hey guys,

i saved up 504 dollars and i was thinking... there are so many mods that increase horse power and such. and i even noticed that sometimes, more horse power and result in low torque. i live in a city and i dont off road so i dont really need horse power i was wondering what is the best mod to increase low end torque under 500 dollars.

any suggestions?

i guess some diffrent gears....

bigger cams=less mpg but increase in all around power

since SLR bit the dust im not sure where you can get them, search the intarwebz for vg33e cams
or if you got the new school X search cams for the vq40

you can upgrade your tb and plenum with a CAI but that might also be more for hp.

IMO your typical performance intake on a naturally aspirated engine dosent really give you more power
but tey really help your throttle response

I would suggest an exhaust and an intake manifold spacer. Not sure on how much $$ that is though.

Has anyone tried using phenolic intake spacers.On my maxima using the spacers there is a 10hp and 12ft-lb torque increase that is across the dyno curve.This is at the wheels not the crank.I know the company makes them for the VG30 in the 89 -94 maximas so I will ask them if they can make some for the VG33 as well.The increase comes mainly from decreasing the heat soak in the intake manifold and maybe a little torque comes from increasing the plenum runners length but mainly the power comes from reducing the intake charge.I'll be e-mailing them today to find out and if they do I'll be planning on installing them to see how well they will work for the VG33.This does work on the VG30 so I can't imaging it not working our motors as well.

now THAT sounds interesting, please do keep us in the loop for this

Very interesting indeed. I've never heard or thought about that. Definitely keep the club updated on what you find out.

O.K. I talk to aaron at http://NWPEngineering.com .He said if there was enough interest he would make a prototype for the xterra and test it to see what performance gains would be made.You can check out the link to his website for info on the product.Aaron has been a long time member and vendor of the maxima.org community and is very knowledgeable about most all Nissan motors so if you have a question don't hesitate to ask.We just need to get people to verbally express interest for him to make a prototype and see if it would benefit the VG33 as it does the other nissan motors. I'm still going to bug him to make me a set even if enough people don't e-mail him because as I said I know this works on the VG30.

so, before i express official desire for one, what did the one for your maxima cost?

so, before i express official desire for one, what did the one for your maxima cost?

X2 on that......

I had to buy the kit for the 3.5 since I swapped my 3.0 to a 3.5.That kits is more expensive than the other kits since you get more spacers with it because the intake manifold is in 4 pieces. I paid over a couple hundred bucks for mine.The VG30 kit sells for around $150.You don't have to commit to anything just need people to show interest and he will make a prototype to test. I think I put up a link for you to see what he has but like I said I'm not making people commit to something that might not even benefit us that's just crazy.I'm just trying to find a way to get a little more power without sacrificing fuel economy with brings up my next subject searching for headers.My gosh after seeing the way the exhaust manifolds are made with the cats built in I can't imagine how many pony's were are losing because the motor can breath but that's a post for another day.I join communities like this to share info and experiences with other members and sometimes the mods work and sometimes there not worth the money to do but we will never know unless we try them.All I was saying is visit his site and pm him or e-mail him to let him know there are people interset in this.Either way I'll try it out and let everyone know what I've come up with.The dyno is about 5 miles from my house and the owner and I are on a first name bases since I use his machine so much so I'll be doing my own dyno with them when and if I can get them.

sweet
ill pm him manana
all the rest of you peeps should too!

how many of you have emailed him?

aaron@nwpengineering.com

you dudes and dudettes need to email him, this could give us a previously unavailabe performance mod for our rigs

I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Aaron and I am the owner of NWP Engineering, Inc. We specialize in Thermal Intake Spacers for Nissans and we currently have kits available for the 02-08 Maxima, 02-06 Altima, I35, Murano, 89-94 Maxima VG30E, and 92-94 Maxima VE30DE.
I would be interested in making a prototype for the VG33E Xterra if there is enough interest shown.

Here are some pics of the most popular kit for the VQ35DE Maxima:

http://www.nwpengineering.com/images/VQ35DE-FWD-Spacer-Kit-NWP.jpg

http://www.nwpengineering.com/images/VQ35DE-FWD-Spacers-CU-NWP.jpg

http://www.nwpengineering.com/images/CNC-Spacer-Port-Matched-NWP.jpg

If the Xterra tends to suffer from heat soak, the gains will be higher than normal. But insulation is not the only reason to have these made. Our spacers are made of a very durable type of phenolic laminate that will easily outlast the life of your car. They can be reused as many times as you want. They also eliminate the need for intake gaskets since RTV gasket maker is used instead. Also, all our spacers are perfectly port matched and NOT gasket matched like other companies do. This drastically improves airflow since the improperly sized OEM gaskets are removed and the port matched spacers are installed.

We have not conducted specific gas mileage testing. But in all the field testing along with our customer's reviews, no change in gas mileage was noticed. But due to the fact that the intake runners are lengthened, this creates more low end and midrange torque, which should improve gas mileage if anything.

I will stay tuned to this thread and if I feel there is enough demand, we will create a prototype and conduct full dyno and temperature testing. If there is a sufficient gain, the kit will be produced.

i for one know that after my engine has been running, my intake manifold gets pretty darn hot, how about the rest of yall?

a cold air intake dosent do you any good if the air has to pass thru a hot manifold

I'm very interested in what this kit could possibly do for the VG33's. I've never heard of this type of kit and I really would like to see what it can do for the xterras.

Thanks for the time, effort and consideration.

i for one know that after my engine has been running, my intake manifold gets pretty darn hot, how about the rest of yall?

a cold air intake dosent do you any good if the air has to pass thru a hot manifold

Tell me about it. Mine's supercharged and runs hotter than normal. I've thought about running 100% antifreeze just to get the temps down a bit.

Tell me about it. Mine's supercharged and runs hotter than normal. I've thought about running 100% antifreeze just to get the temps down a bit.

After taking a good look at all the Xterra FSMs, it may be possible that the kit made for the VG33E would fit on the VG33ER also.

Also, a higher concentrated mix of antifreeze actually reduces cooling capabilities. 100% water will allow the engine to run much cooler than any antifreeze mixture since water disperses heat quicker than coolant. But you need to run some kind of mixture to prevent corrosion, freezing and to raise the boiling point without having to increase the cooling system pressure with a higher rated cap.

Also, intake temps and coolant temps are completely seperate. The idea behind these Thermal Intake Spacers is to reduce the intake manifold temps and improve airflow. The coolant temps will not be effected.

A Development Interest Thread has been started for the NWP Engineering Thermal Intake Spacers for the VG33E Xterra. Please post in the thread below if you are interested or if you have any questions.

http://www.clubxterra.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2764