SilverMax has had to have some major work done in order to keep it fundamentally sound (transmission rebuilt twice, water pump, alternator, timing belt, major tune-up, front axle, tires and drive belts, brakes, power steering pressure hose, rack & pinion assembly, front wheel bearings, etc.). I had a 1992 Honda Accord EX that I really missed until I bought SilverMax!
Current Engine Mods
- Courtesy Nissan FSTB
- APC Cone Intake (replaced K&N Drop-in filter)
- NGK V-Power Sparkplugs
- Bosch Spark Plug Wires
- APC Chrome Battery Tie-Down Bracket
- Bomz Cold Air Intake (REPLACES APC Intake)
- Ground Wires (Courtesy of Maxima.org's own Matt93SE)
Latest Editions (to be installed)
- Warpspeed Performance Y-Pipe (4/16/04)
- MagnaFlow Carsound Hi-Flow Catalytic Converter (4/17/04)
Before & After
OK - here is my plug for the CD-2 Engine Detailing spray. The first time I tried this, I was shocked at how well it worked. This time, I knew what to expect, and I made sure that I didn't use more than I had to. I would advise anyone deciding to use this, to take care to spray plenty of the degreaser of your choice on the parts of the engine that have the most caked-on grease, and also make sure that the engine is on the WARM-side of HOT (not branding-iron HOT) when you use the degreaser. Now, I'm having a hard time finding the CD-2 Engine Detailer in stores, so if there's something else out there that does a similar job, please let a brotha know! As you can clearly see, the stuff works wonders!!!
Here are a couple more images to compare & contrast. I decided to take my car to a nearby coin-operated car wash to clean the engine bay, making sure to cover the alternator, the battery, intake, and spark plug wire connection points with plastic grocery bags and tying them down with rubber bands. I didn't try to make the coverings water-tight, but just enough to cover the vital parts during the cleaning to avoid getting water in places it doesn't belong. Also, DO NOT SPRAY HIGH-PRESSURE WATER NEAR THE SENSITIVE (ELECTRICAL) PARTS OF YOUR ENGINE!!! ...otherwise you'll be catching a cab home, yadig! (I made the mistake of doing that the last time I cleaned the engine bay, and wound up stalling for nearly 10 minutes...) Not bad, eh? I like having a clean engine bay - looks good and feels good knowing that you have it going on under the hood! It also seemed to run better after I had finished cleaning it up! GO FIGURE...
SilverMax had a K&N Filtercharger drop-in replacement stock filter installed when I purchased it, but times change, people change and so do the cars they drive, but I kept hearing about the CAI (Cold Air Intake) and the cone intakes being a better way to go (a.k.a. "Popcharger"), so I decided to try the Popcharger first.
This is an
APC cone air intake attached to the MAF assembly. Inexpensive, yes. Better performance, slightly. You can only expect to get
2-3hp increase with one of these
alone, so the only thing you'll notice right away is the nice growl it helps produce at above 3K RPMs, but not much else. I thought it was a
definite improvement over the drop-In filter replacement, though. I didn't notice any decrease in the low-end torque that I'd heard so much about from people that have installed the popcharger (maybe that was because of the manual transmission).
Of course, that setup was simply an appetizer for the eventual main course. I had always planned to go CAI all the way and I finally purchased the Bomz Cold Air Intake from eBay. This one was made to fit the 1990-93 Honda Accord, but through some innovative minds that frequent the MAXIMA.ORG website, I discovered that some mods could be made to the intake to make it fit in a 3rd Gen Maxima. Here's some photos of the installation process. There's a photo of the template I got from Maxima.org that was used to mark the spot for the hole that needed to be cut in the wheel well. The second photo is of the first portion of the intake that I had to modify later in order to get the entire setup to fit properly. This is commonly known as a "Ram" intake. I noticed that acceleration was much smoother after doing this upgrade, but the engine was still sucking in hot engine air.
And here's the finished product after the MAF adapter finally showed up. I hope you'll agree that it was worth it now that it's all done. I know I'm happy about it! The top right photo shows how much of the S-shaped piping I had to cut off in order to get the CAI to fit. Next to it is the blue pipe connection that had to also be cut in order to attach the MAF adapter to the half of the piping that feeds into the wheelwell. The bottom-left photo is where the hole was cut, and the means by which I chose to line the hole with some left over wire loom. The hole was pretty jagged, and that resulted in some surface scratches to the lower portion of the CAI piping during test-fitting to make sure it would fit through the hole I had to cut. The bottom-right photo illustrates the proximity to my main amp power fuse, and the new negative battery terminal I installed after putting in the ground wire kit.
And since we know what comes in, must eventually go out, I am also upgrading my exhaust setup with the Warpspeed Performance 2.5", mandrel-bent aluminized steel y-pipe AND the MagnaFlow/Carsound Hi-Flow Catalytic Converter.
With the CAI, the y-pipe and the hi-flow cat, I'm looking at an increase of 15-18hp!!! The ground wires are supposed to add as much as +5hp as well, depending on which grounding points are utilized. All that'll be left to get will be a b-pipe and a performance muffler, and I'm leaning towards getting the Warpspeed Performance aluminized 2.5" dia. b-pipe and a AERO Turbine stainless steel muffler to complete the intake/exhaust. I realize that the AERO may be one of them gimmicky-type mufflers, but I'd be feeling stoopid if it really does what it says it does, and I didn't take advantage of a good deal. I just hope it's not too loud once it's all finally completed... I want that subtle-yet-definite little extra that doesn't go advertising to everyone around me that I did something major to my ride, until they wind up behind me, yadig!!!
UPDATED: 5/26/04 - Purchased & installed a custom-made ground wire kit from Matt Blehm from Maxima.org. I've heard nothing but good things about ground wires, and wanted to see if they'd make a difference with my ride. Matt special made them silver for me, and they're very nicely done, I must say! Here's a peek at them. I highly recommend that you order a set from Matt - he does a good job, they're relatively inexpensive and easy to put on, and best of all, he gives detailed instructions on where they should go, and the best way to install them.
Here's what they look like installed on the engine. Can you see the silver wires? I know they're hard to see, but they're there!!! My initial impressions are good. It seems like my electrical system is working better in general, my sound system sounds stronger with nearly NO alternator whine now, and the car idles much more smoothly, in spite of the fact that one of the ground wires is still loose - I have to find, clean and prepare the installation point Matt mentioned, which is under the vehicle. That may be the spot of the biggest difference, so I'm planning on getting to that spot fairly soon.
FYI - I just want to warn anyone attempting to install ground wires to your 3rd Gen Maxima about this particular connection. I'm not going to divulge any of the other points since Matt did such a fine job with my kit, so please don't bother asking. I accidentally broke it during installation by being careless (you may be able to see where I had to KrazyGlue it back together). I suggest that you use a flat-head screwdriver and pry it out to prevent breaking this connection (not sure what this is, exactly, all I know is I broke it and had to fix it really quick). Haven't had any problems so far with it breaking off again since I fixed it, but I figured I'd warn you ahead of time...
I know you audio-types ain't visiting to see this engine stuff, so turn the page and see whether or not a brotha's BUMPIN' or not...
