350sx NW Build up

[KansaiDrifter]

Hola fellow Zilvian's, I've been building up another drift car for the NW scene and just thought I'd share some of the pics. I've already got some great deals and would like to start off with a few shout outs

[email protected]
[email protected]
Fatboy Garage
[email protected]
[email protected] (USA)
Schassis707
Zfever

Thanks! :boink:

Anyhow, here's a quick catch up *beware, lots of pics haha

The term "350sx" is what I've decided to go with, being that a 240sx has a 2.4l, the 180sx (originally started with a 1.8), and I'm going with a 3.5, so it's a 350sx. The engine of choice is the 350z's VQ35DE. I've ran with a LS1 for the past about 3 years drifting at Evergreen Speedway (the 5/8th's banked oval track that Formula D stops at). I was the first in the NW to do the LS1 and some thought it was cool, some thought it was stupid but it was all original. Well years have gone by times have changed and that's played out for me. I've enjoyed the torque of the v8, but wanted the revs of the sr, so the v6 vq is a nice match.

The project started out after sitting out this last year and wanting to get back in it. I started with an engine, found this vq complete with trans, harness, ecu, for a great deal so I hopped on it.
Here's a couple quick pics after I played with it lol
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3133.jpg

Pretty clean inside, supposed to be ~30k miles
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3135.jpg

Then I started to assemble a subframe,

Took these, Thanks to Powered by Max!
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3212.jpg

Did some of this,
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3211.jpg

and a little of this, (no fire!) Just cut center out, cut outer shell, chiseled out easy as pie
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3216.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3217.jpg

Comparison
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3213.jpg

Just set in there, perfect fit
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3215.jpg

Then after some cleaning and paint action got to here,
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3218.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3220.jpg

For my budget this was the best bang/buck, worst case is replacing some bearings so that's in the future plans for sure.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3231.jpg

The next and probably most important part would be the Coilovers, got hooked up with DTM AutoBody's special price and got a set of the new Megan Type RS coils for a great price, these are bound and rebound adjustable. The rears will go absolutely slammed and the fronts are pretty good, could go further but go plenty for me. Here's some pics of everything combined
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3230.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3226.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3229.jpg

Installation was a snap, the upper plates fit perfect and the knuckles slide right in without having to beat on it like some others lol. I found that the best route for the rear lines was around the knuckle to avoid kinking the line. I also put those rings in the rear to keep it away from the ruca's. Also notice that the PBM subframe risers actually correct a lot of the arms and bar angles. I recommend these to everyone.
(yeah I like yellow haha)
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3263.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3262.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3263.jpg


Here's some of the fronts after being lowered the 1" in front, installed along with the S14 5 lug and r33 gtst brakes
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3286.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3275.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3287.jpg


Here's a shot of the chassis and where the rear suspension is somewhat set, but before I did lower the front another 1" from where it's showed. I'll be sure to follow with better pics of the chassis soon, been to focused on other things lol.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3285.jpg
Lowered front (off ground still)
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3288.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3264.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3266.jpg
It needs cleaning lol
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3265.jpg


Much more to come and Enjoy! :wiggle:

[97240TB]

Megan racing has come a long way, those look like quality piece's.

[240sx123$]

Megan racing has come a long way, those look like quality piece's.

Dont be fooled. Megan is good for one thing- holding you over until you can afford the real part that you need. Anything Megan makes, in my eyes, is good for 6 months MAX. Everything Ive used from them has failed in an unreasonably short amount of time. And ive used their coilovers, short shifter, tension rods, and their type II exhaust. None of it is quality. None of it.

[KansaiDrifter]

Huh, on the other hand I've ran sets of Megan stuff and never had an issue. My friends all ran Megan stuff for years and never had issues. The newer Megan stuff is quite a bit different then the older though, particularly the ball joint ends I could see that having an effect. Also the fact your in PA and salty roads probably causes premature failure of some parts I'd guess.

But yeah the same friends who ran Megan streets for years have held the type RS's and said how much better these are then the last, of course we'll see when it's on the road haha.

More pics to come later today, just waiting to see some more parts :) It's like christmas lol

[240sx123$]

Ill admit that the exhaust rusted out, we can blame that on my location. Still, one year is pretty quick considering it was painted. Id expect to get at LEAST two seasons out of a mild steel exhaust.

The tension rods- theyre all aluminum and dont rust. What happened was the threads on the inside of the rod body sheared off, allowing the ball joint to slam in and out of the body. Complete part failure, and after only 3 months.

Short shifter rattled at all RPM's, straight outta the box. Even replaced the bushing, still rattled. Switched to a Circuit Sports, no issues.

Megan springs- I snapped one. Yes, I snapped an f'ing spring. Dont ask me how.

Everything was bought new. Ive learned my lesson. Id rather spend $150 on a USED tein part than $100 on a NEW megan one.

But anyways, back on topic... car looks like its gonna be sick!

[TJG]

so your who picked up victors old chassis

[97240TB]

Well I actually own megan tension rods, had them for several years and I bought them as a "Hold me over" part. I kept them because they worked well. so maybe you just had bad luck?

Anyway, Are you planning on painting this car?

Any idea for wheels?

[conrad_s13.5]

gonna be dope man!
:D

[JDM Sil4ty]

whoa, this is really gona set the bar.

[l2edken]

doing great so far man, def keeping my eye on this one!

[KansaiDrifter]

Huh yeah that kinda sounds like a bad batch or something with the Megans.

Thanks for all the compliments! :)

Yeah the car was somewhat recently painted Gloss black top and Scion Xb green, so I'm going to leave it until it's drift damaged haha. It's really dirty in the pics, it cleans up a lot.

Here's the second part of my story so far, I've actually been working on this for a while and this is actually the second chassis. The first was a white hatch but needed a ton of work. I found this chassis and I've known the chassis for a while, it's been to Pro-Am red bull nationals and has a nice P1 cage with double door bars that sit nice and low for easy in and out. Basically for a little bit more then the white hatch I gained a cage and a OS Giken 2 way with 4.3 gear set.

So here's the engine side of things,
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3297.jpg

I picked up a Mishimoto X line radiator 3 row for it, fits like a glove. It's noticeably thicker then the 2 row also. Got it from Swapped HQ Edgar, got a great price on it!
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3245.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3247.jpg


Here's the shifter bracket, there's a guy online that makes these for older z swaps and they work with the 240sx
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3259.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3294.jpg
Here's the shifter linkage after cut and welding, pretty easy to work with
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3325.jpg


and here's the two combined. It took some trimming of the shifter hole to get it back far enough and the header will need to be dented a little bit but it'll be fine. There's a real sweet spot where the oil pan will clear the crossmember and the sway bar. I actually found that using a s14 auto trans rubber mount and metal cross mount ended up bolting the center hole into the rear hole of the chassis and it lined up perfect. I also tried to find the happy medium for the up and down, up far enough to clear the sway, but down enough to clear the hood with minimal trimming.


http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3298.jpg

The brake lines need to be popped back in the white brackets and they'll clear just fine
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3305.jpg

Here's the trans mount,
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3311.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3309.jpg

and how it pops up through the hole, a little trimming needed
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3322.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3326.jpg


Here's the beginning of the mounts, I use a NHL legal hockey puck, some 1/4" steel plates and cardboard to template with. Simple and effective
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3307.jpg

Here's a quick pic with a ebay cold air intake kit, it'll work fine lol
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3321.jpg


And got some presents today, these I got from 88rotors Travis, they are the 17x9 +17 Drag dr-31's. Great price and I'll space them out for proper fitment. With my power range I didn't want to get over 9" wide and 17" tires are cheaper then 18's lol. I still on a budget haha.

They come packed nice, and I'm thinking of getting the tire shop to leave the white plastic rings on until after tires are mounted, looks like they'd save the lips
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3315.jpg

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3314.jpg
I didn't know this but Drag wheels are actually out of Kyushu Japan. They're actually light too.

I was thinking of painting them silver, but I think I'm just going to run them bronze and see how it goes. The green and bronze seem to go together nice.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3317.jpg

They line up ok with the 20mm front and 30mm rear Origin overfenders, but i'll space them out soon. I did have a set of bolt on spacers but the wheels have a flat hub bolting surface so the studs hit the wheel and it wouldn't seat all the way down. I'll just get some nismo studs and space it that way.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3323.jpg

And I was curious so i put on one of the stickers, the blue looks nice to me
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3327.jpg

Oh and before I go, here's my roll call
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3312.jpg

Hope that makes sense and I'll be updating when I get things done. I'm hoping to have it wrapped up in under two weeks. :P

[C-unit]

You think you can get more shifter bracket or can you pass me his info? I am looking for something quality like yours!

