CONTENTS:
PAGE 1: MODIFICATION LIST
PAGE 2: HERE IS A FEW PICTURES
PAGE 3: MOD HISTORY AND SUMMARY 2004
PAGE 4: MOD HISTORY AND SUMMARY 2005
PAGE 5: MOD HISTORY AND SUMMARY 2006

JANUARY-------------------------VARIABLE INTAKE, ENGINE CONTROL UNIT

Well, to start the year off, I didn�t hesitate to get this very crucial mod for my maxima. It�s the MEVI (Middle-Eastern Variable Intake Manifold). This puppy is a redesigned intake manifold which includes a set of butterfly throttles at the very end of the manifold. Opening the throttle at certain rpm range will cause the air to redirect a resonated flow between the valves and the manifold�s reservoir. The result is a refined airflow dynamics to improve the upper rpm to harvest more power for the go. Well, the install is a challenge for the first time. Took me a whole week to get it to work. Routing the Summit RPM Switch can be a little tricky, too. The hardest part of this install for me is the vacuum actuating setup. I happened to not know much of the air hose�s flow directions. But thanks to Ryan(spig)'s help, a week is all I took to get this beast running under my hood. The result is a overwhelming improvement on the high ends. As I gas down the pedal from 2k rpms, the tach�s would slowly climb up to about 3500 rpms, then it is a rocket after that. Around 5k rpms, I experienced a slight dip, followed by an abrupt pick up of power straight to redline at 6500. The results are satisfying, but there is one down side common to this mod. There are loss of low end torque to this mod. I did notice it, but decided to keep it due to the amazing top ends. But, I didn�t take it slow at all. With the slight loss of low end torque with this MEVI, I found just the right solution to this deficit: a JimWolfTechnology ECU. It�s been said over and over from the maxima community that MEVI�s real great on the high end�s, but lacks low end. JWT�s ECU will solve just this huge problem. It has a remapped fuel and timing advance setting which leans out much of the A/F ratio. This compensated my torque loss dollar to dollar. In addition, since MEVI shines on top of the high end performance, the JWT ECU is also equipeed with a 7200 rpms redline. With this new redline, I am able to take the MEVI advantage into an extra 700 rpms rev. The result is a land slide difference. The car feels power in all ranges. However at the end of the rpms around 6900 to 7200, there seems to be a slight hint of power dipping down. Well, seems like this is the limit to both mods together. I wasn�t too worried though; because there�s already so much power harvested by the MEVI and the JWT ECU under the whole powerband.

FEBRUARY-------------------------THROTTLE BODY

It didn�t?strike me that our throttle bodies are significantly in need of being upgraded. The throttle door is a little small, but seems to be a good piece of air control already. However, Stephen Max from the maxima.org happened to be selling this PathFinder ThrottleBody on the classified section. I was tempted to buy it, think it�ll gain lots for my car. The factory throttle body size is in the mid 60 mm's, but the pathfinder's throttle body is 70 mm. With this slight increase of air throttling control, it is theoretically possible to gain good throttle responses from this mod. Steve sure did a good job on the conversion work. He blocked off the bottom IACV section with a plate and made an adaptor to mount it on our stock or MEVI manifolds. Well, the results aren�t as promising, but the throttle response improvements have been sought. Somewhat I hear a loud �hissing?noise coming from the intake area. So I took it off and found that my stupidity should end right there. I didn�t port match the pathfinder throttle body to the manifold section. Well, it all make sense now. The air coming in are greatly obstructed by the sharp manifold ring corners and made a loud hissing noise. After I port it out and matched the junction, it worked just fine. Throttle responses increased a lot more and there�s a little nicer pick up at the end of the rpm range. Unlike a little power dip from last month after 6900 rpms, I experienced a consistent pull up to the rev cut. Also, the throttle response was so fine I even chirped tires during 3rd gear engagement. This isn�t a bad mod at all.

