Can anyone tell me why the 3.5 in a max is only making 255 and a 3.5 in a 350z is making 280? they have the same bore, stroke and compression is off by .1. one has a 10.4 the other 10.3. is there a difference in exhaust valves, bigger throttle body? let me know. thanks.

The difference is mostly in the intake manifold design.

so would the intake manifold and throttlebody from a 350z fit on my max? and if so is it hard to install?

Won't fit unless you are willing to go without a hood or cut a hole in the hood as it is taller. I also believe there are issues with connectivity that would have to be resolved.

Well, alot can be said for engine tuning as well. The more efficient intake manifold will help that that alone will not give you the 30 hp. I take that back, I mean it is possible but I think more of it is engine tuning.

In 04 the Subaru Forester had the exact same engine as the STI. However, the ecu programming was different due to the lack of a cat in the up pipe (exhast manifold comes 4 into 1 pipe then connects to a sigle pipe that connects to the turbo=up pipe) and they had a larger turbo. I was able to swap the up pipe (also added a Borla header) and turbo as well as the ecu (can you believe it, it litterally plugged right in. No wiring needed and took 5minutes) The car then instantly made STI hp/tq numbers! Granted I went further on with my modding but it was the ecu tuning from Subaru that allowed it to make more power.

A friend of mine that works for Turbo XS here in MD had a 350z that they did all of their prototype with told me that the engines are of the same casting but once you get to the intake manifold it is connecting to differnt parts ie. maybe the throttle body is a little different and obviously there is a hood clearance issue. But the bottom line is that alot can be said for a good intake and some engine tuning! Your stock ecu can only accomodate so much.

The problem I see is "price per hp" when dealing with a Maxima. The best "bang for the buck" is headers which our very own Fezzik dyno-tested at a 30hp increase. Dyno testing with intakes, UDPs and cat-backs have shown 5-9hp each which could be argumentative/judgemental at best.

There is a 2k2 owner elsewhere who performed IM modifications which seemed to work quite well. Unfortunately, I do not believe he ever came out and stated what he did. There have also been experiments with utilizing different upper or lower IMs (Pathfinder, Z, whatever), but last I checked the results were not clear.

You could always take off your stock IM and have it ported. I know alot of suby guys did that to their exhaust manifolds and up pipes with good results. Others have done the same to their intake manifolds. You can do it by hand or have it extrude honed both work well. You just have to find a place to do it.

Possibly. The VQ in the Maxi is a bit tricky. From an intake perspective it does pretty well and the major improvements come from the exhaust side. Once the exhaust side is "fixed" then there may be more room for increases via the IM. 70mm Pathy TB and some porting might help. ECU changes would be needed (Technosquare maybe) and some sort of air-fuel setup probably would not hurt.

audtatious wrote:Possibly. The VQ in the Maxi is a bit tricky. From an intake perspective it does pretty well and the major improvements come from the exhaust side. Once the exhaust side is "fixed" then there may be more room for increases via the IM. 70mm Pathy TB and some porting might help. ECU changes would be needed (Technosquare maybe) and some sort of air-fuel setup probably would not hurt.

OT: what is technosquare? What after market em tuning are you guys using or what is available?

http://www.technosquareinc.com/technosquareecu.htm

They came out with a 5.5-gen ECU a few years ago. Not sure if they still offer it or not. JWT may make something as well.

Personally, I'm not doing any tuning. My car is pretty much for long distance work transportation so I have only performed minor performance upgrades.

It's mostly ECU related, some Max owners have tried the Z IM and it didn't prove worthwhile. I know you can bump the timing up about 14 degrees easily with the consult II but not many dealerships are willing to do that for you.

Timing bump itself is iffy as to wheter it gives you anything.

Pretty much, intake without exhaust will give you very little. Exhaust (headers) will give you 30hp + a few more for hi-flow cat and cat-back. Performing intake and IM work at that point may give good gains, but you would probably need additional management and ECU updates.

Fun Fun

Once you do a base tune then add on parts depending on how aggressive they are may very well require a retune. I would agree that most dealers would not want to mess with the timing but a tuning shop will do it for you if they think it is going to help rather than hinder you. Then again, some shops will do it just to take your money! Be careful!

different intake manifold & ecu w/ the dual exhaust is what makes the bigger #'s.

If you want reliable..but quick..just invest in..intake..exhaust..headers...udp..and upgraded ecu..if money still left over..go nitrous...best bang for the buck!

I agree. From a IM standpoint, I have not seen what parts intermix appropriately. Some have tried intermixing Pathfinder and/or Z parts without what I would call a "definitive" solution.

Unfortunately, while I still have a Maxi I have not been following up on projects as I used to so the information my be available at this point.