[PoorMans180SX]

You think you can get more shifter bracket or can you pass me his info? I am looking for something quality like yours!

McKinney Motorsports bro.

[KansaiDrifter]

I actually got mine here, saved a little coin ;) He's the original person that mckinney goes through,

shiftermount - www (http://sites.google.com/a/vq240z.com/www/shiftermount)

Last I remember he has a few made up.

[C-unit]

Thanks man..that is some quality piece!

[tricky_ab]

Interesting build you've got so far...

[JaysVQ240]

Looks good Ricky, man you're changing cars more than I change my shoes..LOL Did you end up off loading the LS1 S14? Looks good though bro gonna be a sick coupe

[jzepol1985]

Cant wait to see how you make the headers work.

[KansaiDrifter]

haha yeah I've been through a few chassis. I sold the S14 because I didn't want to beat it up with drifting, I actually made it too nice for me and this one I'm building to basically beat on lol.

Yeah I'm happy with the shifter plate, I just figured out the blue plate goes the other way thought lol. I've not played with z shifters before haha.

The headers actually just need a little dent action and they'll clear. The z headers are sort of a 2 piece, there's the inner header, heat wrap/insulation, and then the outer shell that you actually see. I'm planning on denting the outer layer in and if need be I'll cut it a little. On first trial though it only needs a touch. I'll be sure to take some pics though when I get there haha.

Well today saw just a little action, I had some 225/45R17 tires mounted up, went 45 series to help with the final drive ratio and ride height. Also got some metal cut and got a good idea on the mount mock up.

Here's a couple pics of the mount mock up
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3328.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3329.jpg


Here's the wheels, interesting note on these, the left sides didn't need any balancing weights, they were checked 3 times and were good to go. The right sides only needed small tape weights.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3336.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3335.jpg


Here's the wheels mounted up and the car with it's weight on it, it's on 2x4's so I can see underneath it to check clearances.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3337.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3338.jpg
yeah it's a maaco paint job lol.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3339.jpg

[sil80 monster]

lookin good :)

[97240TB]

Don't know how I feel about the green with the wheels...

That being said this is all pretty interesting, that bracket for the shifter is pretty nice...
also really interesting about the trans cross member from the S-14 auto tranny. All the piece's we did for the vq in my car are one offs. I'm not precisely sure and I'm assuming they are slightly different because of the starter position but my headers cleared all piece's just fine on my car. You could look into HR headers if thats possible?

[sftmb]

OMIGOTOU^_^ car looks awesome man! lol for somereason your color is green. it just works for you. lol i really like the lip sticker too. lol also, that engine mount looks pretty nice. i'll have to check it out when i come by 2moro. lol

ps- i feel like i've seen this car before... hmmm.. if only it had white wheels then...... haha. koguchi powa

http://jpchassis.com/web_images/180sx-koguchi180green-2.jpg

[thefro526]

I like the use of Hockey pucks as Isolators. I've seen then used on hot rods and stuff before, but not that often on 240s.

Build is awesome as well.

[KansaiDrifter]

Yeah I saw another build with a vq that someone else used a factory trans mount, I might notch it to go back a little further, but it wouldn't maybe be 1/4" haha.

I'm actually having the Wiring and ecu reflashed by Zfever out of Florida. I talked with Doug yesterday and hopefully about week the harness will be done. There's 18 harness/reflashes lined up! They're one of the only companies out right now that offer a service like that and it uses the electric pedal and the obd plug is functional.

When I was talking with the Zfever guys they said that the HR engine does sit in a different spot due to the starter being on the driver's side and the headers were different, so maybe that's got something to do with it.

Haha I didn't even realize it is kinda like Koguchi haha. Yeah I'll see ya tomorrow lol

Yeah I've used pucks a few times, they're a good happy/medium stiff rubber. Especially when you'r worried about torque over and rubbing issues. Hopefully I'll get a little further with it today but possibly taking a break today lol.

[omgRWDgoodness!]

I dunno why but hockey pucks as mounts seems kinda sketchy to me. I recall people saying "hockey puck motor mounts" when satirizing people who do swaps on the cheapest budget possible, or are just being lazy. Not trying to knock on you everything's looking really nice, but if I were doing a build of this caliber I'd have some custom solid mounts fabbed up in the near future.

[97240TB]

Yeah I figured, but it's always worth it to check in on something like that!
Would have been nice for you to have gotten the HR headers, they are seriously nice.

RS Enthalpy also does the reflash work and they have a good turn around.

I haven't looked into how much it costs for Zfever to do it but I know the Enthalpy one is 599.99. Just another option. =]

[KansaiDrifter]

I hear ya that it sounds cheap, I've used pucks on multiple things and never had an issue. While I am building with budget in mind, I could use the $400 I just saved on other things, like wheel spacers and extended studs haha. If you don't think of them as pucks but rather "firm solid rubber isolators" then it makes more sense to most and doesn't sound cheap. It's around the same elasticity as some urethanes. It is somewhat unheard of in the import field but like thefro526 was saying they're very common among domestics.

It is possible I could upgrade in the future but we'll see.

thanks for the comments! I'm excited to get her all done and back on the track :)

[KansaiDrifter]

Oh nice I didn't hear about RS Enthalpy, the Z fever is $500 and wiring is $450. I've done well I don't remember how many sr's lol, a few rb's even the LS1 and 2, but what I've learned through that is by trial and error, so I'd like to get it done professionally since I was able to work it in the budget.

I'll be sure to give my thoughts on it when it comes in too, so far the Zfever guys have been great and very helpful. They've been up for any questions, even newb ones haha.

[CaptainVlad]

What kind of paint did you use for that subframe? Have you had a chance to see how it will hold up yet?

[dts13]

Lookin good Ricky! You sure like them hockey pucks huh lol. Im loving the car still. Thanks again!

[Tom25666]

Fun fact: A standard ice hockey puck is made of vulcanized rubber, 1 inch (25 mm) thick, 3 inches (76 mm) in diameter, and weighs between 5.5 and 6 ounces.
nice build!

[KansaiDrifter]

haha yeah pucks rule lol. They're easy to work with and inexpensive to replace. Good to hear about the LS14 :)

I just used Duplicolor Engine high temp paint, but I prepped with Self Etching primer, I love that primer, it sprays easy and sticks to anything lol. Be careful not to run it too much. I tried the Rustoleum Engine paint but it ran off it like water, the Duplicolor was much better. It scratches easy on the knuckles but on the smooth subframe it does good. Only reason it scratches easy on the knuckles is because of the rough texture. But I love the yellow through the wheels haha. I'm thinking I might paint the calipers yellow too haha.

[KansaiDrifter]

Here's some of the progress for today, went and welded up the mounts, reinstalled them and then dropped the engine out so I can start finalizing things up. I've still got to do some trimming on the mounts to clear the headers but it's minimal. With everything out I'll be doing some clean up, installing the clutch, powersteering lines, pretty much when it goes back in the next time it'll be complete :) Enjoy some pics for now, because I don't like build threads without pics haha

Final enigne placement, you can see (in person atleast) that the center of the strut towers is down the #2/5 cylinders so there's not much forward weight.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3340.jpg

just a pic of the mounts, just used the good old arc welder to weld them up, I really didn't want to tig through 1/2" of steel (2x 1/4") lol. It's a strong weld with good penetration
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3341.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3342.jpg

I tried to get a good shot of ground clearance, the only part that's lower then the crossmember is the trans, it's maybe 3/8" lower then the frame rails, I'm sure the exhaust will hang lower then that. The sway bar will be shimmed down also and it has plenty of clearance that way, I just didn't take pics of that lol
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3343.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3344.jpg

And out she comes
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3345.jpg

Pop! lol
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3346.jpg

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3348.jpg

[sftmb]

maaan sooo the motor/tranny clean. it's not all covered in sludge like some KA's and SR's. lol you should put something in the motor mount between those two brackets you welded. like a konata figurine and some plexiglass or something. lol that would be intense!

[Fred Allen Burge]

Man this reeeally reminds me of my VQ swap, it's been too long! I still dream of a coupe with a VQ30 and turbo, one day I'll get back around to that project.

Good luck with the rest of your project!

[Corbic]

For what 350Zs go for these days... I still do not understand the VQ swap into a S-Chassis. If anything a RB/SR/JZ/VK/LS swap into a Z makes more sense.

Just add up the basics of the motor swap, brake upgrades, five-lug swap, chassis stiffing and you could have swung a Z33. Sure, the Z is heavier but if your gutting your S13, pulling out the AC and all... why not do the same to the Z?

[KansaiDrifter]

For what 350Zs go for these days... I still do not understand the VQ swap into a S-Chassis. If anything a RB/SR/JZ/VK/LS swap into a Z makes more sense.

