My 96"><
GeoKohler
November 6, 2010
Description:
I owned my 96 Maxima since 99. Scored it for $5400 with 50K. It has been in storage since 03 and I'm just finishing up the restoration. Sitting all those years was hard on her, thankfully no rust but all the rubber had to be replaced from dry rot. It was stored outside for the last 3 years because I didn't plan on running it again and I was tired of spending $25/mo to keep it garaged, but I could never bring myself to sell it. That car got me so much tail I can't believe I didn't catch anything! When I got it down here the glovebox and console was full of tampons and makeup! LMAO There was still footprints in the windshield, Thankfully I always carried a Phuck blanket so the seats didn't get destroyed like the seats in my Eclipse. That thing looked like someone got murdered in it and it smelled like a homeless chick when it was damp out! Those were the good old days. It only has 92K on it now so other then having to replace all the rubber suspension parts and tires I guess the long term storage was a good thing. Now that it's back on the road I'm glad I went back up to NY and snagged it from my buddies autobody shop. I'm retired at 44 so I needed a project to keep me busy. I still work in my Computer/Electronics repair shop here and there but after 24 years of 9am to 9pm 7 days a week I'm a little bored with it and I have more then I could ever spend so it's more of a hobby now. A llot of people wish they could retired at this age but you get bored quick so I just keep going. I tried just doing nothing and that lasted about 2 weeks. My wife knew I loved my Maxima so she talked me into going up to get it. I knew it was going to be hard work so I was reluctant. Now that it's on the road again I'm freaked! Nothing like the sound of a jacked up Maxima! I ported the lower intake 5mm and polished it to a mirror shine internally. I extrusion honed the plenum to match. I ported and polished the heads and cleaned up the welds and rough edges in the headers and Y-Pipe. For engine control I built a 2.26 GHz Pentium Mobile 4GB Kiosk computer with XP Pro and a 1TB 2.5" WD Harddrive for the media storage. That connects to the Consult board to control everything. It's also is the Navigation system, Audio/Video system driving the 4 BOSE amplified speakers I pulled from my 97 I30 parts car for now, Plays Videos, has a 1Watt linear 2.4GHz Wireless N WiFi all going to an 8" touch screen, no mouse is needed. I have a silicone BlueTooth keyboard that rolls up. I decided to paint it myself this week sometime. I figured I did everything else myself so I should paint it too. I don't see many Maximas on here that were done entirely by the owner. I don't care for cars that are just money. Anybody can do that. What fun is that? Paying someone else to work on your car is like paying someone to sleep with your wife in the words of the immortal Hank Hil. I spent $2000 and 350 Hours and she's almost done. I threw in a $450 ACT clutch, PP and throw out bearing set and I scored some Revup cams out of a wrecked 350Z. I decided to drill them because I'm cheap and I feel that's a better way to go personally. Other then that they are a drop in power solution. If you can't find or afford the revup cams you could always use regular 3.5L cams for an extra Millimeter of lift but they don't have the aggresive profile like the revups. I also went with valve springs from a 2001 as they are slightly higher and added a 1mm valvespring spacer for added tension. With the taller springs and spacers you don't have to worry about valve float at high RPMs. I only offset the REV limiter to 7100RPM so valve float is not an issue anyway. You don't want to go too crazy with the springs especially with the higher lift cams. With the VQ30DE heads being an interference type design if the timing chain goes you have a mess. Adding spring tension adds rotational friction which translates into premature failure so it's a balancing act. I seem to have found the right combination. You don't have to go out and buy special racing this and that to get performance. Just use some shade tree mechanic enginuity and find off the shelf parts from different applications with the same properties you are seeking. Some of the few things you should go high end on are: head studs, Bearings, Clutch sets, and tires. All the crap like headers and Y-Pipes you are just paying for the name. I'd throw my no name stainless headers, Y-Pipe and catback up against any other system out there and it wouldn't make 1HP of difference on the dyno! I laugh when I see some of the claims of companies selling bolt ons. Yeah, their headers will add 35HP... If you crank the boost up 5 PSI too after you install them! LMAO I thought about supercharging it but my cheapness kicked in and killed that fleeing notion. The CAMs only cost me $300 bucks. My buddy owns a salvage yard and I twisted his arm to get him to let me pull the CAMs. Usually he sells engines complete but I do all his computer work at a discounted rate. After a week of arm twisting and brawling he broke down. I grabbed the oil pump too so it was an awesome deal! I replaced the transmision bearings with high tensile bearings and filled her with synthetic gear oil. Quaker State synthetic in the pan. I run 93 gas to avoid the ping when I run aggressive Fuel/timing maps. Running the better gas also keeps the crap from building up in the EGR equipment from what I've seen over the last 12 years. The guy I scored the 97 i30 from ran the crap gas and when I pulled it apart it was full of crap. Looked like someone buried a slave in the plenum! The high octane fuel keeps it from going into Briggs and Stratton mode when you run aggresive fuel/timing. The extra duration and lift in the CAMs is definately noticable. Has a nice lope at idle but still daily driver streetable. I don't think anyone is selling highly aggresive cams for the VQ30DE. The Revup cams out of the 350Z's are about as aggressive as you can get without spending stupid money for custom ground.Tires die fast.
