Where do i start on my 03 max SE?

[Jiggy]

Wassup guys...auno where to start my mods for my 03 maxima se.....i was thinking about a body kit....but it doesnt look that bad now..and i really dont know how much one costs...and how much it costs to get it installed...if ya'll cna hook me up w/ some suggestions..that would b off the heez..
1:smoka:

[97wvmax]

im not sure bout the 03's but pretty much every1 will prob tell ya to get an intake and exhaust 1st, open up everything.

[Sportscarfanatic]

I read an article in Sport Compact Car magazine. They got a hold of a 350Z and did some mods. They had an exhaust made for it and it actually *hurt* the performance. I also know for a fact that in many cars, after market intakes cause all manner of problems due to the way the particular car senses the air flow into the engine.
From my experience in modifiying several cars in the past, including adding a turbo to a Miata and supercharging another Miata and a GSR, plus modifying my '02 WRX, I would advise using extreme caution with engine mods or suspension mods. Even changing wheels can have adverse consequences. I guess adding body kits and such is OK, it's all up to each persons taste and the depth of their pockets.:sun:

[97wvmax]

all the cars u jus named are sports cars too, maxima is a family car

[Sportscarfanatic]

It does not matter what kind of car you have, modifying ithe engines and drivetrains is more complicated than some folks make it out to be. I don't know about other folks Maximas, but mine is more than a family car. For goodness sake, the car has a 3.5 liter, 255 hp engine, close ratio 6 speed transmission, limited slip differential, 17" alloy wheels and high performance tires, sports suspension, etc. That's about as "family" as a Lexus IS300 or BMW 531, etc. 4 door sedans can be quite sporty. Besides, what does it matter if a car is "sporty" or not? Actually, the sporty cars are much more likely to take upgrades better since they are designed for higher levels of performance than some slow turning, small displacement engined cars.
No matter what kind of car you have, best do your homework very carefully before changing parts. Many times you end up wasting money and time on mods that do little more than making the car noisier and often hurt the low end performance too.

[SkyTorch]

Amen. The Max is well tuned and well balanced. I have wanted to add a something to mine, but I haven't really found what I want. None of the engine mods are really cheap. Many will void your warrenty. Some can actually shorten the life of the engine. Almost all will make the car louder, especially if you step on it. Just don't get in a hurry.

I'm waiting to see what NISMO ships over.

[Sportscarfanatic]

Yeah, I think that all the engine, suspension and trim mods that I've done to my cars have had questionable value. I guess the best thing about all of them was that I got some fun out of modifying the cars to personalize them. I reality, it is very difficult to improve these cars significantly without spending lots of money and producing negative consequences.
My Max is really quite nice as we ordered it. I guess I could put a 75 hp shot of nitrous in it and get a second or so off the 1/4 mile mile times, but it really can make a mess out of the car and shorten the engine life considerably. Headers, exhausts and intakes are by and large bullshit mods. I would bet the $1K or $2K that those mods cost could give you a lot more results by taking persformance driving school. I've never seen more than 5 to 15 (very optimistic) horses come out of intake, header, exhaust mods. These will definitely make the car noisier, probably mess with emissions, and destroy your gas mileage. The intakes are particularly bad because they often cause CELs and many of them are prone to destroy the engine due to hydrolock as they try to pick up cooler air near the bottom of the car. If you ever drive one of those in a deep puddle, you can kiss your engine (many $K) good bye. Besides, my Max already has a cold air intake from the factory.
I've spent many thousands of dollars modifying cars. It's been fun and all, but in reality, pretty dumb. If I had saved that money and added it to the price of the cars, I could have bought me a fine, very high performance car that came already tricked out from the factory and would have kicked the crap out of my modded cars performance wise :o

[SkyTorch]

Jiggy, I don't know if you know who NISMO is, but ask the dealer (or your favorite mos shop) about thier parts. NISMO stand for NISsan MOtorsports. Basically, they are Nissan designed/distributed high perf parts that won't void the warrenty. Currently, they are only availble in Japan - unless you know somebody. Rumor has that will start distributing parts in the US through dealerships and a select few shops. The same rumor says that we start seeing parts this fall. For what cars and how product will be a wait-and-see thing.