Just add up the basics of the motor swap, brake upgrades, five-lug swap, chassis stiffing and you could have swung a Z33. Sure, the Z is heavier but if your gutting your S13, pulling out the AC and all... why not do the same to the Z?

I see what your saying but I'm building this entire setup for about $10k~$12k for everything including the car, used z's go for $12k bone stock around here. That and I'm not a drift Z fan. I've been able to drift a 350z and it didn't work/transition like I would of liked and I've always liked how the S chassis work. For daily, yeah I'd be all about rocking a z but not for a purpose built drift car. They make great grip cars to me. I was going to keep the AC and full interior on the first chassis but then I found a great deal on this chassis and I couldn't pass it up. I'd also hate to bang up a nice/expensive Z myself, I probably wouldn't drive it as hard/get as close with it because of that. With this s13, it's on! My plans for this car is to drive the crap out of her haha :)

As far as dropping a VQ into a S13, not much difference between a vq, ls1, rb, jz. None of them belong in a s13 to start with and they all cost money haha. I'm doing a vq personally because about 3 years ago I did a LS1, believed to be the first on this coast, definitely the first in WA, and now they're played out to me, along with jz's, rb's, sr's, ka-t's (in s13's). Nobody's doing the vq in the s13 yet up here so it fits my style.

The vq will put out about ~250rwhp bone stock, it'll gain a little hopefully with the exhaust and intake, but i'm not worried. 250 at the wheels is a nice number for a s13. That's just to start with, down the road we're already looking into maybe a little shot of nitrous, 25~50 at most. But the overall plan is to do a vq-t setup eventually. On about 10psi they make about 400rwhp. That's pretty efficient to me. Plus it sits far enough back and is actually lighter then the ka so it's a nice combo and won't disrupt the balance nearly as bad as a iron block rb/jz and the ls1 even though it's aluminum, it's still heavy.

Yeah those are my thoughts on it, I'm definitely one for personal opinion so I'm happy to see everyone's ideas/thoughts. Thanks for checking it out and hope you enjoy it as much as I do haha

[97240TB]

Another thing to think about is... Why on earth would you take a relatively newer vehicle such as a 350Z, and tear it down for drifting when he can take a old tired 240 and give it new life?

Like he said, DD the 350Z for sure... Not to mention he basically saved a drivetrain from a destroyed car.

Play on playa.:fruit:

[KansaiDrifter]

So I got a few things done today, got the engine mounts ground down just enough to clear the headers, that was my plan since the start anyway. The passenger side needed a little more then the drivers, seems to be a difference in header design. Yeah just some pics of the parts that got cleaned up and painted. Only need to put in the clutch and modify the driver's header now and I can final mount her in. Well here's a few more pics

Sorry for the crappy quality but here's the crossmember and Megan tie rod ends
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3349.jpg

Here's the mounts
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3351.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3353.jpg

Also refinished the header heat covers, I'll probably have to trim the driver's side but the passenger should fit right on, I just scuffed them and used high heat engine paint
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3355.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3356.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3357.jpg

Here's the powersteering lines bolted up and cleaned up haha
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3358.jpg

[tricky_ab]

Another thing to think about is... Why on earth would you take a relatively newer vehicle such as a 350Z, and tear it down for drifting when he can take a old tired 240 and give it new life?

Like he said, DD the 350Z for sure... Not to mention he basically saved a drivetrain from a destroyed car.

Play on playa.:fruit:
I was thinking the same thing...Anyways, this is his build so carry on.

[r2d2haro]

I don' speack or write english well enough, Im from mexico. But i had to say This is the greatest swap ever, Im making homework for my own swap and here I keep learning a lot every time I get in here

[KansaiDrifter]

That's great to hear, I'll try to keep on showing the parts to do the swap.

Today I just got a little more painting done and installed the clutch. Not much to see lol. Looking at modifying the header tomorrow and dropping the car back on the engine setup haha. I'll be sure to take pics of how much I have to work the header over.

[KansaiDrifter]

Here's a few more pics, I got the front lca's and knuckles painted up, modified the header to clear the steering knuckle, didn't take much. I also knocked in the firewall just a touch where the header flanges come close. Yeah she's ready to be dropped back in again for the final time hopefully lol.

Here's the header dent, all that was needed was a little heat from a torch, not too much though, and a ball peen hammer. Only knocked in the shield part, it didn't effect the flow of the inner header tubes.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3361.jpg

Here's the indentation of the firewall. This car had a rb25 in it before, the tunnel was from a long time ago, it's not needed for this swap, at least not nearly as much as the rb's need.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3360.jpg

Here's the corner I notched off the heat shield to clear the steering shaft
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3362.jpg

Gave my dad the harmonic balancer and ilder pulley and he sandblasted them for me, then just re sprayed them black
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3363.jpg

Here's the knuckles and lca's
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3364.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3365.jpg

Just a hint of yellow from normal view haha
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3366.jpg

[sil80 monster]

lookin good dude!!

[duffman1278]

Photo's are not working, actually only one is showing, nothing else.

Edit: They work, great build

[C-unit]

does sand blasting the harmonic balancer do any damage to it?

[Black240Ct]

is that shifter from Mckinney motorsports?

i was looking into that but rough at 250 bucks

also i see you have a short shifter in there

i am looking for a stock vg35 shifter assembly so you have the stock stuff?

[kamilitaryman]

does sand blasting the harmonic balancer do any damage to it?

No. Worst that'll happen is your timing marks wont have color anymore lol.

[97240TB]

Pretty rad about the headers man, You should still paint this a different color. lol

[C-unit]

is that shifter from Mckinney motorsports?

i was looking into that but rough at 250 bucks

also i see you have a short shifter in there

i am looking for a stock vg35 shifter assembly so you have the stock stuff?

he answer it on the last page:
I actually got mine here, saved a little coin ;) He's the original person that mckinney goes through,

shiftermount - www (http://sites.google.com/a/vq240z.com/www/shiftermount)

Last I remember he has a few made up.

and I don't think there is anything call vg35..lol

[KansaiDrifter]

haha yeah I like green, atleast it's not one of the billion white/flat black/red/silver/blue drift cars up here haha. The yellow was actually just a for the heck of it thing lol. I've owned a few yellow cars and I like yellow, but there's already 2 or 3 yellow coupes, so I probably won't be doing that anytime soon haha.

Yeah I only sandblasted the front pulleys to get the surface rust off them, it shouldn't upset the balance enough to notice. They look a ton better haha.


Here's a bit of an update, I dropped the car back on the engine tonight and set the front bumper back on, starting to look like a car again lol. Gave it a quicky tape measure alignment too with the Megan racing outer tie rod ends and JIC inners.

Here's the Front bumper, it's a Gp Sports style one, looks cool, kinda like a kouki but with pignose signals
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3370.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3381.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3380.jpg

Here's the engine in it's final resting place
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3371.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3372.jpg

Here's down the passenger side, the driver's side doesn't have much going on, but the passenger is tight, but still everything fits
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3373.jpg

Here's the driver's header with the steering all hooked up, there's a good 1/4" of clearance where the bolt head is closest to the header, should be plenty of clearance especially with the stiff mounts I used haha.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3374.jpg

Here's the underside shot
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3379.jpg

And here's the tie rod setup, I've still got to brace up the tension rod braces and then I'll install those too
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3376.jpg

[eddieflo]

I dig this build

[Fred Allen Burge]

Coming together very well! What do you have planned for hood clearance, do you think the intake manifold will clear your hood?

[97240TB]

He shouldn't really have much of an issue, if anything he can prop the hood a little in the back and be fine.

I like green, just don't think this green suits the car. I feel like this car is above the green, I think the green should say I'm classy... But I like to party.
Something darker... more mysterious.

[wrestlingandrunning]

Damn, very nice!

[KansaiDrifter]

haha the car I had before this was a Supermade Instant Gentlemen LS14, that was classy but liked to party lol, I actually had a suit for the car too, I'd wear it to meets and events haha. Yeah If I was to repaint it, it'd probably be all black, maybe with some blue pearl or something.

Yeah I'm just going to space it up if I have to, it'll be dang close though haha. I think it would clear if I cut the center of the rear support out of the hood, but I'd rather space it, I don't want big floppy hood syndrome haha

[ranger240]

car looks great...

can you give a bit more info on the engine mounts?
like what points were measured to ensure the engine is properly aligned?

[PoorMans180SX]

Car looks really good. I really wish you would get some real wheels though.

And those tie rod ends look sketch.

But keep up the good work.

[GripTerror]

man u should make this kit and sell it.. the engine and tranny mounts i mean.

[KansaiDrifter]

What I did was measured from the frame rails to the block mounting points on each side, got the engine set center, then bolted the plates to the crossmember with the puck under it and then plates to the block. Then simply cut out cardboard templates and used the same pieces for both sides, meaning it was the same distance on both sides still. I also always start with the crossmember side in the center so there is some adjustment if needed and always tack weld the mounts in the car.

Yeah the wheels are the best bang/buck, especially for just a drift car. For my budget it made sense. Maybe one of these days I'll upgrade. I know a few local guys that run these wheels so I can somewhat trust them too.

The tie rod ends are Megan Racing, I love them. The Kazama rod ends that were on there aren't as good as these actually. I'd trust these long before those. I've ran these before on my 5/8th's car and never had an issue. I ran Kazama's on that car also and they wore out pretty quick compared to the Megan Racing. The first version megan's were the same as kazama style and these 2nd gen are a lot better.

Thanks for the props! I'm excited to get this thing on the road and hopefully to the 24th of Sept drift event haha.

Here's what I got done today, built my poor mans' power brace haha. I've only started to tig weld, so some welds look awesome, some are ok but I'm getting better haha. Only my 2nd time using it so I'm happy with the results for sure. It got too cold out to paint it so I'll have to wait till tomorrow for yellow action haha
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3384.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3387.jpg

[sleeper108]

did you just tack the square tubing in place while it was still on, then pull it off and finish?

welds looks pretty dang good for just starting tig welding.

[KansaiDrifter]

Oh yeah I probably should of taken more pics lol, I welded the sheet metal on then did the bar with it mounted on the car. I welded one side up with it on the car and finished it off the car. Some of the angles were tricky but I got it haha. Yeah I started to spray it today but then ran out of yellow lol. I'll have to wait till tomorrow to finish and mount it.

[KansaiDrifter]

So I got the suspension all buttoned up today, at least everything's bolted in place still needs proper alignment other then the old tape measure method lol. Here's some underside shots
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3391.jpg

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3394.jpg

Just have to figure out a driveline, get the wiring/ecu back from Zfever, hook up the fuel system and make an exhaust. After all that if I have the time I'd really like to take this down to a place called True Line alignment shop, they will actually corner balance and align the car the right way. It's amazing driving a car that was balanced properly.

[Zero-Offset]

I remember driving home from FD Seattle this year, and driving next to your red S14 with the Instant Gentleman kit. That was quite the car. Deffs looked like it could party!
This thing looks quite good for the budget that you're on now though!
Not sure if it was stated, but what differential are you running? The pumpkin just looks kind of lonely in that last picture there, without any yellow.

[KansaiDrifter]

Oh nice, yeah that was the last trip I took with the s14 haha. The diff that's in it is a r32 diff with a O.S. Giken 2 way and 4.364 gears. I'm going to see if I can hunt down something in the high 3.5 range though as I'm thinking it's going to be way too short for the v6. It's a great sr gear set though. Yeah that needs some lovin' too haha. Maybe when I pull it back out for gear changing or something.

[sftmb]

all that yellow on the underbody looks dyno-mite! lol

note: i like how we're on opposite times. haha i woke up at 3:30 and you probably slept at around 4:30 i'm guessing. cuz there's no way you'd getup that early just to post on zilvia ;) lol

[KansaiDrifter]

haha yeah I went to bed around 3:30 lol, just getting back going again haha. Yeah the underbody is going banannas! :p

[97240TB]

Needz moar yellow.

[KansaiDrifter]

Just got word from Zfever that the harness is done and the ecu reflash is set for tomorrow, so hopefully I'll see it monday or tuesday of next week. It's coming out of Florida haha. I also ordered a slip yolk from Zfever, they actually had spicer make them a order of 100 of these since they're not a manufactured item yet. So if you're doing the swap hit up the Zfever guys if you have a hard time finding a slip yolk.

Yeah check them out on youtube and you'll see why I went with them, they've got a video on there of the vq sitting on the shop floor running, not in limp mode and if there's any issues, there's someone to call and ask for help haha.


haha yeah I'm thinking of doing the driveline yellow to tie front to back lol

[C-unit]

^ I am having a hard time finding a yoke and a ECU reflashes!! Thanks!

just wondering..did you go with the UpRev? how much did the harness and reflashes cost you?

[KansaiDrifter]

Oh yeah I believe it's uprev, Give Zfever a call, talk to Doug, tell him Ricky from WA told ya to call haha. They've also done the HR and Uprev motors too. All together it was 950 for the wiring and ecu reflash, and I think 140 for the yolk. It seems a bit steep but when no one else really does it and can't guarantee it then it makes sense. Normally even I would do the wiring but I'd much rather have them do it and they also incorporate the obd plug and the drive by wire pedal. I even sent in my pedal and they hook everything up and test it before it gets sent back.

^ Did you have a build thread on nwn? I'm excited to see your r32 come to life, looks awesome already!

[C-unit]

I sent them an email today but didn't get a reply yet. I guess I will give them a call tomorrow! I really appreciate your advice, I was looking for a reliable VQ shop local/north west area but most have no idea what I am talking about. They either trying to tell me to run a standalone and used throttle cable (LOL WUT) or tell me to just go RB (Oh thanks...that really helps)

Anyways, Yea, i did have the build thread on nwn..Car just sat there because waiting for parts really sucks..

[KansaiDrifter]

Oh yeah, they're good about getting calls but emails are slow since they're so busy from what they were saying. I was thinking of hitting up Drift Office but never got around to it haha. Yeah going standalone would be great if going turbo down the line, but it's twice the price, and it still needs to be wired up lol. I know the Haltech actually can use the drive by wire though. Even if I go turbo eventually I'll just do a piggy back. I do however trust Bob at Drift Office for tuning though.

I liked your comment on the vq over the rb about how it makes more power then a rb stock vs stock and it's still NA, good stuff. When you get it going again I'll be sure to watch that thread too haha.

Here's some progress for today, just played with the hood a bit.

Since I did custom mounts it sits a little higher then what the McKinney ones do, but that also cleared my sway bar and header/steering easier then others and I don't mind spacing and cutting the center section out of the backside.

Here's the hood with the spacers I cut, they're just 1" pieces of thick walled aluminum tube
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3397.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3396.jpg

And from the side,
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3399.jpg

Here's the section that's cut out
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3400.jpg

sprayed a little black on it
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3404.jpg

Here's one of the intake set on as a short ram, I think I'll rock it that way, I don't want to suck up water from rain this being WA and all lol.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3401.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3403.jpg

I think I'll get to exhaust work next, just need to dig up some pipe haha.

[Zero-Offset]

Wow, that looks really good in there. The bay looks so sparse compared to having an SR in there!!
And are you the one who owns/runs Kami Dori?

[97240TB]

Paint your roll cage yellow hahaha.... This car is a John Deer Tracker.



Yeah that's one thing I love about having the VQ is the space and the cleanliness of everything. I felt like I gained so much room after this swap in my engine bay. Zfever will take a few days to respond via email. Just call and talk to Doug, he's a good dood. Tell him exactly what you want and his quote and work will be pretty damn good.


You could also try RS Enthalpy, They do the reflash work and it's phenomenal. They also have excellent turn around on the ECU. Think it's like 3 days? Don't think they do the harness work though.

[sonic3856]

this build effin awesome. i see the thing in person every so often, can't wait til it's on the road. it'll make make foos flatline :boink: lol

[KansaiDrifter]

Haha yeah I did run Kami Dori, I kinda got out of it because of all the b.s. and politics, that really ruins the fun of having and building cars, which is the only reason it was started. I'd rather do my own thing and some of my friends stuff that still has that fun feel to it.

Yeah it's funny because it's sooooo much easier to work on the vq in a 240 then in a z lol.

Haha yeah I'm hoping to get it done by not this but the next friday hopefully. Haha it'll be so epic it'll make them flatline haha

[GripTerror]

will have to have vids yo

[irax]

fucking sweet build!
though kinda sucks you got the wrong radiator. There is a griffen radiator that you could of ordered off of summit racing for like ~200 and it would of fit almost perfect and had the spouts at the right spots.

[97240TB]

I was thinking the exact same thing about the radiator.

I have the same one, I don't mind it much though.

Not sure how badly you want your hood to fit but If you would prefer your hood fit more flush or look closer to flush, you can put spacers in the quarter panel where you bolt it on. I did this and it really helped alot especially since I had to use a inch riser on my hood.

[KansaiDrifter]

Yeah I got a really great deal on this one so I couldn't pass it up. I can always tig up the current outlets and move them if needed, or run hoses opposite. I've been trying to find out if it would have any ill effects if running it the opposite anyway. I haven't gotten a straight answer yet though lol.

I know that like chevrolet has it the other way, where the outlet from the thermostat goes to the upper driver's side and the inlet is the lower passenger. I could see running a reservoir tank that's higher, since I could see that the highest point of water is the throttle body warmer so I'm seeing lots of possible air being trapped. But it would still cool the water, I don't see any issue with the water pump being able to push the water through the radiator, if you put a hose in the upper inlet it flows easy out the other side, see what I mean? It doesn't show any bad signs. The only thing I can think of is maybe the radiator won't cool the full amount of water, that the water could have too easy of a way in and out.

Yeah I'm still thinking over that one lol

[herbieS13]

very nice build

[90white240]

This is a sick build, great job dude.

[bb4_96]

You would be fine moving the inlet/outlets on the radiator. That is the definative answer. The cooling fins are non-directional. Although i feel like you would see advantages keeping inlet on one side and outlet on the other side. Direct coolant across the core instead of straight down.

What does the Zfever uprev job entail? I saw one of these swaps done with stock ecu and stock sensors/ all stock components but it looked super difficult and required use of consult. Does Zfever setup require all the stock components? BCM? Anti theft? How are you handling all that? Is the zfever setup pretty much turn key?

[KansaiDrifter]

Yeah I figure it would be fine if I moved the inlet/outlet. The answer I'm looking for is if leaving it the way it is and running the thermostat into the upper inlet on the driver's side and running the return from the bottom to the passenger side will be ok. In theory it should be, but I'm thinking it wouldn't be as efficient.

The Zfever guys need the engine main harness, the ecu, a drive by wire pedal with 6" of pigtail for a vq and a obd plug 6" pigtail. The obd plug and throttle pedal can be off any Nissan with a VQ engine. That's all they need. You send that to them and they will send you back the harness with a engine ground, chassis ground, a 12v switched and a 12v constant and it'll fire up and run with just those hooked up. Can actually be ran on the floor haha, they have a vid on youtube showing it running on the floor actually lol.

Anyhow, got a little done today, it's really tedious work so it'll take me a while to get this part done. I'm building the exhaust, since I'm just waiting on the wiring to get in and with that will come the driveshaft yoke.

I'm going with dual 2 1/4" down pipes, into a 2.5" resonator and through the 3" Tanabe G medallion. The rear section was just laying around from another project, it's actually made for a s14 but it's not that far off, I think I can make it work.

Here's the stuff
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3406.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3407.jpg

Here's the start of the driver's down pipe, I got the passenger side flange cut out so hopefully tomorrow I can make some good progress. It's really tedious making all the angles just right lol
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3408.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3409.jpg

[97240TB]

For the exhaust I say run it as you have it... Just the downpipes lol

[slideways2004]

i definately like this build. VQ swap is so badass now!

[KansaiDrifter]

haha yeah I heard a 350z with straight pipes and that sounded awesome but it's too loud for daily action, to me anyway.

I kinda think the vq will start getting more attention shortly, since the swap is in the $4k ish range pretty much.

I'll throw some pics up in a little bit, I've not had too much time recently to work on it so I've only got the downpipes finished. It's been incredibly time engulfing because I've had to make all the flanges myself lol.

[GSXRJJordan]

I didn't get why you went with VQ after having an LS, but I figure you sold the S14. Didn't know you ran at Evergreen, that's cool.

Should be a fun car, but compared to the LS, very expensive to make power with.

[KansaiDrifter]

Yeah I found that at Evergreen I had a hard time using the torque correctly in tandem on the 3/8th's. The 5/8th's it was perfect though, it would sit at 6500rpm in 4th gear through that corner at full throttle, never got to do much tandem on the 5/8ths, other then follow Dai in the gto and holy crap he was fast haha.

Yeah the vq is limited for sure, if you want to jump towards the 350hp+ it has to be a crazy expensive na build or turbo. I guess my best answer is that I've somewhat grown out of the need for power, and I've figured out that the 250rwhp bracket is exactly what I'd like for the tracks around here. I like the fact that it's bone stock and will make around that 250rwhp and that nobody's doing it yet so it'll be unique again haha.

Yeah here's the downpipes I made, they're not perfect but I'm happy with them, I've still got to cut some more flanges to weld to the driver's side but I'm having to take a couple days off so I'm hoping to get back to working on them soon! When the wiring gets in I'll be really anxious to finish it so I hope to be done before then haha. On to some pics, because I don't like build threads with out them lol

Its lowest point is the same or higher then the trans so it shouldn't scrape
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3410.jpg

Pretty happy with the welds, this would be my 3rd time running the tig setup and my first time trying to build an exhaust, so I'm happy to get the practice.
Passenger side
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3412.jpg

Driver's side
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3413.jpg

I grabbed some header wrap to wrap these downpipes so that I don't get any floor board heaters and to protect the fuel lines
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3414.jpg

[KansaiDrifter]

Sorry for the lake of updates, we had some family stuff to take care of but got that all out of the way now so it's back on! I'm crossing my fingers that my harness comes in tomorrow with the slip yolk, if it does it's possible it'll be road worthy this weekend :)

I went down to the hydraulic store and got a clutch line made, just used the dot brake line hose and high pressure metric fittings. I had it made 36" long and it's just right to me. I routed it under and behind the brake booster for that hidden look. Fits great.

I also got more work done on the exhaust but I didn't get pics yet. Hopefully I'll be about done tomorrow. Fitting a s14 muffler to a s13 is a pain lol. But the price was right (free) haha

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3415.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3416.jpg

[ridge]

your build is sexy haha. NW unite

[irax]

Yeah I just used the Auto->Manual conversion clutch line, though I like yours better

[KansaiDrifter]

haha yeah NW in the house lol

Yeah I thought about just getting a conversion line, but then I found that I could get a great deal on that line but the conversion line would work fine too.

Yeah got a phone call today from Zfever, apparently my harness wasn't shipped out a week ago :( It was found witha couple others that hadn't been shipped yet so they shipped it express, hopefully we'll see it Friday or Monday. Was really hoping to fire it this weekend but oh well I guess.

Oh I also did some research about driveline joints, since I got the slip yolk comming, I figured I'd order the rest to get it ready. Here's the numbers if anyone else is curious,

End Flange Yoke (part that bolts to the rear diff) Spicer# 2-2-1309
Ujoint bearing (this is the greasable one) Spicer# 5-153x
Tube Yoke joint (part that tube is welded to, need 2 of these) Spicer# 2-28-437

The tube yoke is for a 3" tube, there's all sorts of sizes but 3" seems pretty standard. The tubing I'll need is 48" (will be extra long) and is 3.000"x.083" DOM tubing.

I'm unsure of the front bearing because I don't know the size of the slip yoke bearing holes yet, probably the same though. All in all it'll be about a $300 driveshaft after buying all the ends, tube and having it welded/balanced. Half of it is the slip yolk so if you can find one off a G35 or a 350z in a junkyard for cheap then you could save a lot of money.

[KansaiDrifter]

Alrighty, sorry for the huge delay in posting, we had to do some around the house clean up and I had to spend my car time on that, too many Dew cans haha.

So I finally called up FedEx today and the harness won't be here until Thursday, this really sucks and puts me in a bind because that pushes everything back towards this weekend and it'll be a tight one.

That's going to put me in a bind, it's going to make getting it finished for this weekend and hassle but it's doable still. I can't build the driveline yet since I need the slip yoke that's in the harness box for Thursday so that's on hold but I've got the exhaust all buttoned up finally lol.

Here's some pics, I went and used header wrap for the downpipes to protect the fuel lines on the passenger side and the floor boards on both sides. The passenger side was priority so it got fully wrapped and I used the remainder on the drivers side.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3417.jpg

Here's the Y pipe we made, it's using my midpipes, a dual 2 1/4" into a 3" Y pipe out of a late 80's Suburban and the leftover piece of u bend from the downpipes haha.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3418.jpg

And here's the rest, it is a single piece from the Y pipe back, it's easier to work with and won't leak anywhere. It is a 2 person job to install it but that's no biggy when your garage has a lift haha.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3419.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3420.jpg

Here's a shot at frame rail level, it stays with the rails right until going under the subframe, but it'll still have a solid 5" of clearance or so. I'm not worried about scrapping. The patches of metal are there because the rear section is used and for a s14, so I had to pie cut it and patch it to re-angle it a bit. It also had some scraped through sections so I patched those up also.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3421.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3422.jpg

[sftmb]

lookin good!^_^ yeah i like how close to the body your exhaust sits instead of some of the other ones that hang down super low. lol and also i spy a soon to be purple type-x! haha

[C-unit]

everytime i see your update..i just want to go work on my cars! but again..i don't have a lift nor motivation...

[KansaiDrifter]

Haha yeah it takes the motivation most. The lift is a overkill tool I think, one of those things that I never thought about owning until I had the chance to buy one/a shop that was tall enough. And now I won't move without it haha.

So I got a good surprise in the mail and at Napa. Got the Zfever harness and ecu reflashed back along with the Slip yoke. I also picked up the rest of the driveline parts from Napa, just ordered those spicer pieces listed above. I did end up getting a 1310 to 1330 u joint since the slip yoke takes a 1330 and the rest are 1310's. So it's a 5-134x u joint from Spicer.

Here's the harness, ecu, pedal, slip yoke. I mainly shot this part of the harness because it's the main conversion section from what I can see off the bat. I think the most conversion of it is in the ecu, but the wire colors that go to like switched 12v are totally different from most other Nissan engines so it would of taken me a while to do lol.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3423.jpg

Here's all the driveline stuffs, the u joint on the right is the odd ball for the front joint.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3424.jpg

I also got a 14" flex a lite fan for the radiator, biggest one that will fit on the actual fin surface of the radiator. It'll pull 1350cfm, should be plenty to cool her down, especially with the 3 row Mishimoto
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3425.jpg


Now it's just get the wiring installed, get the driveshaft welded up, balanced and hoping everything works haha.

[irax]

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3423.jpg


where is your dash plug?

[tricky_ab]

Owning a lift in my garage is on my wish list (Finding a house with a tall garage is going to be interesting the next time I'm planning to move). Anyways, keep it going! :)

[KansaiDrifter]

Oh I didn't send them the under dash plug, I figured It'll get done that much faster without it and it's only a couple wire so I could do them the way I wanted. I did end up using the brown (92) underdash plug to run the tach signal from the MSD Tach Driver to Yellow/Red and water temp gauge sensor signal to the Blue/Black.

Here's a pic of the in the middle stage of wiring, not a whole lot of wiring but I took my time on it to do it clean. I ran the Red and yellow wires to the steering column where I could easily tap into a full time battery and a switched 12v source. I also found a nasty job of what looked like a possible alarm at one time? I took the end off another column and did it right ( I was too lazy/tired to grab the camera for that lol)

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3427.jpg

Here's the MSD Tach Driver when I talked to the Zfever wiring guys they said you need this to run a tach for the 240sx, it simply intercepts the +12v power source wire to the coil packs and reads the pulses and turns that into a squarewave signal for a tach. I spliced it into the White/Blue wire for coil pack #1, It had a yellow/red (ecu signal - ) a black ground and then the white/blue +12v. It happens to be the same loop for the timing gun hook up so hopefully that works correct.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3435.jpg

Here's where I spliced it in
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3426.jpg

Here's the ecu bolted in, I just zip tied the obd plug there for now, If I can figure out how to get the kick panel around the cage I'll flush mount it on that.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3434.jpg

I also installed the gauge temp sensor using the 89-90 factory fan electric thermostat switch housing. I just drilled a hole and tig'd a m12x1.25 nut on there. I put it to the incoming side on purpose so that if temps read high on that side I know there's a cooling issue. I also hooked the fan through that switch and a auxiliary toggle switch in the cockpit to override it if needed. The factory kick on was around 190F so I'm using that as just a safety if I forget to turn the fan on or if the switch fails.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3433.jpg

Got all the rest of the bolts today for the exhaust to final bolt it up and seal it. Got all m10x1.25 threads, same as factory studs. I got the grade 8 bolts for the driveline. I also always use these brass pieces when I do swaps like s13 to s14 where the s13's heater core is smaller diameter then the s14, these 3/4" to 1" adpaters work perfect. I get these from Lowe's.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3429.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3428.jpg

And since one of the newer tracks up here requires no antifreeze because it can ruin the surface I run Watter Wetter, it's on their ok list and I want something to prevent corrosion. Probably when the track's closed for winter I'll swap it out for antifreeze.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3430.jpg

And here it is, I've cranked it over a bit with the ecu un hooked to just get some oil circulating and make sure the starter works. So far so good. Only thing left is to put the driveline in, silicon the exhaust flanges, and get some vacuum line for the brake booster line, it goes all the way to the passenger side lol. Cool part is that I hooked up the ecu and re hooked the battery up and turn the key on and you can hear the thorttle body move when the gas pedal is moved haha. Weird with no cable lol
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3432.jpg

Almost there!

[irax]

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3432.jpg

still not quite sure how legit this is. wouldn't it put un-needed strain to the water pump? what other cars run their coolant system like this?

[KansaiDrifter]

IT RUNS! :D

Yeah I started the day with trying to figure out why the fuel pump wasn't kicking on, I had already grounded out the black/pink stripe wire and found that it wasn't getting a +12v signal, so I traced it all the way to the front fuse box and ran a wire to it from the ignition switch instead for less hassle. Got that figured out, tried to fire it after setting the fpr about 52psi, still wasn't firing, bumped up the psi, tried to fire, bumped it one more time and it ran lol. It's a ebay fpr so I figured it was going to show way off.

Fired it up the first time and it ran pretty good, seemed to be missing though. I took the msd tach driver box out of the loop since the tach wasn't working anyway and it cleared it out and ran great. It's got a touchy rev in neutral haha.

I did take it out for a drive and I love these Megan Type RS coilovers, they ride smooth and it's nice and soft haha. It's easily the best daily driver set I've had.

We noticed a bit of air in the system and pressure so I'm going to swap hoses and try it the other way tomorrow. Seems like a pain to bleed, I'm thinking swapping sides will help.

The last thing I've got to address is the alternator, doesn't seem to be charging, staying at 12v while running, only runs good because I've got a good battery I bet lol.

Here's a few pics, oh and video tomorrow!
Here's the driveshaft installed,
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3438.jpg

Plenty of clearance haha
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3437.jpg

Here's the Throttle pedal after being heated with the torch and bent to shape, it was basically on the floor before so we brought it forward and up a bit. It could be bent down just a tiny bit still but it's pretty good.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3436.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3447.jpg

And here's after it's maiden voyage,
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3439.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3446.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3448.gif

[97240TB]

We had to run a loop in my alternator system because it wasn't charging. I'd call Zfever and ask them what they suggest you do. I Basically ran a small white pink striped wire to a ground point and it makes it charge.

the MSD tach box was causing your engine to misfire? sounds shitty I believe Autometer makes a signal box for this, costs like 75ish. Of course I could be wrong on this specific subject because I have a STACK ST8130 HUD, but STACK suggested I use it... So You could give that a shot if you can't get the MSD unit to work.

[S13coupeRB25DET]

damn dat is sick bro.

[irax]

i would wire up the tach signal from the ecu and put a dakota digital converter 6cyl -> 4cyl tach signal converter in line somewhere.

[KansaiDrifter]

We had to run a loop in my alternator system because it wasn't charging. I'd call Zfever and ask them what they suggest you do. I Basically ran a small white pink striped wire to a ground point and it makes it charge.

the MSD tach box was causing your engine to misfire? sounds shitty I believe Autometer makes a signal box for this, costs like 75ish. Of course I could be wrong on this specific subject because I have a STACK ST8130 HUD, but STACK suggested I use it... So You could give that a shot if you can't get the MSD unit to work.

Is there anyway you could be more specific? It's definitely not charging yet, Where did the white/pink wire hook to on the alternator? Is it to the 2 wire plug?

Yeah the msd box I think I've just got the wrong wire for it, I'll have to try a different one until it works lol. It's also my speedometer so it's important lol.

[burninrubber85]

im glad to see my work in someones car (i did the harness). if you have any problems with the harness or the ecu don't hesitate to call us (813-877-7600) if you could send us some pics of the build to the website www.feveracing.com

[KansaiDrifter]

So it looks like in the fsm it has the two wire plug listed as the white/red wire just going to the gauge voltmeter and the Light Green/Black wire coming from the battery (+12v). I'm going to run down and check that real quick and see. One more possibility is it could need an extra ground on the case, but I checked with a voltmeter and I got the same reading of voltage using the alternator case as ground and positive to battery as I did using the battery terminal ground, so it's getting a great ground right now.

I think what 97240TB had to do was ground the white/red wire. (in my case it's white/red, probably the hr is white/pink) But he's going to take a look tomorrow to see if the ground is on the alternator side or the harness side for me ^^.

Another thing I ran into was it didn't seem like the cooling system was flowing much, acted like the thermostat wasn't opening up so I'm going to pull it out and try that and see if it's a big change or not. The other idea is the heater core is possibly clogged up, I'm REALLY hoping it's not, but I'll know if the thermostat changes it a lot or not.

I've been slacking on getting video since I've not been running it very long at a time and I'm still working out the bugs. I'm sad to say that I think I may not be getting to this weekends' Drift event =( Just not enough time to safely put the break in miles on it before I beat the stuffing out of the clutch and whatnot.

[KansaiDrifter]

Alrighty so I've got it all buttoned up now, big shout out to 97240TB for the help, thanks for taking the time to look!

What I ended up doing was taking the alternator all the way out and having it tested. It is a brand new Napa reman but I wasn't sure. I tried grounding the white/red stripe both ways and nothing new happened. After having it tested it showed a full 14.5 volts and 110+amps so it's putting out like crazy. What I ended up doing was just using the 240sx lower harness. It plugs right in to the two wire plug, I did re solder on the starter wire since it's the opposite type plug, I left off the big white wire that usually plugs onto the positive output stud of the 240sx alternator to the big black plug off since it already went to the battery, and since I had a g35 engine it already had a single wire oil pressure switch and I used the plug for that and soldered that on the 240's oil pressure switch wire for the dash light. So I ended up only using the starter/alt. 2 prong plug and the multi plug that has the oil and charge dash lights. Charges great now lol.

I didn't get a pic of that, but I thought I'd jot that down for anyone else looking to get the alternator charging on this type swap.

I ended up running a ground to the temp gauge sensor since it's not grounded with the engine and it's in line with rubber lol. It didn't even dawn on me until last night that it needed a ground haha. Works great now though!
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3458.jpg

I also switched the hoses to some long across hoses to get the flow proper so now the top goes to top and the bottom goes to the thermostat inlet.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3451.jpg

After swapping them and running it a while we noticed it didn't want to flow through yet and was struggling to open the thermostat. So I took it out and cooked it lol
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3454.jpg

I found that this thermostat wouldn't open until about 200 or so and that's too hot. For now we just cut the straps and took it out. When winter rolls around I'll be dropping a new thermostat first thing and antifreeze for the winter. Unless I can find something else to prevent freezing and still legal to run at the track since they don't want normal antifreeze in case it leaks it could ruin the surface of the track. They did say you can run Red Line water wetter but I'd actually like to keep heat and I'm not sure if that will prevent freezing.

Anyhow I took it back around the block a few times and no issues at all. Runs great, the temp stays normal to a little cold while running around town type driving and sitting still actually. If it gets any colder I could benefit from blocking off a bit of the radiator lol. But another nice part is while I let it sit and idle at normal operating temp, the fan kicked on and off every little bit, telling me that the factory setting for the fan is right perfect. I also have a override switch in the center console just in case I want to run it if it's not already on yet or the electric switch fails.

Here's some pics and a video! I took just a quick vid of the exhaust sound, I like it. It's quite until you rev it so it's very daily drive able. Enjoy!

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3456.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3457.gif

Added it to youtube if photobucket is crapping out lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8pubelKp8I

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/th_106_3455.jpg (http://s1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/?action=view&current=106_3455.mp4)

[97240TB]

I'm really glad everything worked out, My fix seemed a little less involved then yours did. Probably cause my harness wasn't done by Zfever dooders.

Your car is so quiet compared to mine hahaha! I'm happy to see another one of these on the road though, I think you will love the balance and the throttle response.
I can really tell a huge difference when in my car vs. KA/SR powered cars, The power that's on tap combined with the weight of the vehicle really work well together. Plus the 6 speed is tits.

[97240TB]

P.S. Get better wheelz!~

[sftmb]

wewt! sounds awesome. lol just like a Z^_^ hopefully you'll have time to do a shakedown test today if you still wanted to drive it this weekend at the bigfoot bash. I say you should drive down to uwajimaya and back. lol

[KansaiDrifter]

Yeah the vq's quite at idle and cruising around town, haven't really done freeway yet though. It's loud when I get on it though haha. Most of the cabin noise is just drivetrain and road noise so the next thing to come is some sound deadend panels haha.

Oh yeah I'm happy with the wheels, they were a great bang/buck. I will invest in some spacers eventually.

Haha yeah I'm just going to help out at B.B. I'm not crazy enough to drive 750 miles today haha. I'd also like to shake it down for a good week before I go crazy on it. Some guys would jump in it and go but I've put too much time into it lol. If I would of gotten the harness when we expected it the first time I'd be ready to go about 2 weeks ago. But I did check on pgp's site and there's an event for the 16th Oct. so maybe i can get in on that haha.

Off to licensing! Still hadn't licensed it yet lol.

[Yellow4g63]

P.S. Get better wheelz!~


Ever dyno your HR?

[C-unit]

^ i would like to know as well! so i get some kind of reference for my swap!

[97240TB]

I have not yet had the HR car dyno'd it needs a tune though and I plan on getting it done pretty soon, I've seen one other guy make 298 at the wheels in a S-13 HR car.

I'd expect to be close to or about the same as his numbers when all is said and done. For reference though a month after the car was finished I raced my friends 08' WRX with exhaust from a 30 roll and beat him bye 4 or 5 cars. I Got to 130 then let off.

[Nategreat923]

Saw this in person yesterday, looks sooooo good!

[HPKMotorsports3]

Great build man only took me like a week to read but very impressive... and i dont lack the motivation i lack the pocket change to go out and work on mine... I love the green i plan on paintin mine green but im not sayin what color code because i have yet to see it done and im no where near painting it lol...

[KansaiDrifter]

alrighty, sorry for having a big old delay in posting, I ended up doing some crazy work and building a coupe for a guy in a week to pass tech for a drift event this last saturday plus getting this car ready for it too lol.

Here's some pics I took just a little bit ago when the weather was still nice
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3462.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3461.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3465.gif
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3467.jpg

And here's some from the last PGP drift event, (Pacific Gran Prix, Kent, WA) It's this awesome go kart track that's just wide enough to drift it haha. First time I've really drifted for atleast a year and a new car, new track so I'm happy with the results. This track takes all techniques you can think of and the back half of it I was doing one handed steering to be able to shift and pull the hand brake lol.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/69835_136281166421586_124139797635723_185899_29548 90_n.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/33606_136281076421595_124139797635723_185894_42270 36_n.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/33541_136281996421503_124139797635723_185948_62020 31_n.jpg

Here's a vid of the event, it's unedited so it's longer but it's pretty cool. Only the second run of the day so still getting used to the power and handling haha
YouTube - PA160038 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7TDgmNhGIs)

Enjoy

[irax]

I think I want to move to Washington now.

[chwks13]

How are the hockey puck mounts holding up?

You're giving me good inspiration for my 1JZ into FC swap :)

[KansaiDrifter]

haha yeah that track is awesome, it's been a good year since I've really driven and it's a new car, new engine, new track to me so I'm happy with the result haha. It's a track that makes you use every technique known to man. I was sore everywhere after that day. The awesome part is they have a practice day and a event day once a month through next year already planned so it's the new drifting "spot" for the nw. Can't wait for my buddy to get track time down there so we can start some tandem action haha.

Yeah the hockey pucks are doing great, they'll more then likely outlast the car haha. A 1jz fc sounds awesome, love the jz series of engines. Post a build thread when you do it haha

[97240TB]

Now you just need to spend ludicrous money on wheels and you'll be set. Some VS-KF's Would be rad, Shame the car isn't one color. Not a big fan of the green black treatment, How did the power feel on such a small track?

[KansaiDrifter]

Haha yeah I'll be into getting better wheels once I sell my big brake kit and old wheels off my s14. These are hopefully just the drift spares for later.

The power was great, it was really responsive and had enough torque to dig out of tight corners in 3rd. It would benefit from a touch more top end, maybe a set of cams but that's also something that could be adjusted by suspension/tire settings. In that vid I only used s14 se rims and I'm happy with them, they're cheap lol. Still on a budget haha.

[PoorMans180SX]

Car looks sick man, especially sideways.

A little lower and some spacers would be awesome!

[Michael Nolan]

Not a fan of the vq, but cool build nonetheless.

[97240TB]

Not a fan of the vq, but cool build nonetheless.


Good thing no one cares about what you like....

[jzepol1985]

Good thing no one cares about what you like....


hahahahaha
:keke::keke::keke::keke::keke::keke:

If I ever make a sig this will be it.

[franklin93zx]

Car looks sick man, especially sideways.

A LOT MOAR LOW and some spacers would be awesome!
fixed ;)
hahahahaha
:keke::keke::keke::keke::keke::keke:

If I ever make a sig this will be it.
then why don't you make one?

[KansaiDrifter]

Yeah to each their own, I think in a little bit the vq will make it's mark in the 240's swap market. They're becoming more and more affordable and finally there's places to do wiring and ecu reflashes. I love the sound of the vq mostly, that and it makes good power bone stock and is light as hell lol.

