VQ35DE in S13 in progress.....

[Ravedragon]

wanna do a vq swap but im really concerned about the rust i found on my car Do u think it would be better to get a new one or repair it i dont think its too bad but winter is coming up and i dont have a place to hide it what do u guys think ill see if i can take some pics to show you

[myS13wantsaVQ35]

as soon as I know more about the disputed charges I will work out a time frame with you. Thanks for your help!

[nwmrkt]

If you were wanting to bring to the car to me, then just email me directly and we'll set up a time for you to bring your car. Unfortunately I cant give a price untill I actually see it and get to check it over some. We can discuss that more later as well. Before you bring it, I HIGHLY recommend having a good (solidly mounted) cooling fan. The last thing you want to do is blow a head gasket trying to get it here.

good for you man for helping him out!

[SpecDRacing]

Hey gang,

I've started on another swap. This one is my personal car. First, let me say why Im even starting this.

Pulling out of the dealership the other day (monday), I was comming out into traffic that had stopped to let me out. I could'nt see the second lane of traffic, but thought they had stopped. I was wrong, inched out just as a GEO PRISM was comming. He smacked my drivers side just in front of the front left wheel. I felt bad, because it was an older gentleman and he probably didnt need to be given that big of a scare. None the less, there we were. My front left fender is where the left headlamp should be, the right front fender pushed about 4 inches past the right front tire. Closer inspection shows that the radiator support is bent and pushed over about three inches. The old mans car.........perfect. NOT A BIT OF DAMAGE!!!! My car looks like it got creamed by a MACK truck, and this guys 80 something sardine can doesnt even get a scratch!!!! I was happy the man didnt get hurt. He was really nice and I was happy that his car was ok as well.

So, now knowing that. You can see why I decided to start the 240 coupe build.

Quick rundown of this car. It is recieving the NISMO suspension I had on my red car. It has nismo tension rod bushings installed into my custom made adjustable tension rods. These were posted a while back. The ones with the heim joints were from another memeber who did an awesome job. My only concern is that heim joints are prone to wear out. Great for racing though. Back to the white coupe. I also have another LSD to install to it with the stock 240sx gear ratio (4.083). The engine is the purple one I posted earlier. It is somewhere in the 12.5 - 13.0 to 1 compression ratio. It is recieving a lower plenum manifold from the REV-UP motor, has a nismo clutch, and a custom driveshaft. I ordered the rest of the intake manifolds today. The wiring harnesses and ECM should be ordered in the next two days.

PICS?????



Kinda front shot of the motor in the car. Notice the stock exhaust manifolds. I've figured out how to fit it without making custom ones. The only mod is that the rear flange of both manifolds needs to be removed.



Side shot.



Little farther away. I guess Im just posting these because this is for me! This car is MINE, not someone elses......this is the one I get to drive everyday if I want. I have to say that I have probably built nearly 100 cars now, and none of them have ever been mine....well, I did put an R32 frontend on my J30, but that was because one of my guys wrecked it into a tree after getting our McDonalds for lunch. He was checking out a girl walking through the parking lot and just drove straight into a tree. I didnt like what happened, but when I saw that girl....I could'nt blame him either!



This is the Rev-Up plenum from the bottom. I did a quick polish at work today on the runners.



This is the top of the lower plenum. For the non 350Z guys, this is what it looks like inside. Those horns are the intake runners.



Another shot from the side.

If you guys want a quick way to polish runners without spending tons of time with a sanding stone porting bit, try this. Take a regular ziz wheel, the kind that are all fiber. Cut it like a flower (literally cut it so it has pedals, about 1/2" wide). Then drill a hole in the center so that you can attach it to your cutoff wheel chuck and attach it to your die grinder. From here just stuff it into a runner and turn the grinder up. Once the pedal fold back enough, they will get flexible. The speed from the grinder (centrifugal motion) keeps the pedals pressed hard against the walls of the runners, giving you a nice smooth surface without having to grind for hours with a porting bit.

One last pic!!!! The end of my 240 that most mustangs, corvettes and camaros will see!!!! (HOPEFULLY!!)



Hope you guys like these! Later!

[DJButton]

I really hope you whore your car out at all the local events once it's done, I need to see it in person!

[Neejay]

I know the mounting kit is in the works, but I wish there was a ECU service available too, where you could send your harnesses in and they get converted/merged

Kit + ECU service = swap in my car

[SpecDRacing]

Well, good news for you. I have began taking orders to merge the two harnesses.

If you have all the harnesses (engine harness for both the 240 and the Z, and the dash harness for the Z) then I can make a harness for you that will only require a few last solders by you. Im charging $400. I will need to know what car it came from, what trans it had and if it was a base, touring, coupe, roadster, track, etc.

Later!

[Soravia]

Good thing you didn't total your car for a fender bender like most people.I say ride on that girl for the car wreck she caused.

[accordfreak]

i have a 350z engine harness if anybody needs. price is OBO

zer...84281

[EMK]

Once again he has separated himself. Established himself as a god amongst fleas.

Father : ( I'm so proud )Kid : ( Hey Mr. can I have your autograph )

Did the impossible then did it twice~Jay-Z

[SpecDRacing]

Well, its actaully getting sold. Im asking $700 for it. I have a guy comming to look at it Saturday, but if he doesnt buy, and someone needs a parts car, this is a good one.

As for the white car. Thinks are going together alot faster than the first build....but that's mainly because I already have 90% of the parts and I'm building it identical to the first one.

My new motor mounts utilize the stock 240sx motor mount bushings. Why, because when you take those bushings and apply windshield sealer/glue between the fins, you get a very stiff mount that doesnt transmit as much vibration to the chassis.

The gas pedal was installed today.

The wiring harness was sourced, but we didnt recieve a phone call back to confirm the price. We should order this tomorrow.

All thats left is for me to make the trans mount, the transmission shifter bracket and install the driveshaft and LSD. My intake manifolds should show up Saturday. They could be in as early as tomorrow, but more than likely I'll see them Monday. The Exhaust is also getting fabed at this time. Single exhaust like the stock unit. Im probably going to gut the stock muffler and tuck a nice aftermarket unit inside of it to conceal the visual. This way, in the end, all you'll see is a slightly lowered 240sx. No idea it has a high compression VQ in it.

So more updates as they happen!!!!

[amgvr4]

Hey, I am gathering info on trying to use a vq from a 2001-2002 pathfinder in my s13. I m thinking this would be the easiest one to work with but I might be wrong. I know they are cable throttle, have a relatively low intake manifold for hood clearance, and I think they dont use a CAN interface. I would still need a G/Z oil pan, flywheel/clutch, and headers. They have a little less power, but I would be perfectly happy with 220-240 whp, I have been making due with a stock KAE and an extra 100 hp would really help next season!

[Soravia]

What tail pipe are you going with? 4"?BTW, I think the VQ fits in the the S-13 better than it does the Z35. I see nothing extra in the engine bay.

[SpecDRacing]

You are right. The 2001, from serial number 550001 (last 6 of VIN) and later use the cable style vq35de. It also happens to be the exact same block and heads as a 350z (look up the part numbers at your local nissan dealer, same thing). They do have a slightly less aggressive cam. I just so happen to have a set of stock 350z cams if you wish to purchase them. 10,000 miles on them.

The wiring will be alot easier, and I believe you may be able to get someone to remap it for you.

Downside to the early VQ35 is that the oil system isnt quite as good as the newer ones. The intake timing solenoids tend to go bad, as do the intake taiming sensors. So just make sure you buy those all new and replace the ones on your motor with those.

You'll still need a key cut and programmed for your car, but you wont need a BCM. You should also look into getting the 2005 35th anniversary 350Z lower intake plenum, and the rest of the intake from any RWD VQ motor. This will give you another 15 HP over the Pathfinder manifold (mainly in the middle range).

Glad to see more and more people getting interested in this swap. Because of you guys, this thread now is the most popular thread on the NET for this swap. Check it out on google, YouTube, etc. If you type in 350Z motor in 240sx, or VQ35DE in 240sx, or S13 for either one, you will see this thread and its videos show up on the first page of most search engines.

THANKS TO EVERYONE ON THIS THREAD AND NICO FOR MAKING THAT POSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!! I greatly appreciate it! It's more than a guy from a small city like Charlotte could ever ask for!

[98s14inaz]

+1, I am leaning towards doing this swap in my new s14. I drool every time I see it or think about it

[shinmei2006]

thank YOU for making this thread, i've been wanting to put a VQ in my car since 05 but being a college kid leaves lil money for anything fun...lol

[SpecDRacing]

It's funny you post that Rally car. I recieved an email from a friend who owns an S12 that we are restoring. In his email, he included the pics I needed for my website, and added this same pic (rally car). Those old S12's were wicked. Think about it, you could get them with the VG30E, which the 300ZX also had. Now, we're taking S13's, and S14's (hell, even an S15 if I had one), and putting the Z motor in it. Too bad Nissan doesnt look back to then and do it again now!!!

Oh, and the exhaust will be a slightly modified version of the stock Z exhaust for now. One thing remains though.....I will be making the cat back (test pipe back, I should say), in 3", single to the high flow muffler which will be concealed inside the stock POS muffler. Im going to cut out the stock muffler so that the aftermarket one will fit nicely and breathe freely. That way I can really have that sleeper look.

Later

[Romanuts]

Your work is Awsome! Its your attention to detail amazing! You should have your own shop! working at a dealer does have its advantages tho! oem tools and all the "Fun Stuff" you could ever want, I said to much on the first try LOL! thanks for all the info you are providing!
Modified by Romanuts at 8:33 PM 10/13/2007

[shinmei2006]

yea but the creme of the s12 world was the FJ20

i have an old beat to **** s12 thats been sitting in my brothers garage for a year...

i met a local nissan/s12 guru (needcafors13) on the s12 boards and we put a 93 KA in my s12. He was putting in a VG30e in his at the time, with a vg33 supercharger, not sure if he finished it.

i should come visit you sometime and see the badassness of this swap (i'm in tampa...its a lil bit of a trip, but doable)...

[SpecDRacing]

New developement on my motor. I have taken some pictures of the differences between the standard 350Z (G35,FX35) lower intake plenum and the one on the 35th anniversary 350Z. The differences are huge!



Side by side. You can see the open areas are larger, the runners are shorter and you'll see that the openings are larger.



The stock 350Z intake manifold runners have smaller inlets. The plenum area is definately smaller.



The 35th Anniversary 350Z plenum has shorter runners and larger inlets.

So as you can see, this lower plenum should give a nice little HP bump in the higher rpms.

As for the build. Got the LSD in today and the driveshaft. I added polyurethane to the mounts to stiffen them (just cheap stuff from Lowe's, it works great, its inexpensive and beats paying over $100 for Nismo mounts). I'll take pics. It's not pretty, but again, function over form is sometimes the best way to go. I have to finish dressing up the upper plenum then install all that to the motor. Once thats in, I have to put the slave cylander on, bleed it. Add the J30 brakes, bleed them. Install the radiator, cooling fans, hoses, water temp sending unit and get the fuel lines run. Then its wiring, alot of it. But hopefully, cross your fingers, this baby will run!!! (Remember, I put HR pistons in this block, and I havent heard if anyone has done that yet....its a tight squeeze).

[SpecDRacing]

So, some more new pics. Hope you guys enjoy.



This is the drivers side motor mount. The nasty looking light brown stuff is polyurethane. I applied it to the mounts to stiffen them.



Passenger side mount. One thing I found today, was that the stock 240sx mount will not fit here once the starter is in place. I had to remove 1/2" of the rear of the bracket (where it bolts to the engine mount) to allow for the starter. Then I had to remove nearly 3/4" from the motor mount on the starter side. I cut the upper and lower plates and the fins. Make sure not to cut into the mount itself, or a lot of fluid will come out and the mount will be ruined. After trimming, I applied the polyurethane to this mount as well. All fits much better now.



The trans mount. Simple. Take the stock mount, weld two 2" x 8" pieces of metal to the mounting points, drill the front mount hole through the metal extension and drill the front holes in the extensions. The front holes on the stock trans mount now bolt into the rear holes in the body. The extension should be made of new less that 1/4" cold steel to ensure proper strength. Weld from the top and then through the bottom as well.



53" driveshaft. That was the deminsion I gave the driveshaft shop, but they actually made this unit specific for the car (they took the measurements). You can see the bottom of the LSD at the top of this pic. Also notice the clearance of the transmission once the 240sx trans mount is used. In the other car, I never got to post this pic. Its a tight squeeze in the tunnel, but the trans fits.



For anyone new to installing a J30 diff, the rear cover from the 240sx must be used. Just bolt it on and away you go!



Oil pan clearance is alot better this time around. Notice that it is amlost exactly in line with the crossmember. This was not the case on the last vehicle, as the pan was about 1.5" lower on that car.



Painted up the intake manifold and checked my clearances. Looks like I can install the gaskets and bolt it down!!!

Thanks for following guys! More to see soon!

[Neejay]

Good job man.

[chaosfirefly]

I emailed you on your nissan docter email account, hope you reply!

I love what you're doing, I thought I'd have to get a new car in order to get the horsepower and speed I wanted. Good job!

-Ryan

[chaosfirefly]

I forgot to mention a time period in my email, I was hoping for a time at the begining april 2008 to get started, I need to wait until my mom goes through taxes, she wants to make sure she has enough. I'll prolly also be saving up money from my job instead of spending it, haha.

BUT, i can probably convince her for early december if her book keeper aproves.

Just let me know.
Modified by chaosfirefly at 10:38 PM 10/16/2007

[chaosfirefly]

Also, do you think trying to put a VQ35HR, or a VQ37VHR in a 240sx is too far-fetched?

[shinmei2006]

i just KNEW you'd be 16-17 when i checked your profile

[xyzalvarez]

now start working on a 510 !

if ppl takes the time for sr on dimes, imagine vq !!

[SpecDRacing]

Funny you say that. I was hoping to find a 510 for the VK56DE I have.

[chaosfirefly]

i just KNEW you'd be 16-17 when i checked your profile

What's that suppose to mean?

[chaosfirefly]

Welp, I was just wondering if it were possible, I've obviously never done engine work myself.