a few questions about a 3rd gen

[sr20daze]

i have a 1990 max and i wanted to know a few things, is there any aftermarket tb for the engine?

i have a mild "system" in my car, when i downshift or slow down, and even turn off the car the sound levels go down a bit. im wondering why could that be? is it the alt or anything?

is there a way i can cut my stock springs with out messing up the spring rate for now, while i save up for D2 brand coilovers.

where would i be able to find a good hid kit for the headlights and fogs. btw, would yellow fogs look good or no? i want to go a bit with the jdm style

and last, what should i do for a vip style max. i have seen some made for speed, some clean. i want to try something diff and go vip. can anyone help me please

oh and would the guages that say 145 work on my car.

and idk if its because of my wheels set up but i think my guages mark the wrong speed

i have also had some questions about engine swaps. i would like to put a dohc vg, or a fwd sr20. but i would love a rb20

...... haha i am never ending with these questions.would a 4th gen front fit by any chance? i would like to do the conversion
Modified by sr20daze at 8:30 PM 10/16/2008

[D-Maxima]

We have have a VIP section for VIP and VIP Styled cars. you could go there and they can help you out.

its under the infiniti forums fyi

look on the right of screen for all of NICO's forums

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[MinisterofDOOM]

For the sound system, it sounds like you have a bad ground or perhaps your battery is not quite up to spec.

Definitely can't cut springs without affecting their behavior. If you cut them and run stock shocks, you'll probably kill the shocks as well. I guess that doesn't matter much if you're going to coilovers, though. If it were me, I'd just wait.

Search for HID kit info. We've had some good threads that cover it pretty well. They should get you sorted out.

By gauges that say 145 I assume you're referring to the black-on-white SE gauges? I don't recall if they work in the GXE or not...I always liked my GXE gauges better.

What size tires are you running? If you plug your sizes into this calculator, it'll tell you what the speedo discrepancy comes out at. Stock size is 205-65-15 if you need to know that.Or if that doesn't answer your question completely, you can always use a GPS device to compare speed.

Engine swaps:DOHC VG doesn't fit in the Maxima engine bay very well, which is the entire reason Nissan designed the VE. It could be done, but you'd be looking at a lot of work. As for the FWD SR...I'm sure it'd fit, but it'd be a big downgrade if you ask me, even compared to the SOHC VG. I'd rather turbo or s/c the VG.RB20 is definitely a no-go unless you have the resources to convert to RWD.

4th gen front could be made to work, I'm sure, but I highly doubt anything comes close to bolting up. That's okay, though: the 3rd gen front looks way better anyway.

[mtcookson]

i have a 1990 max and i wanted to know a few things, is there any aftermarket tb for the engine?

Throttle body? No aftermarket but you can mildly port them or at least port match them.

Quote »i have a mild "system" in my car, when i downshift or slow down, and even turn off the car the sound levels go down a bit. im wondering why could that be? is it the alt or anything?[/quote]The alternators aren't the greatest but I believe you can have them upgraded to put out some more juice, that would probably be your best bet there.

Quote »is there a way i can cut my stock springs with out messing up the spring rate for now, while i save up for D2 brand coilovers.[/quote]I wouldn't cut the springs. Usually they aren't done right and it throws everything out of alignment.

Also, D2 doesn't make coilovers for the 3rd gen Maxima. Their site says Maxima 89-95 and the chassis listed, if I remember correctly, is A31. The Maxima chassis is J30 so they won't work. Also, the 3rd gen Maxima was made from 89-94 and the A31 Cefiro from 88-94, so I'm not sure where they got those years from as they don't fit either vehicle.

If you want a decent drop there are springs available for the 3rd gen that will go as low as 2 inches, if I remember correctly. Sport wise, the best combo out there that I know of would be Eibach springs with Koni struts. Personally, I would try using the Koni's if at all possible with any of the spring setups you go with as they are the most likely to handle the drop. The front struts on the 3rd gen are relatively short so most drops will definitely kill stock struts rather fast and are more likely to kill stock replacements pretty quick as well. The Koni's are the most likely to hold up but Tokico and KYB both make "stock" replacement struts for the Maxima. I believe the Tokico's are said to be the better of the two when it comes to aftermarket springs but the Koni's will definitely be the best. The Koni's are also adjustable.

