What's Your Favorite Performance Mod?
 

I'm a new Altima owner ('05 3.5 SE 5at) and I'm looking for some performance upgrades. This is the best site I've came across & I'm hoping I can get some help with VQ35 related information.
So what's you favorite (power related) performance mod? Did you do any before/after dyno/track/G-Tech testing to see what the actual gains were? How catalytic converters do the Maximas have? Thanks for any help.

we don't have too many mods yet, but all of them together will give ya almost 300hp crank hp.. I think for the money the best thing is prob nitrous for the track..

we have members runing 14.6 1/4 with all the mods and then we have someone runing 13.9 with headers and 75x2 shot of nitrous...

you pick..

UUUuumm I Like



VIAGRA


It make my me go a lot faster ... LOL , LOL...... :buttshex:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=413817
includes link to mod discussions

The 2 best and cheapest mod for the VQ are probably the y-pipe and one of the cold air intake systems.If you look at stillen.com there are many more products -performance mods for the 3.5 Altima then there are for the 6th gen Max-like headers-more power than the y-pipe alone.The Max has 3 cats-2 pre y-pipe and 1 after.Good Luck on the tune up.

I know some will disagree but so far my favorite performance mod has to be the safc.

14.3 1/4 mile time. give or take .1

9.3(1/8mile run) + .22 /.665 = 14.315

thats the most accurate equatoin i've found.

Can you convert that into 0-62 MPH -v- Seconds for me ????

NismoMAx80; thanks for the link. I've already read through every piece of information I've come across on this board. I was looking for more personal answer & opinions as to which are the best dollar/horsepower wise.
Max2n; that's exactly what I want to know. I figured the Maxima exhaust was setup like the Altima but wanted someone to confirm it. Do you know of your specific horsepower gains from the y-pipe & cai. I'd rather spend $300 for a y-pipe to gain 10-15whp than $300 on a cai to gain 5-8whp or $180 for a ud pulley to gain 2-3whp. See I don't trust advertised claims one bit and would rather here first hand experiences.
maxmale; did you dyno-tune your safc? What were the results?
I don't know where that came from, but (since you brought it up) I got to run my car for the first time yesterday at Midway Dragstrip in Greeleyville and pulled a best of 9.4@74.8mph in the 1/8th. My other runs varied between 9.5-9.6 all @74-75mph. Not bad for a stock 5AT.

see, you bring great questions that have been floating around and discussed on opinions. do mods increase power? dynos are few to prove either way. many "feel" a difference, may be true or wishful thinking.

and where I see the arguement plateaus: "If a mod does increase performance, does the ECU notice the change and adjust accordingly to return to stock output?

this is where it came from.

Yeah Maxmale, I think your new calculation is more correct. You should be running a 14.3 or 14.4, maybe even better with a little more tuning to the SAFCII. Like I mentioned in another thread, the Azntuner guy, T, was running a 14.2 with virtually the same mods with the exception of the headers.

He responded to my message and told me that he didn't have the Y-pipe, so, realistically, he should only be about 10 more HP than you because of the probable 20hp gain with the headers. However, with your SAFCII you should be possibly closer. Now with his nitrous, which I'm pretty sure he started out with just the single shot of 75 HP, he ran a 13.9 on page 4 or 5 of his website. With the 75x2 shot, he ran a VERY IMPRESSIVE 13.1 in the 1/4 mile, that's on page 3 of his site.

I'm getting my new Y-pipe put on this morning with a dyno before noon. I'm shooting for a few runs with at least one before the install of the y-pipe. It should help us determine what gains are achieved with just the Greddy exhaust and Injen intake. If we can compare it to a stock Auto Max dyno. This should also help us to see what gains are achieved from the y-pipe in an Auto. I was going to switch out my shoes and socks for the dyno, but I don't have time. I hope I'm not disappointed....

With respect to the guys question regarding mods for the Altima, I think, like the another member said, look at Stillen. That would be a great place to start looking for mods. I looked through the catalog last night and they have some sweet headers and y-pipe for the Altima with a claimed 26hp gain. Also, the Nismo intake for the Altima is suppose to be sweet. From my personal opinion, the Greddy exhaust and Injen intake are definitely worthwhile buys that seem to provide extra ponies and great sound quality. However, I don't know if they have applications for the Alitma or how they perform, but it should be similar. Whatever you decide to get, be prepared to spend some $$, because performance mods aren't cheap. Good luck! PEACE OUT........

