www.stillen.com/product.asp?i...N&model=MAXIMA

Eibach Pro Kit Springs $270 - Estimated this price ( I'm currently running on S-Techs, but mat switch over this spring )

Tokico Illuminas $377 - http://www.andysautosport.com/nissan...shocks/tokico/

ES Front Sway bar Bushings $20
Moog Sway Bar end Links $32 - http://www.energysuspensionparts.com...s.asp?cat=4207

 

how is YOUR ride on s-techs?^

 

There's many ways to go. How about I list a bunch of good mods to choose from?


-GAB stock intake. $0
-Home made SRI- ~$100ish
-OBX headers + O2 Simulator + bung reweld- $450ish - less used
-Used 2.5" cat-back or CustomMaxima 2.5"- $250-300ish OR instead of the cat-back, have a Cutout welded in for $50-100 and have stock exhaust for stealth and quiet.
-Used VAFCII- $125-150ish
-1 hour on a dyno tuning OR a wideband to self tune- $100-150
-HID fog lights- $50-70
-Lowering springs- $120-230
-Clear side markers- $50-60 for all 4
-02 SE tail lights- $50-100
-LEDs for all external 194 lights- $20-30
-Short Shifter- $5-100+ You can do the DIY to save money
-ES shifter bushings- $25-30
-NWP Spacers- $220
-ES engine mounts- $50?
-FSB- $20-100+
-cheap aftermarket struts- $300-400
-used set of coilovers- $600+
-wheels/tires... other car OEM or rota- ~$600-1000

Anything you can get used, I would. Most of these parts (especially performance parts) will outlast your car and will have zero difference being used other than suspension stuff.

 

I don't mind the occasional bottoming out, but you have to really watch the potholes. Richmond roads aren't that bad, if I lived elsewhere I probably would not be on them now. I may switch over to Eibachs if I have clearance issues when I buy my 235/40/18's this spring. I also swap back to stock suspension and wheels for the winter months.
Pm me if you have any other questions, don't want to highjack the thread.

 

Do you have a list of what you have done so far?

 

Seriously, the guy is on a budget, and you want him to give his money away to Stillen? That's just goofy. Let's wait and see what the OP prioritizes. Who knows, maybe product name recognition is really high on his list?

BTW, that website for the struts... the picture might be Illuminas, but the part numbers and pricing is for the HP's.

 

Mods should look good as well as function, that's my personal preferance. He can also try and find one used, for much cheaper. What sway bar would you suggest?

So I guess I got a deal on my Illuminas then.

 

Progress. Should be around $140-150 from Cattman.

 

^^^
This. After all, it's just a sway bar, there's not a lot of rocket science involved. And unless you've got the hovercar option in your Maxima, no one is going to see it.

Um, OK.

 

yay another one of these dumbazz thread jesus fken christ learn to fken search god dam

 

yay another one of these dumazz complaints jusus fken christ learn to say sumthing even a tiny bit helpful or nothing at all god dam

 

I'll play:

#1 - anything broken
#2 - short throw shifter
#3 - ES shifter bushings
#4 - lamin-x (or similar) for fog lights to prevent cracking
#5 - whatever interests you (suspension, power, stereo, under-glows, body kit, tints, brakes, etc... Only you can decide)

For good measure I might as well throw in the obligatory, "USE THE SEARCH."

 

 

Everyone, thanks for all--err... MOST of the posts, you guys are really helpful.

Lets see, priorities... #1 would be better straight-line acceleration. #2 would be better handling. I would want to put more money in acceleration than handling, but still do something...

The few things I've done already were get new tires, install a good stereo system, replaced the fog lights (so maybe I should follow 2slow's fog light protector idea), and tint. I know one day I'm going to have to replace the clutch, it gets real loose sometimes.

Headers and exhaust would be a great improvement, but I REALLY want to stay away from having a car that can be heard, I love a car thats fast and totally quiet. When you say have a cut out welded with the headers, where exactly are you talking?

Remember, you're helping an inexperienced person here. I've just learned a little bit by reading, and not hands on!

I'd really like to do the DIY STS, but I remember reading a post about someone who ruined their transmission the day they did it, so I might just buy the kit.

Another thing, its my DD, and I do 150 miles a day, so I dont wanna make the ride extremely harsh but I dont like the stock wheel gap, so I'd want to do some work there. Yes I've done my searching but I'm still unsure between a few different items since there are so many threads saying all kinds of stuff. I'll do more searching on this, but I'd like to hear from experience on the tein ss coilovers...

