The Epic Story of My VQ build. There are ALOT of pictures.

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blackRB240
Posts: 321
Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 5:59 pm
Car: 1993 RB25 SII swapped S13 hatch
Location: Columbia, SC and Mooresville, NC

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The beginning of this story takes place in July 2011 and leads us up to now. You will begin to wonder why this is in the convertible category...but keep on reading and it will all make sense! Here goes nothin....


Decided to convoy with 30 friends to Import Alliance-Nashville for the weekend, and then drove to WI after to wire up a few Pro-Am cars for Illwaukee Street Performance. Here's how she looked when I arrived:

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Then....I saw this sitting in the shop floor. Came out of a salvage titled 350Z with only 21k miles :biggrin:

So, I naturally asked about it. A friend of mine here in SC is a Nissan Master tech and has built a few VQ cars, including one with a roots type blower and another that's twin turboed. My buddy Vince said he had been trying to sell the motorset for quite some time, so I jokingly offered a trade for my RB25. Full setup for full setup. He made a phone call to his business partner, and agreed. He valued his setup at 5k, which wasn't far off from the 4.5k the RB was worth.

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I made many friends in WI...and one of them offered his shop to me for a week so I could build my mounts for the VQ. I had to find a way to get the motor/trans an hour from the shop without using a truck....so after a few beers, this happened.

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Got her to Sun Prairie and began the teardown. In 2 hours, the RB was out and the VQ was sitting in the chassis.

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Clearance is MINIMAL...but amazing.

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Made the plates for the motor mounts and got the motor lined up...

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And.....VOILA :D Ended up just re-drilling the RB crossmember bracket and made a spacer for the trans mount. Everything is solid mounted.

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While I was at it....decided to replace the junky stock subframe bushings, with Stance V2 solids. Took me nearly 2 hours to pound them into the subframe. Tight is an understatement.

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Decided to go nuts and stitch weld the engine bay while I had the tools to do so.

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Fresh paint....all the holes welded up!

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Mocking up the VQ cluster into the dash...I'll explain into more detail the pain in the a$$ process of wiring this in later.

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As anyone knows who has ever done a motor swap that is not FULLY explained and covered...the wiring can be a nightmare. I have nearly 60 hours invested in the wiring of this car.

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350Z pedal installed
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To take a break from the build....we went to StanceWI's Still Awesome show! Here's a few shapshots:

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And, back to the build. I was working and making money while the build was in process, but the $800 ECU tune I wanted was a little out of budget. I called up RTTuning in Pennsylvania, and offered their tuner the turbo manifolds in exchange for the NATS delete and the Osiris Pro software. He accepted! Here's what I traded him...

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And the badass driveshaft I had made...

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Almost done ^_^

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Eventually decided the purple needed to go. Looked a little more sinister in black.

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After another month or so....it began to snow. Not wanting to get stuck up in WI for another 6 months, I decided it was time to pack up and roll on home. Smooth sailing for 6.5 hours until... :frown:

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Semi truck ran me off the road in a construction zone at 1:30 AM. I sideswiped a barrier at 70mph. Broke both my left coilovers, destroyed my left wheels, ripped the body away from the wheel well, and pushed the exhaust into the fuel tank draining $50 of fresh 93 :squint: I ended up taking refuge at a Pilot Truck Stop in Memphis, IN for two days. Boredom got the best of me while watching "Burn Notice" reruns. I created an Adventures of Domo album. This is Domo vs plant.

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I survived off Arby's and potato chips, until my amazing friends hooked up a 24ft trailer to a dualie and drove 11 hours to rescue me because the damage was not fixable.

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After a long, long ride home, we finally got the car back to my house in SC. Then began the search for a new chassis, which didn't take long. Two friends donated two clean hatch chassis' to me after they heard what happened.

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I picked a chassis and dumped the motor in over a matter of 2 days. My wrecked car was also stripped to nothing.

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And this brings us to current date. I traded the blue hatch shell and a wiring service on a drift car for a running, 5 speed convertible. I decided to put the VQ into the vert for my daily, along with a few other goodies and give the hatch/KA/5 speed to my little brother for his 16th birthday. It'll be his first car....gotta get him started off right :chuckle:

Here she is...updates soon! I plan on having both cars running and drivable by March.

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S13xCrazy
Posts: 2642
Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2006 2:54 pm
Car: 1993 240sx Vert, 1993 BMW 325i, 1993 Honda CBR F2, 1998 Infiniti Q45,

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You manned up and got a vert!?! Looks like you didn't need me to trade you mine!

Great news bud, we miss ya up in Wisconsin! Hope you get my diff in sometime soon ;)

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95zenki man
Posts: 1201
Joined: Mon Sep 13, 2010 11:38 am

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im pretty sure thats my old vq outa my Z.......Im gonna have to ask for it along with the car its in back now!

:squint:

blackRB240
Posts: 321
Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 5:59 pm
Car: 1993 RB25 SII swapped S13 hatch
Location: Columbia, SC and Mooresville, NC

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But, but, man I want to drive it first :frown: lol

blackRB240
Posts: 321
Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 5:59 pm
Car: 1993 RB25 SII swapped S13 hatch
Location: Columbia, SC and Mooresville, NC

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Here's what she looked like when i first got her...
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After the Sil front install
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After some talking/trading with a buddy of mine, I acquired a JAZ 15 gallon fuel cell and a hookup on a roll cage. The factory fuel tank was rusty and I want to run a 350Z style dual exhaust out the back, so the factory fuel tank had to go!
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Cage is getting done next week, so I went ahead and stripped the interior, boxes, and wiring out of the chassis.
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Thinking about swapping over to my 5 lug/big brakes tomorrow and putting the coilovers in place...might wait on the suspension til the motor is in. Will update with more photos and details on my new wiring harness build shortly!

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USC Justice
Posts: 220
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 2:55 pm
Car: 88 Desert Runner, 02 Pathfinder SE 4x4, 05 QX56, 09 G37S Vert, 12 Pathfinder Silver, 15 Q50

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Are you working on this in SC or up in NC?

blackRB240
Posts: 321
Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 5:59 pm
Car: 1993 RB25 SII swapped S13 hatch
Location: Columbia, SC and Mooresville, NC

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SC sir, and the cage is getting done in Rock Hill.

Subframe swap....more pictures up tomorrow!
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blackRB240
Posts: 321
Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 5:59 pm
Car: 1993 RB25 SII swapped S13 hatch
Location: Columbia, SC and Mooresville, NC

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Here's a vid of the red car still running before I tear her down...open y-pipe is just a little noisy.

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sancosys
Posts: 628
Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 8:13 pm

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Awesome dude! I just got mine started last week. Im at the point of wiring my gauges then I can tuck my dash harness. Any tips on the gauge wiring? Did you have to use the a/c amp I think it is?

blackRB240
Posts: 321
Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 5:59 pm
Car: 1993 RB25 SII swapped S13 hatch
Location: Columbia, SC and Mooresville, NC

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Yessir I did brotherman. I did use the A/C amp...the CAN/LAN communication lines are required from the ecu in order for it all to work, and the fuel gauge/oil pressure (should you choose to run it) must be wired directly into the Unified Meter amplifier. You will have to take apart the gauge cluster and perform surgery as I did so the L/R indicators and the high beam indicator will work properly, as well as remove all of the unused LED's so the cluster doesn't light up like a Christmas tree. I removed everything but the battery charge light, check engine light, indicators, and illumination. You just break the LED's off the circuit board. One more thing, the gauges must be put back together while it's powered up because otherwise all of the gauges will read high. Hope this helps....any other questions about wiring/setup, let me know!

blackRB240
Posts: 321
Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 5:59 pm
Car: 1993 RB25 SII swapped S13 hatch
Location: Columbia, SC and Mooresville, NC

