VQ35DE in S13 in progress.....

[Drunkendonuts]

I was just wondering, are you looking for another child? I'm 25 but I bet I could out-kid your 4 year old for a VQ swap , anyway GREAT job on all the info and research +20

[3.5Litre240]

um Mark how much can i put a supercharger like that on mine for?? that is bad *** let me know as soon as possible!!

[myS13wantsaVQ35]

thanks and I will do that asap!

[r34 gtr]

you...are...god!!

[cesar240sx]

i am kind new here. you did good job with the swap..specialy hooking the bcm....one question,how did you get the speedo to pic a signal.the 6 speed trans out z car has no speed sensor,did you used abs wheel sensor to do that or u used differential abs sensor to pic a signal.1 more question ,in the pic u show back of speedo head and adjustement screw ,is this the original s13 speedo head...thanks ...keep up the goog job

[cesar240sx]

i am sorrrry i did mistake with my last post ,what i meant the adjustement screw is for the tach not the speedo head. the question is,did you used s13 tach 4cyl to work with vq35/v6 signal with the adjustement u mentiond.how did you get the speedo to work, there no speed sensor on the z trans....

[maroon240]

Dude,you gotta get twin turbos on the vq35 that thing would kill on the strip.

[thomasjamal]

For anyone interested in my personal swap, it will begin here in a few weeks. What is being used:

VQ40DE from an 06 Pathfinder (9.7:1)VQ35DE 35th Anniversary Cams (248/248)VG33ER supercharger (Xterra/Frontier)04 350Z ECM05 350Z Trans (CD009)E-Manage Ultimate PiggybackCustom lower intake manifoldElectric Throttle

Being that I have the new VQ35HR pistons, and that they are so d*** light (shorter skirt, teflon coated primary ring land and skirt), I may see what the compression will be with those in the engine. My guess it it will drop compression by about .2. This will give me a nice 9.5:1 ratio wich will be great for boost. The supercharger while from an Xterra and not the best, will be just fine for the lightweight 240SX, is getting resealed and having a smaller custom pully made for it to compensate for engine displacement.

[3.5Litre240]

i want the twin turbo but im still in high school so i got to find the cheapest way to get nasty amounts of power

[240sxautox]

Plenum spacer... about $300 and about 20hp. My brother put one on his '03 350z, and its nice. Other than that, there aren't many cheap upgrades for the VQ motor. cams are about $1,000, the turbonetics single turbo kit is $5,600, twin turbo's by Greddy and the like are more. etc. It's an expensive motor to upgrade. By the time I'm done, I'll probably think I should have just bought a 350z. I might pick one up at some point in the future anyhow.

But the plenum spacer works well for small amounts of money, other than that get prepared to drop some cash. And please take care of the car when its done, don't feel the need to impress kids in the school, its worthless. It's better to not race that one time and not lose your license and/or life.

[3.5Litre240]

yea i dont really plan on doing anything else major until the summer when i can work fulltime but yea i know a bunch of kids around here have been getting caught so ive been lookin at it as if its not even worth it

[myS13wantsaVQ35]

thanks for the info. If I come up with anything that makes the swap a little easyer I will pass it on to you as well. I know for one thing I will be trying to use a 350z fuel pump to solve my fuel issues.

[SpecDRacing]

As for the the 350Z fuel pump, you'll need to install the entire pump asesmbly, which I dont know if it will fit. The regulator is made into the plastic assembly. You can just put it on the return line and your good to go.

Earier someone had asked about the speed signal and the tach. The tach will be adjusted but I am not completely sure it will be 100% accurate. no way to tell untill the swap is completely done. As for the speed signal, we are installing an ABS ring to the diff and using an ABS sensor there. If your 240 has a limited slip, then you have this already.

No new news yet, keep checking in!

[teflondon]

Great job on the car. I can't wait to see this thing in action.

[BoostFab]

woow SpecDRacing.... much respect from me! i appreciate our share of information.

noticed your mods on the stock transmission shifter linkage. i guess this can also be done on the 300zx z32 transmission, as it is the same style.

[nec240]

Specdracing email does not work for me. Anyone have the contact info or working email?

[myS13wantsaVQ35]

I will be using a lsd from a 180sx and I got my hands on 350z dash cluster, I am going to try my best to get it to work in the 240sx. I love to rewire stuff. Thanks for the fuel pump info.

