Bringin it back to life!!!!

[WBY]

Well I started working on my dead Q45 last week and worked on it again today. Last week I yanked the engine out of the Q45a (the one that is fixable) and today I took the engine out of the silver Q45 parts car. Its amazing to think that a car that looks great on the outside and inside wouldn't be as well maintained as one that is messed up everywhere! Anyways, I finally found the front end sheetmetal that I'll need to finish up my Q but that won't be coming for a while. Anyways, heres some pictures of todays progress:



What a Q engine bay looks like with no engine in it, ok well kind of no engine



And this is what the VH looks like in all its glory, lol



Anyways, I do have some questions hopefully someone can help me with. Before I bought the Q45a I searched around and realized that it wasn't cheap to revive the whole active system correctly. I guess I just didn't realize how expensive it is . Anyways, I do plan on reviving the active system fully at some point, but for now I'm thinking about just making it non-active long enough so that I can save up for all of the active parts that need to be replaced. So with that said, has anyone changed a active to a non-active and is so what is required? I've got the complete parts car so parts isn't really a issue. I was going to use the non-active PS pump, and seal off the rest of the system so that it doesn't get anything inside of it. Truthfully I don't really want to make it a non-active (even temporarily) but until I can save up a little for a few months I think it would be the best route. So if anyone has done this please let me know if there was anything "special" involved. One more question! The Q45a has TCS (do all the A's have TCS) and of course my parts car doesn't have TCS. So when I put the non TCS engine into the car with the TCS what do I need to change over? The only think that I see thats obvious is the throttle body with the extra flap for the TCS. Anything else? Any info would be appreciated! Ok, I lied I do have one more question . Since the engine is out of the car I'm planning on doing all the maintenance that would normally be a pain in the car. Like valve cover gaskets, crankshaft seals, etc. I keep reading posts about people having trouble with the water lines under the plenum. This engine of mine has 129k, and the cooling system wasn't taken as good care of as it should have been. So should I take the plenum off while the engine is out of the car? I can't say that I see any leakeage but then again the engine hasn't been run since the car was wrecked and that was about 4 months ago. Other than those hoses, is there anything else that I should look to repair as preventative maintenance? Any info would be appreciated! Ok the silver Q in the pictures really has a great body on it, the doors are all nice, the rear bumper is nice, the trunk lid is nice.... theres just so much nice on it that I don't really want to throw those parts out of give them to the crusher because their just in such beautiful shape. I can't ship any of the body parts because their just too big and I don't have the time to package up something that big, but if someone in Florida can use these parts please contact me!! I'll post that over in the classifieds section also. And no the interior of the silver car is not for sale, I'm going to be using that. Sorry for the extra long post, hopefully my Q will be up and running and happy within 2 weeks. Thanks guys!

Mark

[maxnix]

I bought the Q45a I searched around and realized that it wasn't cheap to revive the whole active system correctly.

You need to read all posts by texasoil regarding the active suspension.

Then read the posts by Q45tech where he talks about "rehabing" the VH45DE before installation.

You're correct in wanting to rehibilitate the engine correctly and economically while it is accessible.

[3Q Jay]

nice pics.all '94 '95 active have TCS. don't believe ANY 91-93 active have TCS.my suggestion would be to swap over all the TCS car plenum stuff to the working engine (buy ALL new hoses from IoS, not just the 'plenum' hoses which don't include the water hoses). i'd do motor mounts and new O2's while it's sooo easy. check sparkplugs.com for the NTK O2's (OEM and correctly harnessed, but no nissan box).

why do you want to disable your active system--even temporarily?

[redmanfx]

"I was going to use the non-active PS pump, and seal off the rest of the system so that it doesn't get anything inside of it. Truthfully I don't really want to make it a non-active (even temporarily) but until I can save up a little for a few months I think it would be the best route. So if anyone has done this please let me know if there was anything "special" involved. "

The Non active p/s pump is smaller and all the engine pulley's/belts are not as wide as the active's, so you'd have to completely change out the brackets/ps pump/belts and pulley's when you try to make it "non active" best thing to do is to simply use the same active ps pump and loop the pump back to itself so it doesn't dry out and seize. If you do the loop back then be sure to fill both the pump and loop back piece of hose with the active fluid so it's always feeding itself. That will take care of your temp. condition, then you simply rehook it back up correctly when you are ready to go back to active.

I don't know how you plan to temp. use you active car in an inactive way, but don't ride on those discharged active accumulators and actuators or you will ruin them beyond being able to recharge them.

Planning to swap out the active suspension itself for your temp status so you can drive it and then swap it back to active when your ready is also not the way to go. This is due the time it would take(trust me on this) to just swap it one way to non active(and then swapping it back?? pardon the expression, but you're nuts )and because of the complexity of the active system, you run the risk of completely destroying your system without even knowing what you did in the swapping process!! Many of us have swapped to tokico blues and it takes allot of time and there is much to disconnect and so forth.

I would either send your stuff to keith to recharge now while your swapping engines, it'll cost about $1200 plus shipping, and put them back in when they come back.

I only say this because it's best not to tear the active system apart or ride on a discharged and broken system. But that's just my opinion having worked on my active system so much before I converted.

