I have a 1992 B-13 2-door I been looking for engine swap with a automatic transmision, Do you think you can put a VQ35DE w/auto in a B-13? Also what kind of engine swaps that are out there now with a auto that I can put in a sentra? Right now I have a 1.6 thinking of a 2.0 or a 2.5 I would really like to go with a 2.5 or a VQ35DE. Let me know I live in Tampa,FL my sister lives in Augusta GA maybe I can go to SC... Plus what Price range would it be to do a engine swap like this { VQ35DE} or a 2.5 ??

Price range is expensive. And if you're going through all the trouble of the swap why would you not just make it a 6 speed?

You can probably get a long block for about $1000, but that's just the long block. After a flywheel, clutch, rails & injectors, fuel pump, trany, bell housing, axles, ECU, CRAZY WIRING, motor mounts, radiator, all accessories, custom exhaust work; you're looking at A LOT, so why not just do it up right and pick up all the stuff to make it a manual for another 300-500 for all the conversion parts? I could be missing some things on there too or just be plain wrong, but that's what I came up with off the top of my head.

*EDIT*: Not trying to come off as mean at all, hope I didn't

Any updates on this project? I'm really anxious to see more updates.
Modified by moersfelng08 at 1:21 PM 4/21/2009

wow man thats crazy. and just out of curiosity did u go to UTI or something because u seem like u really know what ur doing! and again big ups man!!!!!!!!!!!

Awesome build, please post up some new pics!

Hey gang!

I havent forgotten about my Sentra swap. I've had a good bit to do with my recently aquired D21 4x4 and trying to get the bodywork finished on the 240sx. The sentra is still on my mind and waiting for me to put a little more time (and alot more money) into it. So dont give up on me! I'll be back on here soon!

Can't wait to see some more Pictures!!

I've have 92 Sentra SE-R that has just developed some piston slap. Would you considered selling an extra wiring harness and or mounts for this swap? I know there are also other people on the sr20forum who have been wanting to do this swap.

<<<< Pictures...

Any update?? Hope you have still had time to work on this thing!

Dudeman

Thanks!

STILL IN THE WORKS. Sorry everyone. Funds have been exceptionally tight and that has stalled this project completely. I am currently getting the rest of the parts I need to finish this. I believe, if I just had a few days and a spare $2G's laying around (lol), I could finish it. Hopefully I can finish the body work on the 240 so I can get it sold and get this project rolling again!

This short shifter mod, is this something that can be done with the existing unit? Go to nissandoctor.com and submit the info on my contact page.

Thanks

Can't wait to see you finish this!

You have inspired me to do this swap. I just need to get money lol.

Did you figure what you are going to do with the timing cover mount?

Hey Gang,

Yeah, this is taking way too long right? Well, actually had a few spare bucks to get some things for the Sentra today. I bought a set of VQ30DE exhaust manifolds to ensure that they would fit the VQ35 and still fit around the motor mounts.....and they do. So this means, aftermarket performance manifolds for the 1996-2000 Maxima will fit this car! Sweat! For now though, I have to stick with the factory VQ30DE headers.

Now, I have started with the rear suspension and brakes. I wanted to dump the rear drums and install rear rotors. Also, the Spec V front hubs that I will be running are a 4x114 lug pattern, which means the 4x100 pattern on the rear of this car would keep me from being able to rotate tires, or just get a matching set of wheels. So, I headed over to Pull-A-Part and scavenged a good bit of parts from a G20. I didn't get engouh, and need to go back in the morning, but hopefully this will work.



Hub caps are wonderful for hiding a crappy drum brake setup, skinny steel wheel and dressing up cheap tires. Gotta go.



The right rear seat is laid down here. All this trim needs to be removed to get to the strut.



The right rear drum brake setup. Not saying this is bad, but since this is heavy, the wrong lug pattern and the ability of drums to lock when cold or out of adjustment....means its not gonna stay.



