my car is a auto trany is there a point on doing it? coz i need more HP i looked for a good intake but cant find the one i'm looking for nay where so its either the exhaust or a turbo but i don't want too much sound want it to be a quiet ride so the exhaust is out the way

You're going to end up with turbo lag because of the auto tranny.

If you want more power to the wheels, I would look into some gram light rims. The biggest problem with the 5th gens was weight. The 4th gens had small 15" rims standard. The 5th gens mostly had 17" rims and that made a big difference.

I would shed a little weight (especially on the rims and tires), then look into an intake and cat-back exhaust. That will give you 10-20 hp.

The turbo will put you back $5k-$10k. Do you have that kind of money?

For that, you could just sell your car and get something faster (like my G35 )

no offense to you man... but i would never EVER buy a G35 over a maxima...

...why not????

I wouldn't either.

Aside from the FWD, there's nothing the Max doesn't do better than the G.

Sentientbydesign wrote:You're going to end up with turbo lag because of the auto tranny.

Actually, you can load up the engine a lot easier with an auto tranny equipped vehicle than you can a manual making it much easier to spool the turbo. Also, auto trannies, usually being 4 speed, essentially have wider gearing which also helps in spooling a turbo so in reality... an auto tranny can potentially have less "lag" than a manual tranny vehicle.

Now... the one major difference is most stock auto transmission will not handle the abuse of a turbocharged engine. At the very least you'll probably want a valve body upgrade and most definitely an external cooler. Depending on the power you're looking for, you may want to get it built up which is luckily quite easy with auto trannies (manual transmissions tend to be a little more difficult to build up unless stronger gears and such are made for them).

MinisterofDOOM wrote:I wouldn't either.

Aside from the FWD, there's nothing the Max doesn't do better than the G.

Ya think? I don't. Looks are the first think I'd point out. I think everything but the 4th and 6th gens are fugly.

Squeezing out an additional 38 HP out of the "same" engine isn't bad either.

I have a 4th gen and I think the G would drive better than the 4th gen if it had a similar suspension setup. The G is too high for me right now.

So RWD, speed, styling. I really don't know how you can say that the maxima is just as capable if not moreso than the maxima.

Oh and FWD vs RWD is a HUGE characteristic.

I will admit that my I30 corners better than the G, but having VDC makes a big difference too.

Are you guys crazy??? Id take a g over a maxima anyday of the week. Rwd alone is reason enough for me.

MTZI30 wrote:Are you guys crazy??? Id take a g over a maxima anyday of the week. Rwd alone is reason enough for me.

Thank you!

And regardless of what the previous post said, I've never hear that an auto does better than a manual with a turbo. That really doesn't make sense to me.

I have to say IMO the 4th gen looks better then the g35 and i love the way my 4th gen drives.

Sentientbydesign wrote:You're going to end up with turbo lag because of the auto tranny.

If you want more power to the wheels, I would look into some gram light rims. The biggest problem with the 5th gens was weight. The 4th gens had small 15" rims standard. The 5th gens mostly had 17" rims and that made a big difference.

I would shed a little weight (especially on the rims and tires), then look into an intake and cat-back exhaust. That will give you 10-20 hp.

The turbo will put you back $5k-$10k. Do you have that kind of money?

For that, you could just sell your car and get something faster (like my G35 )

IMO... light wheels and tires will greatly aid performance and are the logical place to begin. Rotational mass eats up HP quick. It is possible to shed over 25/lbs per wheel/tire combo on the Maxima going from stock 17" SE wheels like you have to a light weight set. (If I remember correctly, the stock 17" wheel/tire combo is around 48 pounds.)

The quickest 5th gen Maximas were the GXE 5spds and the Base SE's with the 16" 5-spoke wheels.

[I have experienced this drop in acceleration on several cars, most recently when switching from the 14" steelies to the 16" Sentra SE wheels on my previous 01 Sentra GXE (1.8/autotragic) - it went from slow to pathetic in 30 minutes]

I would suggest beginning with light 16" (or even 15") wheels, followed by a "B pipe" (the largest restriction in the A33 Maxima exhaust system, proven by dyno sheets over an another maxima board).

The stock muffler on your car has surprisingly good flow and an aftermarket unit will likely only gain you noise. (There are dyno sheets to prove this)

I second what mtcookson sez:While an auto works well with the turbo (allowing you to put the engine under load at a stop to build boost) and the gear spread keeps the engine under load which keeps the turbo in boost, the Max tranny does not take power well unless it gets some tweaking that costs big $$.

If you are talking about drag racing, the automatic-equipt cars tend to be more consistent in ET and speed but that is a different game than road course or any other type of racing. For you young guys, read up on the Buick Grand National Regal to learn about the power of turbo/auto combos. For more on consistency in drag racing, read up on the 60's Super Stock Mopars, GM and Ford products...

Some will argue for a stick but it takes a darn good driver behind the wheel to make it happen --> think Sox and Martin good)


Modified by Trav1s at 2:11 PM 2/16/2008

so i'm going to end up spending more money than i paid for the car. guess ill drive the ca the way it ti, i don't like small wheels, i'm thinking about buying a 350z soon any ways thanks for the input D

Actually, either way (Mod the Maxima / buy a Z) is going to cost you. Alot depends on what your goals are. In the end, the Maxima would always be a large FWD sedan. The Z would always be a 2 seat sports car (with the insurance premiums to go along with it - Even as someone in my 30's, insurance is a serious commitment with a good driving record.)

Pick your poison.... There are pros and cons to every car.

I personally like a nice performance sedan that I can enjoy every day and not worry about hauling people around. I don't mind FWD so our current Maxima and G20 work great. If I had more money, was not concerned about fuel economy in a daily driver, I would gets me a G35 sedan with the 6spd manual trans for my driving enjoyment and still be able to haul people around for work....)

money and insurance is not a problem coz my i'm selling the max and getting the rest of the money from my mom and my dad always pay the insurance and all the other things and i get free gas too, so right now i want a nice fast car or make my max faster, thats why i got rid of my old car which is much better than the maxim a 2001 AMG E55 but it took about 6sec to get to 60, and the maxima is a bit faster but not quite what i'm looking for

are you kidding me?????????? the max faster than an E55?? and in under 6 seconds from 0-60? I think that is hardly possible with a regular maxima.look at dragtimes. E55 do the quarter mile in 11.4-11.5 at 122 mph. maximas in 13.5 with maybe around 100 mph. the mercedes has around 450 horses, the maxima 235 or 250.

D_roc wrote:money and insurance is not a problem coz my i'm selling the max and getting the rest of the money from my mom

and my dad always pay the insurance and all the other things and i get free gas too, so right now i want a nice fast car or make my max faster, thats why i got rid of my old car which is much better than the maxim a 2001 AMG E55 but it took about 6sec to get to 60, and the maxima is a bit faster but not quite what i'm looking for

As for the money to cover the car and insurance... you are lucky... How long will they continue to foot the bill? Even if only for a couple of years, when you go on your own policy be prepared to get the screw as a male under 25. Trust me... I've been there.

Same thoughts on gas... how long will they foot the bill?

As for the Max being faster than the AMG E55, I call

The Maxima auto is a solid 8 sec car, possibly less as illustrated with this test of a 2000 SE from Edmunds. The AE you have is just a trim package on the base SE.Quote »Engine and TransmissionFor 2000, the Maxima SE's 3.0-liter SOHC V6 gets a boost in horsepower to 222 ... yet it didn't feel as fast, compared to last year's model. Nonetheless, in our performance testing, the new Maxima made a second-place finish in overall performance and handling trials. Zero to 60 came in a very respectable 7.8 seconds (1.2-seconds slower than the '99 model), hammering the quarter mile in 15.9 seconds at 89 mph (.4 seconds and a whole mile-per-hour slower). [/quote]Not trying to start a p1ssing match, just providing some facts that need clarified.

have you looked into getting a supercharger?

I thought the max was faster than the E55, coz i remember i had to floor the gas pedal to get to 100, and the insurance you have a point there

Auto tranny is better than a manual in most applications. Hence the reason that an auto tranny is used in almost all drag cars, whether turbo'd or SC'd.

Honestly man if your gonna do all that work to a maxima like you said just get a newer car. Yes youll lose money but at least it hasnt been messed with and you might even see some of your money back when you go to sell it.

Dracolove wrote:I have to say IMO the 4th gen looks better then the g35 and i love the way my 4th gen drives.

To each his own. I love the way my 4th gen looks and drives too. I just which I could beef up the engine and make it a 5 speed RWD. Then the car would be perfect.

Which reminds me... Does anybody know why the 4th gens have a "drive shaft hump" on the rear floor? It made me think, on numerous occasions, that a RWD swap was easier than most people made it out to be (in regards to the chasis handling the push vs pull). Does anybody know if the 4th gen sub-frame was used for a RWD vehicle?

that RWD hump is a good question... i like the way it looks regardless... it kinds add definition to the back interior... but still... good question

Sentientbydesign wrote:Which reminds me... Does anybody know why the 4th gens have a "drive shaft hump" on the rear floor?

Look under the car... that is where they run the exhaust system.

As for RWD --> the Maxima/I30/i35 is based on the A3x chassis (A32 = 95-99, A33= 00-04) Time for you to do some research on the internet

I'm well aware of the A32/33 chasis. The questions is whether that chasis design was used for anything other than the Maxima/I30/Cefiro. All of those were FWD vehicles and that hump despite being used for the exhaust looks a hell of a lot like the one used for a driveshaft.

MTZI30 wrote:Honestly man if your gonna do all that work to a maxima like you said just get a newer car.

I actually prefer the opposite myself. Get an older, used car for cheap, pay it off quick if not right away. Modify it so that its even faster than the newer cars and all you have to pay for is insurance, fuel, and repair costs (which is usually going to be less than insurance, fuel, and a new car payment).

mtcookson wrote:
I actually prefer the opposite myself. Get an older, used car for cheap, pay it off quick if not right away. Modify it so that its even faster than the newer cars and all you have to pay for is insurance, fuel, and repair costs (which is usually going to be less than insurance, fuel, and a new car payment).

Yes but now you have a car that really isnt worth anything and you just dumped all that money into it. thats just my opinion though. Another thing i forgot to ad was a car with a good platform to modify for big horsepower.

mtcookson wrote:
I actually prefer the opposite myself. Get an older, used car for cheap, pay it off quick if not right away. Modify it so that its even faster than the newer cars and all you have to pay for is insurance, fuel, and repair costs (which is usually going to be less than insurance, fuel, and a new car payment).

There is some wisdom in your method. I was just done with rebuilding a FWD luxury sedan to be a race car. The 4th gens don't have a lot of bolt-on mods.

D_roc wrote:my car is a auto trany is there a point on doing it? coz i need more HP i looked for a good intake but cant find the one i'm looking for nay where so its either the exhaust or a turbo but i don't want too much sound want it to be a quiet ride so the exhaust is out the way

Auto turbo is the best combo. There is no extra lag and you can get rid of lag alltogether with brake boosting. I have a turbo car and super car and would go turbo over super anyday.

Sentientbydesign wrote:I'm well aware of the A32/33 chasis. The questions is whether that chasis design was used for anything other than the Maxima/I30/Cefiro. All of those were FWD vehicles and that hump despite being used for the exhaust looks a hell of a lot like the one used for a driveshaft.

I thought that the Cefiro was RWD and even came with an AWD option?

sweet3rdgen wrote:
I thought that the Cefiro was RWD and even came with an AWD option?

Only A31 and earlier. After that it went FWD.

And the hump is there in all FWD Maximas, as well as most other FWD cars. The only ones that don't have it are things like Minivans with high floors that NEED to be flat. It is simply there for exhaust routing.

The A32 and A33 were only used for the Maxima and I30 under their various different names. Nothing more exotic.

J30 and U11 (3rd and 2nd gen) were essentially the same way (minus, of course, the I30) except that they had a bit in common with the Bluebird/Stanza (as had the 810 before them).But as with the Cefiro, the Bluebird became a more basic front-driver by that time.And of course the A34 has gone back to this, being an enlarged and modified Altima again.