To answer my original question here are some suggestions:
1) During the import and configuration there is a chance to change your input parameters at a summary screen in SWPM. At this point in the install a DB parameter file is created in your working directory e.g.
/tmp/sapinst_instdir/NW702/LM/COPY/ADA/SYSTEM/CENTRAL/AS-ABAP/<SID>_sapdb_db_parameter.txt
You can change certain parameters in this file before continuing.
2) The other suggestion, but clearly not optimal, is to first install SAP and then uninstall it but uncheck the option to remove the database. You can then drop the schema and it is ready for a System Copy import.
SAP MaxDB Team - if you are listening, you need to provide an easy method to install MaxDB before installation of a SAP instance in System Copy! Your customers should not have to do the workarounds as above. You could easily provide a template in SDBSETUP or add it to SWPM. You also need to fix the default MAXSQLOCKS setting of 300000 which is insufficient.
By "fixing" this parameter issue I was able to reduce my import time by half. This downtime could be further reduced if the option to install MaxDB existed because I wouldn't have to wait for database volumes to be built and I could patch the DB beforehand with optimal settings.
Regards,
Nelis