[SpecDRacing]

Just to fill you ine on the dash cluster......THIS IS FOR EVERYONE.

FORGET WHAT YOU KNEW ABOUT NISSANS! The "dash cluster" is now called a unified meter, and it doesnt recieve all the signals like the old gauges. You will need a unified meter control unit as well. The route your headed, you'ld better pony up the $7000 for a front clip from a junk yard. You can make the stock gauges work with the transister from the stock 240sx harness and adjusting the tach screw, as for the speedo, plenty of companies out there make adapters to use ABS senors for a speed signal. Save yourself the trouble.

No new news yet, the driveshaft still isnt here. Though I did do a brake upgrade to my 240 today (J-30 brakes), and am waiting on my ring gear bolts to show up for my LSD. We also got an LSD for this 240 so the burnout wont be a peg leg after all!!!

Later gang

[myS13wantsaVQ35]

so what your saying is that it can be done, it will just take an *** of rewiring and strange parts that cost out the wazo. I will let you know if it works out or if I just go with the stock heads up dash cluster I already have in the 240sx.

[sbird1]

This thread is a lot nicer when everyone get along...

[myS13wantsaVQ35]

so true! I have been collecting more parts from 350z(s). I got my hands on the part of the dash with the three gauges and there in place, so I will do my best to get them to work in the 240sz as well. I will keep you posted.

[myS13wantsaVQ35]

I can pick up a 1997 240sx (4 lug) with a bad motor; do you think that would make a better car to put the VQ35 in?

[nzmoman]

thats a good question...I think that this is one of the craziest swaps Ive heard of...but Im curious about how much more will have to be done to put that power to the ground...I know that there is a point where the light weight of the s13 chassis becomes too light for some amount of power. For instance, people who have driven build s13's with RB26 swaps have mostly called it absolutely scary. On one of the option DVDs the driver said he was scared to give it full throttle...this is a guy who has driven in excess of 200 mph. I wouldn't want a car like that. The thing that interest me about this swap is that all the power you will need is very easily attainable right out of the box. I am assuming the motor is good for 350+ with NA upgrades...and over 600 with turbos...that is in-Freaking-sane!!! Like loading a 75 pound go kart with the viper venom motor.

So, that said...doesnt the S14 chassis weigh a little more? That seems to me that it would be the way to go with having a ton of power and being able to keep control of the car...

U guys can chime in on this because I have not built in high horsepower cars, nor have I driven any high horsepower 240s. Ive been in one with 380ish at the wheel, but it was a track car. So why get the high numbers? I dont think I'll ever go over 320ish in a 240.

[SpecDRacing]

Correct, the great thing about this swap is the immediate power gain, the lowering of the vehicles total weight, the added benefit of greater gas mileage (stock 300HP computer with 32 mpg...awesome), an extra gear for highway cruising, costs less than an RB26 swap, is a quarter mile monster with the stock rearend or even a 4.3 from an Xterra, all parts are available here in the states (no need to go overseas for a basic part), and last of all, complete sleeper.

As for this 240sx, it will be recieving the good ol' J30 rearend (3.91 ring and pinion, LSD). The stock 4.08 gear is a bit short for daily driving on the street, and the 3.91 from the J will be perfect......especially since the Z guys pay over $1200 for that ratio installed to their 350's (again, stock 350Z is 3.6). But all of this is useless at this point because...........................................WE ARE STILL WAITING ON THE DRIVE SHAFT! Can you guys believe this???? It was ordered 3 weeks ago, got the wrong one in from this particular junkyard, and they havent sent the correct one yet. Soon there will be a chargeback and a brand new driveshaft may get ordered from Nissan. Our cost is only like $180.00.

BRAKE BREAKTHROUGH:!!!!

FOR YOU GUYS WANTING TO UPGRADE YOUR BRAKES, I HAVE FOUND A NEW SETUP THAT IS EXTREMELY CHEAP AND WORKS GREAT!!!

We all know about J-30 front rotors and calipers. Big woop. IBut what about the rear???? Nope, nope, dont go to the junkyard and buy the entire spindle from a 300Z only to add weight to your car for a parking brake, I have a way to fit the J30 rear rotors to the 240SX and still retain the stock parking brake system.

