PAT 3 > Issue 1: Catching Up On Performance/Suspension
Written By: David Pitlyuk

We're excited to bring in the next lineup in our Project ActiveTuning series. This time around we bring you one of our company cars, David Pitlyuk's 2003 Nissan Altima 3.5 SE. The car has had a previous record of modifications already made to it, but there's plenty more to go! In our first issue I will give some background info on the 3rd generation Altima itself, as well as the history of the project car in order to bring it up-to-date.

When most people think Altima, they think another boring family sedan. This all changed when Nissan introduced their 3.5 liter, 245hp 3.5 SE model of the car. We're talking about a mid 14 second quarter mile time stock. Now that's a family sedan! Aside from that, the 3rd generation Altima was drastically changed from previous models, offering some very beautiful lines in the car. We love the new look! That's why we've got two of them over here at AT ;)

So what exactly did we get when we purchased this car? We picked up a black on black 5-speed 3.5 with the leather sports package as well as the ABS/air bag package. The car is basically fully loaded as is, except for the luxury package which would have included wood grain interior stylings. We did not opt for the luxury package since we were going for more of a sporty look.

Just so you guys understand the general direction we are going with this car, it's 50% looks, 50% performance. We've done quite a bit of modifications for both looks and performance already, and we'll go over everything within this first couple issues. We'll start off with performance and suspension in this issue, and then go over looks/iCE in the next issue.

So far, we have changed everything in the exhaust system except for the headers. We have also added a crank pulley from the guys at Unorthodox Racing.

The first performance mod we did was change out the mufflers to some much better looking Stillen cans:

One problem, we didn't think the sound was agressive enough, and for just a little more we could change over to Mossy's package that also included the straight piping for the cat back. The Mossy generation 2 package included mandrel bent piping for the cat back (also removing the stock resonator) and dual Magnaflow mufflers. We loved the look of the Stillen mufflers, but not the sound. The Magnaflow mufflers used in Mossy's package was practically identical to Stillen's, but sounded much better in our opinion as well, so we were sold! We got the best of both worlds, plus the cat back piping!

Next up was the Injen cold-air intake. One thing to keep in mind is that we're going for a red/black theme in the car, so when we were looking at Injen's intake offerings, we were split between red or polished. We finally ended up going with polished because it actually has quite a bit of red accents so it worked out well and looks great! The intake also helped out a ton with the sound factor, especially at higher RPM's.

To complete what we have now in terms of the exhaust system, we added Stillen's race pipe. This takes out the main cat in the exhaust, but really makes a great performance add-on, and definitely improved on the sound of the car.

In terms of suspension, we have done a few things so far. The Altima is a pretty big car, I mean, it is a "sport" family sedan, and it definitely has a bit of sway. So to help reduce the sway we threw on Stillen's rear sway bar. This DRASTICALLY helped, and is a fairly inexpensive part. After installation, we were definitely able to take turns feeling much more stable at higher speeds, and the sway was reduced quite a bit as well. The RSB is definitely a big recommendation in one of the mods that should be made to this car.

We will be adding some Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings as well to help out a bit more. These won't just fit on without some modification though, but that will be a seperate article.

We also added Eibach Sportline springs. Aside from being a great suspension modification, the wheel gap in this car is HUGE. The springs dropped the car about 1.75" in the front and 1.25" in the back. I can't emphasize how important this is to the looks of the car! The drop is just right and handling is great now! The ride isn't completely horrible, but it definitely doesn't feel stock. Keep in mind that we are using low profile 45 series tires, and that definitely makes a difference in feeling the bumps.

To make sure everything stays on point with the alignment, we threw on some camber bolts from Ingalls Engineering. It was a cheap mod, and it will help prevent uneven tire wear.

In the next issue I'll be bringing you all up-to-date with everything done in the looks deperatment, as well as all the multimedia aspects. So stay tuned, and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them in our dedicated thread.

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Enjoy these pictures of the car: