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Got ya. I did not know that on the 16+. The 07+ Alti and the 09+ Max have a similar runner size via eyeballing it but the plenum and TB neck are definitely bigger on the 09.
I'm going to order some long glasspacks to add with the install of that x-pipe muffler and flex-pipes.
I am also going to set the x merge back a bit after measuring some rwd exhaust setups. Im going to make sure its 60 inches (close to aftermarket z/g setups) from the first merge to the 2nd merge.
That should be the final trick to solve my exhaust quest.
Got to work on some other cars now. Will update as soon as I can.
Last edited by aackshun; Oct 20, 2020 at 05:20 PM.
Can't let a bot be the last update in the member's rides section.
The car is still around, progress is being made ever so slowly to being street-able. Literally one tire at a time lol. Going to try these Otani KC2000 tires, they're cheap, if I hate them, then see the previous video lmao.
I've gotten tired of trying to find a HID passenger light for a decent price, so I am going to secure it using... Alternative... *coughziptie*... methods (Only two tabs are functional, the light bounces around a smidge) so I have no other excuse but to put the front bumper on and go ahead and get an alignment.
I do not believe this motor is capable of a nice quick startup (My 03 starts up on 2 cranks no matter what now - vs super long starts with original the 215k motor) due to it's unknown history (donor car had an ungodly amount of miles on the odo but it was just to get this car moving aruond) but I will throw on new cam and crank sensors to see if it helps while I'm getting it aligned sometime this week after i get a fresh pair of tires for the front.
Uhm other than that.... here's a cold start and a quick rev?
I still have to redo the exhaust... Not quiet enough lol... Like I previously said, I do like how it sounds, it's just no the goal for this car. Anywho, I am not sure if I mentioned my plan of attack....
I am going to install the jones X pipe muffler (MF2468), to replace the x-pipe, hopefully it quiets it down enough.
If that's not going to work then I will replace the rear mufflers with Turbo style mufflers which will be overkill but should nip it in the bud. High flowing stock sounding exhaust setup (Flow wise, I believe it's comparable to a straight 3" setup anyways... Remember true dual 2.5" piping, while restrictive with the mufflers, there's still two sets of piping!)
Bonus:
After acquiring a large stash of VQ parts, I will be going with my 1st gen rebuild option for the motor. I am going to re-tune and dyno my 03, if the dyno results are nice enough I will go that route (My 03 has a basically the build I am planning... Kinda...)
If the dyno proves sad, then I will throw a 3rd gen motor in as is and call it a day.
Last edited by aackshun; Jan 16, 2021 at 09:32 PM.
After acquiring a large stash of VQ parts, I will be going with my 1st gen rebuild option for the motor. I am going to re-tune and dyno my 03, if the dyno results are nice enough I will go that route (My 03 has a basically the build I am planning... Kinda...)
If the dyno proves sad, then I will throw a 3rd gen motor in as is and call it a day.
A few "high mileage" (high mileage for a 2017 is 50k fyi) motors are down to 1k locally. Sooooooo yeah. Keeping that in the back of my head for my motor decision.
A few "high mileage" (high mileage for a 2017 is 50k fyi) motors are down to 1k locally. Sooooooo yeah. Keeping that in the back of my head for my motor decision.
Ahh, I didn't realize there were enough changes to the 2015+ Maxima motors for them to be called 3rd gen. I thought it was mostly just the larger IM?
Edit: What do you run for oil pumps in your motors that rev above 7000? Stock, rev-up, or fancy aftermarket?
Also, if you were me, would you go pull an engine from a 2011 with 113k for $220, or buy one already pulled with 75k for $500, or one with 30k for $750?
Last edited by 95maxrider; Jan 18, 2021 at 04:26 PM.
Ahh, I didn't realize there were enough changes to the 2015+ Maxima motors for them to be called 3rd gen. I thought it was mostly just the larger IM?
Edit: What do you run for oil pumps in your motors that rev above 7000? Stock, rev-up, or fancy aftermarket?
Also, if you were me, would you go pull an engine from a 2011 with 113k for $220, or buy one already pulled with 75k for $500, or one with 30k for $750?
There's enough of a difference to make me almost say it's not worth rebuilding a 1st gen w/ cams. It's been improved from top to bottom, not just the upper intake mani.
Rev-up oil pumps (along with ARP rod bolts) have sustained plenty of 7600rpm abuse from me over the years.
