Engine Swap Forum

Here's some current pics of the progress:

Hood spacer needed to clear the intake (temporary solution):

Lots o' room here:

Just a shot of the ECU area for those curious:

Finally, a shift knob!

With the Z intake tube, air box and engine cover (they're rough, will be replaced with good, clean ones):

Here's how the hood looks for now with the spacers, I'm thinking of doing a reverse cowl about 18" wide or so and about an inch or so tall to clear the intake manifold. This will work for the time being though.

 

I hope to drive it this weekend baring any more mechanical gremlins, can't wait!

 

Fred

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Instrument Cluster and Speedometer Repair

Fred Allen Burge:

That's funny, DIY and G35 don't usually go together in the same sentence!

 

Fred

 

that's why the g35 forums are freakin boring as hell haha All they talk about are dubs, what % of tint they should get and grounding wires..

 

btw check out this guy's plenum in progress.. Maybe it can give you some ideas. I'm all for DIY

http://chicagoz.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3259&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=45

I saw that guy's project a few weeks ago but haven't heard any updates, looks great though! 

Got the car running agains this weekend and set up my base timing and tuned the fuel a little.  I had problems with it overheating so I just took the thermostat out all together, not sure what the problem is.  I actually drive it around for a while which was nice since it's been soooo long!  I didn't get above 2nd gear but atleast the clutch, flywheel, driveshaft, shifter linkage, etc. is all working well.  I hope to get the Innovate wideband installed this week so I can really see where I'm at concerning air/fuel ratio.  Then, I should be able to drive it on the road for some higher speed/load tuning.

 

Fred

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Instrument Cluster and Speedometer Repair

Why didn't you use the 350z engine

DAREALDEAL:

Why didn't you use the 350z engine

 

The Z motor's still bring about 2200$, the Maxima motors can be had for 6-700$, cost was the only reason.

 

Fred

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Instrument Cluster and Speedometer Repair

Major success today with the project!  I finally got my plug wire order correct and she fires right up and runs pretty smooth now.  Man, I thought I was a fairly smart guy but the firing order and the somewhat confusing instructions over at the MegaSquirt site really kicked my *** on this one.  But, she's all good now and I'm ready to get on with the tuning, can't wait to start driving this thing daily.

I'm still overheating with the thermostat removed, I guess the coolant is probably moving too fast for the rad to do it's job.  I'm gonna drill some holes in the thermostat valve to help prevent air pockets and promote some coolant flow even if the tstat sticks, etc.  I'll let everyone know how that goes.

My exhaust sounds like crap right now when I rev it up at idle, it's got a metallic rattle at about 2k RPM's, I think I'll take it back to the shop to have some resonators welded in.  It may sound okay when driving though, too early to tell.

 

Here's the proper instructions if you're using EDIS6 on a motor with firing order of 123456 such as a nissan VQ30/35 :

The problem is you should view the coil pack with the plug on top NOT ON BOTTOM inorder for the megamanual's directions to make sense.


When the coil pack is viewed with the plug on top, and considering the posts to be A B C from left to right the correct firing order is A C B when wired as having 12V+ on the far right pin (again, when viewed with the plug on top), coil C as the next over pin, coil B as the next one over and coil A as the next one over - the far left pin.

later,

Fred

 

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Instrument Cluster and Speedometer Repair

Hey there, saw the article in SCC a few days ago and it really got my curiocity peaked.  Looks to me like you're doing an awsome job on it, keep up the work!  I do have a question or two, though.  In the article they said that the engine mount locations on a fwd VQ are hard to get to, something about them being under the exhaust manifolds?

 

Also, what would you say your total investment($) in the swap would be so far, and how much do you think it might come to when its all said and done, before the turbo(s) of course.

Grdevs24zero:

Hey there, saw the article in SCC a few days ago and it really got my curiocity peaked.  Looks to me like you're doing an awsome job on it, keep up the work!  I do have a question or two, though.  In the article they said that the engine mount locations on a fwd VQ are hard to get to, something about them being under the exhaust manifolds?

