So, I hear Q's are fast...

[Repo Man]

How fast are they? Anyone with top speed #'s, acceleration #'s, or how many rpm are you turning at say, 100mph?

I've been reading the Infiniti speeding stories, and I am very entertained! Do Q's really go 160? Wow, tell me more!

Andy

[QShip]

Check out the post titled: "400 HP - Supercharged Q45".

[landtodd]

Do Q's really go 160? Wow, tell me more!

Well, yeah, but then you run up on the limiter in the ECU . . . in the stock versions, at least ;-)

Better have some darned good tires to try this, though.

I think you're about to be clobbered with info. Enjoy!

[greg_atlanta]

top speed is limited to 155 mph, very early 90 models didn't have speed limiter, so they may hit 170-5 mph??

90-93 Qs will do 0-60 in about 7 seconds. some magazine got 6.7 sec when it came out.

redline is 7000 rpm, turns about 2000 rpm at 60 mph and 2500 rpm at 80 mph (or something like that).... not sure about 100 mph.

on my '92 Q with '93 model trans controller, first gear redlines at 50 mph and second gear redlines at 90 mph... not sure about third gear, but probably close to 140-150 mph.

that's a start....

:bowdown

[Repo Man]

Well, yeah, but then you run up on the limiter in the ECU . . . in the stock versions, at least ;-)

Better have some darned good tires to try this, though.

I think you're about to be clobbered with info. Enjoy!

Yes! I am an information junkie. Clobber me with it.

What is the stock ECU set at, regarding top speed?

Hell, I have Z rated tires on my 240. Imagine what I would have on my Q (if I were lucky enough to have one).

Thanks,

Andy:thumbup

[landtodd]

. . . if I were lucky enough to have one

The old ones are getting awfully cheap! If you can do the chain guides yourself, or can see your way clear to paying for it (I couldn't at the time), the 90-93s are quite a bargain! Stash some money for the eventual transmission, and there you go.

I paid $4500 for mine 18 months ago. Best car I've even driven, but you have to think of it as a hobby.

[PalmerWMD]

Generally the top speed with limiter removed is supposed to be 165mph.

A customer of BAD who only had the chip from them, (JWT) however was clocked going 180mph by the FL hiway patrol.Supposedly it cost him $10,000 with court costs and lawyers fees.

It's generally accepted that 165mph is the minimum top speed to be expected when the limiter is removed.Some say the limiter is at 155mph but it really is set at 150mph in the stock ecu.And yes a very small number of the first model year was apparently delivered w/o the limiter.

Also the first 18 months of production are supposed to be the fastest for reasons poorly understood.

All model years 90,91,92,93 are mechanically almost identical.

The 91's are known for weaker trannies, but by now all of those must have been replaced with the improved trannies in any used 91's likely to be on the market.The 93 model year dropped the sodium filled exhaust valves, but has some useful reliability improvments, as well as the ever popular first gear start.(90-92 start in 2nd unless you floor it).

Fred...

[Repo Man]

How much does it typically cost to have the chain guides done? I'm fairly mechanically inclined (recently did the brakes on my 240, to include calipers as well as my wife's F-150 which included swapping the wheel bearings from the old discs to the new ones) but am not a guru by any means.

How about transmission replacement cost? I assume they are notorious for going out.

I am intrigued by the Q. It seems to be a fast, comfortable, classy ride.

I'm also done with making car payments, so it's good to hear that they're priced reasonably. That seems to be the trend with Nissan products; a good product that seems to get overlooked by the mainstream. At least when it comes to re-selling them. Bonus for us!

Andy

[DAEDALUS]

I think the book time on the guides is somewhere around 8-12 hours. I think you can find quite a few shops (not dealers) to do it for around $1200, including parts, but competence can vary quite a bit within a given price range! If you do it yourself plan to spend 16 your first time if all you do is the guides. If you're like me, then expect to find a lot of other things that need to be inspected and replaced, or just plain cleaned. Not that difficult a job, and a good primer for doing the valve covers. When I bought my Q 4 years ago I was rich in theory but poor in practice. After almost 3 years of dealing with incompetent shops and overprice dealerships, I decided to do it myself. My point is that I think anyone with a mechanical inclination and the desire to learn can do almost anything on the car, though your tool collection will (happily) increase drastically over time. (My set of 16 metric gearwrenches arrived yesterday I'll ask someone else to chime in with the transmission info. I *think* you can get a good reman installed for about $3000, but I haven't had to do that yet. A lot of Qs out there have already had there's replaced, so look for one with a fairly recent dealership transplant.The bottom line is that a 1st gen Q is a GREAT car, with the caveat that you need to be prepared to spend some time and money upfront, beyond the purchase, to rehabilitate it back to near-new mechanical to truly enjoy it.

[EWT]

Yes! I am an information junkie. Clobber me with it.