The X-Factor is the 3rd gen oil pump... While it is revised..... I do not have a motor I'm willing to grenade to find out if it can sustain 7600rpms.... Because it's like $65 new oem.... So I may trust it better than the certified garbage $40 mexican oil pumps but idk if I can trust them like I trust the $280 rev-ups....
Also it appears these boundary gears in a rev-up housing sustains abuse up to 8k as well (a local is using it with success). I will be using that in my red car's 3.6 motor when it goes back together (I doubt there's usable power up to 8k but maybe there will be... The main advantage is the extra few hundred RPMS diving into a corner always beats shifting at the last minute... totally off topic....)
30k @ $750 is a very good deal for a motor you're not going to be taking apart (Longblock wise).
The high mileage one is a great deal as well if you were going to rebuild it... But I think you're struggling enough with the trans and probably don't want to tear down and re-assemble a VQ lol.
Black Beater Box squad. Aka Saggy Bumper Gang.
Got the front bumper on the '08, needs some "special" work to hold the bumper up straight, but I think it can be done easily. The Kia.... Well it needs a full rotation of fluids.... That I'm too lazy to do.... One day Kia.... one day....
Last edited by aackshun; Jan 18, 2021 at 05:01 PM.
There's enough of a difference to make me almost say it's not worth rebuilding a 1st gen w/ cams. It's been improved from top to bottom, not just the upper intake mani.
Rev-up oil pumps (along with ARP rod bolts) have sustained plenty of 7600rpm abuse from me over the years.
The X-Factor is the 3rd gen oil pump... While it is revised..... I do not have a motor I'm willing to grenade to find out if it can sustain 7600rpms.... Because it's like $65 new oem.... So I may trust it better than the certified garbage $40 mexican oil pumps but idk if I can trust them like I trust the $280 rev-ups....
Also it appears these boundary gears in a rev-up housing sustains abuse up to 8k as well (a local is using it with success). I will be using that in my red car's 3.6 motor when it goes back together (I doubt there's usable power up to 8k but maybe there will be... The main advantage is the extra few hundred RPMS diving into a corner always beats shifting at the last minute... totally off topic....)
30k @ $750 is a very good deal for a motor you're not going to be taking apart (Longblock wise).
The high mileage one is a great deal as well if you were going to rebuild it... But I think you're struggling enough with the trans and probably don't want to tear down and re-assemble a VQ lol.
Yeah, I think rebuilding a trans is going to be stressful enough, I don't think I'm ready to rebuild an engine yet At what mileage would you recommend installing new timing chain guides on a 2nd gen motor? I plan on doing a new oil pump and water pump while I'm doing the 3.0 timing conversion.
Damn, you're right, I'm surprised Nissan actually did some substantial updates to the 2015+ engine. Looks like it really does qualify to be the 3rd gen VQ.
Key Improvements Include:
Reduced Friction and Weights
New Upper Intake Manifold
Intake Runners Are Shorter and Wider for Improved Flow
Exhaust Valves Are Sodium-filled — Just like on the R35 Nissan GTR, and Other High-end Sports Cars
All New Part Numbers in the Cylinder Heads and Valvetrain, All-new and Reconfigured to Encourage a High Degree of Airflow
Timing Chains Driving the Valvetrain Are Redesigned with a Special Low-friction Design
Piston Skirts Are Anodized
Piston Rings Have a Diamond-like Coating Treatment, All to Reduce Friction
Oil Pump is Redesigned for Improved Flow
Oil Pan is Revised with Additional Ribbing to Reduce Noise Transmission
New High-flow Monolith Catalytic Converters That Reduce Exhaust Back Pressure
I don't care about the oil pan (since I'll be running 3.0 timing) or the fancy cats, but the rest does sound rather appealing!
But back to oil pumps. Does your local buddy just just the billet gears, or the whole Boundary pump? I wonder if the backing plate is that much improved from the rev-up one. If a rev-up pump is $300, and gears are $300, the Nisformance pump seems like a good enough deal at $600. Not so sure about the Boundary one.
Yeah, I think rebuilding a trans is going to be stressful enough, I don't think I'm ready to rebuild an engine yet At what mileage would you recommend installing new timing chain guides on a 2nd gen motor? I plan on doing a new oil pump and water pump while I'm doing the 3.0 timing conversion. Uhhhh you don't use anything from the timing on the 3rd gen motor...... You're going to be using all 3.0 timing..... Except for the upper tensioners
But back to oil pumps. Does your local buddy just just the billet gears, or the whole Boundary pump? I wonder if the backing plate is that much improved from the rev-up one. If a rev-up pump is $300, and gears are $300, the Nisformance pump seems like a good enough deal at $600. Not so sure about the Boundary one. Boundary is more than what you need. Youre not gonna be revving higher than 8k. You don't need micropolished internals 😂
I also wouldn't rev a stock motor to 8k without one of those fancy dampeners. I have not taken apart a 3rd gen motor but if it's like the first 20 years of the VQ it ain't balanced that well.....