MARCH-------------------------FUEL FILTER, CLUTCH LINE

This month, I didn't have much good deals to catch upon the org, so I'm pretty dormant. I found my fuel filter to be sitting there and keep having this thought that the filter is clogged. I am getting annoyed as I think more and more about it. So I decided to change it. I found that 300ZX FUEL Filter is a direct swap except it's a little bit bigger in volume. So I just simply slap it on there. Not bad for 10 bucks. Then at the end of the month, I found my clutch to be slipping a bit, especially at higher operating temperatures. I want to assume this problem to come from my clutch pressure's hydraulic setup, but couldn't be sure. So I followed up on this group deal from the maxima.org again and got a cheap set of Stainless Steel Clutch Line and installed it. It didn't improve my slipping conditions, but did show a little sharper accuracy for the gear engagements. the pedal resonse is very active overall.

APRIL-------------------------UNDERDRIVE PULLEY, SHIFTER SETUP

My long wait for the MotorStorm Underdrive Pulley finally came through this month. The pulley is much light than the stock pulley and it's diameter is a slight smaller. The installation was no sweat. I paid 30 bucks and had my friend do it in the mechanic shop. The result is a priceless engine response. together with my other mods, it revs so quick and climb up the rpms during drive much faster. It felt like I've picked up a little bit of "released power" in all rpm ranges. The downside to this mod is that it's quick to drop down the engine spins, too. Resultingly, if I don't shift fast enough during a quartermile race, it'll kill my time, too. Well, I just have to get used to this. Since I need to shift fast enough, I found myself bounded to modify my shifter setup. Stock shifter is relatively tall, and I'll need a much shorter one to help cut my shift throw. I found this deal on Custommaxima's Short Throw Shifter and Shifter Boot for a nice price. The install was a cake, but difficulties are sought because I would have to open up the heatshied above the catalytic converter. Later, I also followed upon this maxima.org group deal on Top Element Polyurethane Shifter Bushings group deal. After the installation, shifting sensations is unbelievable. It's shifting sharp and short. Some of my friends came to my car to play with it; they claimed that it feels like the american muscle car shifters: hard and almost no play.

MAY-------------------------IGNITIONS, FUEL BOOSTERS

A few acquaintences in Taiwan led me to discover the Splitfire Ignition CoilPacks and Benali's Nano Feul Boosters. The Ignition Coilpacks are of an astoundingly high price to get. I overcome the ordering and shipping difficulties through my good friends in Taiwan. Thanks to them, these coils got to America as fast as they can. Installation was at ease, a straight swap is the job. The result was astonishing, no loss or gain of low end torque was experienced, but high end driving was insane. It's a monster on the highways. Didn't even need to down shift to pass up others in no time. I am completely dazzled by this mod. The Benali's Nano Fuel Boosters consist of magnetic coils around the fuel lines and a sharp cutter air filter at the intake section. The result was said to improve many horsepowers in both low and high powerbands, but I sought nothing from it.

JUNE-------------------------MOTOR MOUNTS

Seems like I get lots of wheel hops when I launch. I definitely need some great launching mods. Before I even begin, My motor mounts are found to be shot. So I caught Cattman's Energy Suspensions Poly Urethane Motor Mounts to be handy at the moment. The installation isn't part of my capability. So I took it to a shop and have it done for 100 bucks. The result was a harsh engine padding and a feel of a "stomp!" in every aggressive shifting. I kind of like this feel, but after a while, it is pretty annoying. But a mod is a mod, so I'll keep it for good.

JULY-------------------------EXTERIOR LIGHTS

I figured my car looked too stock for some reason, I decided to do something about my lights. I added Diamond Cut Clear Corners and converted the stock headlight bulbs from 9004 to Silvania's SilverStar 9007 bulbs. This conversion isn't hard at all, just had to splice some wires and reroute them. I also re routed my clear corner lights to blink alternatively. For the taillights, I was waiting for a group deal to convert them to red/clear corners, but the deal didn't work. So I end up painting the tails into a smoked sensation. The results weren't so bad. Acutally the car looks very smooth after all.

AUGUST-------------------------EXHAUSTS (2)

With a loud exhaust for a whole year, I finally realized how tired of it I am. I decided to trash the Megan Racing exhaust and get something decent and worthwhile. I searched around and came across this set of Cattman's Full Exhaust Set. This set of Cattman's quality product includes the headers, high flow catalytic converter, B-section, and muffler. It is a whole package, though pretty expensive, but a very worthy setup. I cannot wait to begin to tell everyone how this exhaust setup sounds. It isn't even loud at all. At lower rpms, it's just a slight deep tone, and at full throttle, it's a un-deep, but slightly louder note. The whole setup is just classic. Nothing can compare to this, though I haven't heard notes from Greddy Sp2's. I already will give all the credits to Cattman's for quality exhaust notes. Also, for my intake and exhaust setup, I needed bigger exhausts, and Cattman is the only quieter exhausts with 2.5" design throughout. The power harvested by Cattman's full exhaust is a slightly torquier launch than my previous setup with budget y-pipe and magan racing catback. However, putting the power gains aside, the sound itself will dazzle and overcome any un-worthiness sought in the price tag Cattmans puts on this exhaust setup. Here's what I told my fellow friend's from the org:
"Generally, Cattman's full exhaust isn't loud at all. First, If you just buy their muffler section, that won't make much difference at all. And it will be semi-loud and it will sound slightly untuned. If you go with their catback system, you'll see a slight increase in pick up and a moderate increase in sound level. It's kinda loud but not very bad. At least it's still quieter than all 4 other exhausts I've went through so far. If you get their headers alone, you'll see a day and night difference in everthing. Somehow those headers give a very hard bang on my low end torque and gives moderate high end gains. And the sound, dude, I cannot stress enough, they made the exhaust air flow from both banks for the engine to be equal length. The result is a fine tuned exhaust tone. And the most important thing is: it's made the whole thing even quieter.
Now, if you do the full cattman's exhaust, you'll find yourself in the upper class of the exhaust tuning world. You'll get a very good engine-throttle response, a very fine tuned exhaust note with no return drones--that is the drone you ususally get when you step up the engine rpms and release it; the drone is usually loud and annoying, but not Cattman's. There's no drone nor buzz, just a slight hint of exhaust flow. At idle, the full exhaust sounds just like stock, quiet, and not much sound at all. If you accelerate the car slowly, you can barely hear the exhaust note. Passing 3k rpms is where you'll start to hear a slight increase in sound pitch, but it's not that noticeable. Then at around 5k to redline is when it starts to quiet down again. It's kinda weird how this can happen, but it's true. I can hear my intake's suction sound way more than I can hear it from Cattman's. The loudest of Cattman's full exhaust is a midrange, and that loudness isn't a ricey loud, it's a mid-pitch tuned loud, I like every sound of that kinda noise. With Cattman's full exhaust, and a popcharger intake, I can hear my intake's ear-peircing suction sound more than I can hear the exhaust at the highest exhaust sound level. That should give you a very good idea of the whole story.
Also, Cattman's exhaust is a 2.5" mandrel piping setup throughout, except at the primary and secondary section of the headers. But there's no bigger hearders I can find. I am very fond of Cattman's full exhaust system because it gives me the best performance with the lowest sound level of all the aftermarket exhausts I've gone through."
In my point of view, this is the best mod I did to my car because of its performance gains without sacrificing the sound level. I hate to drive around town with a loud exhaust and had to wake up the whole neighborhood. This exhaust does none of it.