I've owned two of them now I like them so well. My 93 did the quarter mile in 15.05 @ 93 or 94 with a terrible 60' time. I'm sure I could have gotten a high 14 out of it with a couple more passes. My 95 feels about as fast although it might be a little slower. I'll get to the track one of these days and see how it does. However, they don't feel very fast off the line because of gearing. They do feel very quick for a big sedan from a roll at higher speeds. There is also a very annoying hole from about 30-40 where I feel like I'm driving a Yugo when I floor it because it won't kick down to first, and the rpms are low enough in second that it isn't making much power. http://home.attbi.com/~etyppo/q45_road_tests.htm is a summary of performance stats for first gen. Q45s I found in my old car magazines if you like statistics.

IMO, 90-95 Qs are one of the great automotive bargains out there. You get 90% of the performance of a GS400 for 1/3rd the cost or less. You do have to be budget some money for repairs and maintenance, especially on the older cars, but they still end up being very cheap for the level of luxury/performance you get from them. The thing that I like best about them is that they don't feel nearly as big as they are, and are still fun to drive despite their size and weight, which isn't true for a lot of bigger vehicles. I really need something bigger with 2 young children (and 2 car seats, and 2 diaper bags and......), but I don't want to give up the fun to drive aspect for a boring minivan or minivan in denial (aka SUV).

[911/Q45]

Another good thing about early Qs is that some suspension and brake parts are common to the 90's 300ZX, a often modified car. This means you can get some great upgrade pieces that really enhance the performance of the car. Be sure to fix worn things before you modify though.

[ardvarkus]

You get 90% of the performance of a GS400 for 1/3rd the cost or less.

Say what? What 10% PERFORMANCE does the GS400 offer that the older Q does not?

Just curious...

[landtodd]

After . . . dealing with incompetent shops and overprice dealerships, I decided to do it myself

Amen! I'm glad I don't live in Atlanta, because if I did, I would have used T3, and wouldn't have become so disgusted with my locals that I did the guides myself. Adversity, the mother of . . . perspiration? With the benefit of hindsight, I'm glad I did them myself -- I learned a lot, improved a lot, became much better acquainted with the car, lost any fear of it, saved a pile of money, and got a higher quality job than I would be able to pay for!

The book shows only replacing the chain, with the motor out of the car. It seems that lots of shops take this quite literally, I think because "chain guides" aren't in the flat rate book as a separate job(?) (Regulars know that my dealer wanted $4500 to do the guides!) The trick is to find someone who will do just the guides, in the car.

Anyone who is going to do the job should first come back to this group for some advice.

They really do break. Ask Fred. Happened TWICE to him.

My point is that I think anyone with a mechanical inclination and the desire to learn can do almost anything on the car . . .

I like that. Now, if I just had a lift . . .

[EWT]

Say what? What 10% PERFORMANCE does the GS400 offer that the older Q does not?

Just curious...

They're definitely quicker in acceleration (high 90 mph range in the quarter mile vs. low 90s for the average Q), which isn't surprising given that they are lighter and have more horsepower. They also aren't as sluggish off the line for the same reasons and a lower first gear.

Eric

[Q45tech]

While the speedo is accurate at 55-60 mph it gets progressively optimistic at 75 mph and my guess is a real 150 mph would show as 160. ......the Consult will show the drive shaft rpm from the speed sensor and comparing that to indicated speedo reading at real 80 my speedo reads 85; @ 100 reads 106 never checked it at 150 mph

4th gear is roughly 333 rpm per 10 mph so 3333 rpm at 100; 5,000 rpm at real 150 mph. The first HP peak [5500] would be 165 mph but there is significant tire slip at these loads.

The 90Q acceleration from 100 mph [4800 rpm in 3rd]: 110 in 4.1 seconds, 120 in 4.9 more, 130 in 5.6 more [6250] roughly 31 seconds from a start.The JWT ecu moves the Q redline from 6900 to 7300 rpm so in theory [7300/480= 152 mph in 3rd gear] less tire slip say a real 145-147 mph. [Standard ecu would hit rev limit in 3rd around 140 mph considering tire slip]

FYI the new 350z did 0-130 mph in 26.6 seconds [finishing in 5th] and has roughly the same 156 mph top speed [700# less [which doesn't have anything to do with ultimate top speed] and the same width but 4.5" lower height [8% less total frontal area]....my guess is both cars would deliver almost identical rear wheel HP and torque due to lower losses in the 6 speed. manual...the Q might have 10-12 more lb/ft.

Kind of unfair to compare 1988 technology to 2002.

[landtodd]

the Consult will show the drive shaft rpm from the speed sensor . . .

If I had a consult, I'd wreck my car playing with it.

[ardvarkus]

They're definitely quicker in acceleration (high 90 mph range in the quarter mile vs. low 90s for the average Q), which isn't surprising given that they are lighter and have more horsepower. They also aren't as sluggish off the line for the same reasons and a lower first gear.

Eric

Oops. 'G' s not 'L' s... I missed that. Yes, when comparing the 90-92 Q to the 99 GS400. I'd just assumed we were comparing 1990 apples...

Todd- I'd give my...my.... other car, for a Consult to mess with.

Adam

[EWT]

Oops. 'G' s not 'L' s... I missed that. Yes, when comparing the 90-92 Q to the 99 GS400. I'd just assumed we were comparing 1990 apples...

Todd- I'd give my...my.... other car, for a Consult to mess with.

Adam

They're not directly comparable in age since the GS started in 98, but I thought it was a good comparision because the GS is closer in spirit to the original Q than the LS was/is. I gave some serious thought to buying a used GS400 instead of another Q, but couldn't justify the price differential.

Eric

[maxnix]

As noted before, did live check with GPS, and found speedometer accurate at 70 and 80 indicated, and 1 mph optimistic at 90 and 100, with original 215/65-15 Michelins. Tread depth varied from 6-8/32nds and PSI 38-40.

Just checked my AVS 225/60-15, and interestingly found the speedometer to be dead on at 70. PSI at 35-38, tread depth at 9-10/32nds. No other speeds checked.

[Q45denver]

My car reads low per the odometer in comparison to distance on the road signs. If the sign says 100 miles my car does it in 97. Not sure how this translates to the speedometer but at 80 mph on a 75 mph freeway, I'm passing everything in sight. With my Honda, I'd have do 90 for similiar results. I'm running 235x60/15 Pilots.

[maxnix]

Distance is difficult to verify. Get a GPS device that gives an (almost) instant speed reading and check against the speedometer on a straight, clear highway.

You will notice it is difficult to nail the speedometer directly on the mark for an extended period of time (10 seconds, 3-5 is sufficient) manually. Off the mark readings are too indeterminate to limit speed variance.

[1qckser]

I can honestly say that I foung the limiter on a nice strecth of I84 in Vernon/Manchester CT running a 850 Turbo boosting at 22 lbs, we had a good run going but the Q started to feel funny, my first thought was that I blew a head gasket or somethin or the transmission wass letting go, I looked down to do a quick scan of the guages and to my surprise the needle was a little past the 155 mark, so I would have to say that thats where she is done and I can also say I dont plane on doing it again, new Yokohama AVS and a pretty good stock suspension kept it dead stable but trying to slow down 4300 lbs from that speed is like trying to stop a oil tanker.

[szh]

I can honestly say that I foung the limiter on a nice strecth of I84 in Vernon/Manchester CT running a 850 Turbo boosting at 22 lbs, we had a good run going but the Q started to feel funny, my first thought was that I blew a head gasket or somethin or the transmission wass letting go, I looked down to do a quick scan of the guages and to my surprise the needle was a little past the 155 mark, so I would have to say that thats where she is done and I can also say I dont plane on doing it again, new Yokohama AVS and a pretty good stock suspension kept it dead stable but trying to slow down 4300 lbs from that speed is like trying to stop a oil tanker.

Ten years ago, I drove a long stretch from California to Texas in my first Q45. I kept the speedo at an indicated 140 to 145 mph. Cruise control would not stay on at that speed ! The car felt rock solid and not at all scary. When slowing down to 120mph, it almost felt like I was crawling along.

Four years ago, I traded in my 91Q45 for a 95Q45. Now I wish I had not done so - the 91Q felt nimbler, sportier and somewhat less float-mobile-like than my current Q. Of course, the 95Q is just fine when compared to most cars of that era!

Z

P.S. To the person who asked (I think in this series of posts), my recent transmission replacement - negotiated with the local Infiniti dealer - set me back about $2750 plus tax, including parts and labor and synthetic fluid. Some extra cost above that was for the addition of an external transmission cooler and a flush to change out the Nissan transmission fluid (that the reman came with) with synthetic transmission fluid.

[PalmerWMD]

Ten years ago, I drove a long stretch from California to Texas in my first Q45. I kept the speedo at an indicated 140 to 145 mph. Cruise control would not stay on at that speed ! The car felt rock solid and not at all scary. When slowing down to 120mph, it almost felt like I was crawling along..

Z:

You really should put this story in our "infiniti speeding stories" thread.Be sure to be as detailed as possible.

Fred...:firedevil

[szh]

Hi, Fred.

Z:

You really should put this story in our "infiniti speeding stories" thread.Be sure to be as detailed as possible.

Fred...:firedevil

Oh, I did! One of the first ones I posted in that thread ...

Z

[EWT]

Z:

You really should put this story in our "infiniti speeding stories" thread.Be sure to be as detailed as possible.

Fred...:firedevil

Mine is fast enough to cause my 2 year old to throw up after a 50 mile trip through the sierra foothills last weekend. Fortunately, none of it got on the carpet/seat.....