Be careful removing the C-Pillar trim. This is pretty common on these older nissans (any model). Plus, it was around 30 degrees (F) when I removed them, so they're pretty hard. The crack happens if you can't get under the clips to pop them out. I will fix these later with a soldering iron.



Interior removed. At this point, I found the first modification I was going to need to make. It was obvious that these bolts were too close together to accept the G20 rear strut mount. No biggie, a drill with a good bit will take care of that.



The trash is on the ground. This strut was so messed up, the valve in the strut has broken off the shaft, allowing this strut to extend so far that the spring is loose on the assembly. I was a little worried that it would seperate durring removal....which, with loaded springs....is a bad thing. But, I got it out with no problems.



Here's where my hopes were the highest.



So misleading. I learned a few things here. I need the lower arms from that G20, hopefully they will turn the spindle correctly to line up with the strut. Also, the bolt that goes through the arms and spindle is too short, meaning I need the G20 one. The sway bar mounts are opposite on the Sentra vs the G20. The Sentra sway bar mounts to the rear of the car on the bracket, while on the G20, they mount to the front. So, tomorrow I will be pulling those lower 2 arms in hopes that they will correct this issue.....if not, I will have to make them. On a good note, the parking brake cables from the G20 will fit almost perfectly to the Sentra. One difference between the two is that the final bolt that holds the cables to the body before they meet the brake assembly is a 12mm on the G20 and a 10mm on the sentra.



G20 Radiator vs Sentra radiator. Almost twice as thick. There is a slight height difference. The G20 radiator is about 1" higher, maybe a little more. So the fans wont be a direct switch from the sentra to the G20, though I could see using some thin steel stock from a hardware store if you were in a pinch and had to reuse the Sentra fans.



This shows the difference in height. I am not sure if I'll even be able to use this radiator since my engine sits so close, but I believe this is really what I should use.

So that's it for now. Sorry things are so slow. I'll get pictures of the exhaust, but its really nothing special. Hopefully tomorrow I will find that all I need is to use those arms and I can finish up the rear suspension.

Later gang!!

Nice update!

Been waiting for awhile lol.

Thanks,

So I found out that the G20 lower links are extrememly too long for the rear of the sentra, and the rear links form the Maxima (those years) are even shorter than the sentra. So back to using the Sentra rear arms. The bad thing is that this car is from West Virginia, meaning its a salt state car. I can't seem to get the long bolts to free up from the forward most lower links. Guess it's back to pull-a-part (this makes twice today) to get some from a sentra there that will allow me to remove the bolt. I did manage to get the bolts from a G20 that will let me finally bolt all this together, though I still need to drill the strut mount bolts out in the body behind the seat. That is the least of my worries. I'm thinking Im gonna be using a grinder a bit when it comes time to align this thing. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have some negative toe in the rear (pointing in) and the camber might possibly be off as well. In any case, I definately want to use the G20 rear struts. They are stiffer, the springs have a high spring rate and there is a bit more sound deadening components on the rear struts. My ride my be a complete beater, but its gonna be fast and smooth like my 240 is. I'm actually very excited about getting this done. How many faded, four door, paint peeling, rust buckets can seriously contend with todays sports cars? 1700 lbs, 300 horsepower, naturally aspirated and ugly.... ..... definatelly my style.

Oh, and the 240sx is still for sale should anyone want a project that needs cosmetic finishing.

A post early last year mentioned fuel mileage. I will say that the VQ gets incredible gas mileage in a lighter car. My 240sx gets approximately 23/30 (city/highway) and that engine is over 11;1 compression. Im expecting this setup to give me around the same gas mileage. While the 240 origionaly only went 22 miles to the gallon highway, that was an upgrade in mileage. I believe the sentra will loose a bit of fuel mileage, but we will have to see.

Again, sorry gang that I"ve been gone for so long. Last year was crazy, as was the crapy economy. Hopefully things pick up a bit, or I'm gonna have to switch to crackers and water to get this thing done.

Here's a few pics of the things I learned today.

