I have my donor stripped of all parts that I think I am going to need. I tore out the engine, trans, complete wiring harness from front to back and all computers that we found. I am sure I took out way too much but better safe than sorry.

I plan on following all of the wires from the ECU and TCU and mapping them out with schematics to trace out which wires I actually need. If anyone has some good pointers on what stays and goes I would appreciate it.

Also we started tearing the engine down last night. I bought it used from someone who obviously traded it in after they got an estimate of how much money it would cost them to fix it. It's a typical Q with the big coolant hose under the intake busted and all other hoses basically fell apart upon removal. I am assuming by looking at the knock sensors we removed (bolted on each side into the top of the block) that it suffered an overheating. The plastic on each one was melted like a candle extending all the way down the block.

Also, plug cavaties 2, 4, and 6 had water in them. We made sure it wasn't coolant as the water was totally clear. I guess an engine washing could cause this? It had been in there a while and could have been what was causing an engine miss. All plugs looked good. Intake and heads are black inside I guess from the PCV or EGR system.

About the EGR sys. Has anyone eliminated it? I read it actually hurts the engine efficiency to remove it but doesn't affect HP to leave it on. Just leaves a gummy mess. There are so many hoses it looks easier to leave it off. Opinions welcomed.

I don't want to spend a ton of money on it but have a feeling I am going to get raped on all the seals, gaskets, belts and hoses for this thing.

Anything else I should check besides all seals and timing chain and guides?

Pics coming soon.

I forgot to mention that this car has TCS. Must I do anything for the ECM to operate properly when it doesn't "see" the TCS module?

You can just switch the ECU out for a non TCS ECU and it will ignore it....

Thanks. I just downloaded a bunch of diagrams from Alldata so I have the entire car covered. I just need to know which systems I can cut out and ignore and which ones MUST stay with the engine and trans for proper operation. Any help at all is greatly appreciated.

There are so many on this car it's mind boggling how much time it takes to engineer a car like this. No wonder they cost so much new.

For the EGR you can safely remove it. it really only improves highway fuel economy.....

THIS is simply a kickass project!!!!

On the KS, they weren't "melted". That's some sort of sealant Nissan uses to get a good "connection" between the sensor and the head. It's present on all VH45DE motors, and I thought the same thing when I saw it the first time.

A lot of the underplenum hoses can be fabbed from stock (generic) hose. There's a Y-shaped hose in the rear that you may need to get from the dealer, or you can fab up a "T" in it's place.

Pretty impressive engine, huh?

Let me know if you need any spare parts, I have 2 VH45DE's sitting here.

Please keep us posted on the project, this will make an AWESOME feature article!!!

Actually the KS do melt if the car has been overheated. Those little guys dont like a lot of extra heat.... Id guess the car has been overheated because they dont look melty otherwise... ive never heard of it on a confirmed non-overheated motor.

The goofy Y shaped hose in the back can be bypassed by removing the resonator thats under the plenum. Youll see what im talking about its a pipe that leads to nowhere.... $30 for a hose is retarded...

Awesome, thanks for the replies. I figured a lot of the extra can be eliminated. Obviously, rolling around on 35's, I'm not concerned with highway mileage. I want a nice clean engine as well so I'll look into that when the time comes.

When tearing down the hoses, I could have sworn that I saw a hose branch off of the rigid heater hose and go up to the valve cover. Maybe my eyes decieved me but at that point we just started cutting everything off anyways. All hoses were junk.

I'll get a pic of those KS. They actually look melted as the connector is connected to half of what it should be.

We got the valve covers and oil pan off and everything looks great. The engine actually looks red inside. I was told that was from running synthetic oil. There is a little bit of crusty oil around certain parts but not much. The engine has 13X,XXX miles. What are your opinions on replacements?

What I had planned on was complete gaskets and seals. Taking the heads somewhere and having them cleaned and checked. Should I have the bottom end cleaned and checked by a machine shop too? Basically the engine ran great but had a miss. Between all the cracked hoses, water in the plug holes and injectors I think the engine is mechanically solid. No wierd metal noises and such.

Or should I just replace all gaskets, seals and hoses and roll with it?

Thanks again.

You might take off some of the main bearings and see how they look. Certainly while your in there it might not be a bad idea to replace them.

If it seems the engine has been taken care of (IE the top end is clean) the bottom end is probably OK. The bottom end on a VH is strong unless owners dont see the need to change the oil regularly... certainly isnt too hard to pull off one of the caps to see how it looks while your in there!

True that. We pulled the oil pan and cover last night and everything looks tight. The cyl walls look nice and shiny and smooth.

I'll check the bearings and pull the heads next time as a bunch of junk fell into the intakes upon disassembly.

Any input on gasket sets off of ebay?

yeah, the engine gasket set, with my shop discount was like 400 and change if i remeber correctly. the motor sounds clean so i would just roll with it. hell i wouldn`t even take the heads off. you`ll want to replace the chain guides with 94 guides too, trust me. you`ll love that motor in a truck we got 210 torque @ 1200 rpm, it`s nasty.

There are some "full engine gasket" kits on ebay for the VH45 going for about $99. I've heard of no one who has tried it... and, that is just too good of a deal. I'd be a bit suspicious.

As to the hoses... I'm replacing them all right now. It SUCKS! Most of them appear to be replaceable by stock hose. But, I figure its better safe than sorry with my application. As for you... might be better to see how much you can strip all that extra rubber down to and see if you can simplify the stuff a bit.

Well I honestly didn't even want to pull the heads off but there was a ton of crap sitting on the top of the engine deck and some fell into the intakes after we removed the lower intake runners. I figure as long as i have it down this far I may as well replace them. I think this engine suffered an overheating at one point and time so better safe than sorry.

Plus I know they'll be able to handle the boost from Elwesso's supercharger..... haha