The story is, I purchased the J30 front calipers and rotors last week for my 240 (to the new guys, this is another car, not the one with the VQ). I redrilled the rotors for the 4 lug pattern and installed them to my car......cool. But the rears needed upgrading as well. So back to the junkyard I go. I wanted to use the J30 rear rotors because they are vented and about 2" larger than the stock 240sx solid rear rotors. I know that the rear caliper bracket bolts directly to the 240sx and has the correct offest for the J30 rotor. What I didnt like was the loss of use of my parking brake cable....most people swap the entire rear 300z/J30 setup to get the drum style parking brake. This weighs too much and though it does lock better, its overkill for what Im building. So here I sit, in Pull-A-Part with a 240 (1990) infront of me, three of the four lugs knocked out, the 5 lug rotor on the 240 (from the J), the caliper bracket from the J30 and no caliper to use that has the parking brake function. I rumaged through the parts yard for 3 HOURS looking at different calipers and finaly came up with a combination that works.

Rear J30 Rotors drilled to a 4 lug pattern Rear J30 Caliper BracketsRear 1991 Maxima CalipersRear 1989 Maxima Parking Brake Cable Cam (spring loaded on caliper)Rear J30 Brake Linings (Pads)

To make it all work, I drilled out the slide pin runs on the J30 caliper brackets with a 25/64 drill bit (I think, I may be wrong...10.5mm is the target here). This allowed for the slide pins from the 240sx caliper brackets to be used (the 240sx/maxima uses two 14mm bolts, bolting through the caliper to the slide pins where the J30 uses a slide pin that threads into the caliper...just trust me, they arent compatible). After that was done, the calipers (MAX) need to be correct for the parking brake cable. The origional parking brake cable cam is positioned the wrong way on the caliper. I replaced those with the ones from the older max that can be used with our cables (the newer ones use a eyelet style were ares attach like a throttle cable). By changing that cam, I can hook up our cable to the caliper. The left rear Max caliper is used on the right rear of the 240 and the left rear 240sx parking brake cable bracket (protruding from the caliper) is used on the now right rear caliper (max). The cable wraps around the parking brake cam after its all installed, but its doesnt affect operation much. Now that you have your Maxima calipers on your J30 caliper brackets with the older style Maxima parking brake cams, you can bolt all this to the spindle of the 240sx and WHALAH, big brake upgrade for the rear of your 240 and still maintain the stock cable system.

Within the next few days, I will do another thread showing how all of this goes together and I should have a correct parts list for you. In case your wondering, somewhere around 1990 they changed the Maxima caliper, it used to have the mounting ears closer to the piston. The J bracket is approximately 1.5" wider than the stock 240sx caliper (and older max). That is why so many different parts must be used.

End result, well, lets just say that I can do 100 into an interstate offramp, begin the turn (cloverleaf type) and be slowed to 30 mph before I reach the apex. Wicked....period. Now I know I can stop all that motor im about to put in here.

Later gang!

[Bwana]

That brake swap is sweet Mark! Let me know when you get that other thread done and I'll articlize it.

If you could get some pics of the process, that would be super sweet!

[myS13wantsaVQ35]

always getting better, but any helpfull words about the S14?

[sbird1]

That sounds like an awesome z32 alternative! I've been wanting to get my e-brake back but don't want to spend all of the money and taking the whole rear end of the car apart. Do you have an approx. cost for your new rear end setup? This new setup makes me very intrigued!

[nzmoman]

Man you are like the Nissan mechanical Wizard. I would give someone elses first born (you didnt think you could have mine did you?) to come up with stuff like that. You are definately blessed with a ton of knowledge.

[thomasjamal]

You are the mack-freakin-daddy!

[SpecDRacing]

Oh, get this.......the total brake upgrade cost me.....you ready.......

$88.00 (tax included)

$22.00 per corner. Not bad.

If I were to use new rotors and pads, I'd spend another $150. In any case, for $88.00 I'd say this is the best bang for the buck modification available for the 240sx (S13/14, will work the same on both cars, 4 or 5 lug).

Oh, I had to beat the heat shields back for fitment....no biggie.

I will post a thread, with step by step instructions showing the 4 lug conversion from 5 lug, front and rear brake installation. All drill bit specs will be included with photos. Finally we will do stopping tests. 30-0, 60-0 and 100-0. I will say that if you use this setup, you WILL need good tires. I have some very sorry tires on the back of my car and the rears lock due to that. Once I remove the dry rotted tires and install fresh rubber, slow speed lockup wont happen.