[WBY]

Hey guys, thanks for the info so far, I have previously read most all of the posts by texasoil and I have been in contact with him. The only reason that I'm looking at temporaily making it into a non-active is because of the cost to correctly rehab the active system. I do still want to rehabilitate it but since I don't have all the money to do it all correctly right now, that is why I'd like to temporarily change it to a non-active. Believe me, I don't really want to make it a non-active even temporarily, but the costs to correct all of the problems that the active system has right now will end up being about $1600 and shoot thats more than I'll have in the car by the time I get it all back together, lol. Please understand that I do plan on bringing the active system back to life, I just can't afford it right now.

With all that said, the engine that I'm putting into my active car is coming from a non-active and therefore already has the small non-active PS pump on it so that way I wouldn't have to think about having the active pump (system) running. And I would just change out all four struts with normal non-active struts and then seal all of the open connections on the active system to keep anything from getting into it. Does that sound reasonable? I figure that within 6-9 months I should have the money to renew the active system but I would like to drive the car for now to replace my daily driver that is beginning to be in need of repair. Anyways, any more info and or comments are always appreciated! I've got the time and the skill to do the work, just not always the money. Thanks for the help so far!

Mark

[ScottJackson]

recharge your accumulators yourself. You're mechanically able/minded and it's not too difficult. I just used regular metal tank valves (1/4" NPT on one end, car tire like valve on the other). It would be best to use the aircraft nitrogen valves which are very similar but probably designed more for the application. Take off the accumulators (the 4 of the wheel struts being most important), drill the top of them (opposite end of where the bolts/fluid goes in) to the proper size for the tap you need, tap them in the same thread size as your valve, clean the inside of the accumulator out VERY thoroughly with a can of carb cleaner and compressed air, thread in the valve with thread sealer/locker, take the accumulator to a farm tractor dealer or maybe an airplane place, have them charged with nitrogen. I don't know what the factory new psi is supposed to be, but I used 600psi and then 800psi on my refresh charges. Probably kinda low, but it's safe. Once you put the valves in, it costs next to nothing to take them off in an afternoon and go get 'em recharged. The drilling is the most difficult part of the job. You need to go slow. Start with a small sharp bit and gradually go bigger. Don't put the drill on full speed as it will burn up and dull the bit in no time. Use plenty of lube on the hole whilst drilling also (I use liquid wrench). Tap the hole slowly and with great care also. Don't be cheap on the cleaning process. Get all the shavings out of that thing or it'll ruin the insides of the accumulator. I think TexasOil's service is a good deal, but it can certainly be done cheaper if you have the tools/patience/smarts to do the job yourself. I've done 7 of my accumulators and I think the total cost was less than $50. I used cheap valves (which 2 have leaked and needed replacement, hence the suggestion to get aircraft quality ones) and already had the drill, bits, and tap.

[texasoil]

Comment on DIY recharging. Pressures are wrong. Do you want to be driving around a nice tight bend when that cheap DIY valve blows out and dumps that strut all the way down?, Then the rest of the active follows in a couple of sec?

[texasoil]

justin green ([email protected])To:[email protected]

Subject:RE: Q45a in Fla

Continued..... The negatives of the car..... -Small dent above passenger fender well -Windsheild needs to be replaced (my fault,.... it blew up!) -Carpet flooring was never replaced but does not look bad -Rubber lining in trunk leaks a little i mean A little at center top -There is one spot of rust 1 inch long inside bottem of rear door kick No B.s. the car is magnificent, must have always been garage kept. I'm about 45 miles away from it with no transportation or i would have sent you pictures already. I know for a fact with your knowledge of these vehicles and my title we can both make a buck off of this car! I do plan to take pictures I just hope its not to late and there trying to keep it. They've seemed very interested in it. I have not spoke to them in just over a month when i made my last payment. It being the holidays and all at the time they BETTER not try me. Let me know what you think. Justin in FL Q45a

Justin wants to get out of the pit he is in--would probable sell cheap.

[AlabamaDan]

What year is that silver one? Think he'd want to get rid of the antennea?

[ScottJackson]

I know the pressures aren't correct that I have used. However, I personally have used them and it has worked fine, for me. Yes, it's probably not a full charge, but the only time an active car has a full charge is when it leaves the factory. It gradually decreases from there with use until the ride gets too harsh and something needs to be done. I've hit some pretty good curves at speed with mine and the cheap valves have not blown out. Maybe I'm lucky. I also nailed a curb head on at 25mph that I didn't see in a poorly lit truck stop parking lot (flying j or something like that) which did bend a rim but didn't blow out the cheapy tank valve. As I said, my method for recharging may not be the absolute best or at the exact specific pressure of new, but for people on a really tight budget (and we should remember that even though the Q commands $$$ for maint and bringing up to good health, most people who buy these cars used don't have a lot of $$$ or they woulda bought a BMW, Jag, Benz...) I think it's good to explain how a repair can be done.

[redmanfx]

Don't forget to swap the ECU then because of the slight differences in programming between the active setup and the non active. Nothing major and you may not hurt anything, but you never know.