HOUSTON VH SWAPS

[kbflip02]

ok so heres the deal...any possibility of letting a fellow nicomember come by and see the real deal in person...i plan on making my way out to austin to see craigztoyz but with the wife being prego @ the moment shes not willing to let me stray very far just to look at a car you know...(dont worry craig my wife and i have already discussed my absence for a few days when i come up to bring you the Q and the J)...

[craigztoyz]

Its all good, Im not Jealous.



Just Fn around.

Havent heard from Jerry in a while, I meant to call him, but been BUSY, Nick, has his stuff being dipped in Liquid Money after buying everything to make his stuff new from Infinity. His is going to be a Show Worthy car. Trust me. Proud to have worked on it. Nick is also WAY north in H town, but his garage is worth the drive, Lucky man.

craig

[npez]

Feel free to stop by any time. Send me a PM and I can forward you my phone #, or send me yours and I'll call you.

Thanks Craig for the kind words. I was glad to have you do the great work you did as well.

As Craig mentioned everything I've got is in a million pieces at the moment. I have so many things happening at 3rd parties that I've created a spreadsheet to keep track. If you come by in about 2-3 weeks, I should have gotten my turbo housings, valve covers, and oilpan back from high performance coatings, the first 3 batches of chrome back from the chrome shop, my custom swaybar from Addco, and hopefully some of the powdercoated pieces back as well. If you want to come by now I can show you some parts I've got already such as parts from Summit Racing (spectre stainless hoses, billet specialties hose ends, etc.) as well as the turbos (minus the turbine housings), a buttload of Infiniti parts, the Ostrich2 emulator, and a whole lot more.

But as far as the car you will see a transmission on the trans-jack, the engine in pieces (without any induction components on it) on the engine stand and the car 6' up in the air. You will be able to see the cross-member modifications pretty clearly though, the mazworx adapter up close, and miscellaneous other things that may be of interest to you regaring any of the components involved in the swap. Most importantly we can knowledge swap.

So it's up to you, if you want to come up and look at it in its present state you're more then welcome to; if you want to have subsequent visits after that to see it progress that'll work too. To me it's more about the comraderie towards a common interest than anything else.

Just let me know, I'm pretty flexible.

Thanks,Nick.

[kbflip02]

ill definately let you know...im currently stuck w/o work due to an unfortunate incident on the rig i was working on offshore involving another crew member...long story short ill definately give you a shout....as far as the knowledge swapping...compared to the rest of you i feel like luke skywalker talking to yoda if you know where im coming from...im still a youngster who hasnt been working on cars for very long but is very interested in learning all he can...

[npez]

ill definately let you know...im currently stuck w/o work due to an unfortunate incident on the rig i was working on offshore involving another crew member...long story short ill definately give you a shout....as far as the knowledge swapping...compared to the rest of you i feel like luke skywalker talking to yoda if you know where im coming from...im still a youngster who hasnt been working on cars for very long but is very interested in learning all he can...

That's cool just let me know - and sorry to hear about the work situation. Do you work for one of the majors or an operator? I work for an oil company as well so was just curious.....

I definitely don't claim to know everything but I've been working on personal projects for a while (this by far the most challenging). It'll still be fun to shoot the hay anyway.

Thanks,Nick.

[kbflip02]

i couldnt agree with you more...i was a ruffneck on a semisubmersible drilling rig for hercules drilling....im trying to get on with diamond offshore but you know as well as i do how much red tape you must get through to get a job in the oilfield w/o a degree regardless of experience...

[MRJERRY300ZX]

I'm here in Houston doing the swap, even though I have the wiring diagram that stuff is like greek to me, any 450zx wiring guru wanna help me with this my brother was supposed to show me but was sent to Iraq Monday(8/4/08) that sucks!

[npez]

I'm here in Houston doing the swap, even though I have the wiring diagram that stuff is like greek to me, any 450zx wiring guru wanna help me with this my brother was supposed to show me but was sent to Iraq Monday(8/4/08) that sucks!

