My ridiculous project... VH45DE into 240sx!

[tmorgan4]

very good rule, nissan put it there, usually its suppose to be there

I'd agree with you for the most part...but that really can't be applied to this forum!

[T45]

TMO! Long time...

I am still baffled by the pilot bearing theory. What's the point? To me it's just a part that will fail way before it's time. It's only (barely) useful at idle or when clutch is depressed, and even then would you really want an unsealed, unlubricated bearing spinning at 1-7k rpms?

Bushings work perfectly for thier purpose, no need to upgrade them. They are made from a softer material than the steel shaft for a reason. They wear at the perfect rate and to me I see no need to upgrade to an inferior bearing. Bearings have their place, but to me, in the end of a crank to exposed clutch dust and heat is not one of them.

[volcomskater773]

so whats the latest on the fix?

[CrazyTrance]

Still havent gotten any farther on it. I'm working on purchasing another vehicle right now to get me around. Then i'll be able to actually start working on it and hopefully fix it. Been super crazy busy. Almost bought a trans a few days ago but again, decided to buy a cheap beater to get me around instead

[volcomskater773]

thats sad that project is the sex.

[Kalypso]

love this car...

[Driven_By_Hate]

Thanks for the updates, it will help greatly on my upcoming project. Learning all I can right now, before I tear into my car...

[CrazyTrance]

Thanks for the updates, it will help greatly on my upcoming project. Learning all I can right now, before I tear into my car...

Thats the way to do it. Good luck on your project. Hope it goes smoother than mine lol

[CrazyTrance]

Alright, MASS UPDATE.

So this summer i didn't get squat done as i was working my a** off djing and working on the base out here along with having fun with the girlfriend.

Anyways, i also moved just recently so here's a few pictures for the hell of it.



Here it is in it's new home, much bigger garage.

One thing i did before i made the move was to fix one of my frame rails...rust.Made this snazzy little sleeve.

SO. recently i just purchased a ton of parts to get this thing moving again.

Pics of said parts.

Ended up going with a lightweight flywheel from XTD. (12.5 lbs vs. i think double that stock = WEEEEEE)Those shirts are to help support a local crew here in MN.

Also got myself a new toy. Helped me out with re-boring my flywheel spacer also. More on that later.



There are a lot more parts in the mail that i havent received quite yet.

Mazworx power steering line conversion (yay for PS!)ACT 6 puck unprung clutch kitMegan Racing Tension rodsInnovative LC-1 with XD-16 gaugeand most importantly a z32 Turbo trans with less than 40k miles on it.ECU tuned by mr. Carl here on NICO.

So this flywheel spacer thing. You've seen pictures of it all mangled and what not. I was talking to my boss out on base and he hooked me up proper with a buddy of his thats got a little shop of his own.

Making sure it's on the lathe nice and true.

Ready for destruction. Homie Darren in the background.

The result. If you're wondering what that step is in there it's so the bushing doesn't fall through to the other side.

Here it is sitting on the back of the flywheel. Had to make sure it fits in the one i got haha.

Now that we bored it out it is much larger than the bore to accept the OEM pilot bearing. What to do?

MAKE ONE

Went to the machine shop here in Rapid and bought some bearing bronze. 9 something a pound. Bought plenty in case we mess up lol.Outside diameter will be around 23. something mm (cant remember) But inside diameter will be bored to the OEM pilot bearing specs. Which is around .626" or .629" which is just under 16mm.

Plan on getting that done sometime this weekend hopefully.

Oil Pan

I'm sick and tired of bashing my oilpan on stuff around town. I've done it twice in less than a year... and NO i will not raise the car lol. I actually want to go lower..

Here's a pic of what i'm working with.



My plan?

Shorten it and add extensions off the side with baffles/trap doors. If you guys have ANY input here at all please let me know as i have never done this but i've ot a rough idea on what to do...

First cut



Final cuts

As you can see this thing came stock with a windage tray already in the pan. Along with another one bolted to the underside of the block. (cool)

I'm going to try and keep that there while raising the bottom of the pan. But as you can see in the mext picture i've also got to cut and re-weld the pickup tube in a higher location. I'm thinking about 10-15mm of clearance between the pan will be about right. (Any input here??)