First, in trying to get the spindle to fit, I realized that there is a good bit of angle on the rear spindles. G20 spindles require that the lower links are not parrallel with the ground as they are on the Sentra. The G20 is about a 20 degree angle backwards. By trying to angle the sentra links this way, a change is introduced on the front link angle, forcing the spindle to have excessive positive toe. Go figure! I had pulled a pair of front arms from a Sentra like mine today since the bolts are seized in the origional ones from my car. The bad thing is, I had pulled an NX arm today (1988 Model) that was about an inch shorter than the sentra one. I believe this might be close enough to get things where they need to be. If not, I will have to fabricate a pair of rear arm. Not horribly hard to do, but still, not a bolt in conversion that most people will be looking for. Here's the pics of what it looks like if you were trying what I am.



This is the difference in the lower spindle bolt that the two links connect to. The sentra one will not pass completely through the links with the G20 spindle installed. By switching to the G20 one, I can now mount it correctly.



Lookind down the side of the car, you can see the spindle is pointed out an insane amount. So unless you wanted to ruin tires in about a 10 miles, this setup wont work. Next I will try the arms from that NX in pullapart, and if that doesnt work, it's time to get the welder out and make fully adjustable arms for the back.



This is a mock up. The strut is NOT mounted yet, but this gives me a way to see where to drill the holes. First I will need to correct that front arm so that the spindle points correctly, which will turn the strut about 15 degrees, changing the mount holes locations. So, once that's fixed, the holes can be drilled and the rear conversion will be complete.

WHY? Right, after reading all of this, you might be wondering why in the **** I am going through all of this. Since the VQ required a modified Sentra SE-R 6 speed tranny (B15 model), this means the axles must come from that tranny as well. Those axles have a B90 hub (I think) and will not fit this sentra. Also, making an axle is too expensive and the stock stuff is way to weak. So I will install the B15 front suspension, hubs and brakes. Those hubs are 4x114.3, and so are these G20 rear hubs that I am using. This way I should be able to use the Sentra SE-R wheels. I looked all over the web trying to find anyone who had installed G20 rear brakes on a B13 Sentra......no luck. Any hints from someone who has ACTUALLY done this would be nice. If not, no biggie, I already have a good plan.

Thanks everyone for following along!

Mark - have you considered cutting the G20 arms and shortening them? Use some plate steel to box them on the bottom. I did this on a RX7 Gen 1 front LCA, actually 1" longer for more camber.

You could also pick up a mini lathe (if you dont have one already) and some derlin to mock up some bushings, if need be.

There are also a couple wheels, britelites I think, that run multi pattern hubs (4x100 and 4x114) - as a last resort if you cant get the spindle to align.


Modified by smokinjoe at 11:53 AM 1/5/2010

Good to hear from you. I'm still available if you wanna call me. I've just been very busy lately. It's amazing how for weeks you wont have much going on at work, then all of a sudden, there's engines to be replaced, pistons knocking on other cars and just all around heavy mechanical work to be done.

That idea did cross my mind. Both welding the arm and the multi lug pattern wheels. I really like using the G20 rear spindle/brakes. Though the problem with that is getting the alignment exactly correct. Also, by making them adjustable, I will be able to adjust both camber and toe in the rear, rather than just toe as it already is from the factory. Plus, both arms need to be tweaked several degrees to accomodate the angle introduced by the G20 rear spindles. I could achieve this by cutting and welding the arms to that angle...but being able to adjust both camber and toe sounds great.

Glad to hear you are keeping this project moving among all the other distractions (like work!). I've got that problem too. I picked up a B13 for a 12pack of Stella two weeks ago and have been getting it ready for Lemons. There is a race at Summit Pt that we may need a 4th for if you are interested. And this weekend the VQ35 is going in the B15 for a CMP race in early Feb. I'll try you after dinner and we'll chat.