Jerry,

Go take a look at zerothread?id=335689. It has a link to the wiring integration document for the Z with VH motor. As I'm of Greek descent I understand the wiring diagrams and went through them (about 3 weeks work) consolidated this knowledge with much input from other NICO members into a comprehensive document that should get you there.

This document has been verified on Craig's Z and everything should be correct. Take a look and if you want some help I'm here just let me know.

Thanks,Nick.

[MRJERRY300ZX]

thanx nick!!!! craig said that you would be able to assist me on taking the z32 apart and mating it to the vh so I wouldnt have to get a custom drive shaft please inform

[npez]

thanx nick!!!! craig said that you would be able to assist me on taking the z32 apart and mating it to the vh so I wouldnt have to get a custom drive shaft please inform

Jerry,

Not sure what Craig is referring to specifically (as I don't know what parts you plan on using), but on mine (and his), with the Mazworx adapter and the bellhousing machining they did to the Z transmission everything comes up the same overall length. So everything from the trans-back is stock TT Z in my case. The transmission uses the factory Z mount, etc. If you're planning on using the VH auto trans or something different then of course things may change.

If you want you can stop on by and see it in person as it'll probably make a lot more sense when you have the visual in front of you.

Thanks,Nick.

[MRJERRY300ZX]

I know what your talking about you have a 5spd hence the adapter plate but, I'm going the auto route. On the z32 when you try to take the bellhousing off you can see the internals, craig was saying theres a way to still mate it to the vh using the bellhousing. the transmission issue is my speedbump

[SuperHatch]

I know what your talking about you have a 5spd hence the adapter plate but, I'm going the auto route. On the z32 when you try to take the bellhousing off you can see the internals, craig was saying theres a way to still mate it to the vh using the bellhousing. the transmission issue is my speedbump

Nissan Autos are different than their manual brethren. You can take the VG bellhousing off of your stock Z Auto and put the VH bellhousing on. The problem is that the bell is a different height, and the torque converters are different. The input shaft length may be different as well, and if it is, you'll need the whole VH trans.

The TTZ and VH auto trans are the same internally. The NA Z has the same ratios, but different clutch packs so it holds less power.

The easiest route is to use the VH auto with the Z trans mount. However, that whole bell being a different height thing might put the motor too far forward in your engine bay.

[craigztoyz]

Jerry, piece of cake, let me know how I can help. craig

[craigztoyz]

Jerry,

Not sure what Craig is referring to specifically (as I don't know what parts you plan on using), but on mine (and his), with the Mazworx adapter and the bellhousing machining they did to the Z transmission everything comes up the same overall length. So everything from the trans-back is stock TT Z in my case. The transmission uses the factory Z mount, etc. If you're planning on using the VH auto trans or something different then of course things may change.

If you want you can stop on by and see it in person as it'll probably make a lot more sense when you have the visual in front of you.

Thanks,Nick.

I dont recall that conversation, especially as, I rarely send someone to someone else for something I know very well.

Jerry, since you are automatic, what I was saying is, that yes physically the front cases are interchangeable in auto's but that the VH auto is MUCH better. Not hard to do the wiring, but gotta say with the atx it is harder.

craig

[MRJERRY300ZX]

Ok Nick Im ready to tackle the wiring, please help I have the engine out the car for the last time I'm just 2nd guessing myself alot b/c I don't want to mess up the whole project due to my lack of exp on wire intergeration!!

[MRJERRY300ZX]

ok!!! craig thats cool with me as far as the transmission issue goes but, I'm on the wiring phase and dont wanna mess up do you or nick provide a wiring service fee b/c we can bulls**t drink some beers and talk s**t about cars what better time to get aquainted, seeing that were the only ones in Texas with the infamous "Z 4.5" if there are others in the Houston or surrounding area please chime in!!!!

[npez]

ok!!! craig thats cool with me as far as the transmission issue goes but, I'm on the wiring phase and dont wanna mess up do you or nick provide a wiring service fee b/c we can bulls**t drink some beers and talk s**t about cars what better time to get aquainted, seeing that were the only ones in Texas with the infamous "Z 4.5" if there are others in the Houston or surrounding area please chime in!!!!