Quote »where would i be able to find a good hid kit for the headlights and fogs. btw, would yellow fogs look good or no? i want to go a bit with the jdm style[/quote]If you still have the stock headlights I would not do HID's. The pattern will be absolutely horrid. I would first do the BMW E36 light swap then go to HID's as with those you can find projector equipped E36 lights which will work much better with HID's.

Quote »and last, what should i do for a vip style max. i have seen some made for speed, some clean. i want to try something diff and go vip. can anyone help me please [/quote]VIP section: zeroforum?id=260

Quote »oh and would the guages that say 145 work on my car.[/quote]Yup, they should plug right in. The redline on the tach is a bit higher since the 145 gauges were in the VE30DE equipped Maxima's... basically, don't try revving that high as it won't do it.

Quote »and idk if its because of my wheels set up but i think my guages mark the wrong speed[/quote]The wheels will throw off the speed. Punch in the old tire size and the new tire size to see what the speed difference is here: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Quote »i have also had some questions about engine swaps. i would like to put a dohc vg, or a fwd sr20. but i would love a rb20[/quote]Like said above, the DOHC VG won't fit (cough and the SOHC VG is better cough).

The SR20 I probably wouldn't screw with. Its not a bad engine... but, it doesn't make near the low end torque the VG is capable of and would make the Maxima feel rather sluggish unless decently modified with a good turbo setup and such.

The RB20 is simply too long... or at least would be very, very difficult to setup. There are some I6 FWD cars out there but the transmission setup would likely be the most difficult. Also, like the SR20, this engine likely won't make quite the torque the VG does.

The VG30E is actually a very awesome engine. There isn't much aftermarket support but you can modify them yourself to make some very impressive power. They are very strong and reliable stock. Turbocharge one and it will easily make enough power, without having to modify the internals, to toast the transmissions available for the 3rd gen.

Quote »...... haha i am never ending with these questions.would a 4th gen front fit by any chance? i would like to do the conversion[/quote]It could probably be done but would definitely take quite a bit of work and could potentially look goofy... especially since the 3rd gen front looks better.

[sr20daze]

wow thanks alo

i didnt think that you guys would answer all my questions at once

btw im running 205/50/16 *hate the ghetto chrome rims* have the 5th gen stocks ftw

[sr20daze]

For the sound system, it sounds like you have a bad ground or perhaps your battery is not quite up to spec.

Definitely can't cut springs without affecting their behavior. If you cut them and run stock shocks, you'll probably kill the shocks as well. I guess that doesn't matter much if you're going to coilovers, though. If it were me, I'd just wait.

Search for HID kit info. We've had some good threads that cover it pretty well. They should get you sorted out.

By gauges that say 145 I assume you're referring to the black-on-white SE gauges? I don't recall if they work in the GXE or not...I always liked my GXE gauges better.

What size tires are you running? If you plug your sizes into this calculator, it'll tell you what the speedo discrepancy comes out at. Stock size is 205-65-15 if you need to know that.Or if that doesn't answer your question completely, you can always use a GPS device to compare speed.

Engine swaps:DOHC VG doesn't fit in the Maxima engine bay very well, which is the entire reason Nissan designed the VE. It could be done, but you'd be looking at a lot of work. As for the FWD SR...I'm sure it'd fit, but it'd be a big downgrade if you ask me, even compared to the SOHC VG. I'd rather turbo or s/c the VG.RB20 is definitely a no-go unless you have the resources to convert to RWD.

4th gen front could be made to work, I'm sure, but I highly doubt anything comes close to bolting up. That's okay, though: the 3rd gen front looks way better anyway.

my stock guages are the white at day, black at night aka *phantom* but they read 125. my dad got a pair that looks the same but in 145

[sr20daze]

dang im not good at quoting like you guys, but anyways. i tryed the like about the tire size and i guess im alot worse. i read about 10 to 20 miles off oh well

[sr20daze]

ok finally.....um would the vg30et be a good swap or just keep the stocker

[mtcookson]

dang im not good at quoting like you guys, but anyways. i tryed the like about the tire size and i guess im alot worse. i read about 10 to 20 miles off oh well

Looks like your speedometer is reading 5.6% too fast. If you're traveling a true 60 mph, you speedometer will only show ~56.7 mph. A 205-60-16 will get you closest being .8% too slow (going slightly faster than what it reads).

A 215-55-16 tire would come out pretty nice making your gauge ready only .7% too fast. At 60 mph your gauge would read 59.6 mph and you get a tiny bit more of tread patch on the ground.

ok finally.....um would the vg30et be a good swap or just keep the stocker

Actually... no. I find it better to actually turbocharge the engine that's already in it. Reason: the stock engine has a 9:1 compression ratio, which isn't all that high and it handles boost rather well. Overall it would likely come out to a more powerful and efficient setup than going with the lower compression VG30ET's.

I did the swap and it was definitely fun. I highly recommend going with boost on the VG. Before doing so though, consider that you'll probably need to build the transmission up if you have an auto. At the absolute least, you'll want a valve body modification with a good external cooler for the auto trans... but that will only delay its demise due to the power the VG is capable of with boost.

[sr20daze]

i have the 5 speed ftw

i was looking at that, the thing is that on the highway it marks80 and it feels like 60. but in the city it feels normal

[mtcookson]

The 5-speed helps... but its still rather weak. The 92-94 5-speed would be a decent upgrade and should hold the power better than the VG's 5-speed. The stock 5-speed should be ok for a while though.

As far as the speed, its different as the difference raises exponentially. Say your speedometer reads 30 mph, you're going about 28.3, for a difference of less than 2 mph. If the speedometer reads 80, you're going slightly over 75 for a difference of nearly 5 mph.

[sr20daze]

ill try to get my hands on one of those later. thanks alot

[PBfrEAk]

//thread jack

The 5-speed helps... but its still rather weak. The 92-94 5-speed would be a decent upgrade and should hold the power better than the VG's 5-speed.

Umm...so do you mean the VE5spd?? Are they simple to mate up? Do you just switch the bellhousing or do you have to have a custom plate or somthing made??

[mtcookson]

Yup, VE 5-speed. Bell housing bolt pattern is identical to the VG's. You'll need both CV's and the hubs from the VE Maxima as well as they're slightly larger. VE's also had viscous limited slip as an option so that's a slight upgrade as well.

[sr20daze]

so there pretty much is no need for cutting or welding?

would the 4th gen exhaust system fit the 3rd gen? i know im going to have to re weld the hangers
Modified by sr20daze at 12:08 PM 10/20/2008

[mtcookson]

4th gen exhaust won't likely fit. Having a different engine and chassis will likely make the whole thing quite different. I would just go with a custom exhaust. If you're looking for NA upgrades for the time being, an aftermarket y-pipe is one of the best exhaust upgrades you can do. Warpspeed Performance makes them for the 3rd gen.

Going the turbo route, that will definitely take some fabrication. I personally mounted the turbo on the crossover pipe that the Z31 and 2nd gen Maxima's use and feel that's probably the best way to do it. If you move the battery to the back there's tons of room for the turbo there. I would use 2 right/driver's side exhaust manifolds from a Z31 or 2nd gen Maxima then build the crossover pipe from there. Preferably you want to keep the pipes separate at least until they make the turn towards the turbo (i.e. don't connect the two manifolds with a crossover pipe and weld on a turbo flange... like i had done... it causes slow spooling due to horrible flow likely caused by massive amounts of turbulence).

Here's an old writeup I made that has the basics of the turbo setup. http://www.nicoclub.com/articles.php?id=158463

[PBfrEAk]

Yup, VE 5-speed. Bell housing bolt pattern is identical to the VG's. You'll need both CV's and the hubs from the VE Maxima as well as they're slightly larger. VE's also had viscous limited slip as an option so that's a slight upgrade as well.

Interesting...

[sr20daze]

i was thinking of getting that and a high flow cat , i do not want the pace setter cat back. too small and i dont like it. ill go custom.

i think i might do that *move the battery*.

but first i need to get all my supplies lol

[mtcookson]

Be sure to run some pretty heavy wire for the battery and make sure you have a good ground. I think I ground mine to the body and also ran a ground cable back up to connect with the original ground. I was using 4 gauge wire though, which didn't seem big enough. I'd go slighter bigger than that and definitely make sure your ground points are very clean and connected well, that will be very important.

[sr20daze]

where can i find a kit for the relocation of the battery?

[mtcookson]

There aren't any kits for the 3rd gen that I know of, I just did it myself. Might be able to find a universal kit on eBay though.

[sr20daze]

thanks

now to get to work lol

oh btw i keep forgeting to ask this one,but where or what kind of brakets do i need to get to put on some bride seats

i also got these bad boys a few days ago in the junk yard off of a 3rd gen. what size rubber should i put on them?
Modified by sr20daze at 9:23 PM 10/31/2008