Hello gents. Somewhat recently bought a 2002 SE with 115k miles, thing is pretty clean! Ive been through 2 4th gens in the last 7 or 8 years (and came VERY close to buying a third) but ended up moving on up to the 5.5gen world. Always had a blast driving my old maximas, they always were good to me and if it wasnt for this forum I would have never developed my interest in cars and knowledge on how to work on them. Just have some commentary on my initial impressions and also some questions on work to come.

First off - after driving 4th gens for nearly the last decade, switching to the 5.5gen felt STRANGE. So much more room. So much more comfortable, the seats are a big upgrade. All those little knicknacks like the popup arm rest, auto dimming mirror, climate control (my 4th gens were both GXEs and lacked any features for the most part). Much smoother power. On the flip side - thing felt like a boat compared to my 4th gen. The turning radius on this car is pure trash (you all know this lol) and it took some time to get used to the slightly larger frame. While my 96' felt like a barebones sports car, this 2002 feels like a luxury barge. Its growing on me quickly though! Another big downside is the shifter - just plain sucks. The rod setup on the 3.0s just cant be beat - moving to a cable shifter that has so much slop and notchyness is a big downgrade and i dont think ill ever become fully used to it. Losing the cable throttle and going to drive-by-wire also hurt but with future mods im sure I wont mind at all.

As far as how I like it - I like it a lot, more and more by the day. No regrets about leaving the 4th gen world behind although I still believe they are absolutely excellent cars and just plain bulletproof in every sense of the word but literal. For all these years I always thought that the 5.5gens were big, slow, heavy barges that were nothing special. Now that I've actually done some reading here, I can see how plain dumb and ignorant that thought was lol. Im pretty much at the point where I am liking this car more than I liked my 4th gens.

So - now for the future. Currently the car is sitting on D2 coilovers, and has a VIAS BOP and 5 piece NWP spacer set. I plan on stealing my cattman headers off my 96' and installing them here, and ofc adding a catback to complement that. Also going to take the rear sway bar off my other max, and add a fidanza flywheel and exedy stage 1. Now heres where things get a little fuzzy; I think I would like to throw on a 4 inch intake, 560cc injectors, fuel pump, and a NWP 75mm TB, along with getting my ECU flashed by.. murphy's_law if im not mistaken? (thread: https://maxima.org/forums/5th-genera...ng-soon-5.html)

So here are my questions:
1) Will I have any issues with codes doing this setup? Obviously 02 sensor codes which can be remedied with spacers, but will this affect my ability to pass inspection here in NY? This is going to be my daily driver, so making all this extra power is pointless if I cant legally drive the damn thing.
2)Who exactly is "doug" that makes the 4 inch intakes everyone raves about? I "think" I found his website (CGR initiatives), and that doug is his real name and not his user name - but im not sure. If anyone can steer me in the right direction on that I would highly appreciate it.
3)Ive read a lot of older posts regarding people using Haltechs - from what I understand, getting the ECU flashed as referenced above pretty much does the same job for a fraction of the cost?
4) With the ECU flash - minimal or perhaps no further tuning is required if i understand correctly? I have a spare VAFC2 unit that I could wire in for very basic adjustments but I would rather not bother with that if possible. Since I have the cattman's with a WBo2 bung already welded in, Ill be throwing in a wideband regardless if ill be street tuning or not (plus it would be dumb not to imo)
5)Any other bolt ons that Im missing here besides a lightweight pulley? Also been thinking of throwing in a SSIM but I honestly dont want to deal with the hassle unless itll be a big improvement over the BOP setup.
6) Any drawbacks to any of this? Again passing inspection is my #1 concern so all of this is moot if it wont pass.

Thats it for now, sorry for all the questions. Ive been digging around for a couple of weeks and think I got the jist of it all but Id like to clarify this stuff before I start gathering parts to overhaul the car in the spring. I actually do have some more questions regarding non-performance stuff but Ill save that for another day because theres already enough here to chew over lol.

As always - thanks in advance. Cant express my gratitude enough for this forum and its members.

 

You should have no problem passing inspection. The worst that will happen is that you will need to do an idle relearn because you're adding more air to the engine. There's a great write-up as well as several videos that show how do it. The mods you're doing are pretty typical and generally have little issues. I have 0 mods, so I can't say for sure, but I haven't seen anyone say it completely destroyed their car. Good luck! I think you'll come to really enjoy the 5.5 gens!

 

The 5/5.5 Gen's aren't that bad. If you think the 5.5 Gen felt like a boat compared to the 4th Gen then try driving a 7th or 8th Gen. They feel like a barge compared to the both the 4th gen & 5/5.5 gen Maxima's. IMO the 3rd gen Maxima was the true 4DSD, they were truly nimble & fun to drive. Every generation after the 3rd Gen got farther & farther away of what made the 3rd Gen so great.

 

You can use a throttle controller to use 100% of the throttle bodies movement (half press = half open) and make it respont faster like drive by cable. i hate dbw because ecu controls where the throttle realy is. WOT isnt realy WOT without an aftermarket controller. Poly ( energysuspension) or nylatron ( redlionracing) bushings everywhere! I also believe red lion makes a solid steering wheel bushing ( in the middle of steering colum) to rid of the 4 inches of play the steering wheel has by nature.

 

3rd gen was a tank, nimble isn't a word i'd use to describe it

 

I don't quite agree with this statement. Whether you do (or don't) run into problems during a NY inspection depends on how exactly are inspections done in NY. The devil is in the details ....

To illustrate: I live in California (where inspections are about as bad/worse as in NY), and until about 6 yrs ago a full "tailpipe sniffer test" was done during each inspection. This wasn't that bad, because most cars pass. However, since then, the inspection procedure has been changed to: a) Verifying that all "monitors" are in completed state, and no codes/CEL. All this is done using an OBD2 scanner; and b) Opening the hood, and checking for "unallowed mods".

I asked the guy what mods he was checking for, but he would not tell me. He was checking with flashlight and looked quite serious .... but the fact that my engine mounts were disconnected did not raise a question.

 

Hmm, I was unaware of how strict they were. I think if he keeps it clean looking then, it should pass? Like obviously if he has a massive cone filter and everything looks shiny and out of the ordinary it might raise some concerns. But I feel like an all black intake isn't too alarming. The only thing I can think of that would look off is the square TB adapter. I don't know though, I don't have inspection so I've never been through the process lol.

 

Pretty sure that the reflash mentioned "fixes" the throttle lag like a controller would, as well as allowing the TB to open 100% at WOT rather than like 90% the way nissan designed it. As for bushings, i forgot to mention the previous owner installed ES shifter bushings, control arm bushings, and motor mounts. IDK about the steering wheel but i gave it a hard shake this evening and thing is solid as a rock so ill be skipping that one lol.

As far as NY inspections go, they are no where near as strict. IIRC Im allowed to have 1 code stored as long as it doesnt illuminate the CEL, and all monitors are ready. Not sure about the physical inspection stuff because the shop I use doesnt give a flying f*** and just plugs it into the computer to look for codes - last year they had me drive right into the garage and plug the computer in for them while i sat in the driver seat and had me in and out in under 2 minutes. I have a long history with that mechanic though so i suppose its a special case, AFAIK nobody in NY is required to undergo sniffer tests or extreme physical inspections (beyond checking brakes and safety stuff at least).

My main concern is if these mods will throw codes that cannot be bypassed somehow. I know the o2 sensor codes are guaranteed but that doesnt worry me since spacers fix that right up.