Jerry,

I don't charge a fee as if I had to charge you I probably wouldn't help you. I either do it to help a friend or I don't do it at all - my time is way too valuable for that. Anyway, that being said, what phase of your wiring are you at specifically (i.e. in what state is your wiring)? Do you have the Q harness, Z fuel injection harness, etc. out of the car? What have you done so far?

Please advise.

Thanks,Nick.

[npez]

I also took a very quick peek at the electrical side of it and there are 4 wires that interface between the A/T control unit on the Q45 and the Q45 ECCS. There are fewer wires (basically speed sensor, and a couple of others) interfacing to the Z's A/T control unit to the Z ECCS so wiring up the Z automatic trans shouldn't be much of a problem.

I'll look into my eletrical bible (the 14x17 inch version of the diagrams) and let you know more specifically as this progresses.

Thanks,Nick.
Modified by npez at 6:56 PM 8/11/2008

[MRJERRY300ZX]

Nick, I have everything out of the car (Z harness) my wiring state is at the 1st starting point. I dont have anything hooked up! no I wasn't saying it like that referring to the wiring, i was only offering something b/c I know that I would be taking time away from your swap just something to compensate you for helping me out , but I do understand what your saying about helping others and I thank you for that it's really appreciated

[npez]

Nick, I have everything out of the car (Z harness) my wiring state is at the 1st starting point. I dont have anything hooked up! no I wasn't saying it like that referring to the wiring, i was only offering something b/c I know that I would be taking time away from your swap just something to compensate you for helping me out , but I do understand what your saying about helping others and I thank you for that it's really appreciated

Jerry,

No worries - it wasn't directed at you - I was just stating my philosophy in general. I will typically help friends with car stuff (or anything) because I *want* to help them and they want to help themselves as well. If I don't want to help someone (or can't because of time or any other reason) I simply don't - regardless of money (believe me my time is more valuable than money at this stage of my life).

With all that said, you're at a clean slate - that's good. Can you e-mail me the following information - this will help me prepare on my end with information I will need to bring with me or even better if we can assemble your harness in my garage I will have all my tools and reference materials available for us to use:

- Most important - a way I can get a hold of you.- Year/model/trim of your Z- Whether you have a complete ECM harness and ECM for the Q45? and if so what year it came out of.- Whether you'll use the Q45 thermo-switch for the radiator fan, or if you're going aftermarket, what fan controller you are going to use (this is important for us to know whether the fan relay wires will end up inside or outside the car - I've got to snake mine inside the car now because I chose to go aftermarket with a controller that lives inside the car)

Shoot me an e-mail and we'll get started on it. It'll be 2 phases. Phase 1 will be to get your harness modified and Phase 2 will be to snake the modified harness through the firewall on your car.

Thanks,Nick.

[craigztoyz]

I did my wiring similar but differnt. I can say that I have found a few questions on the wiring, but will know more later. Tonight, after a VERY hard day on the car, almost 200 miles today!, I Hit a Heavily Banked turn at the end of an S, too hard on the outs. When I was just through turn I got on it, FULLY , Blew the Batt Fuseable link, (blue).

Not sure if too much Alt, or if the bank/acceleration, was enough to crush the wiring beside it, that is now moved a bit for safety.

Other then that, not an issue all day. Drove it really nice, and drove it dirty like it was a redhead.

The Auto ECU wiring is just a matter of connectioning them up, Thats what I found the other night doing the FSM work for the cas.

[MRJERRY300ZX]

still on the swap, everything engine related is finish I'm going to need a custom driveshaft because I'm using the Q's transmission getting everything prepped for the the wiring and interior here are a couple of pics of my Z 4.5(AkA Black Widow)I just found out how to post pics!!!! nothing fancy but I like the out come so far. I just finished replacing the old brittle hoses this weekend to eliminate any possible vaccum leaks so everything is fresh along with the pcv valve I cant wait to bring her to life I'll keep you guys posted on further progress!! BTW are there any Nicoclub stickers avalible? Alot of info from this site along with great member feedback is getting me through this swap and I just want the club name advertised on my Z preferrably on the l/r fenders