jkklim

Can you tell me what you would do? Right now I have a 95 Maxima SE 5spd with 240k miles on it. But I have two options. First is to get a new engine and rebuild tranny (both can be done for very cheap) and put in a supercharger. The second option is to sell the max and get an eclipse gsx and get a badass turbo upgrade. Please help I dont know what to go with, they both seem like awesome options. Which would have the most performance for the amount of money?

maxlinegtr

iTrader: (3)

Go eclipse....especially GSX. keep the max and slowly build to it. i was gonna go gsx but at that time it was too much money so I went to the next best thing...

DA-MAX

iTrader: (10)

I'd go GSX for sure, avg SC Max won't compare. but I'd at least have some money aside to get a crappy weekday beater car...big HP car = **** breaking, which isn't optimal for daily driving...especially when you have a car like a GSX where modding potential is ridculous!

190hpKiLLA

iTrader: (11)

well... Rebuilding the max is a waste if money, because no matter what its still a maxima with 240K miles when its time to sell.

The GSx's are good cars but you need to learn how to take care of them.(crank walk, need to learn to ease on the hard lauches etc)

Go with a late model GSX. Good luck!

C MAX

iTrader: (4)

shame on you , we dont sell our boy toys.. after we hook them up they sell themselves ... hows your car coming, hope everything is fine i
know you said you put it in the shop.. had mine back a couple of days,
no hard boosting yet. had to lay out a gs400 though, he asked for it.. maybe we can link up the weekend, holler

ABK

Go with GSX but 92, or AWD 92 TSI. You don't wonna a 7 bolt motor. Get a 6bolt and a 4 bolt rear end for crazy launching. Now that's a toy.

jkklim

Yeah, and from what I know it would be easier and cheaper to upgrade a gsx as opposed to a maxima.

jkklim

Look at the gsx on the front page with 503whp

http://www.agpturbo.com/

Nealoc187

iTrader: (23)

The Eclipse will be faster for the money.

A 240k mile maxima isn't worth **** anyways, so resale doesnt really matter because even if he were to sell it right now, stock he wouldn't get more than 3k for it, so any money dumped into it is just a waste regardless. That's how my car is. It's not worth anything to anyone else but its worth a ton to me. I doubt I will ever sell this car.

190hpKiLLA

iTrader: (11)

Thats what I was trieng to tell him. Why dump like 5K into a useless maxima where he can sell it for $3000 save up the $5K and get a decent car.

Modding is a waste of money unless u do the work urself and u get awesome deals.

maxlinegtr

iTrader: (3)

yup yup!!!...nissan don't really have great resale value. If you are gonna buy a nissan, you are gonna have to keep for life cuz the outcome of the whole thing is that your mods are gonna be worth more than your car is worth. get a skyline at least a GT-S if you want to stay loyal. they are pretty cheap now a days. good luck

minsbang

I owned a '98 Black GSX and I loved it. Performance wise, i love it. i did some Minor performance mods;
Injen intake
Custom Downpipe
Custom cat-back
N1 style muffler
replaced the cat converter

suspension mods:
Eibach Sportlines
Tokico's
Front and Rear strutbars

I traded that car for my '99 Max.
The reason why i got a max is because I grew up driving my dad's '96 Max GLE and whenever I came back home from college, I loved to drive his car. There is alot more room, Smooth suspension, didn't have the urge to "speed", no need to deal with people wanting to race at a red light,and I basically.... I just felt more "relaxed" in a maxima.
I just had to let go of my GSX when I saw my 99 SE. I have no regrets, I am just happier.

If you're going to get a GSX, get either '95 or '96. It's the same as '97-'99 except for few cosmetic parts.

Quicksilver

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, but those are the model years that have the "death walk" crank problems. No way in hell would I want to deal with that menace...

minsbang

oh, sorry,, i really did not know about the "death walk" crank problems. But either way, have fun with your GSX, it'll be fun for you.. Just stay away from the city because you'll end up getting a neck sore due to bumpy rides.

burtreynolds

You need to asses your goal and how far you are willing to go to acheive it before you do anything. I own a Max and a GSX (TSI AWD). We just got my best friend running (97 GSX) and untuned hes making 500-550 whp. Now the car also had not run in close to a year and a half and close to 30k is invested. DSM's offer endless possibilty but they ARE NOT CHEAP. I only paid 1500 for mine but I am probably 10-15k away from acheiving my high 9 second goal. If you've got the cash go DSM for sure but be prepared.....

Synki

go DSM.

They love to blow up but damn they are fast.

callmezeus

I'd go GSX All wheel drive. It has a lot of potential like the other guys have said.....But. Once you start modding it; chances are it will slowly start to fall apart. I know a lot of DSM people 8 of 10 currently have problems; their still fast but they have problems. Oh a piece of advice; if you remove the CAT from your exhaust your check engine light will come on with these cars. You'll have to reset it a lot if you dont want the red light to glare in your face.

jkklim

All of you, thank you for all your replies, I'm probably gonna go with the dsm route.

minsbang

3 out of 5 of the mechanics that i went to said that DSMs have tons of trouble after 60k miles. When I showed them my maxima, they were all happy for me. They said "finally, you got rid of that piece of Crap"

RastaManMax

iTrader: (5)

GSX's are the best bang for the buck car. I was debating to go 90-92 (4bolt) or to mod the Maxima and after researching i decided to mod the Max. If i had a garage or some real tools i would've probably taken my chance with the DSM, but the reason why they're so cheap, turbo and AWD is because they're unreliable as heck. Mind you hacked air can, MBC, turboback, boost controller, rewired fuel mod and appropriate guages and you're eating most Maximas for lunch. They can't be beat $ for $.

LEMAR

apbrian112

i had a 93 'clipse turbo(FWD) and for relatively little money, $3g's, i could have probably monkey-spanked 99% of the max's on the org. but like i said... i "had" a 'clipse until the i put a rod through the oil pan.

Am1n3

Maxima isn't a car meant purely for racing, the car I'm selling to get a Maxima will always be far beyond the Maxie in terms of speed, but it can't compare in other aspects. My car is a 92 Celica GT-4 w/a T04E and custom intercooler, dynoed at 265hp at all 4. Most things that go against it end up running away screaming "RAAAPEE!!!!" really loudly
I want a maxima, b/c this winter the cold got to me, and I traded my dad temporarily. Now I'm running around in a 02 Acura RL, and I'm loving it. But it's slow as hell =) I can't give up the luxury feel of the RL, and I dont' see myself giving up the gt-4's speed. I sure as hell can't afford an M5, so Maxima, here I come ^_^

ilumo

Is money an option? Is a manual a must? If not, I might have a good solution for for if your moneys tight and you want to go fast, and feel relatively comfy

jkklim

Money is an option, and manual is a must. Right now im reconsidering and just supercharging my maxima.

Jime

iTrader: (10)

Since I have helped out a lot on my sons DSM I can give you some insight into the modding process and 7 bolt issues you seem to be facing. He has a 98 Talon TSi running 12.5 @ 110 on a T3/T4 50Trim, FMIC, 3” exhaust etc etc.. He just finished a Magnus SMIM and AEM EMS so it should be a low 12 second car this year on pump gas. Maybe some day he might be able to beat my time.

The 95+ have a chance at crankwalk but it's only a chance. Research shows that about 15-25% of the cars get it and well over 50% of that margin are modified heavily with ACT clutches using a fairly heavy pressure plate (Xtreme or higher) So your chance of getting a car with crankwalk or developing crankwalk is slim and if and when it happens the fix is not that expensive. It's actually the thrust washers wearing out that causes the crank to move back and fourth (hence the name crankwalk) which is generally caused from really heavy pressure plates. The problem starts out as a mysterious ticking noise that you can’t find. That’s the crank rubbing on the plastic timing belt cover (on the pulley side) and eventually the crank moves so far the crank angle sensor can not get a reading anymore and the motor just shuts off and will not start anymore. In some extreme cases the crank moves so much it snaps rods and sends them through the block.
Crankwalk is not caused from hard launches or not using the right oil. Nobody really knows what the cause is so I also will not speculate. I do however know what does not cause it, and hard AWD launching is not one of them, the FWD cars are just as prone.

Does this happen on all motors? No thank god. It's a small percentage and many 7 bolts cars have gone mid to high 11's over many years with no signs of crank walk. Nobody knows what causes it (though guys like Marco from Magnus Motorsports have pretty good theories) and nobody really cares about a cure because you just simply swap in a 6 bolt motor (from a 90-92 Talon or Eclipse or a JDM Gallant motor) and you have nothing to worry about.

Great thing about the DSM motors is they have made 450whp on a completely stock motor and 500+ with a set of HKS cams on totally stock bottom end so descent HP is pretty easy on them. Parts are readily available and pretty cheap since the platform has been around for 15 years. Making 300+whp and 12 second time slips is about $2000-3000 depending on how you spend your money and if you install parts yourself can be cheaper. The 1st gen cars can run 12’s on the stock turbo so they can do it for far less.

The rule of thumb is just ensure enough money is set aside in your "budget" for building the car to cover the cost of a 6bolt swap and you have friends around that are willing to help with the swap. It has been done many times and documented well on different websites so you can find full instructions out there, not that hard. I will be probably helping with a 6 bolt swap this year as my son wants really bad to beat my time so he's planning on making 450whp this year (up from 357whp last year). Takes lots of HP to move 3300lbs...

Jime

iTrader: (10)

Double post, sorry.

Nealoc187

iTrader: (23)

Sounds to me like pops is going to have to step up his game or get left in the dust

Jime

iTrader: (10)

Neal I should have a 3.5 by the end of this week so hopefully it will be a tad quicker.

RastaManMax

iTrader: (5)

Hey Jime, from what i've been reading as well, if crankwalk is going to happen it happens mostly before or near the 80K mile mark. There has been the rare case where a 6 bolt has had crankwalk as well, but the chances of that are misicule compared to the 7 bolts. I believe the best one to get is the 92 with the 6 bolt front end and 4 bolt rear, but you run the risk of getting a 7 bolt. You can check the oilpan however to see whether or not you have a 6 or 7 bolt. Nothing like rewiring fuel pump, boost controller, hacked air can and downpipe and running low 14's. Jime, just curious as to why your son would be swapping out the 7 bolt if he doesn't have crankwalk?

LEMAR

Jime

iTrader: (10)

You are correct about thte 6bolt, 4bolt situation. The 92 is the car to have, just get one with a date of May or earlier printed inside the door. 6 bolts can crankwalk but are about as common as a 2JZ crankwalking (which does happen believe it or not) but it's very rare. With a 92 on the stock turbo guys have gone high 12's with injectors an afc and 3" exhaust plus other supporting mods.

He wants to make a whole bunch more HP this year and with this setup he has the capability of doing it so likely will need to build a motor. Making more HP is not a problem for his setup, thats the easy part. He now needs a motor to hold it. First step is swapping in the 6 bolt then building later on down the road. You can't build a 7 bolt because as soon as you take off the bearing caps and re-install them just about every 7 bolt motor crankwalks.

He will have his work cut out for him however because I plan on doing some things with the 3.5 that has not been done before.

vortechpower

iTrader: (1)

thats funny, my good friend just got his gsx running tonight, he had some wiring issues. he has an engine swap but he cant get close to me. plus my sh@t rides smooth and got heated seats. over all a dsm will leave you smokn and broke down. that goes for 2 of my friends that run turbos, one runs 20 psi, the max is straight up nice. oh yeah, i will be posting some video of mustangs and pontiac bonniville super charged that got the beat down(not too much to brag about)