Nice info. I never thought about the seat thing. I always do it, but I never really realized why, and now it makes sense to me why it feels more natural to drag in that position.
You may want to post some more info on staging and improving et's for those looking to get into drag racing.
BTW: N/A not for long? ...I blow my front axle at least once a year in my N/A VG. How does the axle on your max compare? I am looking into aftermarket reinforced materials to hopefully cut down on the number of times I have to replace all of that. I have gotten pretty quick at it, but It's money I'd rather spend on other goodies so if you have any suggestions, please help.

 

What you looking to make it out of?

SuDZ

 

By getting your shifting techniques down, you're not reducing your ET's, but more effectively getting more consistent ET's (especially not screwing on the 2-3 upshift that has plagued many people). Powershifting (or not letting of the throttle while upshifting with the clutch) makes minimal contribution to reduce the ET's, well at least in most NA vehicles (forced inductions ones gain more because they take advantage of being on boost from not lifting off the throttle). Generally, the most important aspect of drag racing is the launch. The Maxima's VQ engine as a wealth of torque down below and when combined with a FF application as the A3x chassis, it's not common to just sit their at the line spinning your tires silly. Master the technique of judicious throttle and clutch application and you're more than on your way to better times. Adding power adders such as NOS is a whole other story!

 

 

I beg to differ with your first statement. My "shifting technique" has enabled me to run better times in another persons car (who shall remain namless) than he himself was able to run. And yet the one time I drove it I had a worse 60' and MUCH lower trap speed than he did. He ran a 14.62 @ 96.62 best with a 2.23 60', and I ran 14.51 @ 95.17 with a 2.27 60'. That was the first time I had ever sat in his driver's seat. So being totally unfamiliar with the car, my shifting technique enabled me to run a quicker time.

Also, to the fool who said "arent you stretching the truth a bit" get a life man. If you want to bitc# about hundredths of seconds and hundredths of miles per hour then perhaps you'd be so kind as to share your 14.2 second NA Maxima timeslip...

Look at my sig... I am a lying bastard. I put 14.4 @ 96.5 when in actuality I ran a 14.46 @ 96.47... oh goodness what SHALL we do with everyone who has rounded a hundredth of a second and a hundredth of a MPH off....

 

watch what you say....6 months ago I was talking about how I'd never had a problem....and then I have a massive tranny failure....go figure...

better go knock on some wood right now bud

 

6 months from now I will need a new clutch... but it won't be because of my driving style.

 

 

Share your story please. Make it simple and understandable. Thank you.

 

All this manual talk! Please help the AutoTragic owners as well. I need a good launch, D@mnit!

 

OK here are custom directions for auto owners

1. go to nissan dealer.
2. trade maxima in for a 5spd or 6spd
3. go to start of this thread

 

One day I missed third gear just right...and shattered the gear...it only takes once...I got it re-built...and less than a month later my differential litereally exploded (if you want my opinoin...I think th tranny shop guys screwed up the re-build and that's why it broke again)....4 grand later I have a great working tranny and a quaife

short and sweet

 

Automatics are not ideal for drag racing...
I have never drove an automatic that wasn't a Cadillac, but I know that there are tranny mods (torque converters, etc.) that can help. As far as technique, I think your better off following blue's directions above.

 

Can anyone tell me how to shift nice and smoothe from 1-2 ? doesnt have to be racing , but a lot of the time when i shift from 1-2, i get a little bouncy, and then it smoothes out. Thanks

 

P.S. how do i get a good launch ? Rev to 3k and drop the clutch ?

 

That's original and very funny.

If I did not drive 2,000 miles a month, in traffic, I would get another manual. Besides, Upgrade TC with VB mod...maybe level 10, and who needs a manual for drag racing? I'll never autoX in this car anyway. LOL

 

You guys don't seem to understand, its all about what works for YOU. 3000rpm clutch drop will not work well though, I can tell you that much. You'd spin them very very badly. Some people slip the clutch from 5000 rpms, some drop it at 1500, some slip it from 2500 (me) some drop it from 2500 (I used to do that. You just need to get to the dang track, try out different things, and see what pulls the best 60' times. You can't race on the computer. You can talk about it. But you can only get better by going to the track and racing, not by theorizing on the computer.

 

I don't know if the Maxima tranny can take it but I used to "power shift" my 68 SS Chevelle. There are two ways to power shift.

One way is not to use the clutch. I used to be able to do this in my 79 VW Scirocco. You have to "feel" at what RPM you can can get it into the next higher gear. Never did this on the drag strip although I have friends who did it all the time.

The way I did was to shift without taking my foot off the gas. Again I don't know if the Maxima clutch and tranny can take this. The obvious downside to this is if you miss th enext gear you overrev the engine which could cause it to "blow up". You have to be fast and if you do miss take your foot off the gas immediately.

I raced my Chevelle using the second method. Never missed a gear on the strip but did miss occasionally on the street when screwing around from light to light.