SEPTEMBER-------------------------TRACTION BARS

Every month I would mod my car, September is the beginning of my busy LSU semester, but it's not left out for my mods either. I wanted to eliminate my wheel hop problems sought in my overall launching setup. This time, I found JCLAW'S Traction Bars on a group deal on the Maxima.org. I got it soon and installed it for a test ride! The install was no biggie. Piece of cake. The ride is incredible. The chassis seems locked at this point, and launches are greatly improveed by the wheel hop eliminations. I cannot do any better than this. It's a woohooo!! great mod. However...Downside to this mod is the bar design itself. After I test drove the car and come back onto the parking lot, I get out of the car and saw a puddle of oil under my car. I freaked out and jacked it up to find the leak. It happens that the passenger side bar has banged up my oil filter and ripped a huge hole to cause the oil leak. Well, till I modify it to fit correctly without problems, I will not race with these bars on my car.

OCTOBER-------------------------INTERNAL ACCESSORIES

Well, the car is pretty good now, but I'm ready for a bigger mod. That is Camshafts. Preparing for that to come, I decided to add some last mods to my car: Some new carpets and stuff. Well, I found these Aluminum Diamond Plate Carpets and some Nissan Emblem Doorsills. Installation is a cake. And it did make my interior look much better. With the Blue LED's I already have in the car, it glows and relects over the aluminum plates. It's very nice, almost rice. Meanwhile, I finally completed the customizing relocations of my Valentine 1 Radar Detector and installed a Clarion's MP3 Head Unit w/Claion and Kenwood 4-Way Speakers.

NOEVEMBER-------------------------CAMSHAFTS (1), CLUTCH SETUP (2)

I wanted to do JimWoldTechnology Camshafts for a long time already. I have been longing for this mod and lastly, with nothing else to do; I decided to hit the brick wall and craze about it. I bought a set. The first install was a complete failure. I cracked the long intake cam and JWT wouldn't break a set to sell it to me. I then bought another set from them, because I'll have it done one way or the other. Well, turns out that my engine needs some rework too. So I bought another engine block from the salvage, compression tested and all. The second attempt lies in the following month. About my clutch setup. My last stage 2 Spec clutch was slipping pretty bad already, so I decided to go to the next level and in the mean time, change the frictin plate for the Stillen's flywheel. So I purchased the Spec's 6-Puck Stage 3 Carbide Steel Clutch. Coupled with Stillen's Flywheel Replacement Friction Plate, this setup is also phenomenal compared to my slipping Stage 2 Kevlar Clutch.

DECEMBER-------------------------CAMSHAFTS (2), VALVESPRINGS, OIL PUMP
On the second install, onto the new engine block, the same long intake camshaft broke again. I really don't know what the deal is, but this is no fun at all. My mechanics decided to rebuild the whole thing from the bottom up just to make sure "everything" is within specs. They don't want any ghosts on this coming 3rd try. Well, rebuilding the engine got me to think...
If I'm having all the stuff taken off anyways, why not install the JimWolfTechnology ValveSprings? In addition, why not also add on the Nissan 350Z Oil Pump? Since both mods will ensure a heavier duty valve train capability, I can surely bring my rev limit up to 8k rpms in the future. So this is final, I ordered the whole thing and have them install them. The result was a formidable high end beast. I felt much of a loss in the low end torque, but on the high end drive, it's insane...

Problems: I have a weak timing chain tensioner, so I would need to have that replaced. The car now drives fine but with a very annoying erratic noise from within the timing chain cover. The noise is mostly heard during idle, and it's getting worse everyday.

Well, the bottom line is: I did it all. I did pretty much all the mods available to a 4th gen maxima. I am near broke and need to quit now. So this is it. Goddbye everyone...

CONTENTS:
PAGE 1: MODIFICATION LIST
PAGE 2: HERE IS A FEW PICTURES
PAGE 3: MOD HISTORY AND SUMMARY 2004
PAGE 4: MOD HISTORY AND SUMMARY 2005
PAGE 5: MOD HISTORY AND SUMMARY 2006