For anyone that may dispute the “gains” from doing this mod. gains will only be seen/felt if your stock/current ground wiring is shot, corroded and/or outdated. Long story short. I went out and bought some Streetwires UFX4 Clear power wire from Magnolia Hi-Fi, 9ft of it to be exact. So I cut it to the lengths provided in the installation tutorial (photos included).
Bought some generic stainless steel terminals (4AWG) and crimped them myself. Cost, $19.00 for wire, about $9.00 for terminals, already had necessary tools for the job. $28.00 compared to $50.00, definitely better, but it does take time. About 1.5 hours for preparing and installing the wires if you custom make them.
Benefits that I can tell right away. Stock speakers KICK now haha, but really, they sound a lot better, much clearer lows and better mid/high range. Headlights and all other lights are MUCH brighter! Windows roll up/down faster.
These are the wire lengths for the 98 maxima according to activetuning:
14″ grounding cable from the negative battery terminal to the chassis
16″ cable is installed from the cylinder head empty M6 threaded hole near the dipstick to the chassis
12″ cable runs from the timing cover harness bracket bolt to the chassis ground
15″ cable is installed from the firewall to the intake
As for the other stuff…
Increased Horse Power & Torque
Awesome Looks
Faster Shifts on Automatics
Improved Mileage
Reduced Emissions
Stronger & Faster Starts
Smoother Idle
More Responsive Acceleration <~~ noticed a difference right away
I went to the “Dyno Day” at Dyno Extreme on Sunday, 03-02-08 in Stanton CA (near Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park) with James / The Wizard. Well, I got my highest horsepower to date! 322.76 HP and 307.82 TQ.
Last year I was around 240. So, with an 80+ HP increase, I’m quite stoked, to say the least. A HUGE thanks goes out to Jimbo “The Wizard” Ozouf for helping me crank out 3 pretty big mods in just a week before the dyno.
Total (power) mods and variables are as follows:
Un-tuned
Unless I say otherwise below, I have all OEM parts and the “stock” parts that come with the Stillen SC kit (yes this means: stock injectors, stock MAF, standard Vortech FMU with 8:1 disc, Bosch bypass valve, stock fuel pump, etc.)
One-step colder NGK platinum plugs gapped to 0.037”
91 Octane gas
13.7 lb 17” rims
12.5 lb 12.2” rotors (stock are 15lb ea.)
Cattman cat-back
LSS test pipe (just for dyno and track days)
Warpspeed Fed Spec aluminum Y-Pipe
Fed Spec. left bank manifold (from Fanaticrock – thanks man!)
(I did a CA spec –> Fed Spec left exhaust bank manifold conversion which eliminated the huge left bank pre-cat. I installed a Cattman O2 simulator for the two downstream O2 sensors)
Vortech V2 supercharger, freshly re-built
2.87” Vortech SC pulley (see boost/PSI information below)
Custom intake piping
A 5”d x 8”l PWR water to air aftercooler (barrel design) with a Bosch water pump, a Jackson Racing front-mount heat exchanger, and a Vortech ice chest/water reservoir.
Thermal insulation to protect the underside of the intake tubing from the exhaust manifold/engine heat.
4th gen. Variable Intake set at 5200 RPMs (installed by The Wizard, the VI master)
Perma-Cool oil cooler (not sure if that results in a power increase or not, but, just in case)
I think that’s it. I hope I am not forgetting anything.
Oh, and my I30 fuzzy A, B and C pillars (good for at least 10 HP )
I have a bad memory but I think the mods that are new this time (322HP) from last time (240HP) are: one-step colder plugs, lighter rotors, Cattman catback, Fed. Spec. conversion, re-built blower (which fixed a chipped impeller blade and inlet oil leak), a few more PSI, larger PWR AC which replaced a smaller JR AC (see explanation below), 4th gen. VI, VLSD tranny with cooler, oil cooler. But I did have my fuzzy pillars last time (otherwise I would have dynoed at 230)!
As far as the boost / PSI level… Well, on the dyno I made maximum boost of 10PSI. However, I always hit 12PSI max on the street. The dyno owner/operator told me this was normal and it’s because the dyno has less of a load than the street. Huh?
I recently replaced my small 3”d x 11”l Jackson Racing (JR) water to air aftercooler (AC) with the PWR AC mentioned above. The PWR is supposed to be more efficient in cooling and result in less boost loss. I now lose 1PSI across the PWR AC where before I lost 2PSI across the JR AC. I also have a dual intake temperature gauge by Autometer. I have one probe upstream of the AC and one downstream. With my JR I would see about a 10 degree difference during idling/cruising and a max delta of 40^ during a full boost run. With the PWR I know see a 15-20^ delta when cruising and a 60^ delta during a full boost run. During the dyno, I added ice to the ice reservoir and saw a max delta of 85^!
Dyno Extreme didn’t hand out dyno graphs that day. So, excuse me for the digital camera photo of my dyno. The owner should be sending out the run files via e-mail shortly so I will post up the dyno when I get it. Also, these are the uncorrected numbers.
I’m really stoked. Two of my dreams were achieved at once: 1.) Break 300HP and 2.) Get a single-digit weight to horsepower ratio (~2900 lb / 322 HP = 9.00 LB/HP!!).
Remove headlights, corners, grill, and bumper lights
Remove bolts that attach bottom splash guards to the front bumper
Remove 3 bolts under the grill
Remove 3 bolts on each side attaching the bumper to the fender (they can be accessed from the bottom of the car. Reach your hand from the bottom towards the top. You should feel them and see them)
Year: 1997 Model: Cefiro / A32 Maxima Current Color: Black Transmission: Automatic Trim: SE / TT
Highlights: Car is currently on Tomei Arms M7655 Turbos and makes 432 WHP / 500 TQ @ 10 PSI. On OEM Nissan GTR R34 Turbo’s, it made 360 WHP / 400 TQ @ 7PSI. The car is still on stock VQ30DE engine and transmission. Now that’s very impressive! The car is also daily drive.
Always been a fan of Rays Engineering wheels on my Nissan Maxima’s. Below are the specs for my 1998 Nissan Maxima. My setup is full set of front wheels.
Wheels: 19×9.0 +47mm
Tires: 245/40/19
Spacers: Using a 10MM spacer on the front wheels due to clearance for Air Bag Struts.