Anyone know if a stock Maxima tranny would hold up?

 

So you broke it. I feel much better now. I though it just broke for no reason. Sorry. Glad it worked out fine.

 

it was just simply missing 3rd gear ONCE...all it takes is ONE bad miss of a gear...and there goes that gear. Most people don't realize that. I gaurantee that everyone who has a manual max on this board misses gears occasionally....therefore everyone is at the risk that I was at....I missed it just right so that the gears thrashed and shattered....I don't believe (contrary to EricDWong) that the maxima's tranny is problem riddled....I just had bad luck and when you drive your car hard...eventually this is going to happen...

 

OK #1, for the person who says auto's are not made for drag racing, for high RPM/low torque imports (relatively speaking- the max engine is weak compared to a 454 supercharged street rod tubbed 69 chevelle running alcohol) then yes a stick is preferred. However, when running sub 10 second muscle cars with gobs of torque auto's are prefered. Auto's can line lock or trans brake, as well as run high stall torque converters. Particularly in bracket racing when consistency is the key, auto's are definately preferred.

#2 Regarding the manual transmission, I find that the nissan transmission was not engineered nor produced well, and costs ALOT of money to fix if you do break it. I'll tell my brief story. While doing a clutch job, I opened my transmission to install the Quaife differential. I found that my original differential's carrier bearings were suffereing from a common problem that seems to be plaguing many 5 speed owners. I later will find a probable cause for this. The cause for this is manufacturing defect in when the wrong size shims are used to set the bearing preload. No matter, I replaced the bearings and this time used the correct shims. It wasnt a month later I blew second gear driving. Drop the transmission again, and open it to find that because of nissan's engineering, they integrated 1st and 2nd gear and reverse all on the input shaft (the shaft the clutch disc actually spins). Thus, not only would I have to buy 2nd gear on the output shaft, but an ENTIRE input shaft, as well as do the labor to press out the other bearings, gears, snap rings etc. In addition, if you would want to change the gear ratio if 1st or 2nd, you would have to get an entire input shaft made. Read: very very expensive. From courtesy nissan, the input shaft alone was $200, 2nd gear was $80. Expensive? Very. So, I went a different route. I searched and found and purchased a used transmission for $250 that had its case broken from an accident. I drove 250 miles one way to get the thing (ironically in my mom's camry). The tranny had only 16,000 miles on it so it was in tip top shape, minus a busted differential and case from the crash. Using all the "good" components from the 2 transmissions I had, I built one good unit, and had the guts cryogenically tempered for strength so my tranny wouldnt blow again. Once again I checked the clearances and shimmed the various shafts. My discovery was this next: the combination of shims for both the input and output shafts were exactly the same from the 2 transmissions. More info on this on "Another Transmission Update:" stickie. I was going to check the differential shims, but the acquired transmission was ruined in that region so I couldnt get to them, but I would bet money that those shims were the same sizes as well. Thus, this makes me conclude that nissan (or whoever makes the tranny) does not bother to shim their transmissions to the proper clearances. They just put them in and said the hell with it. So now, we're turning up with many owners with busted transmission bearings.

 

I know this may sound funny, but what's the best way to drag an automatic? Hold it in neutral, hit the gas and then slap it into first? Any advice is cool with me.

 

I sure hope you're not serious. That would be a neutral drop. Only do it if 1) its a rental car or 2) you're looking to bust your transmission.

To drag an auto, this is abusive too but far less then the neutral drop. Put the left foot on the brake, then floor the gas. The engine will rev up to the torque converter stall speed. When you're reading to go, release the brake and you're off. You will have to play with modulation of the pressure to control wheel hop/spin.

 

with both my trannies even though i dont power shift ive noticed that when i hit the end point of the 1-2 shift into 2nd gear my syncros dont quite mesh up, this happened on both my trannies before i ever had problems, ive been told i shift really fast but has anyone ever had this symptom before. if i decide to keep my maxi once i put the tranny in, i will be making a kit like they have for stangs to eliminate the chance of over shifting (how i blew 3rd gear) itll be all steal, basically a plate with two bolts in it to limit shifter movement and a two piece short throw lever if anyones interested in a marketed model let me know
-pete

 

I was speaking specifically for import drag racing. I wouldn't want a stick if I had a 600hp RWD torque monster either!!!

 

If your post is effing true am not dragging my car ever.Last saturday i missed like third a couple time's and i was mad as hell.What i don't understand is what you did for the gear's to thrash and implode.When i missed a shift it always ended up with the box in neutral and the tach needle dropping off 7000rpm

If that's the case,consider your advice taken and 4grand saved into my acct.

 

thanks for the tip ericdwong. I've thought about racing since I posted that response, and since my car does have 144,000 miles on it,I'm not gonna race this car. Maybe when I get an '02. But this baby is past her racing days, sadly.

 

My automagic has 142000 miles on it. Why not race? Just dont do neutral drops...