Hi, it's been a while that I post here.

Back in 2004 I bought this ultra rare evergreen 1996 5 speed maxima 13xkkm from a old man 3500$, black book value 8xxx$.

That was my first car, so much fun, so much memories. Back then I was 17, so the car has more mileage on ''joy ride'' than going to point A to point B.

Here some features :

- hot air intake
- lloyd ss y-pipe
- lloyd ss catback
- G35 double exhaust
- short shifter
- 2001 LUK clutch kit
- SS brake/clutch hoses
- 1997 rear conversion
- 9003 to 9007 head light conversion
- fog light DRL
- hawk brakes
- eibach pro kit + tokico shocks
- stillen body kit
- sound system
- vibrant strut bar
- energy urethane bushing

Best 1/4 mile time : 14.3s @ don't remember the mph.
This car was amazing, every ride, I hit at least one time the cut off, what a sound!
Never got any trouble, no oil consumption, no towing. This car was bullet proof!

In 2015 I decide to sell the car. The car was looking good, mechanical A1, even the AC was working. But the frame rails, oupss what frame rails?? Here the winter conditions are hard, so since the structure of the car was damage, I decide to scrap it for 300$
289k km.

I wan't to thank the .org community for the help and the how-to.


Here some pictures :

Day # 1 :









Tranny rebuilt + other stuff




1st meet




















So one day it took on fire. Defect Fuel pump module. I bought a front smashed 1997 maxima to rebuilt. took me 2 days non stop. The fire fighter broke all the windows, even the front/rear windshield. They didn't touch any metal part, so that wasn't that bad.






Wheel fitments. Those are 350z 35e wheels. 4x front. Hard to find. I didn't use them, because the car stability was bad, and I didn't want to buy new rubbers. After 5 years they still in my garage. I will sell them one day.





Finlay, some 2014 shoots, few days before the scrap yard. Last wash, last wax, last ride... :
















And then, while I was owning this beast, I was looking for an other sleeper.
Took me 2 years to find, thanks to the NA laziness, because manual car are VERY rare!

So I want a wagon/MANUAL/AWD/full equip/powerfull.

3 choices, none new, it simply doesn't exist new! So even if I have the $$, I'm stock with used car.

- Volvo v70R (max 2006)
- Audi a4 (max 2008)
- BMW 328xi wagon (max 2011?)

I found this RARE beauty, A4 S-line manual 85k km, mint condition.
Already did : intake, exhaust, cat, diverter valve, stage 2 chip

 

Oh yeah, technically, the Wagon is my 3rd car, not the 2nd.

I bought a t-rex and keep it 2 years. I had to sell it because wedding + house .

This was true love! I miss it everyday on my life. Getting my $$ together to get a new one with the 1400 kawasaki engine.

 

sucks to see a very clean max go to waste, Im curious how and when did that fire happen? thats one of the worse things I could ever imagine. But good thing you had 11 years of fun out of it, thats all it matters and that your moving onto your 28year old life with the wedding and such.

 

You really do take nice care of your cars!

 

Thanks all.

The firefighter told me it start from the sound system. But that wasn't true. Even when they flood the trunk, the 2 amplifier still working today. Even the subs are working. They are little bit burned, but still working.

The fire came really on the back driver side. The fuel pump module was destroyed when I clean the car. That is my guess. I had a new spiral grid battery, the voltage might be bad...

Yes I'm trying to take car of my stuff, less consumption, less pollution, and more money to enjoy life . any way, when you love your car you don't want get rid of it.

Here, we have salt and calcium on road in winter time, worst enemy for steel.

 

Damn, so there was a bad voltage? You should of atleast sold the car for parts, u have so many good parts available and probably would get more than $300. The stillen body kit for example.. And that rear end too.

 

Hold up-you're selling due to frame damage or because the fire? That sucks, you could get way more than $300..

 

Cool, your from Quebec?

I'm in montreal!