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Also, in the factory S13 cluster, the indicators are lit up from a 12V source and ground is constant. In the 350Z cluster (like most things in new cars) the indicators are given constant 12V and switched on by grounds. Relays must be added. Also, there is little to no chance the Speedo in the factory cluster will ever work, purely because it is run through the ABS system in the Z. I have a spare cluster that I am going to attempt to install a Dakota Digital converter box and use my S14 ABS hub/sensor to provide wheels speed. I love the Z gauges, but man it would be fancy if I could get the Speedo to work lol

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sancosys
Posts: 628
Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 8:13 pm

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I am using a G35 harness ad cluster but picked up a 350z cluster also, it just fits so much better. I want to see if I can, in time, make the 350z cluster work with the G35 harness.

blackRB240
Posts: 321
Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 5:59 pm
Car: 1993 RB25 SII swapped S13 hatch
Location: Columbia, SC and Mooresville, NC

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Well, here she is! Just a basic cage for now....going back to add bracing and cross bars at a later date.

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I'll get some high-res photos up a little later. Here are a few photos from my 15 year old brother's first build...He helped me assemble the engine.

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More updates soon....looking to have both cars running by middle of next week :)

blackRB240
Posts: 321
Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 5:59 pm
Car: 1993 RB25 SII swapped S13 hatch
Location: Columbia, SC and Mooresville, NC

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And, the motor is in the vert!

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breadbox
Posts: 8550
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 4:09 pm
Car: Red 89 240sx,Black 89 Koop, White 84 720 4x4KC
Location: Va Bch

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Awesome thread.

blackRB240
Posts: 321
Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 5:59 pm
Car: 1993 RB25 SII swapped S13 hatch
Location: Columbia, SC and Mooresville, NC

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Sorry for the lack of updates guys..I've been driving her problem free for the past two weeks now :) That and work has been keeping me busy, especially since I just moved my business into a new shop. Without further adieu, here's some pro photos a buddy of mine in SC took of my car in my new shop. Hope y'all enjoy :biggrin:

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Coilovers will be here soon, and wheels/tires soon to follow. I'm in process of building my turbo kit for the VQ as well....hoping to have everything but paint done before Summer IA in Charlotte. I'm sooooo stoked....more updates soon!

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biggie
Moderator
Posts: 10330
Joined: Wed Jul 24, 2002 2:31 am
Car: '16 Q70L/'14 Q60S Vert/'19 Armada/'09 FX35
Location: Clemmons, NC

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Would love if you brought it out to some CarolinaNissans.com meets. Or a Greensboro Cars and Coffee meet. Looks good.

blackRB240
Posts: 321
Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 5:59 pm
Car: 1993 RB25 SII swapped S13 hatch
Location: Columbia, SC and Mooresville, NC

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I attend the Charlotte Cars/Coffee meets as much as I can, and I can't register for CarolinaNissans :( It won't let me. I would love to be a part of it.

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biggie
Moderator
Posts: 10330
Joined: Wed Jul 24, 2002 2:31 am
Car: '16 Q70L/'14 Q60S Vert/'19 Armada/'09 FX35
Location: Clemmons, NC

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You should be able to, registration is open. Can PM me if you have issues.

CnC in Greensboro just started up again this past weekend, they do the 3rd Saturday of the Month. Come on up to one of them.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/CarsAndCoffeeGreensboro

240-Zlover
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2015 1:03 am
Car: Mustang GT bolt on
240sx s13 rb20 350z interior

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Hey man that's awesome! I just got a 240 like ur lil bros but hard top and my buddy totaled his 350z due to an ***hole gtr driver. Anyways he let me strip the whole thing but not motor or trans because I have college coming up and a whole build is too much so I got the running rb powered 240 and did the dash swap along with passenger 350 leather seat and sparco driver seat. Gauges would not WIRE UP I too spent hours looking at clematis but no luck so I put the 240 cluster in and cut 30% of the 240 dash and fit it to the 350z dash! Should b all done soon:D


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