HotNoob

Hey!

So, i've got a 2001 SE 20th anniversary edition maxima, 5-speed manual.

I bought it for 4 reasons,

1. Got rear ended by some ****, so i needed a car... and insurance screwed me over, gave me half the value of my car...
2. Wanted to learn standard
3. Wanted a car with near equal umpf to my previous while being just as luxurious - approx bmw z4 performance
4. Wanted to get my hands dirty.


Been doing all of the maintenance on the car since i bought it, all of the fluids, gonna put some new head lights in tomorrow. installed an aftermarket radio head like 3 days after i bought it. All trying to prepare myself for the next level of modding.

From what i've read around on the net, starting with installing aftermarket air intakes and mufflers are the way to go.

So, which air intake and which muffler should i buy?

i'm looking for:
1. Maximum performance per $ ( preferably no more than $200 per part )
2. The skyline engine sound - to me my car sounds like a less intense skyline; in short, i'm looking to avoid having a high pitched car that sounds like it's about to fall apart.

So, i'm trying to keep the total costs below $500, for these two mods.

Next, is more for the future.
What other easy performance mods can i do, which don't require a garage lift? ( i have truck sized ramps right now )

I'm also interested in the possibility of modding / replacing the hood for better performance... provided that it's not too expensive :P

later on, i'm looking to do an engine swap, what would be a good engine to swap it for? would a VQ35DE fit?

In the long run, i'm looking to get the car up to 500hp, ideally without going to deep into the pockets ( i'm a cheap bastard )

D.Stillwell

Your post is all over the place. If you want 500hp you WILL need lots of money for turbo. All motor you can make around 270whp with both the vq30dek or vq35de. VQ35DE swap is a good idea if you're not planning to run FI and you want just nice bolt-on power the 3.5 will clearly make more and be faster than the DEk motor with same mods.

VQ30DEK has a Stillen supercharger option that can be had used for a few grand and with few other bolt-ons will make 300+ hp at the wheels. Overall though, if you want the most bang for your buck and going to do just bolt-ons get a vq35 swap that will make more power for less $$. One drawback is the vq35DE's burn oil whereas the VQ30DEK's don't.

Anyway there's way too many options, you should read up around the forum as there is tons of info out there on all this.

For intake, most recommend staying away from cold air (Injen) unless you mod your fender and do a true cold air. Most recommend doing a proper SRI with mid-pipe and velocity stack. You can make the intake yourself, custom from the parts store. Or you can buy a mid-pipe somewhere around here if you can find it, and do it that way.

For muffler? Not sure what you mean. No reason to just do a muffer, you'd be doing a cat-back. Now the best exhaust mod for these cars is a Y-Pipe. Look into Warpspeed Ypipe (there is also Cattman but it's expensive and hard to find). Besides that, headers will net you the biggest gains but also make your car loud as a cow at slaughter (alternative to headers is to gut cats like many others have done).

As for cat-back exhaust there are many options, they've been discussed here a million times so i'll just let you search but eBay or Amazon have a few good options like SRS or N1, some others I can't remember. And VQ30DEK generally sounds pretty deep, so you shouldn't have any high-pitched sound unless you buy ricer parts like Megan exhaust (look it up on youtube, sounds like Honda Civic ricer).

So for intake/exhaust you can likely do what you want for around $500. The catback you can buy for around $130-300 online. The Ypipe is $225 brand new from Warpspeed plus you may be able to find it used for cheap. Gutted cats are free if you can do it yourself or get someone to help you. For the intake you just need a mid-pipe and good filter which shouldn't cost more than $70-80.

Other performance mods without a lift you can do are advanced timing (17* BTDC) which you can do at a dealership, you can read about it here just search. Then since you got 5MT you should do a flywheel, UDP, exedy clutch. As for replacing the hood, you can do good quality carbon fiber or don't do it at all, no point with anything else.

Hope there's some good info here for ya, hope I helped. Let us know if you got other questions but be more specific and SEARCH my friend, search.

george__

iTrader: (1)

Sell that and go get a Infiniti G37, BMW 33x etc. The Maxima is a slow(ish) family sedan

HotNoob

Thx, D.Stillwell; helped alot.

Why get a $20-25k car with only 300 some hp, when for the same amount you can get a dodge viper with 500hp? in fact, in my area i can get a 500hp dodge viper for $15k.

LazYRaCeR

You can do a front strut bar, and rear sway bar for pretty cheap. I wouldn't do it, but you could go for aftermarket suspension/rims and tires, but if you got the SE model then the suspension is already pretty good. You can do aftermarket brakes. Really I would just get tint/sound/lighting and put all Nissan fluids and parts in it and just wait on a 3.5 swap. Maybe intake/exhaust/strut/sway bar. Maybe even get some better tires on the stock rims. If you got the 16's swap them out for some OEM Maxima 17's.

L_U_D_I_AMaxima

iTrader: (3)

could you please sell me your Maxima? I am not trying to be a smart A** here... I am just trying to save one of the few 20th anniversary cars still out there before it gets chopped up and completely riced out by some "want to be fast" kid...

NmexMAX

iTrader: (22)

Fakie J Farkerton

iTrader: (51)

True story.