What about some spherical bearings and rod ends? You could adjust both camber and toe with twin adj arms. I'd mark the angle from the stock arms/spindle, then replicate it with the G20 arms / spherical rod ends. In NASA, that mod would be like 7 points - equal to 30mm inc in tire width! Good luck tho, I'm sure you'll get it figured out.

Here is a link to the DIY short shifter you were asking abouthttp://www.motoiq.com/Forum/ta....aspx

You don't know how much I wished I'll be in your feet right know hehe This project is like the biggest dream for any car geek (specially a Nissan fan), can't wait to see this sleeper making a Porsche getting some!! xD

Here in Chile the B13 continues to be sold and its still one of the most sold cars due to its price/reliability ratio.

Smokinjoe..... I'm looking forward to seeing some new track records!!!

Back to the sentra swap. Yes, this is taking WAY too long. Basically, I took a hiatus from this swap for almost a year. Working with smokinjoe made me want to get back into this. If you haven't seen the Youtube videos of the KSport SE-R Sentra on the track....you're missing some good driving. Thanks for bringing me down to help Joe! So, here's what's new......

Ordered a G35 (auto trans) engine harness. It was an early model 04 meaning it used front O2 sensors instead of A/F sensors. I seperated the TCM harness from the engine harness and converted the harness from using front O2 sensors to using front A/F sensors (add several wires to the harness and this is possible). So now I basically have a M/T late 2004 - 2005 350Z harness.

I have made a subharness for the coils and one for the injectors/IVT solenoids.

I am taking the Sentra engine harness to work with me to seperate it and get the usefull wiring from it (ECCS relay, guages wiring, etc.).

Good news for the Sentra VQ swap guys (B13), the alternator/AC harness is seperate from the engine harness. 240sx guys have to seperate this, but us Sentra guys can just use the existing one (from the car) on the VQ. This saved me about an hour of wiring!!!!

I will be picking up NEW axles tomorrow.

Bobby at CIN Motorsports donated a flywheel, pressure plate and clutch to the project. They are used, but only slightly and show no burn marks. THANKS BOBBY!!!! This is a great help!

Pete N. offered up a low mileage VQ35DE from an 03 I-35. This is astronomical as this motor is 10.3:1 (up from 10.0:1 from the Maxima), has low mileage and will not need a rebuild. Pete is one of my best friends and has been building crazy cars with me for years. Pete, thanks man! I can't say how much this is going to help. Anyone interested in an S110 (that's right, the ORIGIONAL 200sx) let me know, Pete has a nice one for sale.

Back to the project. Once I get this wiring completed, I will finish welding in the clutch pedal plate to strengthen the bulkhead. All that is left to be had is the front spindles and possibly struts if needed. I need to make the transmission mount and timing cover motor mount. These are simply doing problems, as I just need to do it.

Finally, I have recently been working with UpRev (makers of Cypher and Osiris tunning systems) on an upgrade for the Osiris tunning program. I plan to run an Osiris program on this engine but that all depends on money. I'm hoping that if I can help them with this project, they will help us see this Sentra run on their software.

So that's where I'm at. I will post pics of the wiring harness in the next day or two. Please don't let what I'm doing discourage anyone from doing this swap. I am going for an extremely clean looking swap with as little excess as possible. This could easily be done without seperating harnesses and doing all the extras that I am doing. I just want the car to be clean. To be honest though, 2000 lb (or less) car plus 300+ hp motor = so d@** fast who cares what it looks like under the hood.

Till next time.....

Love your attention to detail and dedication. Looks like you're making great progress. Best of luck and I can't wait to see it when it's all done .

Any more progress?I want to see this bad boy running!

Ok, so I should be flogged for taking so long.....but I promise, I have been making progress.

