Somewhere Out There

I sold The Max early September of 2002. I got a pretty good amount for it at first, but as it turns out, it had a bad headgasket. So I gave the guy some of his money back and ended up with about $700 for it. I think he got a pretty good deal, with all the extras which was easily over $1500.

Story of The Max

After the tragic demise of Bri's Brd (or rather since it was been put on life support) I needed to get a new (to me) ride.  My step mom was getting a new car and in order to speed the process along she convinced my dad to give me her car so I could drive again.  So I flew up to New Hampshire back in April 2001, got it, and drove it back down. So,  the car had been in my family since it was brand new.

It was a 1990 Nissan Maxima SE. Therefore... it had a 3.0 V6 engine - completely stock with 120,000 miles on it. The gauges were white-faced and the interior fabric had a carbon fiber look to it. This thing was FAST, I hadn't done a thing to the motor but it held its own really nicely on the street. 0-60 in about 6.5 seconds and it got awesome gas mileage. It handled like a sports car even with the old suspension. 

Mods:

Exterior

• 16 by 7 in. Quantum Tek alloy wheels
• Falken Ziex 205/45R16 tires
• Matrix strut tower bar
• Custom wire mesh grille made by me
• painted calipers silver
• clear corners w/ xenon bulbs
• Xenon headlights
• removed 4DSC decals
• removed Nissan Maxima decals from trunk

Interior

• painted dash panels silver
• replaced door lights with blue bulbs
• Razo shift knob w/ carbon fiber insert
• expensive (looking) peddle covers
• made hole b/w trunk and passenger compartment - covered w/ wire mesh

Stereo System

• Alpine CDM-7871 CD Player
• Pioneer GM-X332 160 watt amp
• Blaupunkt ODxa-694 4-way 600 watt 6 by 9 speakers

Also went with Tokico shocks and Eibach springs, which are not installed. When I attempted to get them installed, the guy told me that the amount of rust underneath would make it hard to install everything. It can be done, he just didn't have the equipment to do it - i.e. a lift.

Included

• Eibach Pro-Kit lowering springs (brand new)
• Tokico performance gas shocks (brand new)
• Original corners and all bulbs
• Stock grille
• Stock shift knob
• Wiring for power to second amplifier

I went to the track and got some official times... and whooped.
My best time out of 2 runs was:
17.17 @ 78 mph

What I have raced and the results:
I can't explain them, obviously some people don't know how to drive.

The Bad Stuff

As you can imagine, there were some problems with this car, that's why I did not ask a whole lot for it. Here's a list of everything that I knew was wrong:

• Timing belt should be changed - nothing is wrong, it's just about that time

• Transmission smells sometimes (hard driving) and occasionally makes a strange sound. I worked at a transmission shop for a while and I am pretty sure that there is no major problem, the fluid just needs to be changed.

• Rear left seatbelt no longer attached to body - recall item, will be repaired for free at Nissan dealer, I just haven't gotten the time (I replaced the fuel fill tube because it rotted out, also recall item) These cars are well known for rusting, especially ones that spend 11 years in New Hampshire.

• Both side skirts have rotted (most recently, someone looking at the car kicked the driver's side out) see pictures.

• Three noticeable dings on the sides (2 pictured - 1 on passenger side)

• Front tires need to be replaced - website offers for around $100 each - they are very good tires

• One rim has scuffs on it, when clean you can't really noticed unless you are looking, but dirt collects in the scuffs - rim available for about $120.

This car would've been in excellent condition if it weren't for the rust on the skirts. The paint was fresh looking, especially after a nice waxing. People were shocked when I told them that it was a '90. 

On May 25th, 2001 the Max was rear ended by a garbage truck.  I was sitting at a light when the driver came up behind me and stopped, then proceeded to cough uncontrollably losing his footing on the brakes and he rolled into me.  The damage was limited to the trunk, spoiler, and the tail lights. 
The rear 1/3 of the car is all fresh. I had them repair a lot of the rust on the back. With the rust and dents that were not from the wreck taken out, it ended up only costing me about $300, so I doubt the repair to the skirts would exceed $500, if you had them do the entire skirt on each side. If you just had the holes patched, it would probably be about $250.
I finally got it back at the end of July, it looked great, but it sure was a headache!