Here is my work in progress S130 560ZX. My goal in this is to have a bad a** Nissan late model V8, that is 100% daily driver friendly(total stock/sleeper look with no loss of daily driveability or creature comforts. I love this engine. It has huge ports, a large bore, over square design, 6 bolt mains, and has been extremely reliable. I also own a Titan. I was also tired of seeing this awesome engine only swapped into purpose built race cars with no driveability or accessories. This car will have cruise, ac, power steering, and all working gauges. I'm a swap purist and believe a Nissan chassis deserves a Nissan engine. Based on what I've seen, this may be the first VK into an S130 as well as the first fully functioning street car/dd VK56.
My warnings to those who would attempt this, it is not a brainless swap. Almost everything is one off and has to be built, fabbed, wired, programmed, etc... I would not recommend this swap in this chassis to anyone but the most knowledgeable. The engine is huge and difficult to fit. Clearance is tight around the accessories. The parts are all unique, and you'll need lots of patience and a place for this time consuming project to live. In retrospect, I should have just done a VQ35DE or RB26DETT, but that wouldn't have been as cool. Pros: big torque, solid engine combo, newer engine. Cons: difficult to get running, expensive, everything has to be fabbed. There are two basic options for this swap: 1-Use all Titan wiring and control units(ECM, BCM, IPDM) Which would also require use of the stock throttle chamber (DBW), pedal, auto trans, ABS, etc...; and 2-Aftermarket standalone ECM allows you to do anything to the engine's manifolding and requires minimal wiring. This also makes it easier to integrate into the vehicle's chassis wiring, as well as use a manual trans.
As far as power train mounting, there is no good spot for this engine in this chassis. You can go for oil pan clearance, lose hood clearance, and have to cut out part of the tunnel to get the drive line angle correct. Or, you can go for hood clearance(although not by a lot), build a lower pan, lay the upper pan almost on the steering rack, and have good drive line angles.

Right now all that I have left(hopefully) to get the car running is to finish the engine harness and integrate it into the S130's EFI harness.

SPECS
-Stock 2006 VK56DE
-Extrudabody Individual throttle bodies
-Custom adapter plate
-Custom engine mounts/trans mount
-Custom lower oil pan
-Stock 350z CD009 6sp trans
-Custom DSS aluminum driveshaft
-AEM 1050U with custom VK56/S130 harness
-CM Twin disc clutch
-Custom crank trigger setup
-Custom driveshaft speedo hall sensor
-Walbro 255lph pump
-Aeromotive Adjustable fpr
-Custom aluminum radiator and electric fan
-All custom fuel, coolant, p/s, a/c hoses, vacuum, clutch line
-Custom RMS fabrication headers
-Custom exhaust
-Lots and lots of misc custom brackets, hoses,etc...


Other vehicle specs:
1983 280ZX GL

DRIVELINE
-Stock R200 rear with new seals, bearings, and LSD
-Freshly rebuilt turbo CV axles and companion flanges

SUSPENSION AND STEERING
-New OE front and rear pads and rotors
-MSA stainless brake lines
-New OE tie rods, ball joints, and boots
-New OE steering rack bushings
-Energy suspension urethane front and rear control arm bushings
-Urethane rear subframe bushings
-New OE rear diff mount
-T3 front tension rods
-Bump steer spacers
-Suspension Techniques swaybars, mounts, urethane bushings
-Tokico struts and springs
-BFG tires/XXR wheels 225/50zr16 255/45ZR16

very nice swap, I think the reason you don't see more vk swaps is they are just not very available, the titan and armada and people just don't think about them, that and most peopel prefer bolt in swaps and I don't see anyone making a bolt in kit for the vk anytie soon, especially for the s130

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that trans required a custom adapter plate in addition to all the other custome bits

and it appears you are well past the need but a lot of the v8 domestic swap guys space the crossmember down from the frame rail half an inch with a piece of plate steel

please do keep up updated at thsi progresses

Buttoned up the body wiring harness(starter, alternator, ac compressor, fans, battery, cruise, temp gauge, oil pressure gauge, etc...) tonight. Hopefully this weekend I can get started on the EFI harness, I've already stripped the L28 section out of it.

Got started sorting out the engine harness over the weekend.

I feel your pain on the wiring, I built an MR2 MK1.5 and later converted ti to a gen 3 3SGTE from a celica necesitating a complete rewire, I should have cut the wires 6 inches fomr the ecu and then ran 1 circuit at a time, it woudl have been quicker

I thought about reusing the Titan harness, but the Titan ECM is on the rh inner fender, the Z is meant to be in the LH kick panel, plus the aftermarket air temp, tps, map, etc.. So it turned out to just be easier to build the harness from scratch with the Nissan connectors and an AEM EMS pin/connector kit.

yeah when I megasquirted my S30 and Z31 I just ran allt he circuits to where I wanted the ecu, a lot of people get scared of wiring I kinda like it

evildky wrote:yeah when I megasquirted my S30 and Z31 I just ran allt he circuits to where I wanted the ecu, a lot of people get scared of wiring I kinda like it

Definitely, It's kind of my "thing".

More harness building. Almost there.

Found a few things that need immediate attention tonight, but excited about this:


http://youtu.be/gQhZxfqbR6Q

congrats on firing here up, guessing you have a bit of exhaust work yet to do

what does the intake plenum look like? we can see your custom runners I just have to wonder what you have to go on top and if it clears the hood

evildky wrote:congrats on firing here up, guessing you have a bit of exhaust work yet to do

what does the intake plenum look like? we can see your custom runners I just have to wonder what you have to go on top and if it clears the hood

The ITBs have an air filter per bank. Here is a picture of the assembly. Lots of stuff left to do and not sure yet what hood mods will be required.

very nice, is that a kit form TWM or pieced together with parts form TWM Ross or some one else or is this all custom?

evildky wrote:very nice, is that a kit form TWM or pieced together with parts form TWM Ross or some one else or is this all custom?

Extrudabody

wow, never heard of them, and I'm real supprised to see someone makign a kit for the VK, such a low volume engine!?

Looking good!
Congrats on getting it running.

evildky wrote:wow, never heard of them, and I'm real supprised to see someone makign a kit for the VK, such a low volume engine!?

Check out their site. All their throttle body setups are modular. All the pieces from horns to filers to throttles to linkages is built separately and then assembled. This way, to add a new application, all they need to do is build a base plate and then bolt the throttles to it. Allows for a lot of possibilities.

Drove the car out of the garage today for the first time. Gave it a bath for the first time in two years. Now it's headed to work for exhaust, alignment, and ac refrigerant. More detailed pictures and hopefully a better movie are forthcoming.

XJared wrote:Drove the car out of the garage today for the first time. Gave it a bath for the first time in two years. Now it's headed to work for exhaust, alignment, and ac refrigerant. More detailed pictures and hopefully a better movie are forthcoming.

This is moving along really quickly. Love it. Can't wait to see the video.

it appears you are well past the need but a lot of the v8 domestic swap guys space the crossmember down from the frame rail half an inch with a piece of plate steel

^^is that a quote gone wrong?

Wow that thing is crazy.

Just a quick update, I know it's been a while. Car is basically done except for the speedo(which is installed but not working, needs fixed), and the hood, which I'm building currently. New pics coming ASAP!

Here's an update. I know it's been a while, but life did get in the way of this build for a while.
Anyway, I had to redo the cooling system because the engine sits higher than the radiator in the car. Also, haven't had time to fix the speedo yet. I am back on the hood. Trying to make the air cleaners fit under a hood of some sort.

Making it go straight.

Two steps forward and one step back. I need a degree more negative camber in the RF.

I have to give props here! Amazing build. A couple guys in my group have discussed putting one of those VK engines in an S30 but that's as far as it ever got....just talk. More updates and pictures please. Very impressed.

Very nice setup! I'm really curious to see what your crank sensor solution looks like. I've read a lot about Ryan Kado's swap by SR Motorsports and the problems they had. I've got a '75 280z and I just picked up a fairly complete 2005 vk56de with a spun #4 rod bearing for less that a set of crank bearings will cost from Nissan, and I'm currently trying to get as much information on the swap before I start so that I can source parts and get a many things in order as possible. It should be really a fun exercise in engineering and fabrication to show horn this cruise ship into the little fair lady!

The air gap on the stock crank sensor was so picky I could never get it to reliably sync. I welded a generic 12 tooth when to the crank pulley and used a Ford EDIS style sensor. Still using the Nissan cam sensor and trigger.

alright cool I think I've got a solution modeled in SolidWorks with the 36 tooth wheel and a Chevy sensor, haven't quite decided yet. Thanks for the input, looking forward to seeing the rest of your build! would love to see some pictures of your EDIS mod as well