Last edited by aackshun; Jan 19, 2021 at 01:05 PM.
KC2000's installed on the front, have 3/4 Z wheels cracka-lackin now, we're getting somewhere with this car lol.
Aligned it because it was way off, I'm practicing new things and not following the machine's (stock) specs.
Ok, so diving in and out of lanes is VERY easy, the highway interchange queen is definitely very at home, a lot easier to steer than my '03... only thing I hate is my steering wheel has to compensate for something (turned slightly right), I am hoping it's the left camber (I typically align cars with less camber and toe on the driver side since you gain some camber and toe when a driver sits in the car), it's the one thing I did not intend to have when I left my job today, but for some odd reason my coilovers are maxed positive camber (not quite, there's one more trick to do but I am going to play with the spindle bolts a smidge before resorting to moving the bolts on the camber plates to gain more positive adjustment.
I have not went to school for automotive things, just picked up some stuff along the years, so DO NOT USE ME AS A REFERENCE I AM LEARNING AS I GO!
Why did I align the car as so?
Rear Toe Hypothesis: I want to see how neutral toe feels, factory wants toe in to help stability, but I think the rear will follow along a lot better when I'm taking those "35" offramps at 70, and not fighting the front trying to stay straight. I'm not a drift car so I'm not gonna toe out more than this lol.
Rear Camber Hypothesis: Corner stability duh.
Front Toe Hypothesis: Toe'd in, under acceleration FWD vehicles toe out.
Front Camber Hypothesis: Camber gangggggggg, but I really want the front left @ 2*, not 2.4, not happy with that result. That may be why my steering wheel is slightly right.
Done for now, next things are another walmart (generic sythetic stuff, not shelling out actual money for a motor I don't care for - hell it has that tensioner tick these are notorious for, gonna send it until it falls apart) oil change, swap rims out, try and fix the two oil leaks I spotted, recharge the A/C and let it be the alternative daily.
Oh extra notes for the future.... The passing power at 60 in 6th (Yes this is a 6th gen so it has a 4.1 final drive... But you must realize the tires are taller from the factory so the gearing is THE SAME as a stock 03 w/ it's 3.8 final drive) is not as quick as I want it, going to try more things to gain more part throttle/low end torque, starting with moving the merge back.
Last edited by aackshun; Jan 25, 2021 at 04:43 PM.
Besides me forgetting to HELLA TIGHTEN the RH/RR camber bolt the first time around, the only real change I made was the RH/FF camber (You have to tighten the FCK out of the eccentric bolts in the rear, I've read many stories about Z's changing alignments between track days, now I know why... definitely in the car's future are adjustable arms and eccentric bolt deletes)
Car drives nice now. Like reaaalll nice. Minimal steering input required to change lanes, no countersteering required either which is the best part. Probably not the grandma car Nissan intended but definitely the car I want.
You need to put your body weight in the DS seat area when you do the alignment instead of doing the guessing you're currently doing Get a set of barbell weights and load it up.
Are you setting those camber bolts to proper torque spec, or above? I wonder if getting new hardware would help. Or Loctite. I know the nuts/bolts on the wife's FX were completely seized and needed to be replaced.
Are you on coilovers with camber plates? If so, you could always do what I did, and redrill the front towers, rotate the camber plates so they become caster plates, and then add camber bolts. I'm pretty sure I have more caster than almost any other Maxima.
You need to put your body weight in the DS seat area when you do the alignment instead of doing the guessing you're currently doing Get a set of barbell weights and load it up.
Are you setting those camber bolts to proper torque spec, or above? I wonder if getting new hardware would help. Or Loctite. I know the nuts/bolts on the wife's FX were completely seized and needed to be replaced.
Are you on coilovers with camber plates? If so, you could always do what I did, and redrill the front towers, rotate the camber plates so they become caster plates, and then add camber bolts. I'm pretty sure I have more caster than almost any other Maxima.
