I am planning on greatly increasing my power by a lot by the next summer. I was considering either a Middle Eastern Variable Inake (MEVI) or changing to a 3.5 liter engine. I was wondering if anyone could give me an estimate on cost and power. Thanks in advance.

 

hmm....not sure but i would say mevi around $400, install it urself if u know how. zack just recently dynoed at 201hp i think it was with the mevi and some other stuff, good gain, especially in the high rpms, with a slight loss in low end. i recall someone sayin a 3.5 around $800 most likely, to install a lot more unless u do it urself. it'll probably put u around 220ish to the wheels, but could cost ya about two grand, or maybe less. if ya dont wanna swap ur engine to the 3.5 u can take that 2 grand and start f.i. or nitrous or something. r u auto or 5 speed?

 

2 grand to force induct your car is a lil underpriced....3.5 is the way to go...i dont recommend mevi because of low end loss but i do recommend the 00vi which allows u to retain ur low and and gain some top end power.

 

That's not rtue, he saw a gain in all RPM range.

Zack has new evidence to dispute this, though still not thoroughly proven due to lack of other comparisons, but it's a simple bolt on mod that will make you much faster with an extended rev limiter .. Autos were said to gain a bit more from it due to their longer gears.

If I had the extra ca$h, I'd go with the 3.5L ... Cheaper and more reliable than boost (IMO) and 10.0 on the coolfactor.

I have a 3.5L under the hood of my 03, and could only imagine what it would be in a lighter car such as my 95.


How much are you willing to spend?

 

I am going to have to say the 3.5 then boost if you have the money after that. Simply because our engines are getting old whether or not we want to realize it and like he said above, the new engine is more reliable than just boost alone, and you have good gains as well and capability of more gains. just my opinion

 

Wow there cowboy .. let me clear up what I meant by saying more 'reliable'..

First off, 3.0L aren't getting old mine has 230k and still sees 7k daily

What I meant was dropping the 3.5L straight in N/A (no boost) is more reliable than adding boost period .. i.e more relaible less headache when compared to boosting 3.0 or 3.5 ... And aslo 3.5L swap shows better gains than adding a VI/ECU combo.

 

well fine...maybe some of the flaws of the mevi are false but hey...cant argue with dynos


http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=424641

 

I don't really have a limit I just want a nice strong base to work off of. I have heard that the 3.5 is great and the mevi's two step intake process increases power accross all rev ranges. What is an 00vi? I was probably either going to get this done by a mechanic, or see if anyone from here that lives in the Brooklyn area that did it already would be willing to help me out. I would pay them too of coarse, but I would feel better knowing that it was being done by someone that did it already. I have a 99 auto by the way. I will probably have to do a manual swap to right?

 

If you went with the 3.5L, wouldn't you need a new tranny?

 

yeah so I've heard, and new axles or something like that. The only thing is I know that all that stuff will result in 250 horses. I'm not really sure how much power a mevi would produce, and I wouldn't want to do it to my car only to swap it out for a 3.5. If the mevi increased power to maybe like 220, I would do it and keep my engine. Maybe just get it rebuilt beforehand.

 

and what is a 00vi

 

Its a intake manifold from a 2000 VQ30DE-K similar to a MEVI manifold but more efficient.

 

How much does this cost. I know that the variable intake process is basically the only thing that separates our years (99-00) in terms of engine. I heard we have the same ecu and everything. How much would parts, power and labor be?

 

Are you talking about crank or wheel hp here?

Crank is , Wheel is REAL..

 

u can start a f.i. kit, mite not finish but a good start, and im sure u can do it with 2 grand, just gotta research and lots of ebay, lol.
00VI...ive seen people get them for $400 as well, probably more things u gotta get tho. and takes a lot more work from wut ive heard...theres thousands of threads in motor section i think...and it will give u better gains supposedly, no loss in low end. if u get either mevi or 00vi u should couple it with extended rev to make more use of it

 

I wasn't sure NmexMAX, but my tranny gave up on me, without any mods at 95k. The 2002-03 max don't have the same tranny do they?

 

i think hes talkin crank, and isnt 3.5 265 or something. is there any difference between the standard 3.5 and the one thats in the Altima SER?

 

The automatic is the same IIRC .. the gear ratios definately are .. 00-03/s have a slightly shorter F/D, my guess is to compensate for the larger wheel/tire dia, so it's not noticeable at all.

The manual is different, 5MT vs 6MT ..

 

I think that I want to the mevi or the 00vi. I thought that you can't do anything to the ecu of the 99's because of the immobilizer? Would an engine with an upgraded intake work better with the forced induction engine? Lol well that seemed obvious doesn't it.

 

Nissans psychotic when it comes to their VQ35 line .. They should have a better identification method, like Honda Or kept it a little more detailed, the way the identified the VQ30DE & DEK.