You can also see where i plan to ad dthe extensions off the side..

So i bolted the cut up pan to the engine to see how everything sat...





This last picture is of it with the engine sitting in the bay so i can see how low it's still hanging below the cross member. To me it looks to be about flush with it or it just slightly hangs below the cross member.

PS: I took ALOT of pictures with the pan sitting on the engine this way as i'm sure it could help a few people out. I have yet to see a picture with the oil pan cut away and bolted to the engine on here.. So if anyone wants measurements or a different perspective chime in now while i've still got it like this.

I'm thinking about putting some spacers in my engine mounts to raise the engine up a little bit as it will help with clearance of the pan, exhaust, and PS pump. Only issue is that its going to hit the hood more......

SO there you have it. I will probably be posting quite a bit more pictures as stuff gets done and parts come in as i REALLY want to get this thing running soon. Want to tear up the street one more time before winter fully hits! (Even though it just snowed today lol) But i'm banking on one more dry week haha.

Modified by CrazyTrance at 4:04 PM 10/5/2009
Modified by CrazyTrance at 4:16 PM 10/5/2009

[volcomskater773]

any thoughts about a skid plate to protect the pan? might be worth making a mock up. or raising it like you said and using spacers to raise the hood as well. just suggestions. cant wait to see this thing running again.

[CrazyTrance]

Yeah i think i am going to make a skid plate as well. The problem with making a skid plate before i modified that pan is that it would hang so low it would scrape everywhere....

And with raising the engine and spacing the hood up. It's already spaced up pretty far. I think i'm going to buy a different hood that provides more clearance eventually.. We'll see how much i can get away with as it already rubs on the hood after i've cut a bunch of bracing out already.

[volcomskater773]

yeah it would be really low but better the plate than the pan.

[kingkilburn]

Dry sump + skid plate?

[CrazyTrance]

Dry sump + skid plate?

This is the best option, but unfortunately i am not baller enough to fork out that kind of money for such a setup. Especially considering the amount of money i have just spent.

I've been talking to a buddy about making a completely new aluminum pan from scratch as i might be able to get the materials for super cheap and hooked up with some welding.. Not sure what i'm going to do yet. Decisions decisions.

[CrazyTrance]

Got some more stuff in.. all that is holding me up now is the clutch kit and the MASS amounts of school work... supposedly FRSport was out of stock of the clutch when i ordered it..

Some PS stuff from mazworx. (smiley face unintentional)Started putting it on the car yesterday. Had to notch the hell out of my tension rod bracket But i'll box that in later.

Finally man'd up and bought a wideband..

Trans!

A little dirty but nothing a pressure washer cant fix.Awesome shippers broke the reverse and neutral switches on it.But it came with a new starter and supposedly has under 40k on the trans. so i'm pretty stoked about it.

[gs14racer]

Everything looks great, except one thing the innovate wideband. I have one, and a couple people i know have them, nothing but problems, it wont connect, needs to be recalibrated constantly.

go to the innovative forums and search for lc1 problems and see, these things are aparently so sensitive to electrical noise in the car, some people resorted to run a seperate battery to power them.

http://www.innovatemotorsports...x.php

After trying to get it to work consistently for TWO weeks, i gave up on it bought an aem uego, first try worked and connected to the lap top with out any problems.

good luck!!!

[White Comet]

looking good and i like the oil pan plan but would making it out of alum maybe be a bad idea? if it does hit something, the alum won't stand up to it

[CrazyTrance]

Everything looks great, except one thing the innovate wideband. I have one, and a couple people i know have them, nothing but problems, it wont connect, needs to be recalibrated constantly.

go to the innovative forums and search for lc1 problems and see, these things are aparently so sensitive to electrical noise in the car, some people resorted to run a seperate battery to power them.

http://www.innovatemotorsports...x.php

After trying to get it to work consistently for TWO weeks, i gave up on it bought an aem uego, first try worked and connected to the lap top with out any problems.

good luck!!!

Hmmm.... second person to tell me this.. Damnit i guess we'll see how it works. Otherwise i guess its buy a different one time. Thanks for the info though Jerry!

looking good and i like the oil pan plan but would making it out of alum maybe be a bad idea? if it does hit something, the alum won't stand up to it

The plan is to raise it up enough to where it cant hit anything. But i also want to make a skid plate. And this thing is RAPIDLY turning into a track-only car with the occasional terror run around town hehe.

Small update before i go to bed.. Just got done making this thing with Gunar.

OEM bushing on left.. Custom bushing on right. Notice how much larger it is... yeah, that flywheel spacer was MESSED up.

In action..

Also... just received clutch kit in the mail today so HOPEFULLY i can get this thing rolling soon. Dont think i'll be able to work on it for at least a week though.. school is KILLING me right now.

[1WheelWonder]

Nice update bro.

Which ps pump will you be running with the mazworx lines and such? The more I drive mine the more I wish I had ps.

[CrazyTrance]

So far i'm planing on using the stock q45 pump. I've notched the tension rod bracket to compensate for the pump. Mazworx even includes a bracket to box the cut back in

[CrazyTrance]

Also. Some recent concerns regarding the mazworx ps kit have come up as there were no instructions or even a diagram that came with it.

1. Are these fittings even going to hold the pressure? As some have mentioned these arent PS fittings.. I'm new to these AN fittings... so any input here would be awesome.

2. The fitting i'm assuming i'm supposed to use for the pump side of the high pressure line bottoms out before it even gets close to their "supplied seal".... wtf.

Jerry do you have any info on this?

[CrazyTrance]

Just got some 94-96 rails and injectors today. Along with the injector harness and the little rubber seals that go on the lower runners.

Now i've read the couple threads that talk about doing this conversion and i'm not sure whether I should use the 96 lower seals on the 92 runners (as their outer diameter is a little smaller) or if i should use the 92 seals as you guys were thinking that by lowering the rail down it will seal fine. Has anyone had any issues doing this?

[CrazyTrance]

Nobody? I thought a couple of you guys on here had done this?

[SuperHatch]

Just got some 94-96 rails and injectors today. Along with the injector harness and the little rubber seals that go on the lower runners.

Now i've read the couple threads that talk about doing this conversion and i'm not sure whether I should use the 96 lower seals on the 92 runners (as their outer diameter is a little smaller) or if i should use the 92 seals as you guys were thinking that by lowering the rail down it will seal fine. Has anyone had any issues doing this?

Use the old style lower seals, not the new ones. Use two thin washers between the rails and lower runners at the mounting points instead of the thick black isolator. That's all it takes...

[CrazyTrance]

Ok thanks, was mainly wondering if people were having vacuum leaks going that route.

[SuperHatch]

I used a Snap-On smoke tester to pressurize intake and check for leaks... none were present. Good enough for me...

[justinedible4]

This is the third vh swap build thread I have read through and I have to say that every time I get done reading I want to do this swap more and more. IMO I think this swap is a TON better than any turbo setup on a KA or SR even though VH might be more expensive.

I have subscribed.

[CrazyTrance]

So do it!

Slow progress is going on... managed to clear the bay of most things. Forgot how big of a pain it is to get the main harness out of there with those fuse blocks.

Got it all degreased, now just need to wipe everything down with some lacquer thinner and scuff it all up. Along with some other misc. things..

[CrazyTrance]

Primed the bay today. Gonna sand the primer with 400 and spray base coat and clear on Friday.

Also got the bay all stitch welded up.

[tmorgan4]

Nice! I love how all these projects turn out like this (mine included).

Just an engine swap to start...and then it all goes downhill. Unfortunately I had problems with my Innovative LC-1 (purchased brand new) as well. Sometimes it would work...somtimes it just sits at 22.4 AFR. I did notice a few of the wires being connected to the O2 poorly though so there's a good chance that's my problem. Might as well run it if you've already got it.