I had to lower the crossmember by 2 inches to get the intake to (hopefully) clear the hood. I did this by making the rear bolts from ones found in lowes/homedeopt. I made some strengthening panels for the radiator support. I will post pics of this tonight. Also, I have made a good portion of the wiring harness, picked up a starter and found the differences between the 350Z/G35 flywheel and the Maxima/Altima one. Again, pics of these will be posted too. I ordered the factory clutch piping, bracket and clip.....total is a whoping $25.00. Finaly, I ordered an inexpensive header kit from Race Design ImportS (http://www.racedesignimports.com) out of california. They look to be fairly decently produced. Considering the cheap pricing, I dont expect the absolute best, but by the way they look, they should be more than I need. I will say that the owner is quick to respond to emails (which is rare for Ebay sellers) and has kept me up to date on my order since day one. It's hard to find good people on Ebay, I'd say he's doing pretty good so far. Once they arrive, I'll post up some pics of the install.

Slowly but surely, it's comming along.

Pictures:



This is the two flywheels side by side. Doesn't look like much from here, but trust me.....big differences. For starts, the signal plate is welded on in a completely different clocking position for each. There looks to be a few degrees of difference in the mounting.





Side by side, it is easy to see the two different types of signal plates. One is recessed more than the other. The one on the left is 350z/G35 while the one on the right is for the Altima/Maxima (both pictures).





How to lower the engine. Before I make the timing chain side mount and trans mount, I need to get the height correct. To do this I made longer bolts for the rear and front of the crossmember. These are all available at lowes/home depot. Just find the correct thread/size and length for the drop you need. The white tube is a nylon bushing that makes the smaller steel sleeve fit snug. The larger sleeve then goes over the smaller sleeve. This will fit a little snug in the factory bushings which is ok.





The nylon sleeve might need to the inner wall sanded a bit to fit around the bolt correctly. I used a drill bit and reemed it by hand. I didn't write down the bit size....sorry. The large washer goes on after the sleeve in this case, but should your washer fit the bolt perfectly, then the sleeve will go on after the wasther. I am using washers from the front lower control arms of armadas, titans, frontiers or xterras.





Its a little tight, so using a vice I put the steel sleeve on top, allowing the bolt to pass through and tapped on the bolt untill the metal sleeve was pressed completely against the washer.





How it looks at this point.





Finaly, slide the larger steel sleeve over the smaller one. This one fits loose enough to slide on, but with minimal play. If needed, some epoxy could be placed between these two sleeves to reduce noises. I suspect this might creek a little from time to time. No big deal for me.





The finished pair. Cost me about $10.00 I believe.





The stack of washers are what spaces the member down. You could use uerethane or even hockey pucks if needed, but these fit perfectly and work great. First the bolt will need to pass through the member, then the washers installed between the member and the body.





This is in without the bushings in the member. Only to show the install.





The dark flat piece is the steel plate Im installing on the top and bottom of the radiator support. There are two tubes that will run through the support to keep it from crushing under load. These plates are drilled to the bolt size, and the tubes will not pass through these holes, hence making a ladder like assembly. Keeping the radiator support seperated by these tubes and having the load dispersed by these plates will strengthen the entire lower radiator support. Remember, we will be putting 4 times the hp to the ground with this setup, than its stock box. So little things like this can make all the difference in operation and reliability.





The plate is lying on the subframe here. It will be welded up onto the underside of the radiator support. Again, these bolts, the tubes and these plates were all purchased at lowes/homedepot (either one). These are just longer bolts than the stock ones.





The seperated G35 engine harness (auto transmission harness).





The transmission harness pretty much comes straight out of the engine harness.





Building the subharness for the coils and the injectors. Everything on top of the engine will be in these two harnesses.





The finished injection, coils and IVT subharness. I purchased the wire sheathing and other little goodies for this kind of work from Fry's electronics online. Unless you're lucky enough to live where these stores are, this is the only way to get some of this stuff for cheap.


So that's pretty much it for the pictures. I am a little farther along that this, just haven't taken the pictures. Hope you guys are hanging in there with me.

raise your hand if you want this project done and a video taken.

:raises hand:

Very Nice project, looking forward to seeing the end result.

very nice swap makes me wanna do it in my b14 sentra... hope to see it finished soon

nicoxis wrote:raise your hand if you want this project done and a video taken.

:raises hand: