Looking for a 94-96 Q45

[Brew Q]

I'm in Texas and have been looking everywhere around me (Dallas, Austin, Houston)...craigslist, cars.com, ebay, you name it...I may expand the search national, but then would have to fork over money for inspections and either shipping or a plane ticket.

Ideally a 94-96, but wouldn't rule out a 90-93 if the right one came along. Any ideas to help my search or is anyone here thinking of selling? Budget isn't an issue as I've got up to $5k cash to spend.

I've read the FAQ on common issues as well.

This would be my 5th Nissan product if I can find the right one (2 3rd gen maximas, 2 FX35's - still have my wife's FX35, great cars).

thanks in advance for any help

[elwesso]

Saw you were looking at Dimitri's Q (ddrumman).. That would be a great specimen for a 94-96 for the price. A little paint on the faded areas and a new alternator and you should be good.. I would have scooped that up if it wasn't as far away as possible in the country from me.

Good luck finding one that's not junk. Q's that have been well cared for are few and VERY far between.. If you get a sub-par one, it will be a lot of hassle (if you don't know what you're doing) and a lot of money, and you'll probably hate yourself for buying it.

A G50 is not a good car for someone who can't do their own work, either. Most the time the problems on them are reasonable to fix in terms of parts but labor can be a killer, especially things like alternators, fuel injectors, hoses, etc. Also, don't expect to go to a dealer or any other mechanic to be able to diagnose problems.

[Brew Q]

Thanks for the tips... I emailed Dimitri.

I do some things myself, but I also have a really good and very reasonable shadetree mechanic local that I use for stuff I don't have the time with.

I just started my search so I'll see how long I can stand being a 1 car household!

[BCC93QT]

a 1994 black on black Q45a w/ 50k miles on cars.com for $3500 in illinois. looks to be minty cosmetically.

[Brew Q]

thanks for the heads up, I emailed the Illinois Q owner. I haven't heard from Dimitri yet, but not in a huge rush.

[elwesso]

I'd consider going to look at the Q around Chicago, that's about a 3 hour drive for me, but I can inspect it if you're seriously interested.

Only thing I'd be concerned about other than the obvious stuff with Q's on that would be rust, even at 50k if it was driven during the winter I'd be sure to take special note of the seam between the rear quarters and the bumpers, and the corner of the rocker panel near the rear bumper.

[Brew Q]

Very good point elwesso - I'm in the south (Austin, TX), but yes a car with some rust already would probably not be a good idea.

I'd be happy to paypal you at least the going rate for your mileage - if and when I hear back from the owner.

I work from home, so I'm not real concerned with long term stuff... I'll probably only drive the Q around 500 miles a month if that.

I'm at twelfthman01 at gmail dot com if you need to get a hold of me quicker.

My first Nissan was an 89 Maxima (just graduated from high school), loved the interior, just too bad it didn't have more power and RWD From there I've owned a 92 Maxima, an '04 FX35 and currently my wife's '05 FX35 - great cars. Then I sold my FX to get rid of the payments, found a '99 740i in pristine condition and dirt cheap, promptly ran it off the road and totaled it (bad tires and a wet farm road) If there is a silver lining the insurance gave me considerably more than what I paid so time to get back to the world of Nissans

[elwesso]

Very nice. The E38's were always one of my favorite BMW's, the styling is absolutely timeless, those cars will always look great... The non-LWB are really nice looking especially, real bummer you lost it.. My second car is an '07 M coupe..

The FX's are decent, I've driven a couple of them. With a V8 and a manual trans that would be a hoot, I always thought the V6 was a little underpowered, but they get great mileage and they look great, so for most people or for a daily driver they're nice.

It's too bad the maxima's went to FWD in the 80s... The very 1st maximas with the I6 and RWD are really cool... However, that generation maxima was nearly indestructible assuming you can keep them from rusting away.

[Brew Q]

Those M Coupes are very cool cars... I especially like the the way the 1st gens look - and probably drive like a miata on steroids.

Yeah the E38 I had for maybe a month. Everything on it worked, the previous owner even changed out the dash cluster and radio with ones that had all the pixels working.

Supposed to talk to Dimitri about his Q today - I'm excited, but at the same time confused, lol. For some reason the wife wants me to buy local (of course she pretends to know car buying, ha ) and now I have an email from a '97 E39 owner that is looking to sell - (a 97 6spd 540 )car has tons of new parts and shouldn't need anything, other than it will probably cost twice what an older Q would cost. The E39 would be a very fun car no doubt, but I've really gotten used to the E38 interior room, probably similar to a Q (if not a Q has more, my 38 was a base not the extended iL).

oh decisions decisions! getting carried away with emoticons now!

[Brew Q]

Decision made! Q45 here we come. Talked to Dimitri twice today and looking forward to flying out to Cali and driving her back (starting May 25th). Car needs an alternator, but I've added that into the asking price (which was more than fair).

We are going to stop at the Grand Canyon on the trek home so should have some good pics of the beastly Q with the mighty canyon in the background. I smell a sig pic in my future!

[HamptonQ]

Interesting you ask. I have a 1995, I am the second owner..third if you count my dad before me but he bought it with 27,000 miles off lease in 1997. it spent most of its life in SC. I got it in 2006. synthetic fluids forever.

Get this...it has 237k miles...ORIGINAL ENGINE, ORIGINAL transmission. My daily driver since 2006 runs like the day I got it with 88k miles on it.

steering rack leaks, same leak for 7 years I add 1 oz of fluid a month. simple.

interested?

I am thinking of selling it, hard to part with for obvious reason.

anybody know what it may be worth? is it worth more than the standard $2500 some jomoke would offer me if I was lucky? Body is excellent excellent 3 spots of rust the size of a dime that have been there forever and have not grown at the seams mentioned on this thread.

what say the people? 95 w 237k all original and runs so smooth my coffee does not ripple in the cupholder.

what is my asking price?

thanks!

[BCC93QT]

If some jamoke offered you $2500 you should have taken that.It might be "worth $2500" but getting someone to pay that good luck. If a simple power steering rack has been leaking for 7 years i'm sure there is much more you are unaware of that has been neglected. @ 237k you are lucky to get $1500.

[Brew Q]

I hate to say it, but I have to agree with BCC93. I don't currently own a Q, but am purchasing Dimitri's '94 in exactly 2 weeks. His has about 175k on the clock, a stack of maintenance records, several aftermarket goodies and recently re-upolstered front seats. I'm paying $1500, plus $600 to get the alternator fixed so I can drive it back to Texas - so total of $2100 plus gas (although we'll make it a fun road trip and see some cool parts of the southwest. His isnt' perfect, has a couple quirks, like the sunroof and the paint is fading, but still seems well worth it given the mechanical condition along with the interior and goodies.

I totaled a '99 740i that had about 120k on the clock - paid just $3600 for it and got 2k more than that from the insurance (due to condition of the car/ comps they pulled up). Honestly Q's don't scare me any more than BMW's do, actually less so from a maintenance standpoint. The 4.4 motors in the E38's need gaskets, seals, chain guides replaced, VANOS rebuilt, you name it (and usually around 100-120k). Not to mention the suspension was shot on mine and needed to be completely refreshed - struts, tie rods, sway bar links - on and on!

[King Charles]

Yeah I paid 2K for a 1996 with only 100K on the clock & in great condition.

[HamptonQ]

all good feedback, I guess emotion gets the best of us sometimes? in terms of what a car could be "worth". so its settled then...I shall keep her as a spare third car till the wife pitches a fit or I disconnect emotionally and accept $1500 or possible less to let her go.

I may be more apt to just take her out for a final ride and blow the engine or the transmission and give her a proper burial perhaps in the crusher. Let her go out on a high, lined out at 8000 with nothing but a trail of parts left behind her on the freeway entrance ramp. and consider the AAA truck her hurse.

[BCC93QT]

I have beaten the piss out of my Q for the past 60k miles or so. I redline it quite frequently and even with the stage 3 nico ECU and it just won't blow. Good luck with that

[King Charles]

I concur it's a whole lot of car for a small amount of cash. I'm going to pamper mine with new paint & a upholstery refurbishing. I've already freshened up an already pampered internal organ system ha !

[elwesso]

Hampton, these cars are worth way more to the owner than they are someone else, and no one is willing to pay anything for them. With rust (even negligible) it's not worth anything, however since you know the car well it's worth more to you as a useful vehicle than to someone else. I wouldn't try and blow it up, however like others have said you'd have a hard time blowing it up.

Tell you what... if you really want to have some fun, put some really good tires on it and a decent set of brake pads and take it out for a track day and go scare the crap out of some Porsche 911's and BMWs.. I'm considering adding boost to my Q and turning it into a track car.

[elwesso]

Bret, did you ever hear back from that guy in Chicago with the active? I'm considering going up there and just taking a look at it for grins...

[Brew Q]

Yes sir, he said original miles and never wrecked (as far as he knows) - he didn't sound like original owner. If Dimitri's didn't have some tasteful mods (which can't even be bought now except used if you are lucky enough to find them) I'd definitely be looking at the Chicago Q. Plus I think it had the black interior - which looks SHARP! - black on black would BAKE here in Texas though. found his email addy and his name is Matt: gentle1104 at aol.com

P.S. definitely like your idea of turning the Q into a track "beater"! A big hair dryer and you'd be in business! (with of course all the turbo extras, possibly water inj. too to help keep temps down). It amazes me the power some of the 240 guys are making - google Porsche Cayenne turbo manifold VH45DE - a guy managed to mate it up to the VH45 and had some pretty good gains (in a 240 of course).

I must admit I've been reading old threads like a crack fiend the last week or so. First thing I want to do is build a cold air box (sealed from the rest of the engine) and put in a cone filter, ripping out all of the stock intake garbage plumbing. Mine won't be as pretty as qsiguy's CAI was, but it'll shield engine heat and suck in some cooler outside air.

[Turbon8er]

First thing I want to do is build a cold air box (sealed from the rest of the engine) and put in a cone filter, ripping out all of the stock intake garbage plumbing. Mine won't be as pretty as qsiguy's CAI was, but it'll shield engine heat and suck in some cooler outside air.

The factory airbox already does that... and the plastic keeps intake air cooler than a metal shrouded setup would.

you could spend that time making a REAL improvement on plenty of other things. but... to each, their own.


i was trying to find a sweeeeeet 92 Q45 that a dealer has local to me, i saw on CL for months. It was Black w the rare White int and only 60k miles. They wanted $5,800. but it was mint... and i cant find it now.


not trying to sway you from what you have going on, but here is one i found local. Crappy pics, but still really nice- Blk/tan, 175k, $2500.

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/3681523779.html

[elwesso]

First thing I want to do is build a cold air box (sealed from the rest of the engine) and put in a cone filter, ripping out all of the stock intake garbage plumbing. Mine won't be as pretty as qsiguy's CAI was, but it'll shield engine heat and suck in some cooler outside air.

The factory airbox already does that... and the plastic keeps intake air cooler than a metal shrouded setup would.

you could spend that time making a REAL improvement on plenty of other things. but... to each, their own.

I agree...

Actually what you can do that's very simple is take the air horn off a 90-93 Q and put it on a 94-96.. It will end up right behind the grill, BAM cold air intake.. I have an old thread about it, very simple mod.

The stock intake is very low restriction, and cone filters are no good when it comes to filtering air.

[Brew Q]

Cool, that'll save me some time and money - maybe I can find the 90-93 air horn on fleabay.

Let me know if you go look at that Chicago Q - interested to see what you find.

[Brew Q]

How would the stock air box flow well and be quiet? Resonators and 1 to 2" convoluted plastic pipes may suck in some bumper area air, but I can't imagine the Q intake somehow being superior to all other infiniti and nissan air boxes that benefit from cold air intakes.

1994-g50-q45-cold-air-intake-prototype- ... 46554.html

Have any intakes been dyno'd before? factory vs otherwise? I'd be very curious. I'm not saying you all are wrong, I'm just skeptical at this point.

[elwesso]

What it comes down to is that the engine is an air pump, so if something isn't causing a measurable restriction in the first place, then making it even less of a restriction isn't going to do anything.

I would challenge any claims that a cold air intake on ANY CAR gives you more than 5HP. You can have a 5HP swing by a change in ambient temperature/humidity alone, or by running the AC or a heavy load on the alternator.. It takes at least 20HP for it to be detected by the butt-dyno, so anything less than 20HP I don't see the point on wasting the effort.

I also don't like the idea of using an inferior air filter and letting more dirt into the engine..

But hey, don't let any of us stop you from giving it a try if that's what you want to do. Remember, none of us have to drive your car, YOU do.

[Brew Q]

I'll shut up - appears to be a billion intake debate threads here in the past.

Let me know if you check that Chicago Q out, I'm curious.

[OwnerCS]

Did you find a Q? I noticed this one in Tulsa.

Over the past 3 years I have seen some SWEET Q45s for sale in the Tulsa area.

http://tulsa.craigslist.org/cto/3826236302.html

[Brew Q]

I bought one from a member that used to be on here... drove it back from LA - all the way to TX, but it seems to have a laundry list of things it needs now. I don't blame the former owner, I should've checked it out better.

That one looks identical to the one I bought (color and interior) - looks nice. Now if I can convince the wife I'm not crazy. lol

[elwesso]

I bought one from a member that used to be on here... drove it back from LA - all the way to TX, but it seems to have a laundry list of things it needs now. I don't blame the former owner, I should've checked it out better.

That one looks identical to the one I bought (color and interior) - looks nice. Now if I can convince the wife I'm not crazy. lol

You won't be able to, because anyone who drives these cars truly is crazy.

[Brew Q]

...anyone who drives these cars truly is crazy.

LOL - I hear that. Wes what is your email? or can you PM me. I have a few questions to run by you... I tried to PM you, but it seems you being the almighty mod I can't, LOL.