I like guessing, keeps my life interesting (funny you said that I had a Mini Cooper that my machine DEMANDED i load the chassis to align it.... It barely changed the specs.... But I'm sure the customer got a laugh at watching the other techs in the shop play musical chairs).
Torque spec? I went from hellla tight but I'm worried about deforming the body around the control arm and it might affect movement, so not too serious, to HECKA TIGHT, WITH BLATENT DISREGARD FOR ANYONE OR ANYTHING.
(for anyone else's reference.... It's 48-59 Ft/lbs for toe arms aka spring buckets, 60-73 ft/lbs for camber arms.... I definitely had 50 ft lbs of tq the first time around and it came loose..... now it's probably closer to 80-90)
D2 Coilovers w/ Camber plates (I will actually do that w/ my 4th gen once I get to that point in it's life where alignments are crucial to me being faster).
Torque spec? I went from hellla tight but I'm worried about deforming the body around the control arm and it might affect movement, so not too serious, to HECKA TIGHT, WITH BLATENT DISREGARD FOR ANYONE OR ANYTHING.
unrelated to this car but I was able to fit the rear manifold of the headers that I am making for the locals and huzzah they fit!
Here's the front test fit.
Some overall photos
So what are you looking at? You're looking at truly equal length runners (except for cyl 6, it's a hair longer than the other 5 cyls) that are 1 7/8ths primary piping meeting to 2.5" secondary piping to 3". We are making a universal manifold design that will work on 95-08s and now that's out of the way! With AC and stock fan fitment!
Anywhoooo on to my 08
I found a few annoyances while dailying the car starting with the trunk not latching, I replaced EVERYTHING (but the trunk lol) and it wouldn't latch.... Come to find out I needed a special tool to align everything....
And now my trunk closes!
Went to the junkyard to try and fix my sunglasses holder and other things but no dice, need a 07/08 with a GRAY console that isn't broken.... Kinda hard to find (impossible to find bluetooth and sunroof but you can disassemble the console and change out those parts... I just wanna store my sunglasses not in my cupholder!) lol.... But I did fix my flappy sun visor so yaaay
among the other things was my broken 3rd brake light from slamming the trunk hard to close it.
(My middle school wallet holds my keyfob)
And that's all for this car today.
Originally Posted by 95maxrider
Loctite? Tack weld?
Noooo lol. Had to do some emergency maneuvers (left turn light was orange on the feeder....) today and well..... The car oversteers under heavy cornering! Wooooot! I figured it would because lane changes are so effortless and bmw like. I definitely like this 0 toe situation I have.
Bout time you started working on those headers. I want before/after dynos! I'd love to see how they compare to some Cattmans.
Not going to happen lol. I'm not making these for the masses so I won't be directly comparing them to anything, they are for me and the local FWD VQ enthusiast enjoyment.
Welp the 08 is back to being an ornament. It's a victim of the Texan Winterpocalypse '21. The water pump seals said I'm outtttttttttt.
So now this motor swap is happening real very soonish.
I wanted to postpone my tune on my 03 but since the motor build for this car is dependent on what happens with my 03 I guess I can't be mad I moved the tune date up to Tuesday.....
Welp the 08 is back to being an ornament. It's a victim of the Texan Winterpocalypse '21. The water pump seals said I'm outtttttttttt.
So now this motor swap is happening real very soonish.
I wanted to postpone my tune on my 03 but since the motor build for this car is dependent on what happens with my 03 I guess I can't be mad I moved the tune date up to Tuesday.....
Damn, that blows. Were you running 50/50 in there?
Nuuuup. pretty sure just tap water. Makes me wonder about the red car lolololol.
I know you're not used to cold weather down there, but damn, that was not a smart move. And tap water?? Come on, you know you need to be using distilled!
I know you're not used to cold weather down there, but damn, that was not a smart move. And tap water?? Come on, you know you need to be using distilled!
Meh, i couldnt care any less. The timing was probably on its last leg as well.
Mom sold her car because the value was rediculously high for a 3 year old rogue.
Her backup? Take the 6th gen for a year.
Soooooooooo time to get it running asap. I have no more time to wait on my friends 2nd gen motor so I will attempt to revive my stage 2 IPP motor this week and yeet it in.
For some reason I thought one of the valves were stuck but it's possible to motor skipped time under all that cranking and no running (never built oil pressure). I tore the motor down and turned the cams by hand (not easy with heavy duty valve springs) and all 24 moved up and down.
Ordered timing and a bunch of other parts to start assembly of the motor...
Soooo the 6.5 Elite 6MT powertrain will have.....