 

Yeah I'm also confused, the fire is with the 96 rear end, now u got a 97 rear end so it has to be frame damage? Is the car in that condition right now? Or was it hit or something?

 

That strut tower bar looks like it would clear a 3.5 swap..do you want to sell it?

 

well I put the car for sale on 3 website + forums for parts. I got 2 calls only ! Some kids saying that they need parts but no money.

The car was for sale over a month, no serious buyer.


For the rear end is simple, the fire destroy the 96 end. I bought a 97 maxima to redone the back and the wiring. So my conversion has been done because of the fire.

This has nothing to do with frame damage. The frame rails disappear in rust. The car was low, it scratch the rails, and the with the hard winter + salt + calcuim, the rails just broke and rust.

montreal as well.

I still have it.

I have 4 parts left :

- the vibrant strut bar
- the intake
- a rebuilt kit for the sunroof.
- brand new front calipers

 

 

Holy cow yeah that looks bad.. Rust everywhere, here in tx I don't have any of that underneath my car, no rust. I mean you could of bought a non rusted 4th gen and maybe swap all the parts onto it? If you really wanted to keep it for a bit longer. That would be a hard decision to make especially how well your 4th gen looks

 

floor rust was bad. But the body was really nice.

I thought of buying an south US maxima, and swap, but the exhaust was old, event if the piping is in SS, the flanges were steel. Lot of rust. One coil spring was broken ( I don't know why. not impress of eibach coils...). Intake was dirty and I've whas it to many times.

Over all, a lot of performance part and regular parts were old. Lot of money and time. Does it worth it? probably yes, if I was living in a non nordic country.

 

if you selling part,, i would like to buy the two front door panel,,,thank u

 

Right now, the car is probably in a small cube or melted

I sell it at a scrap yard jan2015.

 

i have never driven an audi...but good find OP.

Sorry to see maxy go, but u got a good replacement!

 

Since I got few PM about my exhaust, here what I did.

first you have to cut the spare enclosure. Then weld a metal plate to cap the hole.

Then I bought a G35 exhaust. The intake is from the left side since our car the B-pipe end on the right side.

So I made a custom 2.5'' pipe. Maybe 3 feet long, 2 90° elbow.

I weld rod on the muffler to fit the oem exhaust fixation.
On the left side I add a rubber to attach the left side muffler. The attach is simply bolt in a hole already there on the car.

Muffler cost me about 200$ used back in 2006.
3' custom piping cost me 230$.



And the rest is a lot of time because I did the rest my self. I have a welding machine and I had metal sheet scrap in my garage, so cost me not that much.

 

Why do owners manuals say the underbody of the car is rustproof for life?

Also, not blaming anyone...but just wondering if it helps...did you spray wash after every winter or storm?

I'm noticing with my car, even though they don't use salt in the mountain west, they use some form of deicer that doesn't rust cars as bad as salt. Over the last few years, I've noticed my front metal piece under radiator is rusting out really bad

 

That's a really nice maxima. The kit reminds me of mine. I like the dual exhaust too.

 

yes it's ''rust'' proofed. With a kind of gravel guard coating. But a lowered car that scratch the road, removes the rust protection.

But even if the rust protection was 100% there, it WILL rust anyway.

Here we don't use that much of gravel on icy roads, we use salt and calcium. This is killer.

 

Mine was the same way. Living in WI for 15 years when I got it, there was a large amount of rust. I could put my fist through rust holes in the fenders. The rocker panels were gone, carpet was showing through in some spots. Makes me hate salt, but what can you do? I never drove mine in winter, but the rust kept creeping, no matter how I tried to fix it. I ground down what I could and POR 15 everything I could. That held it at bay for a while, but it kept coming back.

My wife drives a Saturn, can't say I love the car, but the plastic body has its perks. Not as strong or safe, but will never rust. The frame will rust all the same, but at least I won't have holes in my fenders and wheel wells