Hey guys Im somewhat of a newb to turboing and such and need some advice. I will be buying a max soon and will turbo at one point. Im gonna get a 4th gen and was wondering what year would be best and why. Im told that theres a new JWT ECU made for the 95 and 96's and that its awesome and all that. I guess my real question is that if I end up w/ a 97 or 98 will I still be in good shape for getting a good ECU. thx

 

You have such a long journey.... is the best way to answer the simple Q's.

 

99 is the only 4th gen that ECU options are limited. Any 97-98 may use a modded 95-96 ECU but there may be a CEL. JWT and TS I think both claim to have 99s working. I am not sure though. Read and research a lot. Then do it some more. You will be much happier waiting and figuring out what you really want to do with the car than rushing into something and getting screwed.

I would hold out on a F/I ECU for ZEMulator if it ever comes out. Looks to be a lot better than JWT with Emanage. I may be doing the same if my ECU problems don't get fixed soon.

 

i sent ashe stuff last week, he is supposed to get it by today and im sending him the wire schematic in pdf format.

 

I know more than you think

The reason I ask this question is specific to the ECU - im told that by going newer than a 95 that my options become somewhat limited due to the fact that 95s have OBD1 (or at least thats what most mechanic shops believe) and thus less strict emission testing. Is this reason enough to go w/ a 95 or does it really not matter that much - I mostly ask so Ill know what year to look for as Im looking for a max in the next few months.

 

thanks for the info - im really not rushing into this Ive been researching for about 7 months now but mostly honda stuff since I have one but am selling it to buy a Max. So its really more of a question specific to maximas than turbos in general - thanks for the good info tho

 

96 was the first year that all cars in the US were required to be ODB2 compliant. That is why most people think any car after 96 must be odb2 and any car 95 and before must be ODB1. This is not always the case. There are some 94 cars that are ODB2. The 95 max has an ODB2 connection (on the passenger side) but it does not have some of the emissions equipment that the 96+ has. Although it might give a 95 a slight advantage it does not make a huge difference and the really big ones like o2 sensors, knock sensor, precats, cat, and EGR are all still there. I like the fact that my car came with a little less clutter under the hood but if you really wanted to you could remove it all from a 96+ and get the ECU fooled anyway with a reprogram or some wiring tricks and resistors.

All in all the 95-98s have pretty good options with ECUs. You could use an ECU from any of those years in any car of those years and it would run. There may be a CEL but it would run. The ODB2 vs. ODB1 thing is mostly if not only for honda ECUs. The 95 max just has a little less clutter in the engine bay and the ODB2 connection is in a weird spot.

 

Thanks for the info man - i appreciate it

 

95 Maximas are treated as "ODBII" when they go in for emmissions tests...

 

A 95 ECU will even work on a VQ35 with some work, so I wouldn't be concerned.

 

I wasn't trying to put you down.....

 

alrite thats cool - i was just tired of getting that answer from people in the past

 

do you have any idea when there might be more ECU options for a 99?

 

That's because they ARE OBDII, the myth that they are OBDI is perpetuated simply for the fact that they don't have the OBDII connector in the "required" spot, but the only reason for that is that the placement of the OBDII connector was only mandated starting in the 1996 model year. In 1995 and 1994 even, OBDII cars existed, but they could put the connector wherever the heck they wanted.