I owned my 96 Maxima since 99. Scored it for $5400 with 50K. It has been in storage since 03 and I'm just finishing up the restoration. Sitting all those years was hard on her, thankfully no rust but all the rubber had to be replaced from dry rot. It was stored outside for the last 3 years because I didn't plan on running it again and I was tired of spending $25/mo to keep it garaged, but I could never bring myself to sell it. That car got me so much tail I can't believe I didn't catch anything! When I got it down here the glovebox and console was full of tampons and makeup! LMAO There was still footprints in the windshield, Thankfully I always carried a Phuck blanket so the seats didn't get destroyed like the seats in my Eclipse. That thing looked like someone got murdered in it and it smelled like a homeless chick when it was damp out! Those were the good old days. It only has 92K on it now so other then having to replace all the rubber suspension parts and tires I guess the long term storage was a good thing. Now that it's back on the road I'm glad I went back up to NY and snagged it from my buddies autobody shop. I'm retired at 44 so I needed a project to keep me busy. I still work in my Computer/Electronics repair shop here and there but after 24 years of 9am to 9pm 7 days a week I'm a little bored with it and I have more then I could ever spend so it's more of a hobby now. A llot of people wish they could retired at this age but you get bored quick so I just keep going. I tried just doing nothing and that lasted about 2 weeks. My wife knew I loved my Maxima so she talked me into going up to get it. I knew it was going to be hard work so I was reluctant. Now that it's on the road again I'm freaked! Nothing like the sound of a jacked up Maxima! I ported the lower intake 5mm and polished it to a mirror shine internally. I extrusion honed the plenum to match. I ported and polished the heads and cleaned up the welds and rough edges in the headers and Y-Pipe. For engine control I built a 2.26 GHz Pentium Mobile 4GB Kiosk computer with XP Pro and a 1TB 2.5" WD Harddrive for the media storage. That connects to the Consult board to control everything. It's also is the Navigation system, Audio/Video system driving the 4 BOSE amplified speakers I pulled from my 97 I30 parts car for now, Plays Videos, has a 1Watt linear 2.4GHz Wireless N WiFi all going to an 8" touch screen, no mouse is needed. I have a silicone BlueTooth keyboard that rolls up. I decided to paint it myself this week sometime. I figured I did everything else myself so I should paint it too. I don't see many Maximas on here that were done entirely by the owner. I don't care for cars that are just money. Anybody can do that. What fun is that? Paying someone else to work on your car is like paying someone to sleep with your wife in the words of the immortal Hank Hil. I spent $2000 and 350 Hours and she's almost done. I threw in a $450 ACT clutch, PP and throw out bearing set and I scored some Revup cams out of a wrecked 350Z. I decided to drill them because I'm cheap and I feel that's a better way to go personally. Other then that they are a drop in power solution. If you can't find or afford the revup cams you could always use regular 3.5L cams for an extra Millimeter of lift but they don't have the aggresive profile like the revups. I also went with valve springs from a 2001 as they are slightly higher and added a 1mm valvespring spacer for added tension. With the taller springs and spacers you don't have to worry about valve float at high RPMs. I only offset the REV limiter to 7100RPM so valve float is not an issue anyway. You don't want to go too crazy with the springs especially with the higher lift cams. With the VQ30DE heads being an interference type design if the timing chain goes you have a mess. Adding spring tension adds rotational friction which translates into premature failure so it's a balancing act. I seem to have found the right combination. You don't have to go out and buy special racing this and that to get performance. Just use some shade tree mechanic enginuity and find off the shelf parts from different applications with the same properties you are seeking. Some of the few things you should go high end on are: head studs, Bearings, Clutch sets, and tires. All the crap like headers and Y-Pipes you are just paying for the name. I'd throw my no name stainless headers, Y-Pipe and catback up against any other system out there and it wouldn't make 1HP of difference on the dyno! I laugh when I see some of the claims of companies selling bolt ons. Yeah, their headers will add 35HP... If you crank the boost up 5 PSI too after you install them! LMAO I thought about supercharging it but my cheapness kicked in and killed that fleeing notion. The CAMs only cost me $300 bucks. My buddy owns a salvage yard and I twisted his arm to get him to let me pull the CAMs. Usually he sells engines complete but I do all his computer work at a discounted rate. After a week of arm twisting and brawling he broke down. I grabbed the oil pump too so it was an awesome deal! I replaced the transmision bearings with high tensile bearings and filled her with synthetic gear oil. Quaker State synthetic in the pan. I run 93 gas to avoid the ping when I run aggressive Fuel/timing maps. Running the better gas also keeps the crap from building up in the EGR equipment from what I've seen over the last 12 years. The guy I scored the 97 i30 from ran the crap gas and when I pulled it apart it was full of crap. Looked like someone buried a slave in the plenum! The high octane fuel keeps it from going into Briggs and Stratton mode when you run aggresive fuel/timing. The extra duration and lift in the CAMs is definately noticable. Has a nice lope at idle but still daily driver streetable. I don't think anyone is selling highly aggresive cams for the VQ30DE. The Revup cams out of the 350Z's are about as aggressive as you can get without spending stupid money for custom ground.Tires die fast.