1badmaxipad

Not that I am a Maxima expert, but I am NOT new to working on cars at all. Going fast is not cheap, so being a "cheap bastard" and wanting a 500 hp Maxima shouldn't belong in the same sentance.

I have a Cobra and the car made 467 rwhp with bolt ons (blower pulley, intake, tb, exhaust etc). You can get 450+ rwhp in a Cobra for less than $1000-2000. The reason for my saying this is not to show off the Cobra but to make a point.

You want to make a car 500 hp, more specifically a car that isn't easily capable of getting there. I would try to start off with a different base car that has a more obtainable journey to 500 hp.

Now don't get me wrong, a would LOVE a 500hp maxima, I'm just trying to help you out.

george__

iTrader: (1)

Then get a Viper... Maxima will cost a fortune to get to 500 hp but it is your time/money

NmexMAX

iTrader: (22)

500hp and FWD don't belong in the same sentence.

maximasicilian123

Im jumping on the don't listen to George bandwagon.

If ur serious about 500 hp I think ur getting ahead of urself since u saying ur "cheap"

Ive been researching a few weeks so il help u with what I got out of reading all this besides some brain damage from bieng online so much.

I got 02 its got more power and its manual. Anyways best bang for ur buck

1 headers. Around 20 hp but really loud and u need 02 sim or ul get a code
2 y pipe around 8 -12 hp
3 catback
4 nwp intake spacers around 8 hp
5 75 mm throttle body from nwp hp not sure
6 block off plate from nwp hp not sure
7 advance timing hp notsure
8 intake I think is a waste but u might get 3 hp if u do it rite.and if any one has dyno results that show gain with a intake id love to know.
Under 500 u can do 2 4 5 6
Catback is prob 230-300
Headers same

To get 500hp u need all boltons and turbo or super charger then u need to upgrade breaks and suspension. Based on ur cheap comment I think ur just dreaming a Lil bit cause u got a new car. But if u want a major difference do what I said plus change plugs all filters including gas filter. Seafoam ur engine clean the throttle body clean injectors. check for codes. And change ur 02 sensors. This is all stuff u can do with no lift.

If u wanna do just 2 do ypipe and catback. Intake is a waste of money if ur on a budget.

george__

iTrader: (1)

gen 5.7 swap

jr schultz

OP,
You really need to think reasonably about what your goals are with this car. 500 horsepower should not be one of them. If you want a fun and quick daily driver that should still be reliable do bolt ons and tune. This will give you 230-260WHP depending on how far you take it. Use the search feature of the forum to see what works. If you want big power more than likely you need boost or nitrous. Do you have the budget for this? Here's a thread detailing what one of our members went through to get his car slightly over 400 HP: http://forums.maxima.org/supercharge...rbo-build.html This is a 3.5 motor, but you will see what you are in for. Before modding anything make sure your car is up to date on maintenance, and have money in the bank for future maintenance.

Lontar1

iTrader: (5)

i think you are pushing too much out of a maxima. First the car is almost 13-14 years old. You have to look at your engine first, how many miles? will it be able to handle performance parts at the level of miles it has? Our engines are good and they will last but remember it is a MAXIMA not a sports car, 500hp in a maxima is a waste of money, you can but another type of car and modify it, but your money, your car. Drive safely..... my .02C

MoncefA33

iTrader: (6)

500whp will require a built 5speed, or a 6speed swap.

Neither option are for cheap bastards.

NmexMAX

iTrader: (22)

With stock cat back it’s fine, not loud at all. Hardly noticeable. That was my set-up for about 6-7 years. Also, not everyone gets a code. If you bung the O2’s, they should be fine. I’ve had headers for nearly a decade and over 100k miles and I still have yet to trip a secondary code.

Once again, false. I’m tired of posting it, but my GAB gained me 9 whp, as it did at least 3 other members. And a REAL intake (4”, with supporting mods) has always shown dominant and solid gains.

D.Stillwell

THIS. I used to think like most, that intake is just BS doesn't really do much. I learned much from NMex and all his info on intakes and dynos and all on how to build a proper intake. Check out his threads, search is your friend!

Be a MAN and get a REAL intake!

And do forget the 500hp thing, it's not worth it on a Maxima. Believe me, you'll be happy once you make over 200whp compared to the stock dyno on 5th gens. I remember how happy I was once I reached the magic number of 210whp, now I'm happy at 220 and don't care for any more (not on the Maxima anyway)

maximasicilian123

Ok so maybe im wrong. U showed me some links for sites to buy parts to make a intake but u never specified what parts.

NmexMAX

iTrader: (22)

Pop your hood, take some measurements, and then you'll know what parts to buy. It's actually really easy.

Or make it easy on yourself and get a MAF housing from cant_get_ryte. No battery relocation needed. Just a few couplers.

But, again, if you don't have headers, test pipe, 3" exhaust, stick with the basic JWT, as I've told you a few times before.

jakecspeights

ill sell you mine right now

tch3rd

This for sure.

Big HP numbers don't always make a car fast. I'd start with suspension. Either coil overs or a good shock and spring combo. Back when I autox'd a VW golf I had maybe 120hp and was running as fast or faster times than vipers.

Work on getting what power you have to the ground and then work the power up.

01bluemax

Old thread alert!