Engine Swap Forum

Hi,

Own an Elgrand (jap import, E51 model) which has the VQ35DE engine which unfortunately died on us a few weeks ago. Needed a new engine and so purchased a used VQ35DE from a Nissan 350Z as was told it was the same.

Garage doing the repairs said that sump/pan on base of Elgrand was different than the one on the 350Z engine we bought, and  trying to find out if the sump etc off the Elgrnad engine will swap out with the one on the 350Z engine. There are a few differences, i.e. the oil filter is on the front on the Elgrand, on the side on the 350Z, main problem is that with the sump on the 350Z engine where the pan drops down is right in way of the front axle etc, the pan on the elgrand is at the rear of the engine out of the way.

Is it just a case of swapping the bottom of the engine off the elgrands VQ35DE with the one on the 350Z VQ35DE? As you can probably tell im not car engine savvy!!!

thanks in advance, andy

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Nissan Elgrand owner in the UK

Andy,
   Wow, never even heard of an Elgrand, cool looking vehicle!  It sounds to my by your description that the Elgrand probably uses the Nissan Pathfinder version of the VQ.  I've seen a few of those in the salvage yard, they have the same pump configuration as you described. 

  To answer your question- yes, you should be able to swap out the lower and the upper oil pans from one to the other w/o any problems!

Fred