Is it possible? Well, of course its possible, but feasible? What would be involved to do it? New motor mounting locations, most likely cutting into firewall, 350z tranny, (custom?) driveshaft, rear end? I know a project of this proportion would involve much welding and much money, and accept and realize that, but i want to know if its going to be pointless?

RWD maxima

(2002 6-speed)

 

this is what the maxima SHOULD have been originally. it would have been great... light chassis, torquey motor and rear drive.

the rear link suspension would have to go, no?

 

Well i know they make an all wheel drive G35 called the G35x. It might be possible to bolt up the transfers case(or what ever it uses) Then of course the rear suspension components. However this kind of conversion would be too much $$.

 

Just buy a RWD car, because after everything you would have to do to make a Maxima RWD, it wouldn't even be a Maxima any longer anyways. It would pretty much be like completely re-building the car...so "feasible" I'd say no.

 

well, is not actually such a crazy idea, as long as you have the right tools an expertise. I have been thinking actually of bolting up a v-8 with RWD to my max sometime next year, when it would not be my daily driver.
Yes there would be plenty of cutting and sheetmetal fabrication but we have done it to other cars. A ford modular 4.6 with a 6-speed tremec and shortened rear end would do the trick, but most of the time would be spent on proper placement, frame alignment, mounting and so forth, the max will have to get stripped down to the chassis basically. The frame would need hardening with sub-connectors and a roll cage to handle the torque plus suspension work.

 

If you have the money, anything is possible.

 

Dude where would u put a RWD tranny?

It's not totally impossible, if you were willing to go with a live axle, but rear IRS? that's a whole other ballpark.

But hey, if someone can drop a VQ30 in an RX-7 I guess anything's possible.

 

Yep.. how you gonna mount it... It might be better to just get a AWD tranny and run the driveshaft to the rear blocking off the forward wheels transfer. But that will never work since no AWD transmission outputs 100% to the rear. Power loss would be immense.

 

find a wrecked G35
find a wrecked max.
Do a frame-off body swap.

of course there will be a TON of other things you would have to do....

Or, just BUY a G35. Probably cost as much to buy one as to do a conversion. And as with any conversion, you are SURE to have unforseen problems....

 

blubyu2k2 has done it

 

If you have alot of money to waste, do it.

 

And likely would be uninsurable?

 

a: been beat to death.
b: been done.
c: not worth it.

 

Yeah, just buy a G35. Although I always thought that if the Maxima had the G35 chassis and drivetrain it'd be a great car.

 

i don tkno why everyone wants a rwd car on this forum...if you really want a rwd car why didnt you spend your 30k on a RWD car instead of a FWD maxima??? im not flaming anyone but just be happy with what you guys have. its not that bad of a car with FWD...and mor ethen half the ppl in this country prefer a FWD car over RWD due to crappy weather in the states.....so nissan is smart to have a FWD car they call the maxima...i think the majority of maxima buyers besides the org members prefer FWD anyway.

 

Do we have to modify anything for a drivershaft?

 

I think its because the majority of orgers are enthusiats and like to go fast, and the more we modify our vehicles the more we see the limitations of FWD. I love my Max, but I do regret not purchasing a RWD car, I guess growing up in the Midwest I became acustomed to FWD car, but now that I live in CA and don't have to worry about snow....but I want to pay this thing off before I buy something else especially with the resale value. I'm still satisfied with my Max though.

 

Stupid question: Isn't there a way you can re-distribute torque? Granted, it's not the same thing as converting, but I think there's a way you can adjust the torque so that it is distributed to the rear wheels, or you can equally distribute it to all four wheels. It's a very vague recollection, so I may have understood it wrong -- but it sounds about right...

 

where are mods when you need em

 

Yeah, I wish there was a simple mod to convert it to rwd.