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3.5L V6 Nissan Power Adds - Best Practices?


Oregonian
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As you see from my other post, my '02 Pfinder SE is bone stock except for the new lockers. Warranty is dead in 900 miles..so I can begin playing under the hood. YAY!

 

Does anyone have suggestions for some good "bang for the buck" bolt-on mods for under the hood?

 

Maybe...

 


  • Larger Thottle bodies
    Air filter/intake plumbing changes
    Exhaust Changes (need to keep the Catalytic Convertor, boo.)
    Computer Mods (timing, mixture, etc)
    Injector Swaps
    Other suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance for the responses! I'm loving these boards, you guys are great!

 

-Oregonian

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Well, unfortunately, there are virtually no true "bolt on" mods made for the pathfinder specifically. Most people looking for a couple extra horses will go the route of a K&N filter and a custom exhaust set up (custom cause pretty much no one makes a bolt on kit)...there's been talk before of swapping in the heads and intake manifold from a 350Z, but no one's done it. Headers, you're SOL unless you can fab your own or know someone who could. One of the members on Nico has been trying to get some light weight underdrive pulleys made up, but so far no dice...he's working on it, though. Electric fan would free up a couple ponies...That's about it...

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Thanks SixGuns. I figured as much after a quick look around the net for parts.

 

I've never been a big fan of underdrive pullys...seems like a lot of sacrificing cooling/charging for a fairly small gain. I'm sure letting it breathe with a K&N filter/plumbing and a bigger exhaust will be my first change.

 

The 350Z part interchangability route sounds like fun. I wonder how many parts/mating surfaces/specs are shared between those motors! I used to run a 1970 Mustang on the street for fun...half my life was spent in interchangability charts trying to find better parts from nearby models with common mating surfaces. Back to the reasearch, I guess!

 

Thanks for the idea! Cheers!

 

-Oregonian

 

Well, unfortunately, there are virtually no true "bolt on" mods made for the pathfinder specifically. Most people looking for a couple extra horses will go the route of a K&N filter and a custom exhaust set up (custom cause pretty much no one makes a bolt on kit)...there's been talk before of swapping in the heads and intake manifold from a 350Z, but no one's done it. Headers, you're SOL unless you can fab your own or know someone who could. One of the members on Nico has been trying to get some light weight underdrive pulleys made up, but so far no dice...he's working on it, though. Electric fan would free up a couple ponies...That's about it...

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Thanks for the link beastpath.

 

I'm not sure I'm ready to swap out cams quite yet. I'll hold onto the thought and try to work on intake/exhaust/timing/mixture/etc for now. That site has lot of hardward on it.

 

I did have to laugh, though...

 

$275 for a Nismo Cold air intake? :ohmy: PASS.

 

-Oregonian

 

 

There are replacement cams on www.4x4parts.com for the 3.5 that supposedly give 10% increase in HP.

Edited by Oregonian
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Take an 87-2000 VG powered pathy for a test drive and you will never complain about power again LOL.

 

Kidding aside there really is no specific performance parts for the r50s which sucks!

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The intake is a BIG deal, make your own though and do not uise the factory piping, it really slows air down!

 

You can bypass the coolant line going into the throttle body and this will keep the horses you have available simply by not heating up the intake manifold.

 

Exhaust...to my experience on the 3.5 it is better to stay about 2" or less on the dual end and then no larger than 2.5 for the outlet. I went 2.25 and 3 respectively and lost gobs of torque and went back to stock. I have an aeroturbine muffler installed and the rear resonator removed and am pretty happy.

 

ECU...I have read that you can pay Nissan (or whoever you know that has access to a CONSULT II programmer) to advance your ignition timing 2 degrees (using high octane) to safely get more perfomance and MPG. I have yet to bother my local dealer, but really want to.

 

 

There... $.02

 

edit: you can change your gears to the 4.63 ratio to extract more quickness, but you will lose some MPG on the highway.

