I've been looking for ways to get a bit more power out of my 2003 maxima SE, I've been told by friends that the best way to do that without using forced inductions would be cams or a stroker kit. What do I have to know before choosing a cam? And if anyone has put big cams in a maxima what did you choose and where did you find them?

 

to clarify, the cams i was thinking of are these - https://www.z1motorsports.com/engine...ms-p-5172.html
if cams are a good idea for my stock VQ35DE then will these be a good choice? ive heard that 272 lift for street applications is a good choice but do the rest of the specs check out and will these cams swap right into the engine or will i need to do further modifications to make them fit and or make power?

 

An 09+ Max or 07+ Altima engine swap is less work.

Keep in mind to install dohc cams correctly you have to recheck base circle to lifter bucket clearance on every valve. If they're not within spec you either need to re clearance or replace and re clearance the lifter.

 

Hi.

Cams are not a first mod here unless you plan on taking out the motor or replacing it.

The proper (and most beneficial) way to do cams are to take the heads off, install big boy cams (like the ones you chose), install heavy duty valve springs (required on any cam worth installing), porting heads, lower manifold and gutting the upper intake manifold, or hell go to a Z manifold (a new theory I'm testing out since we have WAY better tuning solutions then the test that were done back in the stone age).

Since you're asking about such an advance mod I'm assuming you are a very capable mechanic and I shouldn't need to explain the many small details and important nuances when it comes to doing heads on this motor.

Good luck!

 

honestly if your going all out and straight up building an engine??? other wise you can get some power out of a super charger kit, bolt on! i see 7-8LBs of boost on daily driers mentioned here in old threads.

 

I was thinking of using forced induction but personally I would prefer to do a custom big turbo setup if that was the case, my main concern is that the motor is rather old and may not hold well with boost, so I was hoping to build it and see what kind of power those old DE's can make N/A before using any kind of turbo or supercharger

 

I already need to remove the motor to repair a rear main seal and install a new clucth/lightweight flywheel so I figured maybe a little head work and some cams would be a fun project, although I know my way around a car pretty well cams are a new concept to me, I've never really done head work before as most of the experience I have is from a 1964 chevelle that I swapped a crate engine into. If cams are a difficult mod is there anything else I can do for less than $2k to give the engine a bit more pep?

 

lots of thing you can do under 2k for a lil pep, nwp manifold spacers , headers, upgraded throttle body and compliment that upgraded throttle body upgraded intake, all those will get you under $2k for parts. and are easier than rebuilding engines for performance.

 

[QUOTE=Prophecy99;9225394]lots of thing you can do under 2k for a lil pep, nwp manifold spacers , headers, upgraded throttle body and compliment that upgraded throttle body upgraded intake, all those will get you under $2k for parts. and are easier than rebuilding engines for performance.[/QUOTE
Where can I find all these parts? And what size throttle body will the car accept?

 

Actually no. But a nice minor build....

First take 700 and then...
-install New gaskets (rear main, front main, orings, oil gallery, water pump orings, vtc orings, etc)
-Install Rev up oil pump
-install ARP rod bolts
-Check rod bearings
this does absolutely zilch power wise but improves reliability leaps and bounds.

Then to actually add power.....
remove heads and take them to a machine shop and have them....
-Install Cams
-Install Valve springs
-Set valve lash
-Valve job
-Hot tank.
-Extremely light mill just to get a fresh even surface
That should be around 1700, but what's needed to crank out well over 300whp.

​head gaskets and head bolts are about 160
​​​​​

 

Admintuning.com

Just call him. He'll have the best solution for your budget.

 

my goal for the car is 350whp, if I use the cams I linked above as well as a spring kit for them, and get all the work you reccomend done as well as a tune do you think that's achievable? Also I plan to run a small turbo on 7psi in the future, will those cams work with boost? I dont know much about cams so I'm sorry if that was a stupid question.

 

i'm not families with the vq too much but some motors take cams better than others because of emissions and focus
on bottom end tq. Are you good with spending like $1,500 for 10hp up top?

i'm always going to tell people don't cam a stock motor unless the cam is cheap.

if you love the motor and want to see what works as a hod rodder then go for it.
cam it up.

 

Do nothing except find the RIPP supercharger shaft and vortech. Custom bracket is made for 5.5 gen. There's several people on facebook running them.

If you blow it up, then just swap in 2nd gen DE (and keep it tq limited) or do rods/pistons only build on 2nd gen (500+ whp no problemo).
Haltech would be great, but not required. Run E85 if available. It's miraculous. I did some pulls at 14:1 AFR 10 psi with 21* timing with no knock LOL. Winter E50 vs summer E85 lol. I didn't know they switched.

 

this sounds like a fun idea but this car is going to be my daily so I would rather not have a chance of blowing it up, is there a way to make it reliable with the supercharger for around 350 - 400whp?

 

Yep, I edited my post. S/C is stupid reliable. Just keep tq at 350ish or less and it should only go down if S/C needs repaired (which you can just swap out to regular belt and drive) or engine eventually wears out.

 

where can I find the parts I need for that build, what would the expected cost be, and what's the full parts list you need for a supercharger build on a maxima?

 

why light mill? why not just lop off few ten thousandths? assuming not running forced induction later

 

I've been debating a turbo or supercharger on low boost in the future, possibly even a 500+hp build eventually but no time soon

 

Ha, well that's gonna be legwork on your end as it's a custom setup. Especially when it comes to what you wanna do about fueling and tuning.

One of my Gs has a vortech kit, so you're **** out of luck on info from me.

 

Just to have a fresh surface.




​​​​​​10 thou is what i did once before and timing was off by I think a degree between the two intake cams.

Not sure if it was cam related or milling related.

But that motor build caused the internet break and me to get banned from a few fb groups... because someone at a shop somewhere said it was impossible... And well we proved that person wrong 😂

 

Gotta watch that timing when you deck OHC heads.

 

More than Likely that's your rear half moon upper oil pan gasket leaking not the rear main seal (They don't leak like 240 Volvos)....

 

Check out YouTube. Search for "nissan maxima RIPP supercharger".