I'm going to be honest. I don't know much about replacing/repairing parts on a vehicle. I've never even changed my own oil. That's not to say I'm not willing to learn however. What I want to know is, if it is reasonable for me to buy a book such as this:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...961830-5050511

and try to install future parts myself... or would that be fairly ridiculous based on my experience (which is basically nill).

I'm planning to upgrade my Maxima with some performance parts. I've been reading up on this site a fair amount, and know what the 'basic' starter mods are. The Y-Pipe probably being the biggest bang for my buck. But something like this, should I be attempting to install it myself with reference to a book, or should I be bringing these into the shop and shell out some $$ for their time?

I figure things such as painting the calipers, or changing the disk brakes and pads should be rather straight forward with a decent guide, but how complicated does it get?

Do most of you install parts yourself, or bring it in to a shop?

Cheers,

 

A y pipe will be a pain in the ****! to say the least. For any project you need to have the right tools to begin with. I would recomend having someone with you that knows what they are doing. You can get hurt and F- something up in the process. But it is very satisfying to do it yourself. I would recomend having the Y-pipe done at a shop those bolts tend to be a pain do to the heat of the exhust. I would start with an oil change and a intake install (walk before you run) MY $.02

 

Y pipe is not hard. It is true, the bolts are hard to break loose, but thats the hardest part. Other then that its really simple.
If you have patience, and some where to work on it at, its no big deal.
You should definalty get the manual. Even if you dont end up doing the work yourself. You can read up on all the parts of the Maxima and will be familair with the vehicle and its parts which in the future will help you diagnose any problems.

 

Yeah I was in your exact place about five months ago before I got my maxima, I got the haynes manual, and while it hasn't helped me with any specific project that I've done so far, it's offered a lot of help in other ways (mostly informational), I'd definitely recommend it!

And about that y-pipe thing, I ordered a y-pipe from warpspeed about 2 weeks ago (i'm still waiting for it), and I'm just going to bring it to a shop; I've heard too many stories about how the install went wrong... But hey, that's just me, you do what you want

 

DIY is the way to go. It's not that hard when you think about it. All cars are are nuts, bolts, and metal. You shouldn't have a hard time at all. I'm not very mechanically intelligent but staying on focus here taught me alot of what I now know. Just be patience and read alot about what the car is made and how it comes apart.

 

im a newb when it comes to installing/fixing stuff on car too, but yea, get the guide, its helpful, plus also this site is very helpful too. im trying to learn how to do things too, everyone has to start off somewhere, only way to learn

 

As everyone else has stated, definitely get the manual. The Y pipe install may be a bit tricky for a first timer simply because the bolts are hard to get at and they do tend to be rusted on and it's not uncommon for one to break off if you don't spary a lot of penetrating oil on them. Post in your local forum and see if anyone local is willing to give you a hand - if not, I'd recommend you take it to a shop and ask them if you can watch. Also, to do the y pipe you'd have to jack your car up, put it on stands, and do the work - it's not something you could do with just the car's jack - hope that makes sense and welcome to the org. Good luck!