So this weekend I finally decided to install all of the stuff I got from Stillen onto my '07. Thanks to all of the Org members with their buying and installation advice.

First thing installed was the grounding kit from Stillen. I opted for the red for a nice, subtle upgrade. This took about 20 minutes, and is pretty easy as long as you follow the directions included. I haven't noticed any significant performance gains, but the CVT feels tighter in tiptronic mode, and the gas pedal is more response. I apologize for the crappy pictures, they were taken with a point-and-shoot camera while my SLR is getting serviced.

This pic is of the wiring


Second thing installed is the Stillen FSTB. I love the way this thing looks. Install was very easy. I did have to simply unclip the A/C line and move it out of the way, and just push it down slightly. One thing to note though is I had to grind down the bolt closest to the A/C line because the bezel wouldn't fit on. I also had to dremel the plastic covers to make it look clean.

This pic is of the passenger side where i has to slightly move the AC line, and grind down the bezel on the bolt at 12 o'clock position


This is an awesome upgrade. My biggest complaint about the 6th gen was the sloppy handling, and this tightened it up a great deal, and severely reduced body roll. It's a significant upgrade. Also, I'm not experiencing any rubbing with the Stillen FSTB on my 2007. I guess the jury is still out on if this only happens to 04-06's. Anyone else have an 07 or 08 that rubs with a Stillen?

This pic is of the way bar installed



Lastly was the K&N CAI. I went with the K&N because I drive through a lot of rain and very deep puddles on my daily commute, and I didn't want the chance of sucking up water with the Fujita or longer intakes that dip down. The K&N is nice and short, and adds a deep, throaty tone that sounds awesome at 3-5K RPM. The car almost sounds like a 350Z on the inside while accelerating. As for performance, I don't really notice a large increase, but it feels peppy, especially around 4500 RPM.

This pic is of the engine bay all put back together


Next mods are the black mesh grill thats on order and 20-30% tint the whole way around.

This is when I got the 2007 a few months ago, alongside my 2000 Max

 

Nice job. I recommend resetting your ecu by unplugging the negetive terminal of your battery for a few minutes then pluggin it back in if you want to feel any gains from the CAI. The FSTB is by far the best bang for your buck performance mod for our car. Looks good and nice explaination on the install. As far as the grounding kit install, my 04 install looks nothing like yours. I wonder if the grounding points are different between the two models. Not sure why they would be but interesting none the less. I will show you a pic of my install from the site I got the instructions from. let me find it. All things concidered I think you did a great job and looks very clean.

 

I think the best bang for the buck is the front and rear sway bars. The front bar can be had for about $100 from the stealership. The sway bars literally reduce the amount of roll that a car exhibits in a turn. The strut brace simply stiffens the front part of the chassis some. In fact, I noticed more of an effect from the harness bar. U wanna talk about stiffening the chassis? Install a harness bar and see how that feels. Good write up though and nice choice of intake

 

what's this harness bar you speak of deus. You have my full attention as I want some more stiffieness

 

I did a write up on the harness bar. I bought a universal ebay harness bar and it fits. Ill find the thread.

 

Here it is:
http://forums.maxima.org/6th-generat...installed.html

 

Are you sure that resets the ECU? I thought there was a lengthy ECU reset procedure to be run from the drivers seat with turning on/off the ignition and depressing the gas pedal at specified intervals.

CM

 

well it doesnt reset. The ECU actually loses power and when the terminal is connected to the battery once it again, the ECU recalibrates all over again.

so when you take the first drive with the CAI installed, the ECU calibrates the new air flow and makes adjustments to your engine computer.

i hope thats right....

 

allright sorry bout taking forever to reply but I can't seem to use the search on this thing. I think it might be down. Either way I checked stillen's instructions and you did it right but I know mine is setup different and wonder if maybe mine is incorrect. I think I got my setup from redline. let me look

 

Nice work.

 

Thanks all for the compliments. I have been driving this the new set up for a few days, and loving it. Especially with the handling, this car feels totally different.

I am although getting an annoying rattle coming from somewhere I cant determine when i accelerate hard. any one else have this after installing an intake? It sounds like its coming from the front right somewhere, but i cant determine whether its inside our outside, and it only happen when its on the road. Like I cant sit under the hood and hit the throttle and hear it.

Po8Pimp, I may have totally screwed it up, but i think I did it right. Maybe the Redline connects different components of the big 3? Good luck with yours. Thanks also for the info on disconnecting the battery, I'll do that this weekend. And then re-program my radio. again.

Deus - Thanks for the info on the harness bar, but I think I'm going to pass on account of needing my backseat.

 

Don't bother disconnecting the battery, that won't reset anything but your radio presets.

Your ECM will adjust by itself accordingly over time, or you can use the proper reset procedure.

Two links to the same procedure, or if you have an FSM, it is in the EC section around page 60+, IIRC.

http://maxima.theowensfamily.com/ecu.asp

http://www.technosquareinc.com/350reset.htm

 

I didn't know about this, thanks but I will stick with my OBD2 scanner for resetting the ECU. This way is a bit confusing.

 

I'm diggin' that K&N setup. Is that a short ram intake and where did you buy it? I have the same concerns as you with hydro lock/ease of maintanance. I currently have the Fujita with a hydroshield around the filter but I still get paranoid driving in the rain and with my suspension dropped that paranoia has increased. Houston has a lot of low water crossings and all I need is that one scenario where everything will suck (pun intended).

 

Thanks, I'm also loving the sound from it. I ordered it from Stillen. When I got it, it was on sale for like $230, and hopefully it still will be. Install was also really easy on this one. It is a shorter intake, so I opted to leave the air box that draws air from above the grill installed to put more cold air into it.

 

My intake looks very similar to the one you have except it was built with parts from autozone cost me like $60. There are alot of people with a similar setup as this who are worried about water getting sucked up but I really don't understand the whole worry thing. I mean hydro lock isn't going to happen unless you suck up a whole lot of water. The engine is so hot it will turn the water to steam if it is in small amounts. With the 4 foot lift on this car, it would be hard to submerge an intake designed like this one. In theory your car would shut off before water would get the chance to go in the intake. too many sensitive electronics that sit lower than the intake. I love the sound of my intake. The only difference between your setup and mine is, I put a mini filter where the rubber hose comes off of the valve cover. I was thinking about changing this setup due to the stong smell of fuel in the engine bay and the small gas mileage gain I could be getting by having the fumes recycled through the engine.

 

Nice work on building an intake. As for the hydro shock thing, its a really rare circumstance, but for my commute in particular, I drive through some low-lying areas that can be prone to some major flooding, namely around the Clearview Expwy and the approach to the Throgs Neck Bridge in NY, where water can get to about 18-24 inches with a very, very heavy rain. While I have never seen it myself, This might be low enough for a really low CAI to suck up some moisture, but I enjoy the peace of mind from not worrying about it.

 

gratz

 

I've never heard of an OBD2 scanner being able to reset the ECU. Clear codes for sure, but that is not the same thing.

CM

 

You are right. I need to chose my words a bit better. Using the scanner tool I have resets all of the sensors to read stock readings. Clearing current readings in the ECM not ECU. So an OBD2 scanner does not reset the ECU but it does reset the sensor inputs to the ECM which is what we want when it comes to a learning ECU. It learns based on the different sensor input/output signals sent through the ECM. So the scanner will basically trick the car into thinking it's back to stock.