5th Generation Maxima (2000-2003)Learn more about the 5th Generation Maxima, including the VQ30DE-K and VQ35DE engines.
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Kinetix SSV UIM / Nissanworks Phenolic Spacers on 2003 SE 6MT Review
Just recently installed the Kinetix SSV UIM and Nissanworks Phenolic Spacers. First, let me caveat that my original intention was to only install the spacers since I was already changing spark plugs. The Kinetix install was a result of cracking the stock UIM and needing to find a quick replacement. I’ve seen the various reviews of the Kinetix manifold and the even more abundant opinions. Bottom line, I needed a quick replacement and Kinetix was the most readily available.
Parts Inspection
Nissanworks Spacers – Very pleased with the precision of the spacers and with the extra attention paid to packaging and labeling of all the parts. Kudos to Aaron!
Kinetix SSV UIM – Disappointed to find that the manifold came with no invoice or instructions. Going to contact Kinetix to see if this was intentional or a result of the quick turn around. Manifold itself was impressive. My biggest gripe is that the design did not account for all of the electrical connections that are supported via brackets on the stock UIM (e.g., the blue and green electrical connections near the firewall on the passenger side).
Install
With the instructions provided by Aaron and the help of http://www.greghome.com/Greg%27s%20G...eplacement.htm the removal of the UIM, elbow, TB, LIM, etc. was fairly straightforward, even for a first timer. I even took the extra time to apply anti-seize to all the bolts as well. A few helpful hints …
- Unbolting the fuel rail and slightly moving it aside makes access to the LIM nuts much easier, thanks soonerfan.
- Some of the bolts/studs were frozen. Do yourself a favor and grab some Liquid Wrench.
- To save coolant from spilling and making a mess on your garage floor, connect the input hose to the return port until you are ready to install the bypass.
- If you are going to use the above link as directions ALWAYS double check with the instructions included with the spacers. I wasn’t as careful and had missed the part where you remove the bracket (near the firewall) that supports the UIM at the elbow. If you don’t remove that bracket the UIM won’t sit flush and you’ll end up cracking the UIM like I did. Lesson learned.
- Resist the temptation and don’t move the TB plate, thanks again soonerfan.
The Kinetix UIM install was fairly straightforward having already gone through the process with the spacers. I had to make some guesses as to where some electrical and hose connections needed to be made, though. Again some instructions from Kinetix would have been helpful.
Did the Accelerator Released Position Learning and Throttle Valve Closed Position Learning procedure. Fingers crossed and started her up. Initial idle was a little high but gave it a few minutes and it settled back down to normal range (no IAV learning needed).
Initial Driving Impressions
With the Kinetix/spacers the car idles very quiet now, almost too quiet but I’m not going to complain. However, the nicest surprise is that I don’t get that annoying bucking at low speeds when you let off of the gas. It’s still there just not nearly as noticeable. Overall, the car drives much smoother. Also, with the Cattman CBE, the car has a lower rumble and there is a nice resonance from the intake/UIM that’s more prevalent. I’ll have to give it more time to see if it’s just my imagination.
Gains? Without a dyno or timed run there’s no real good way to tell. However, the RPMs do seem to rise much faster all the way to redline after 4000. After a spirited 20-min drive I opened the hood to inspect the intake. With heat soak being a concern on the Kinetix it was nice to see that you could touch the manifold without getting burned. Same went for part of the LIM that was exposed as well as the TB.
Knowing what I know now would I do it all over again? The spacers, absolutely. The Kinetix UIM, was done out of necessity. Could you accomplish the same performance for much cheaper using, say, the SSIM … probably. But at this point I don’t regret buying the Kinetix UIM.
Customer Service
Service from Aaron at Nissanworks was awesome. He even took time out of his personal schedule to talk with me when I was having install trouble. Again a BIG THANKS goes out to Aaron.
I’ll hold-off on my assessment of Kinetix until I resolve the missing instruction and invoice.
BTW, still haven't figured out how to post attachments. Aaron, please feel free to post any/all of the pics I sent you.
I would definitely suggest getting on a dyno for tuning asap. Purchase either a greddy emanage or apexi-safc and tune your a/f on the dyno. You don't know what your numbers are like now, most likely a little rich but good tuning will make your curve more linear and you'll get the most out of your mods. I would also suggest buying a technosquare Limited-Spec ecu tune so you can tap that top-end power that you have now. I'm glad to hear some feedback from these manifolds, I think we all have wondered how they perform. Now GO GET US SOME NUMBERS!
__________________
2002 SE 6-speed HLSD: WM STS, ES poly shifter bushings, PR CAI w/ K&N, SSIM, Hotshot headers, Warpspeed MS cat, Cattman Cat-back, ES Motor Mounts, TS L-Spec, Emanage Blue, Cleared out turn signals, Black headlight housing, Umnitza DDEs, Progress RSB, Powerslots/Hawk HPS, Fidanza aluminum flywheel, Exedy Stage 1 clutch, 06 G35 Sedan seats.
