ericdwong

I finally broke in my clutch and have been doing some spirited driving. All I have to say is WOW. The Quaife differential probably made the hugest difference in terms of handling and launching and I still have stock SE suspension on probably blown SE struts. The car just pulls itself through the turns with zero squeeling. The body roll doesnt even feel there anymore just because the car pulls through so easily.

The clutch is starting to soften up as the chatter isnt unbearable like it was before. Either that or I'm just getting used to driving with it.

As for launching, the Quaife, ACT and poly motor mounts definately solves the peg leg launch syndrome. Before if I would get a wierd launch sometimes only one tire would spin. Especially if I went to bang it into 2nd and the tires would spin. Here, the car just keeps its grip and plants the power to both wheels instead of just one. It chirps a good way through 2nd and will bark 3rd without powershifting. Also, there is zero wheel hop no matter how hard I launch the thing.

I really cant wait to run it at the drags. I think mid/low 14s is reachable. I also think a flat 2 second 60 foot or maybe even high 1 second is attainable. Especially since usually when I drive around the water box, one wheel will usually get soaked, and then I'll get a nice peg leg launch.

I also remember that I've never used my Stillen B pipe with a non slipping clutch, so I believe it also made a big difference in terms of freeing up the exhaust.

As for burning out, the car will spin BOTH tires (important!) by just dumpin the clutch at 3000 RPM and then banging the gas. This way its less abuse on the clutch disc/driveline instead of my previous 5000 RPM drops. Its so awesome, because when both front tires are spinning, the amount of smoke is effectively doubled. Not only that, it wears my tires evenly. The neatest effect is when the FWD starts "walking" the car. The car will actually drift laterally but stay perfectly still longitudally. So much for buying expensive tires from now on.......

theblue

um... get that thing to a track... I am going to be doing this mod soon and I want to see what you can do for 60' times.. test a whole bunch of launch rpms and report back...

MardiGrasMax

iTrader: (14)

Very cool!!!

Greg's2kGLE

Imagine what you could run with a Quaife....

Dave B

Do many of you guys suffer from peg leg launches? My Maxima leaves nearly perfect rubber stripes down the road and it spins both tires going into 2nd. I've never had a peg leg launch on the track either. BTW, a 1.9 60' takes a lot of torque. I don't know if a NA Max is capable of a 1.9. It's worth a try. I always figured the Quaife did more in turns and did very little on the track.


Dave

bullseye

It definitely helps in the curves/corners. In the straights, both front wheels/tires effectively pull you along instead of just one. I guess you could say it doubles your traction in the straights...

ericdwong

I have a feeling I know why I've always peg legged launching and having problems with 1 wheeled burnouts. My toasted differential bearing was to the passenger side. Not only that, the passenger CV shaft is 2x as long as the drivers, so more rotational mass to spin. This in my open differential caused all the power to try to go to the left side. The toasted bearing is incredibly difficult to spin compared to the good bearing. I think a 2.0 flat 60 foot is reasonable. I and many others here have pulled 2.1 60 foots. And I was on blown motor mount, street tires and slipping clutch.

Nealoc187

iTrader: (23)

I get tons of wheelhop if i launch too hard at the track. I don't launch hard or do burnouts on the street so I don't know about that.

I don't think 1.9 60's are going to be possible without drag radials, no matter what you have done. Tons of other cars have limited slip differentials out there, and the lowest 60' I've ever heard of for a front drive car with street tires is 2.09. I guess there's a first time for everything, but I can't imagine it happening. We can hope though.

Prodeje79

~EXCELLENT~
/me waits for his clutch and FW to come in

I am ready to go with my install!!!!

YEEEE HAW!!!!! hehehehehe

2ndMAX

I've heard some owners complain of a vibration filled idle. If this is the case, could a small idle adjustment reduce the vibration. For example upping the idle speed from ~650 rpms to maybe ~750. Just an idea. I'm currently looking for some new mounts, although I haven't checked the price for stock mounts (I'm sure Nissan is asking an arm and a leg for them) I'm seriously considering the Place Racing mounts but if it makes the idle really bad and with the existing fitment issues I may just consider some stock mounts. Just curious, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

PS: Congratulations on all the hard work getting your car back on the road. I've been watching your progress and I'm thoroughly impressed. I wish I had the ***** to open my tranny. I'm currently suffering from some minor bearing problems, aside from excessive noise at high engine speeds all other functions are like new. Thanks to members like yourself I really learn about how my car works.

ericdwong

Hey thanks for the kind words. Alot of support came from the internet from previous members. Anyway my idle speed used to be at 500 RPM or so. After I put in the mounts, the car was really banging through the gears and vibrating at idle. I think things have settled down some after 400 or so miles of driving. The clutch isnt as chattery. Yes I did have to turn up the idle to combat the vibration. 750 RPM is a perfect idle speed that just gets rid of the vibration . I dunno if I'm the only one with Place Racing motor mount issues though. I still do get wheel hop sometimes in the 1-2 shift. I can probably cure this with polyurethane control arm bushings and lowering the car. Then most slack will be removed from the driveline :-)

shumax

Hey, that's great news for you. However, I think that I can start to understand why your prior tranny either died or was on it's way out. It SEEMS like you are a lot harder on your Max's tranny than most...

SHUMAX

Cumalot

iTrader: (8)

Matt, you must can't wait to get yours on.

ericdwong

OK I will reiterate once again that my driving was not the cause of the bearing to go up, but the damn build of nissan. Also, I never had a prior tranny nor a rebuild. This was the original tranny that was never touched. I just happened to stumble upon this while I was inside my transmission putting in the Quaife differential. In addition, my car never exhibited any sort of clue that this was happening. No noise, no shavings in the tranny oil (theres a magnet that catches all of this in the case) and no leakage from the right side CV seal.

ALL my other gears, synchronisers and bearings were in perfect condition upon opening the case of the transmission. Infact the left side differential carrier bearing was also perfect. The reason I think for this is because the way the final drive gear is slanted, it puts most the stress on the passenger side. If I were beating the F outta my transmission, the synchros would be the first things to go, and I would have certainly had chipped gear teeth, but none of that is present at all.

"Abusive driving will damage the synchronizer mechanisms but not internal bearings. " says our expert Daniel B Martin in http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....ight=bearings.