Basically it depends on what year and car the VQ 3.5 came from ... it's all a bunch of that's why I say wheel HP is the best indicator of the power YOU have ... not the same car down the street.

 

Talk to zack342

 

I was thinking he 03 because I'm sure that he newer engine types cost an arm and a leg. I also figured that the farther I moved from my model, the more of a pain it would be to put in an engine.

 

02/3s are "rated" @ 255 ..

.. What are you saying?

 

Who says there are flaws with the MEVI? Steve's dyno compares the power of 2 manifolds. Still doesn't mean the a car with a 00VI is going to outrun a car with the MEVI.

 

i think u should try to put a skyline engine in it buddy, let us know how it goes.....and not no "infiniti skyline"

 

everyone who has heard of a 00vi i guess, to tell u the truth the only reason i think there are is because everyone told me so, i dont know first hand, but wouldnt mind finding out myself

 

It's not that hard if you think about it. I have a 99. This is the last year that our engine was made this way. then from 2000 to 2002 they upgraded the engine. in 2003 they upgraded it again. Then they came out with an all new max that is the current version. I am sure that each time they upgraded the engine, they changed things on it to make it better. The further removed the version of the max from my car, the more things I have to change to get it to work. For example I heard to get the 3.5 to work you need new axles and a bunch of other stuff that you wouldn't figure would go with swapping an engine. That's all I'm saying.

 

It looks like the 00vi is just a little better than the mevi. They seem to cost the same, in terms of parts, so I guess the 00vi is the way to go. But I certainly didn't see anything bad about the mevi.

 

be careful what you say ... Are you talking production dates or model years, b/c the engine changed in 02, and stayed the same for the 03 model year .. Then it changed again when the 04 model was introduced, but hasn;t changed since ...





Explain ...

 

Most people here don't even have any type of VI but go on what other people say. I know what I believe the VI does not make the car feel slower in the low end. Back in the days, people who dynoed showed heavy dips in low to midrange power and after seeing Zachs dyno, I feel something was wrong with their cars. I felt a huge loss when i first put my MEVI on and now that I have a new KS (didn't know it was bad at the time, I just complained about how bad my midrange power was), my car has low end torque like if I had the stock manifold back on it.

 

NmaxMax, thank you for coming in today.

 

reporting for duty Cap'n ..

 

I was talking years, I have never done the enging swap myself. I am simply saying what I have seen people say. I don't take what they say to be the gospel truth I only have what they say to go on. I would like to get a healthy power boost without forced induction, while having a nice base to build upon if I were to do that later. These two options seem to be the best, but I don't know that much about them. I simply wanted to edify myself. I read that you need to change out the axles, and the transmission to do a 3.5 drop. If the 00vi can give power that is a large gain, not neccecarily the gain of a 3.5 but a large one, then I would do that instead of having to change so much stuff at one time.

 

wut kinda needs do u wanna try to fulfill by adding such power? example do u wanna reach a goal in the 1/4 mile? or just want more everyday power?

 

This would be 3.5L bias ... Since most 3.0L's are maxing out power @ ~200fwhp with all bolt ons .. no one has dug too much into cmas, and japnmax has a classifed idea for the MEVI, and we're still awaiting it's unveiling ...



It will, but depends on your opinion on "gain" ... but as far as having more potential for power later on, w/o F/I ..

 

I would like to have more power for everyday driving really. I will admit I like to go driving with friends and I am lagging a little bit. I also like modding and my Maxima, so I would like to stick with it. I am the slowest in a group of a 06 rx8, 05 ram 1500, and 300zx twin turbo. I enjoy impromtu racing and I am intersted in upping the ante. I know it might seem silly, but I am just trying to get as much performance as I can out of the max, while personalizing it. That's all.

 

I heard that too about the 3.0 maxing out at 200. It seems that a lot of upgrades just quickens things that don't have to do with gaining power or offers a marginal increase, and skews the powerband.

 

A 3.5L will have the best everyday driving with the added power udner the curve.

VI/ECUs are for those that like to rev high ... All the upgrades we have for maximas (mainstream) are VI's/ypipes etc.. the only thing that will skew the powerband is an intake and cams, the latter being much more noticeable than the former. ... VI's/Y's all thicken the powerband ...

 

Hmm. Thanks for the info and clearing up a lot of things for me. So I guess that the 3.5 is the way to go then. You said that changing the tranny isn't necessary? I was always told it would blow it.

 

Who tells you this?

JClaw annihilated a few of his gears but that's because he races his car ... japnmax decided to kill his auto on purpose .. (vids on here prove this)
If you don't race much, which from previous posts ... leads me to believe that it wont 'blow' as easily as it would for someone else due to the fact that you don't beat on it as much as those who race regularly do.