 

Also, what would you say your total investment($) in the swap would be so far, and how much do you think it might come to when its all said and done, before the turbo(s) of course.

Hello and welcome to the site!  I guess the folks with subscriptions are starting to get their copies, unfortunately my subscription ran out and I haven't even seen the finished article yet. 

The FWD VQ engine mount bolt holes on the block are toward the rear of the block, by the tranny actually, not hard to get to at all really if you have a ratcheting wrench. 

My total investment is somewhere around the 1800-2000$ mark plus 2250$ for the car.  Keep in mind, I got the motor for basically free after selling the FWD tranny that I bought with it.  I was able to sell the original 4cyl motor and tranny  for about 5-600$ so that subtracts from the total too.  I've been blessed to have access to tools and equipment as well as a proper shop to do most of the work in for no cost and that makes it all possible.  Major thanks to my employer Forty Three Auto, www.43auto.com and JR for the use of his tools.

I don't really expect to spend any more money on it to get it "done" (daily drivable), all that's really left is tuning.... although I do need a couple power steering lines but they won't cost too much.  

 

Fred

 

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Instrument Cluster and Speedometer Repair

Thats definately not a bad investment considering the potential of the engine.  Would it be safe to assume the mounts/brackets you made would not work on a rwd block? 

Grdevs24zero:

Thats definately not a bad investment considering the potential of the engine.  Would it be safe to assume the mounts/brackets you made would not work on a rwd block? 

Correct, with a RWD block you probably wouldn't need any kind of brackets, I'm fairly certain that one of those would bolt right up with the stock Z mounts but I've not tried yet.

 

Fred

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Instrument Cluster and Speedometer Repair

It's been a while since I've updated the project.  Not a lot has happened for a while until tonight.  I finally got the wideband wired up, calibrated, installed and the MegaTune settings configured, whew!  I've got a nice good A/F readout now on the laptop so it's time to tune this sucker.  Hopefully in the next week or so I can get it out on the road with my friend Mike for some on road tuning.  Barring any problems (ya right) I could be driving it within a couple weeks (did I really just say that, could this car actually see the road in 06? ).

 

Fred

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Instrument Cluster and Speedometer Repair

I guess it's time to start shopping for your turbo parts then! :D

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Argh... guess I'll stick w/ the plan...

Well I finally got to drive the car last night for the first time with the 3.5L and MegaSquirt.  I took it real easy and only drove for a mile or so but it was nice to take it through all the gears at least.  It needs some tuning to fix a stumble/buck on light acceleration but I think I know how to fix that.  Once that's fixed I think I could go for a long drive, maybe even drive it home as long as I take it real easy and don't try to hammer on it.

The non power steering really sucks, gotta get those lines made soon but not until I can drive it to the place that makes them.

It's also got a crappy sounding exhaust rattle.  Does anyone know where to get those N1 style dual exhaust cat back systems they used to sell on ebay for the S14, they were like 200$ or so?  I can already tell with a nice stainless exhaust this things gonna sound greeeeeaaat, nothing like some displacement to make a nice sounding exhaust.

 

Fred

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Instrument Cluster and Speedometer Repair

Sounds good man , great news

 i have a brand new catback Uras stainless 3' JMD , make me an offer if you want

Fred Allen Burge:

The non power steering really sucks, gotta get those lines made soon but not until I can drive it to the place that makes them.

 

Can u verify that the Z33 steering rack is non swappable? A couple internet searches indicate that it's electrical assist (which would need a controller but I'm sure there's something on the MegaSquirt u could use for that) which would eliminate extra lines and possibly make for a cleaner install? Then again there's that whole bump steer/ suspension geometry crap... If u get a chance, check it out and let us know (i.e. tape measure. I don't expect u to do the actual swap and see if it fits) 

Fred Allen Burge:

It's also got a crappy sounding exhaust rattle.  Does anyone know where to get those N1 style dual exhaust cat back systems they used to sell on ebay for the S14, they were like 200$ or so?

I'm willing to bet u'd like the exhaust note of a turbo or 2 better than any aftermarket exhaust :D...

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Argh... guess I'll stick w/ the plan...