IPP stage 2 motor w/ jwt c2 cams
Boundary Gears for the revup oil pump.
Custom Intake manifold built by DDPR racing
Haltech Full Standalone with flex fuel setup.
GTR 550cc injectors
AEM 320lph pump
McLeod racing clutch
Z1 midweight flywheel
HLSD trans
pics coming when parts get in later this week.
Last edited by aackshun; Jul 27, 2021 at 03:10 PM.
Yeah no it was trashed. Long story short...... Dropped a nut in the motor.
Took the heads off and stripped them.
Loosely installed the IPP head's parts into a spare pair of heads and off the the machine shop to have these heads fully redone and ported to match the IPP heads.
I'll have prettier pics once I get them back from the machine shop.
So anyways the current plan is another hybrid build.
Ported and cammed 1st generation vq35de heads, arp rod bolts, acl bearings, rev up oil pump and all on a 2nd generation DE block.
I'll save the IPP block still, but rebuild it to be the n/a screamer I've always wanted for my 99 (didn't like the original cam choice for just all out n/a road course motor).
Welllll the Altima motor had a bunch of carbon buildup... Nothing wd40 and a wire wheel can't cure. Here are the after pics of the block.
And then take a peak at the heads....
Decked, valve clearance set, hot tanked, and valve job...
slap a head gasket on and......
Next are some HR head bolts, but that's all for today.
Hopefully I can crank it up next weekend.
fun fact.... there are some small undocumented differences between heads on these motors ....
I'm using an 02/03 head and a ported 04-08 lower manifold..... Somehow the ported manifold lines up perfectly with a stock 02/03 head but 04+ needs to be ported to match the lower manifold..... Strange they would change the intake port sizes but.... It is what it is....
In the meantime I need to wrestle with the transmission decision.
The 02 spec-v with the shorter final drive (4.4 vs 4.1) and shorter 1st or stock gearing.....
Bear in mind just because I have a 4.1 (OEM) final drive, with the OEM tire size being taller than all older Maximas this is basically stock 02/03 gearing (3.8). I did not like the passing power at 60mph but the car was plenty alive once you got it to 70.
I do want this to be my "stock daily" car but I have to put a HLSD in it..... So if Im opening up a trans I might as well spice things up with some shorter gears..... But again.... Idk. That decision will have to be made during the week.
Other than that I need to get to work on installing the akebonos and then getting the car ready to goto the body shop after it's running reliably.
Last edited by aackshun; Oct 17, 2021 at 09:47 PM.
Ok finished the rotating assembly work. The bearings weren't stellar so I dipped into my stash of ACL stock replacements.
Gonna send it like this. Replacing the mains are a serious endeavor that requires a blow torch on non Japanese motors.
Anywhoooo I'm waiting on spark plugs to get in because for some stupid reason I'm actually going to clock them because.... Well.... I actually can and some people sware by it.... Even though it makes 0 sense. It's something easy to do at this moment so I'll do it.... For giggles and science.
So since this evening isn't wasted I took some time to take care of the timing covers I picked up from the machine shop.
did the usual work of replacing the gallery gaskets with the metal reinforced kind from concept Z
(Fun fact: if you don't suck at using tools you can save the original Phillips screws).
And thennn......Decided to take my wire brushes, wd40, elbow grease and brake cleaner.....
I am in the process of spraying gloss clear coat over the timing cover to try and help preserve my brush aluminium finish, but new gaskets of course are required all around.
Moar updates when I get the heads really bolted on later this week.
That spark plug clocking thing I mentioned..... Totally not a thing.....
Can't be done.... No matter how many different ways I start the spark plug it will always end up the same.
Fun fact 4/6 cyls ended up pointing at one of the intake valves anyways.
So after that time waster I realized at around 11:30p I lost the new batteries to my new fancy tq wrench....
So here we are with the heads ready to be torqued down....
I applied some coats of gloss to the timing covers, I will poast finished pics after I assemble them when I crack open the rtv after torquing the heads down.
huzzah! An unknown amount of high temp gloss in light layers over the last two days here is the final close up.
Last edited by aackshun; Oct 27, 2021 at 08:19 PM.
At what mileage would you recommend installing new timing chain guides on a 2nd gen motor? I plan on doing a new oil pump and water pump while I'm doing the 3.0 timing conversion.
Get a set of barbell weights and load it up.
pretty sure just tap water. Makes me wonder about the red car lolololol.
And tap water?? Come on, you know you need to be using distilled!