Edited by 02silverpathy
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Pretty much no reason you couldn't add the supercharger, so long as you swap in the heads and intake manifold from the Z. Not sure how much boost the stock internals on the 3.5 can take though...I'm kinda surprised no one's tried it yet...maybe another project to tackle once I get back to Cali.

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I bought the K&N Intake because I was stupid and like to waste money...I love it, but Chris (02silverpathy) bought the intake pipes and filters you can get at your local auto store and built a custom intake for 1/10 the price I paid. And he built a custom heat shield. I will say that this engine sounds sweeeeeeeeeet with an intake on it.

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The thread title sounds like you just came from a corporate meeting. Buzzwords, anyone?

 

That said, you can notice a small gain in acceleration/throttle response by removing your intake resonator. Beyond that, I think most everything has been covered.

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Thanks for all of the responses!

 

I'll have to look into the resonator removal, not a welder bone in my body.

 

I have to agree on the supercharger this late in life on a 3.5 - That's one of those things to do AFTER researching the cost of a new long block! :FartExplode-vi:

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Thanks for all of the responses!

 

I'll have to look into the resonator removal, not a welder bone in my body.

 

I have to agree on the supercharger this late in life on a 3.5 - That's one of those things to do AFTER researching the cost of a new long block! :FartExplode-vi:

The intake resonator is just a piece of plastic below the airbox. There's just a few bolts that you have to unscrew to remove it. The easiest way to remove it is to take the front driver side tire off (don't have to but it's easier that way), then the plastic liner in the wheel well. Once you have the liner removed, you should see it. Takes maybe 10-15 minutes.

Edited by TooQForYou
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The intake resonator is just a piece of plastic after below the airbox. There's just a few bolts that you have to unscrew to remove it. The easiest way to remove it is to take the front driver side tire off (don't have to but it's easier that way), then the plastic liner in the wheel well. Once you have the liner removed, you should see it. Takes maybe 10-15 minutes.

Agreed this is the easiest way to hopefully get a little more air to the engine...and I got a little bit of sound on my 97 doing that...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I bought the K&N Intake because I was stupid and like to waste money...I love it, but Chris (02silverpathy) bought the intake pipes and filters you can get at your local auto store and built a custom intake for 1/10 the price I paid. And he built a custom heat shield. I will say that this engine sounds sweeeeeeeeeet with an intake on it.

did he write a "how to" thread about this? I looked all over and couldn't find a thread about it.

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Agreed this is the easiest way to hopefully get a little more air to the engine...and I got a little bit of sound on my 97 doing that...

 

Be warned that removing the air box resonator from the 3.5L completely exposes the bottom of the air box to water and mud. I made the mistake of removing mine in preperation for the K&N (which was never delivered) and it cost me an engine. How? By driving through a muddy puddle on a trail no more than a foot deep. The fender liner acted as a forced 'water' intake leading to the hole under the air box and subsequently filled the engine with water in less than the distance of the 3-4 foot puddle. An ~$1800 dollar lesson I wish I hadn't learned. FTR, pulling the VQ35 is a major pain in the ass.

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I definitely wouldn't recommend removing the intake resonator if you have the stock air box on the vehicle. This will direct all air suction to the fender well and that will be no good, especially if you don't have a skid plate or fender liner. I would only remove the intake resonator if you have a conical filter installed that can pull air from other sources besides the fender well. Some people have used a flexible pipe to set up "ram" air", directing the air from the plastic louvers next to the fog lights up into the air filter compartment.

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I removed the resonator when I put the K&N intake on. When I go off roading with the K&N I will find some way to plug up the hole in the fender, hopefully a large plunger will fit nicely and will be easy to remove when I get back on the road...

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I removed the resonator when I put the K&N intake on. When I go off roading with the K&N I will find some way to plug up the hole in the fender, hopefully a large plunger will fit nicely and will be easy to remove when I get back on the road...

 

After it was all said and done, I left the resonator off, and bolted/siliconed a piece of plastic over the hole. Air now enters through a 4" circular hole I cut in the front of the box behind the headlight, until I actually put a cone filter on it.

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