Actually my favorite performance mod was to the suspension with the Rear Sway Bar, Eibachs & Falken Tires. Very dramatic increase in handling in my opinion...

[QUOTE=NismoMax80]see, you bring great questions that have been floating around and discussed on opinions. do mods increase power? dynos are few to prove either way. many "feel" a difference, may be true or wishful thinking.

I agree with NismoMax80-very few of us ever have a chance or willing to pony up the dollars to have a dyno test and it's a "feel" thing. But that's what I'm talking about. This whole thing of ours-be it cosmetic,performance or otherwise it's all about "feel".Don't get me wrong it's good to have official calibrated numbers - we don't want to think we're just replacing a component and not improving it.I think most of the big name aftermarket numbers are real and it's nice to know some of our .org family do have their babys dynoed and keeps them honest with their post ups most of the time.But when your baby is parked and people stare and smile -how do you "feel"? When you're on the highway and X car is trying to test you-the sound of your Max,the response in the pedal,and the percision of the steering wheel-how do you "feel"?
My opinion on mods-do it all.Don't half ***.You are or in this case The Max is only good as it's weakest link.Whatever section of mod you choose to do-do it all.If it's the exaust-headers on back to the mufflers.Understandbly sometimes we might have to wait on some parts to be made(headers) or we're on a budget and have to do it piece by piece or maybe some parts are not feasible(headers are not for everybody-but at least get the y-pipe :chuckle: If it Brakes -rotors,pads, and brake lines.You guys get my drift.To say it again The Max is only good as it's weakest link.How do you "feel" when you know your mod ain't complete or you could've done better.
Back to The Altima 3.5 .There should be a .org out there for you guys too I think. That set up has been out there longer than The 6th gen Max.There is a whole lot more parts for that car right now than The Max.Meaning, besides many different products the 3.5 Altima have many competeing brands for the same product.Oh the 6th gen just ah trickling in.But I guess all good things to those who wait.(who the hell made that up,but that just the way I '"feel".) Just my opinion fellas and fellets and you know what they say about opinions-They're like... everybody gots one.

Dont waste your money on Stealin.

not for the max, but they have some good stuff for the altima...

With respect to performance, the proof is the in the pudding, i.e. the DYNO and PERFORMANCE!! Just got back from the y-pipe install and dyno! Had numerous runs and really happy with the outcome. Will probably open a new thread with the pics of dyno and y-pipe in just a few after the pics are downloaded. I'll just say this, the C.E. pipe gave a nice gain! More importantly, I did a dyno before the the y-pipe install which also proves some skeptics wrong regarding gains from exhausts and INTAKES, in my opinion!!!

Also, I feel ya' Thug, the drop with the front and rear bars dramatically improves handling and overall performance. PEACE OUT...

Don't be upset when the y-pipe doesn't do shizal. My car doesn't trap any quicker or get there any faster with this pipe. On a VQ30 engines its an awesome upgrade but for our VQ35 motors it's nothing, it basically was a marketing scheme to us maxima owners cause they did so well with the 4th and 5th gens ( 3.0 engines) and saw good increases.

I'm still convinced that no piggy back ecu means no gains with our cars.

My friend has a modded GTI and we went to the track and I was a least .5 seconds quicker and even on the highway. And now with intake, y-pipe, my car gets eaten by him. Go figure :run:

To me it comes down to:
1 How important is it to you that mods WILL increase performance
2 Even if minimal power goes up, atleast weight and material quality should improve
3 Either our cars are already at optimum with the oem parts or ecu upgrade is also needed
4 Even with dyno numbers, will you see the benefits on the road with wind resistance, road friction, etc. (real world environment)
4 Do you enjoy the "upgrading" process?

The only thing I've found is Nissanclub.com and didn't find the answers I was looking for. The crowd here seems a lot more knowledgeable.

I'm focusing on horsepower first, so its extremely important that every mod will increase performance. If it doesn't do anything, then I don't want to waste my time & money on it. That's why I want opinions along with dyno/track #s.

My Australian Maxima is a lovely mongrel Max it has the best bits out of the American Altima & Maxima..

My dyno shows that Mods work .. on the Altima motor just as well as on the Maxima motor.

So go for it ..

Get that exhaust done first..
it's worth it just for the new sound .

:bill: