Help in increasing performance on my 1999 Nissan Maxima?

Question

Just needed a little help in increasing the performance on my car. I've been looking at the warpspeed y-pipes as my first upgrade in speed but don't know what after that. What else will give me a pretty good hp gain that won't really sacrifice my mpg which isn't that good to start with. I've got a link on ebay from seller here-http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/WARPSPEED-MAXIMA-EXHAUST-Y-PIPE-HI-FLOW-CAT1989-2001_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33631QQihZ019QQitemZ290133184008QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW. Would this result be okay and does a high flow CAT really necessary to have for hp gains. Any help at all is greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Actually the above answer is a common misconception. By adding mods like the y-pipe and intake you are actually making the engine more efficient in producing power, the keyword there being efficient. You can actually mod your car to get more power and increase fuel efficiency as well. You do use more fuel when using the extra power (i.e. heavy/full throttle), but with the engine breathing better and being more efficient you use less fuel at partial throttle. Most don't realize that you are only making maybe a few horsepower under partial throttle when cruising.

I would definitely get the y-pipe, they're one of the best mods for Maximas. I'd also get an intake and possible even a cat-back exhaust setup as that will help out a tiny bit as well. As far as high flow cats... in most cases I'd stay away from them. You'll probably see some small gains with them but they're not known for lasting very long. As far as performance goes, it will free up a bit of power but if it does have a short life you'll be spending quite a bit of money to keep that small bump in power.

If you have a 5-speed I highly recommend a lightened flywheel. The difference is amazing and felt immediately. The engine becomes much more responsive and revs much quicker. Due to the reduced weight it does make it slightly more difficult to take off from a stop (you generally have to rev a little more or slip the clutch a bit more) but the performance difference is worth it.

Another thing you can get is a lightweight crank pulley. Most pulleys are underdrive pulleys, which isn't all that great in my opinion as you only get about %15 more power from the underdrive, but it will free up the engine a little more like the flywheel.

I believe some of the 4th gen Maxima guys even upgrade the intake plenum. I don't know this part for sure, but I believe the 2000 model had a variable intake manifold, which can help make some more power. I don't know the specifics as I'm more of a 3rd gen guy but you can check out my source link for more info. There are quite a few guys there that should have some info on that mod.

Other things you can do to make the car fast is actually wheels and tires. It can be a little hard to do going with aftermarket wheels/tires but if you can get a lighter wheel/tire combo it will actually help just like the flywheel would to squeeze every last bit out.

Other options are ECU tuning. You can use a piggy back controller like a Greddy Emanage or Apex'i S-AFC to perfect your fuel tuning. The Greddy can also modify timing I believe and is definitely the much more powerful unit. Most of the 4th gen Maxima guys that I know use it for their turbo setups as it gives them tons of flexibility. To do this properly though, you'll need to take it to a dyno shop with wideband o2 sensor capabilities or get your own wideband o2 sensor. They're pretty affordable these days and if you have any plans for forced induction down the road are a must have.

That's all I have for now. Hopefully this will help out a bit. Good luck!

Answer 2

Ok the car is eight model years old. The new maxima has 269 hp. Gets better fuel economy handles better safer more air bags larger interior. In order to make power you start with compression ratio change add tubocharger or supercharge your engine. That requires lots of money to make power you have to feed more fuel to the motor. Y pipe won't do anything with out lots of exhaust and intake modifications pluss you will not be able to smog test the car. Removing alter ant emission device In Texas California will fail your car on smog test alone.

Answer 3

that is a loaded question, any time you increase power, fuel use also increases, there is no way around it. if you use a cool can to drop fuel or intake air temperatures, more fuel is soon to fallow. if you are going nuts with nitrouse, fuel must also fallow. you just can not avoid it.

Answer 4

Change the fuel filter, might not give you horsepower but it can help with performance if your old fuel filter is dirty. $15.00