Upgrading on 2.5S Turbo???

[PohBear21]

Hey guys! I just got a 2008 altima coupe 2.5S and wanna throw in some upgrades to make it a 3.5 atleast couldn't afford the 3.5 so I got stuck with this. Also what turbos are best on this? I don't wanna kill my engine but was wondering what would be the best turbo for the long run thanks guys!

[Persian Scarface]

if you want it to be like a 3.5 you might as well use the money for a turbo to get a 3.5. it would be the same price

[PohBear21]

Alright cool and how much would that cost? Also would the reliability of the car/life span drop dramatically?

[YoungCoupe]

What he meant was that it would be easier to get a 3.5. It's probably more expensive to get the turbo too. Along with the high chance of blowing your transmission, especially if you have a CVT. Not worth it IMO.

[PohBear21]

Oh alright ya I kinda got stuck with the 2.5 rolled my other car and needed something fast/cheap otherwise I'd have a 3.5 so what's my best bet on making this fast ish? Or can I pull and drop a 3.5 in there?

[BamaCoupe]

If you have a CVT trans stay away from a turbo; the CVT's are crap and can't handle much more power then what's already being thrown at it from the factory. As for engine swaps a lot of people around here seem to be down on that compared to other car forums I've been members of (Pre-Altima Coupe days) in the past. Most people here will tell you it's not worth $ to do it, and there right to say it's cheaper to sale your 2.5 and buy a 3.5. If you're going to do an engine swap though you need to make it interesting, and drop an engine in that's not offered for our car's. At other forums I've been members of did more experimenting; for comparison speaking no one here has talking about head and fuel delivery swaps from a 350Z a G35, retrofitting Z32 OEM BBK on or Altima's (about $300-$400 for Z32's vs. $1,200 for aftermarket BBK made for our cars) and no 4.5 V8 engine swaps around here. Most here will say "well get a Z or a G" rather then folks finding out what parts from sister vehicles are compatible or could become compatible with some modifications for or cars. Sorry for the rant; I'm guilty too for not experimenting, but I'm not mechanically inclined enough to go taking my engine apart. Maybe in ten years or so when everyone's warranty is up or when our car will be in the hands of the third or fourth owner.....

[AlexN09]

Maybe in ten years or so when everyone's warranty is up or when our car will be in the hands of the third or fourth owner.....

I think you're right here. For me I need to pay this car off and I still have another year of school to get through so having my car apart and potentially broken/blown is not even an option. Once it's paid off and I have another vehicle than I may have time or money to play around with possibilities.

[PohBear21]

Sorry for the rant; I'm guilty too for not experimenting, but I'm not mechanically inclined enough to go taking my engine apart. Maybe in ten years or so when everyone's warranty is up or when our car will be in the hands of the third or fourth owner.....

Alright cool okay so pretty much I'm hearing these CVTs suck so is it possible to swap trans to a gear? I mean I know there's places you can grasp used ones with 50k but how tough would it be? I mean I know you gotta swap computers and all but I'm thinking swap that then throw a G or Z engine in there down the road and that could be pretty bad..

[el_blacky06]

I doubt you're serious as to switching out transmissions and engine but here's a thread of the 3.5 cvt to a 6mt swap

altima-cvt-to-manual-swap-the-final-res ... 71472.html

[YoungCoupe]

Also very costly lol

[PohBear21]

I doubt you're serious as to switching out transmissions and engine but here's a thread of the 3.5 cvt to a 6mt swap

altima-cvt-to-manual-swap-the-final-res ... 71472.html

At the moment I'm not still got it under warranty so gonna stick with the CVT til it's up but I got a uncle who owns a car lot and has hook ups on trans/engines so I'm not worried about the $$$ lol but if this dude had that much trouble alone idk if its worth it lol

[el_blacky06]

There's also another thread where another member Mr. Coupe had his cvt transmission switched to a 6MT turbo with great success. I can't find the thread tho

[CoupeVQ35CVT]

I understand you're looking to update your 2.5 for more power.

Forget all the transmission and engine swap ideas you might have had (sadly). The cost has proven to be prohibitive, mostly due to 2 reasons:

1) CVT sucks for power and the 2.5 CVT is reportedly even worse than the 3.5 in terms of handling too much more than stock power.

2) All that electronic gadgetry that goes into our cars (like all modern engines) COMBINED with CVT from the factory means the wiring and labor alone are sky high and relatively not worth it for what will amount to be a stock 3.5 engine when you're done (unless you really want to throw roughly $16k+ on a turbo + 6MT swap on your 2.5 engine). That includes all the small little things like new anxles, ECU, flashing the ECU, fabbing custom parts/mounts, piping, exhaust etc.

So, what I'd recommend is to either trade your car in if you're not too upside down on the deal for a '12 or older good condition 3.5 6MT (rare) or CVT and throw an exhaust on that and be happy (fun and good sounding car), OR live with the 2.5 for as long as you want and throw on an exhaust, Bully Dog GT tuner and then do suspension mods. But don't expect 'fast' performance with the 2.5. Mostly because of the car, not the engine. The QR25 engine in the older Sentra SER/Spec V's had lots of mods but the car platform and transmission were different (no CVT nonsense) so it makes our Coupes a bit of a let down in that sense.

[PohBear21]

I understand you're looking to update your 2.5 for more power.

Forget all the transmission and engine swap ideas you might have had (sadly). The cost has proven to be prohibitive, mostly due to 2 reasons:

Alright man that truly isn't worth my time because I travel way to much for work in this thing anyways. Ok so should I still throw an exhaust/intake on it so it at least sounds alright and then save up to buy a 3.5 6MT to turbo and everything? I got connections on finding one since my uncles in the used car business that wouldn't be a problem. Might as well run this to the ground while I got it but since you said the CVTs suck even more on the 2.5s would a intake/exhaust be to much on it? Or no?

[YoungCoupe]

No you should definitely throw on an intake and exhaust. Someone correct me if I'm mistaken but bolt ons for the most part shouldn't affect your transmission.

[RicerX]

Hi, Poh(pooh?)Bear!

Welcome to NICO - check out our amazing search feature! When you type in things like "How bad of an idea is it to turbo my 2.5 CVT Altima?" it magically creates a list of threads related to that, each of which will tell you "it's a very bad idea unless you're planning on melting your transmission."

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping in!

[CoupeVQ35CVT]

No you should definitely throw on an intake and exhaust. Someone correct me if I'm mistaken but bolt ons for the most part shouldn't affect your transmission.

Bolt-ons for the 2.5 and 3.5 CVT Coupes are fine, it's just when you start to get on the pedal more and more with significant upgrades that start to show problems. Bad luck aside, I don't think most of us have had issues with aftermarket exhaust, intake etc. Those with problems either had them bone stock from the get go or just randomly down the line, or very obviously after turbo or something crazy like that. My 3.5's will hit 100,000 miles as of the next couple weeks and I've been running an exhaust and later on y-pipe from 1500 miles on the odometer (so 98,500 miles!) and I drive a little spiritedly every now and then but not all the time, including using manual mode 50% of the time with engine braking. Now that kinda stuff should explode the CVT but I'm one of the few lucky ones or perhaps that's how it is supposed to last.

Now watch it pop on my way home today.

[PohBear21]

Alright cool so this cars been stock for 80,000 miles all freeway no speeding it was owned by a old lady which we all no is chilling 50mph in the fast lane ahaha so throwing bolt on upgrades would that effect the CVT at all? Since it was stock for so long?

[AlexN09]

No it would totally be fine.

[PohBear21]

No it would totally be fine.

Sweet so exhaust intake bully dog GT? Anything else I should throw in there?

[CoupeVQ35CVT]

The BGT would give you the most power difference, combined with the other bolt-ons.

If you got the money you can do whatever you want really. Suspension (lowering springs, etc.), Stillen lip, nice 17-18" wheels, headlight eye lids, LED interior lighting, all the usual stuff, if you plan to keep this till its dead, go for it. If you're looking to trade it in, then of course I'd hold onto the money for the better car.

[PohBear21]

Sweet thanks man! Ya I'm keeping it til it blows up then moving to the GTR by then my speeding tickets will be off my record lol

[LIPrincess]

See the trick is, know the limits of the car. The 2.5s can handle turbo, but u can't boost it more than 5lbs. With that being said, u can get up to 350-375whp, and in the coupe, that's the ultimate sleeper. Done my research, plus we have a member on here who did it and his car still runs fine off the boost build.

[PohBear21]

See the trick is, know the limits of the car. The 2.5s can handle turbo, but u can't boost it more than 5lbs. With that being said, u can get up to 350-375whp, and in the coupe, that's the ultimate sleeper. Done my research, plus we have a member on here who did it and his car still runs fine off the boost build.

Really? Ok do you by any chance have the forum link to that dude so I can find out the full details on what he did? That would be awesome!

[el_blacky06]

Search will give you the answers you're looking for

speed-force-racing-3-5-cvt-turbo-system ... 55026.html

[YoungCoupe]

^That is a 3.5

See the trick is, know the limits of the car. The 2.5s can handle turbo, but u can't boost it more than 5lbs. With that being said, u can get up to 350-375whp, and in the coupe, that's the ultimate sleeper. Done my research, plus we have a member on here who did it and his car still runs fine off the boost build.

I don't think you could get a 2.5 up to 350whp, especially not with a CVT. I would estimate somewhere around the number 250. That being said, I would not be upset if you proved me wrong

[RicerX]

See the trick is, know the limits of the car. The 2.5s can handle turbo, but u can't boost it more than 5lbs. With that being said, u can get up to 350-375whp.

This statement is completely and utterly false.

[Ranga14]

See the trick is, know the limits of the car. The 2.5s can handle turbo, but u can't boost it more than 5lbs. With that being said, u can get up to 350-375whp, and in the coupe, that's the ultimate sleeper. Done my research, plus we have a member on here who did it and his car still runs fine off the boost build.

lmao

[QR25DE]

[el_blacky06]

Holy crap! A QR25DE post! How's the Altima coupe holding up?