Am I forgetting anything?

 

imo the max is pretty quick stock, i would concentrate on brakes and suspension. the brakes are complete crap, a nice cheap upgrade would be to put the 6th gen brakes and some hawk hps pads

 

Hows the feel after the brake swap? I had an 01 Z28 with these big monstrous powerful brakes, then I get the max and the brakes are so loose feeling....

 

I found this video of an 02 with headers and stock exhaust.... is this REALLY what it sounds like?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8LtlMSJLl8

The maxima is a premium sports sedan, I'd hate to take away its high class with a loud exhaust...

 

IMO it was a night and day difference.

sound, like suspension setups are very subjective. that car has no cat, thats why again, IMO sounds like crap

 

i would do the diy intake for the $10

 

If your 1st priority is acceleration then headers has to be on the list. I would first go for a full exhaust, with a large resonator(or two) and stock cat. You can keep the tone very close to stock as long as the right parts are used. That video you posted of a car with headers earlier only sounds like that because, there isn't a cat, and its not a stock b-pipe.
The only problem is locating a decent set of headers (read every other recent thread), and either being able to take upon the work load or find a decent installation price.

Although there isn't a significant gain I believe short ram should be first on the list. Its a great first diy mod, especially for an amateur.

It all comes down to what you can truely enjoy on an everyday basis, and nobody can decide that, but you. Goodluck

 

He has a vid where he has both headers and exhaust. Sounds much better

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-YzUorpX-g

 

3" Cattman Catback.

/thread

 

big ****

/thread

 

OBX headers, test pipe, SRI or CAI (many threads on this), coilovers..

Look at the classifieds, I picked up used coilovers for cheap

Get headers off ebay along with the test pipe

 

1k in mods like intake, y pipe will not make his car much faster and the fun factor of driving his car will remain about the same, especially since you can only drive so fast on streets.

I say put the money into suspension mods like rsb, fstb, rstb, and spring/struts. Going around turns fast is fun, and cheaper than making a car go fast in a straight line. These mods will make the car so much more responsive and fun to drive.

 

everything cattman is so damn expensive. I'm sure the products are great(they better be ****ing amazing for those prices) but the price doesn't justify the gains. I can go out and spend $200 on a ebay catback and see the same gains as the cattman...Does the cattman look nicer, sure. But it doesn't justify being more than 3x the cost. This also holds true for the y pipe and headers, nice products, but there are brands out there that will net you similar gains for less than 1/3 of the price.

 

I cant agree with this statement.

Okay so another set of headers for the maxima are OBX, hotshot (if you can find them used), and some ebay shorties.

I have OBX. I like them. But, they are not PnP. Crossmember needed to be ground, o2 sensor needed to be relocated, quality is not the same. I removed my EGR but if I wanted to keep it I was limited to the 00-01 which do not have an equal length y pipe.

I had a OBX SRI, and it was awesome. Excellent build, no issues.

Yes cattman is expensive but you get what you pay for...

The ebay catback is not full 2.5'' throughout.

 

You're totally right... This statement has made me re-prioritize. I think I'll go for suspension first. I've been doing more searching on tien ss, I may just try to find a good deal on these... people say go tien ss or go home....

 

Coilovers, lighter rims, subframe bracing (if you can find them) and maybe polyurethane bushings from Energy Suspension for the front sway bar and shifter bushings are some components to start with. The car is plenty fast as it is but handles like a school bus and has a soft chassis so I'd improve overall handling first. The shifter bushings really just help you enjoy the car more, because the stock shifts feel sloppy IMO and the solid shifter bushings will make a huge difference in terms of a nice clean feel, along with some good gear oil like Amsoil or Redline MT-90.

 

The OP already said he wants a quiet & comfortable ride. That pretty much rules out most cat-backs; certainly headers. And as for comfortable... that rules out solid poly motor mount bushings, and coilovers. I would think his budget rules out coilovers, anyway.

Based on his stated priorities and budget, I'd say:

• Phenolic Intake Spacers - $250 cost; $150 install
• VIAS-Delete Block Plate - $40
• Short Ram Intake (which is only loud at full throttle) - $100 to $200
• Rear Sway Bar - $150
• Front Strut Tower Brace - $30 to $100
• Short-throw Shifter Kit - $50
• Shifter Bushings - $30

That loosely adds up to $1000. Not to shabby.