Glad you found this review useful guys. No dyno plans on the books. If there is a local dyno meet close-by I'll try my best to make a showing. However, there's no obvious signs of running rich just yet, i.e. little to no carbon deposits on the exhaust tips and no significant change in gas mileage yet. Don't get me wrong, I'm just as curious about the numbers but it might be a while.
puppetmaster, I thought about contacting you but I was under the impression that your spare was already being worked on. Oh well. Good to know there is local support
opanick, didn't mean to steal your thunder. No headers yet and probably not anytime soon so there's still a chance
You don't know what your numbers are like now, most likely a little rich but good tuning will make your curve more linear and you'll get the most out of your mods. I would also suggest buying a technosquare Limited-Spec ecu tune so you can tap that top-end power that you have now.
This statement seems like a contradiction to me. We don't know what this manifold is capable of after 6k.
Quote:
Originally Posted by elcid98
there's no obvious signs of running rich just yet, i.e. little to no carbon deposits on the exhaust tips and no significant change in gas mileage yet.
I think the point he was make was that the general consensus is that these cars run rich from the factory. Most opinions of 'running rich' on here are 13.5 AFR or richer.
man i wanted to be the first to do this, maybe ill be the first to do the Kinetix IM, Nissanworks spacers, cattman headers and exhaust!
or have I be beat to that also????????? lol
I might beat you to that depending on how soon I can get my payment done to get the headers. Oh wait I don't have the kinetix IM but I do have the SSIM
__________________
Progress Coilovers, Otto racing FTSB, Stillen RSTB, Progress RSB, Window tint 20%/5% All Around, Clear Side Markers, Berk w/ JWT Filter, SS brake lines, 350z Ray Rims, Maxxtuning front lip, Stillen sides and rear lip, 300z BBK, SSIM, Xtreme Eyelids, NWP Thermal Intake Manifold Spacer, Truax SFCs, E46 DDE's, Clear Corner, Rainbow speakers, Eclipse AVN 6610, Hifonics amp, Epic 160, HS Headers, Cattman 3" catback
I might beat you to that depending on how soon I can get my payment done to get the headers. Oh wait I don't have the kinetix IM but I do have the SSIM
headers should be sitting in my living room floor by next friday haha
man i wanted to be the first to do this, maybe ill be the first to do the Kinetix IM, Nissanworks spacers, cattman headers and exhaust!
or have I be beat to that also????????? lol
LOL, Im getting my car dyno this saturday before I put the spacer, and another dyno afterwards. I was also considering getting the Kinetix IM to go with the spacer and see if there is any noticeable improvements. Since I already have the whole Cattman setup.
I already have everything on the car except headers. I even have a tuning system installed ready for tuning.
So stop post whoring and go put them on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Utsutsu
LOL, Im getting my car dyno this saturday before I put the spacer, and another dyno afterwards
Is this the same dyno you dyno'd @ last time? I don't recall the exact type, but I know it wasn't a dynojet(intraweb dyno). But it will still be viable since you do have a semi-baseline to go off of.
Quote:
Originally Posted by opanick
well i have an intake and spacers already,
I wonder if we really need an intake. My next dyno session is going to be with the stock airbox.
Quote:
Originally Posted by absoundlab
you might want to clean your engine bay
Quote:
Originally Posted by maxspeedse02
I just looked through the altima forums and many of them said it lost power but haven't seen a dyno yet.
Look hard enough there, or look at a few threads by myself, Jime and few others on here. There is a dyno. Actually, check Kinetix website. The dyno was done poorly. It cuts off @ 6k, so no real definitive value/data can be extracted from it. If they redyno'd with attention to detail, then, perhaps it might be justified for SOME.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Law
I might beat you to that depending on how soon I can get my payment done to get the headers.
Yay Anotehr 4AT A33B N/A member.
__________________ 03 SE 4AT 242whp/238wtq
95 SE 4AT 235k Miles
Is this the same dyno you dyno'd @ last time? I don't recall the exact type, but I know it wasn't a dynojet(intraweb dyno). But it will still be viable since you do have a semi-baseline to go off of.
I was going to a while back but I was not able to go, due to my schedule. But I just made an apointment Saturday morning with a different shop called CarBoys Racing here in Houston. http://www.carboyracing.com/?q=services
I have a dyno sheet posted in the dyno section when I had my cattman headers/ y-pipe installed. This time I will try to get the run files, hopefully I won't forget to take my USB key with me this time.
-94 toyota pickup 4cyl 4x4 daily work truck
-97 camaro z28 [ sold]
-06 -g35 sedan 6MT [sold]
-02 merlot red 6mt full bolt ons [sold]
-97 - maxima 5MT [ hit bambi at 75mph]
I paid the sale price posted on their site plus a little more for overnight shipping.
