# Best Performance mods for the 3.5 Altima



## nismoracer2005 (Apr 3, 2005)

I'm in the market for a intake, what is the best value out there? I'm looking for good hp, but no intake is worth $300 any suggestions...Also what are some freebie or homebuilt mods i'm looking to get every drop of power out of this VQ35 without having to turbo or supercharge it
as far as suspension goes i'm definatly going to get the NISMO set up, the car sits higher than it does on the H&Rs, but a more civilized ride, as well as a bit better control over snap-oversteer


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## Marvin (Oct 16, 2002)

http://nissanforums.com/showthread.php?t=8361

Injen and AEM are the most popular.


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## craigqc (Feb 10, 2005)

Mark said:


> http://nissanforums.com/showthread.php?t=8361
> 
> Injen and AEM are the most popular.


but the berk is the best for the price. it should come to about 170 shipped. you also dont have to worry about rain or water or an oiled filter. i highly recomend the Berk. also check out activetuning.com for awesome deals on mods


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## CTDan (Apr 4, 2005)

*AEM intake for the ALtima 3.5*

I just got off the phone with AEM, i am in the same market for my 2005 se-r. the web site was just up dated.


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## mersberj (Mar 7, 2005)

Berk V2 Hope this helps. 178 Shipped to Hawaii in 3 Days. Increased power throughout the Power range , noticably in the low end. Nice growl at higher RPMs but pretty quiet during normal everyday driving.


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## eleuthardt (Dec 12, 2002)

The BERK is great. I've had mine for some time now with no problems. I love it, and when coupled with an exhaust, VERY nice.


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## blitzboi (Apr 13, 2004)

As a good alternative to a home-built system, you could get a CAI from Cosmo Racing for USD$94.50 (+S&H) like I did. They're an almost exact copy of the Injen system, so far as I can tell. They come with blue or red pipes, but only blue-coloured rubber bits.


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## Ruben (Oct 15, 2002)

Best mod for the 02+ Altima is the rear sway bar. I think the intake is second to the pulley for best bang per buck. And the race Y-pipe works well too.


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## CTDan (Apr 4, 2005)

Yeah, but the SE-R alrady has upgraded Front and rear bars. thanks for info!

-CTDAN


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## tsr0003 (May 8, 2004)

I would go with the Injen CAI. I have had mine on for about 30+k miles w/ no problems. When I was researching there seem to be alot of people blowing air mass sensors with the AEM. My second upgrade was a pulley and it was a seat of the pants improvement.
I am looking at exhausts now and am torn on the homemade kit or trying out the SE-R cat back. I can get the full SE-R catback for about $200.00. Anyone have any thoughts. I think I could get more power with a home kit but for the price its hard to pass up.


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## blitzboi (Apr 13, 2004)

tsr0003 said:


> I can get the full SE-R catback for about $200.00.


I want one for $200 too... where, where?


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## tsr0003 (May 8, 2004)

know a someone who works in the parts dept. seems low but i wasn't going to question it. Main thing I am trying to find out is if the se-r exhaust will add any power?


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## blitzboi (Apr 13, 2004)

tsr0003 said:


> know a someone who works in the parts dept. seems low but i wasn't going to question it. Main thing I am trying to find out is if the se-r exhaust will add any power?


Well, the SE-R does have an extra 10hp over 2005 3.5SE, but I suspect that might be from different ECU programming rather than exhaust changes. I've heard that the SE-R exhaust does sound better though, so maybe it's worth $200 just for that.


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## Smitty 3.5 (Dec 13, 2004)

The SE-R exhaust is the same as the SE with just a smaller resonator. Save your $ and put in a different resonator or better yet get rid of the crappy factory exhaust and go custom.


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## cjbaldw (Dec 3, 2004)

Cattman Performance, well known over on maxima.org, is selling off the remaining Place Racing CAI kits for 02+ Altimas. I bought one that's sitting in my garage for 129 plus shipping. These kits use a monster flow foam filter which is a non-oil based filter. The MAF's on these VQ35 engines are known to be problematic with oil based filters and eventually fail prematurely especially if you over-oil the filter and the oil interferes with MAF function. There's a thread over in the group buy section of nissanclub.com if you're interested:

http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175077


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## djliquidice (Apr 29, 2005)

I love my CP-E MAFci system, and it's worth every penny. It is a 3.5" pipe, removing everything stock minus the throttle body and the MAF sensor. Also, it comes with a Piggy Back Fuel Map customizer board, in which you can have two different fuel maps if desired. You can run software on a laptop to tune your machine. It's just amazing.

Here is the video of it in action (60MB Apple Quicktime) - There is NO Street racing involved in this video. It's just DRIVING.
http://www.maaccmd.com/video/cpe_cai.mov

Here is the Dyno run.
http://www.djliquidice.com/video/CPE-CAI_dyno.wmv

Preliminary tests show about ~23WHP gain on a stock 3.5. The company has yet to release price and HP.


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## Hal Just Hal (Oct 21, 2002)

Was up DJ, what brings you here from altimas.net?


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## djliquidice (Apr 29, 2005)

Hal said:


> Was up DJ, what brings you here from altimas.net?



*no comment*. :cheers:


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