What is the Maxima, exactly? Is it a sports car like the 300ZX, a sport sedan like the BMW M3, a muscle car, or just a sporty little runabout? The answer is "Yes." The Maxima's primary claim has long been the fact that it uses the same engine as its rowdy sibling, the Z-Car. The third-generation Max, 1989 to 1994, was no exception. Decades later, in the hands of kids now grown up enough to have a turbo Maxima in the family, the question of making it happen is a pretty relevant one. And the answer is all about the Maxima's own family relations.
Oh, yes. And not just in the sense that any car can be turbo'd if you have access to a plasma cutter, TIG welder and the fabrication experience of Vic Edelbrock and Chip Foose combined. Nissan itself made the turbo road for the Maxima pretty clear when it opted to install the VG30E engine under its hood. The VG30E was the very same used in the 1984-to-1989 300ZX, and the turbocharged 300ZX of this generation used a variant of this exact engine called the VG30ET. Apart from its turbo system and pistons -- a lower 7.8-to-1, to the Maxima's 9-to-1 piston -- the VG30ET was functionally identical to its naturally aspirated sibling. So, most turbo Maxima builds will begin and almost end at the 1984-to-1989 300ZX.
In terms of getting a turbo system on the engine, it's almost as simple as bolting on the parts from a 300ZX. The exhaust and intake manifolds, injectors, fuel rails, piping and Garrett T3 turbocharger are all nearly direct fits. But the devil, as you might expect, is in the details. Just bolting a 300ZX system on the Maxima engine will put the turbo right behind the radiator; not too much of a problem, except that it won't clear your stock cooling fans, and it will get in the way of your stock motor mount. These aren't insurmountable problems, but they will complicate the build. If you can't find stock 300ZX parts, the aftermarket is full of upgrade parts for that car, which might be an even better place to start than the factory parts, anyway.
The bad news about the 300ZX is that Nissan really built it to a market -- at the time, it was the most powerful production car in Japan. But there is a lot of room for improvement, starting with the turbo. The Garrett T3 is only good for about 7 psi of boost in this application; that's not entirely a bad thing given the Max's 9-to-1 compression, but it's far from ideal. A T3/T4 hybrid turbo, darling of the import market, will work well in this application, but you'll need to upgrade your fuel system to compensate. You'll need a strong aftermarket fuel pump like the Walbro units popular for this application, along with a good set of fuel lines and top-feed fuel rails. a set of 370 cc injectors are highly recommended, and a wide-band O2 sensor is must-have equipment. A bigger Z32 mass-airflow sensor will keep you from choking off airflow, but might not be necessary for your particular power goals.
It goes without saying that all those sensor, injector and hardware changes aren't going to play well with your stock computer. Consider an aftermarket, stand-alone fuel management system and time on an engine dyno with an experienced tuner in your immediate future. Options for computer systems are legion, but MegaSquirt has been the go-to name in super-cheap control systems for more than a decade. But, they're only for the super hardcore -- people who don't mind building circuit boards and soldering wires. If you're new, you're better off going with a pre-programmed computer like those from JWT, or a more user-friendly programmable engine management unit like those from Accel, Edelbrock, Vortech, AEM and dozens of other manufacturers. Finally, you might consider making room in your Max for an intercooler; the 300ZX never came with one, but they're known power-makers. And an intercooler might be especially important in preventing detonation for you, given the Maxima's higher compression ratio.
