So Im working on bring my 96 maxima se back to life. Ive seen a few A32 body with the Vq35 swap w/ jdm IM and 6MT. So im definitely interested. Trying to get a quick rundowm on what is needed for the swap to go smooth and be able to run it this with the 3.5 ecu and timing. Any help would be awesome.

 

More than likely will boost!!!!

 

Doesn't matter if the 3.5 is JDM or not.

There a few threads here on the full ECU swap, but its not a very popular route taken when swapping 4th gens.

 

If you find my username associated with my full swap please realize that I ONLY did the full swap because I had the parts lying around.

I would not ever go out of my way to do this swap again, because Nistune was NOT an option for me when I started this project 10 years ago. I would just have stuck with Nistune, and a supercharged 3.0 if I were to start all over again with a running 3.0 red car like it was 2009.

(but with 2020 knowledge/technology - in 2010 2002/2003 ECU reflashes were rare already and again... NOT tuneable you just got some basic reflash and needed a piggyback to make adjustments... The true tuning option existed for 2004+ vehicles which is why I ventured down this path... Now in 2020, you can actually make real adjustments to 2002/2003 ECU's they aren't the greatest but it's much better than a generic flash and a piggyback IMO... Hell 2004+ ECU's are still better because options like launch control are a thing).

But in the Maxima side of the world people have generally negative viewpoint on Nistune, I have 0 personal experience with it though, just that my local nissan crowd that I actually talk to and share ideas with are mainly Z32 owners who mostly adore Nistune.

Bottom line, I personally believe full ECU swaps are pointless, besides that you can attempt to claim superiority on people via the internet, as to whether or not your car is actually faster or better.... meh... the fastest maxima to date was on 3.0 timing, even though I hear that record may finally be broken after decades.....

 

Having done a few 3.0 timing swaps, I'm of the opinion that a full swap is better. At minimum you get more area under the curve, that's a no-brainer. Plenty of dynos to prove that.

Now... Is a full swap worth it over 3.0 timing? It wasn't for me. Especially in a salt belt car. It all comes down to your comfort level and desire to do either. If you're more a wiring nerd than a grease monkey then go for a full swap. If you're a nuts and bolts guy then 3.0 timing.

Either will rip.