Update. I had another chance to evaluate the set-up on my commute to work (~25 miles, mostly highway with some traffic light stops at the end), driving time approx. 40-min. Cruising in 6th gear below 2500 was smooth. Had no problem passing on the highway in 6th as well. Modulating the launch from a dead stop is considerably easier and getting into the higher RPMs was no problem either. The intake resonance mentoined earlier is definately there along with the distinctive WAI hissing when aggressive on the throttle. Cruising around, the sound is very tame and, dare I say, close to stock. Open things up and the I/UIM/E come alive. After the commute I popped the hood to again inspect the intake. The runners on the Kinetix UIM were warm at best. The elbow, luke warm. The recorded outside temp, 70 deg. Still no regrets.
It'd be great to meet with some local orgers. Shoot me an email or PM and let's set something up. BTW, I'll be picking up some Simple Green soon. The dirty engine bay is quite embarrasing Is there such a thing as "dirty bling"?
It'd be great to meet with some local orgers. Shoot me an email or PM and let's set something up.
I'll keep that in mind for the next time the VA guys meet up. The guys in Fairfax/Burke (Irish44J, Soonerfan, Cutler, myself) usually either meet up to work on someone's car or when there's an auto-x event. I'm not sure what you're into, but we don't do the parking lot, HIN, random cruising, group photo shoot thing, not that there's anything wrong with that, we're just all old and don't do it.
Check out the DC forums for the DC summer bbq and other meet info too, there are several things planned for the summer.
.... and some of still think it isn't worth the money...
I remember reading through those threads before, I can't seem to find the dyno sheet that was post of the test car. Anyways, If I remember right there was a lost of power at lower RPMS but and a minimal gain at higher RPMS.
Also I think someone post in one of those threads that the Kinetix IM would work better with spacer. But since during that time there were no spacer available, there was no way of knowing for sure.
Now that spacer kits are available to us, maybe the Kinetix IM would work better??
I remember reading through those threads before, I can't seem to find the dyno sheet that was post of the test car. Anyways, If I remember right there was a lost of power at lower RPMS but and a minimal gain at higher RPMS.
Also I think someone post in one of those threads that the Kinetix IM would work better with spacer. But since during that time there were no spacer available, there was no way of knowing for sure.
Now that spacer kits are available to us, maybe the Kinetix IM would work better??
Theoretically, yes, but I don't know how much nor do I have a dyno to prove the validity of that. Remember, the main purpose of the phenolic spacers is to reduce heat soak, the effective increase in runner length is secondary.
Just to clarify, I'm sure the SSV makes power up top, and maybe even some midrange, but IMO the gains don't justify the price. You could modify the stock IM and get the same or better.
The SSV definitely saves you the labor/cost of modifying the stock IM and adds a nice look to the engine bay, so it'll be worth it for some people. Anyway, this has all been discussed before, so I don't want to take this thread too far off topic.
Note: everything I said above applies mainly to N/A applications, I think the G/Z guys with F/I seem to like the SSV, but I could be wrong.
LOL, Im getting my car dyno this saturday before I put the spacer, and another dyno afterwards. I was also considering getting the Kinetix IM to go with the spacer and see if there is any noticeable improvements. Since I already have the whole Cattman setup.
haha i totally forgot about you dude and your setup, and you live in the same city as me, oh well
Perhaps you mean mechanical spacer and not phenolic. That's what I remember reading.
What do you mean by mechanical spacer? A spacer is a spacer regardless of what material it's made out of. If I made my spacer out of aluminum, it would be cheaper. I just use phenolic in order to stop heat from transferring. But, if I were to make a 1" thick spacer, billet aluminum would be the most cost efficient option when you are talking about thick spacers instead of thermal spacers.
If you guys want a different kind of spacer (ie. thicker, metal, etc) let me know and I'll get right on it.
__________________ NWP Engineering Phenolic Thermal Intake Spacers 10hp and 12ft-lb gain & 40°F temp drop on the VQ35DE
That's what I meant. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Semi On the subject of phenolic mat'l. I make parts with that stuff (M40 and a few others). It's very interesting and very expensive, so I see where the cost statement comes from.
That's what I meant. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Semi On the subject of phenolic mat'l. I make parts with that stuff (M40 and a few others). It's very interesting and very expensive, so I see where the cost statement comes from.
Sorry, I'm not familiar with M40.
My spacer is the best of MANY worlds. Lengthening intake runners provides torque, keeping the heat from transferring prevents any loss of top end power and makes for a really cool UIM, reducing the airflow turbulence from one manifold to another, and never having to buy another intake gasket ever again!
__________________ NWP Engineering Phenolic Thermal Intake Spacers 10hp and 12ft-lb gain & 40°F temp drop on the VQ35DE
Anotehr 4AT A33B N/A member.
Sorry for the misunderstanding. 
On the subject of phenolic mat'l. I make parts with that stuff (M40 and a few others). It's very interesting and very expensive, so I see where the cost statement comes from.
Linear Mode