Every now and then I'll think about going a little lower but I'm sticking with Function>Form. My suspension is in the ok zone for bumpsteer and geometry so I'll leave it alone. It rails and drifts great and I can still go over speed bumps without cringing or closing the sphincter hard haha It's also nice that my steering clears and doesn't rub anything like wiring or whatnot. I might get spacers one day, but I'd have to get the longstud/slip on type since the rims are flat backed and don't work with like 20mm bolt ons. Oh well lol.

[Black240Ct]

that vid is pretty cool.. that track looks super fun

[pahaf]

video looked awesome....im really liking your swap.

[KansaiDrifter]

Went for a little cruise today, figured out that I went about 92 miles overall, down to Seattle downtown and back and used right about 3 gallons and it comes out to 30.7 mpg, mixed city and highway and a little wangan haha. Pretty good I think, I guess I'll call it a hybrid lol

Here's a couple pics I snapped with my phone but still eye candy lol

Here's a famous spot in Seattle, Dick's drive in burgers, they're awesome and cheap, good stuff
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/10162010064.jpg

downtown parking garage lol
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/11042010069.jpg

Oh yeah I also picked up a set of SSR Formula Mesh 16x8 +26 for drift spares, I wanted 16's because tires are dirt cheap compared to 17/18. And I love the old school look and couldn't pass them up haha. I'll be on the look out for another pair hehe
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/10272010068.jpg

[C-unit]

is the clearance on the sway really close? I just realize my 32crossmember wont work since the mounting point is too forward compare to the S13 one. I'll probably need to get a 240sx crossmember.

Ps* what model tranny mount did you use??

[KansaiDrifter]

Oh yeah the sway bar is close, I put an extra rubber on top and put a thin one on bottom of the lca's to angle it down and when it hits a bump it actually swings out of the way, but it's really close to the oil pan edge, I just bent that in a little bit. Yeah the 240/180 crossmember seemed to line right up.

Oh that was a automatic s14 mount and crossmember, but it seems like most others are the same. I used that one because I had it around haha.

[97240TB]

I think as a daily driver, That's the biggest plus.... The MPG is amazing. I need to PM you actually have a question for you. Love the around town shots. :boink:

[KansaiDrifter]

Got your pm, tried my best haha. Yeah I like these engines a lot, if you added a cat convertor it would be really quiet for daily. Next thing I'll be doing is making some aluminium panels with sound deadening for the rear only because of road noise, the exhaust note is nice to me lol.

Another thought I've had is a aft turbo, I've got plenty of room where the muffle sits and a nice T3 or small T4 at 7-8psi would add 100rwhp from about 3300rpm through redline, based off of aft turbo z's that still have cats and emissions equipment. Might have a line on a free newer turbo so I might look into it haha.

[97240TB]

Keep it NA! haha

There's some guys in canada who are making like 335 WHP on a NA DE motor!

[KansaiDrifter]

that's pretty good power, for now though it's staying na until atleast I can sell the brakes and wheels that I have laying around.

Small update though, added a short 45 bend to get the air filter away from the vent since it's rainy season again. It only affected it if say I parked outside, since I didn't drive out in bad weather it wasn't a issue but I'm guessing that streaks gonna end soon haha.

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/11072010071.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/11072010070.jpg

[97240TB]

I doubt you feel like doing any kind of extreme fabrication to the intake plenum, but some people have been making the bend at the back of the Plenum less harsh. I've seen gains in the 15 to 25 whp range just from fabricating a less aggressive angle for it.

[Yellow4g63]

Keep it NA! haha

There's some guys in canada who are making like 335 WHP on a NA DE motor!

are you talking about that race car with the stock rev-up motor?

[holys14]

coming out nice man i like your 350 motor idea in the coupe chasis. and forsure keep the bronze it goes good with the green paint

[Slikk Logic]

this is a dope build thread.props.gl with it

[chwks13]

Keep it NA! haha

There's some guys in canada who are making like 335 WHP on a NA DE motor!

That's because it's so cold here, the IAT's double the power. Haha

Kidding.

But it is cold.

[97240TB]

are you talking about that race car with the stock rev-up motor?


Yes, But the motor isn't stock anymore, After a like 1 and a 1/2 seasons they rebuilt engine, modified the intake plenum and made true longtube headers for it. It sounds amazing and it made great power.

[KansaiDrifter]

Oh man, long tubes on 350z's with full exhaust is like sex for your ears haha. If I get this new job I'm going for I'll be up for making some long tubes to start with haha.

Small update, I jacked the car up and was tinkering with settings, decided to try on those drift spares, 16x8 +1 with 25mm spacers, they'll work out nicely =) I like running 16"s for spares simply because at the junk yards 16" tires are like $5 lol
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/11292010075.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/11292010076.jpg

I also added a nice sticker for my buddy that I went to high school with's Bubble tea shop up here in Lynwood haha
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/11292010078.jpg

Hoping to get another job put together so I can afford to go to the track more often but for now with the holidays and nothing selling it's stuck in the shop, atleast it's out of the bad weather.

[KansaiDrifter]

Here's a vid of a 350z with long tubes, oh man it's nice =D
YouTube - SG Motorsport Longtube Racecar Development (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU2h0JTq2fk)

[Yellow4g63]

When ever I get around to this swap that's going to be my 1st mod for sure. How long are those 30"?

[M11's]

isnt this for sale now on nwn

[KansaiDrifter]

I'm not sure how long those are, but I do know that McKinney actually makes a nice set too, kinda spendy but easier to swap and hp gains in the long run.
VQ-240sx swap Products McKinney Motorsports (http://www.mckinneymotorsports.com/prod_VQ-240sx+swap)

Oh yeah I've thrown it up for sale, if it sells it sells, could use the money to complete some college stuff lol, but hopefully I'll get a certain job I'm after that would make it to where I don't need to sell her.

[Yellow4g63]

Those Mckinney one's don't look bad but I'll prob be going with a local company called Protech-fabrication for the header. I'll get a nice merged collector, pulsed manifold with a nice merged collector.

[KansaiDrifter]

So it's been a little while for much of an update but got the chance to bring in the new year with a bang! Headed out to Pacific Grand Prix (PGP) track for some drifty time it was wet but still got some smoke out there haha. Here's some pics from the last event. I decided that since the ebrake is used quite a bit I'll be upgrading to a hydro handle atleast for now, considering a dual caliper setup or the pbm big rotor upgrades for front z brakes and rear factory brakes. For now though the vq's been a trooper, drive it 1.5 hours there, run it all day hard, drive it back 1.5 hours with gas left in the tank lol.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/pgp7.png
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/pgp6.png
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/pgp5.png
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/pgp4.png
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/pgp3.png
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/pgp2.png
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/pgp.png
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/IMGP4433.jpg

[PoorMans180SX]

Car looks awesome man, I wish you could find some outside footage. It looks really tossable and like tons of fun from the quarter panel cam.

[tricky_ab]

It's looking great! Its nice to see you're finally getting to enjoy it out on the track!

[KansaiDrifter]

found some good out of car video haha, check this out :bigok:

YouTube - PGP (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fREGMJJuGTs)

[Michael Nolan]

Car look great, and sounds dope! Awesome work!

[Imarvin240]

looking good on the track man! ggreat job on the build

[daftphunk]

Woohoo for the NW! I missed the last PGP event :( will try to be out there next one.

[spent27]

Are you still running no thermostat? I think these engines are just extremely hard to burp... I was having major overheating issues with my vq swap, and like you said, it was like the thermo wasn't opening. After a ton of burping, I've got it running around 210, which I think is fine but I was hoping for a tad cooler... The stock vq has an air bleeder so maybe that's it...

BTW is your rev limit stock? I heard you hitting it quite a bit in your vids, just curious... great build btw...

[KansaiDrifter]

Thanks for the compliments!

Yeah the next pgp event is Feb 12th, I'm thinking I'll try to make that one too haha, I tell people pgp is like "The Disneyland of Drifting for the NW" haha.

Yeah still not running a thermostat, I'm thinking of picking up a nismo thermostat though they open at 154~160 instead of around 200. These engines are said to run hot though from browsing z forums. Best thing to do is to drill holes in the thermostat on the upper side to bleed air.

I'm also going to buy a pbm swirl tank and hook it up where the throttle body heater hoses go to help bleed it, the major problem is that like the throttle body, it's way higher then the radiator so it just traps all that air up there, at least that's my theory. I don't have any overheating issues on track, just run the fan full time and while I'm running on track it'll sit at the center line and not go over but I'd like a better way to bleed it.

Oh yeah rev limit's stock, but the diff I got has a 4.3 ratio so it's a bit touchy lol. I've gotten used to it but I'd like to find a 3.54/3.69 q45/j30 gear set to lengthen the revs out a bit. Currently my 2nd gear is like a standard 240's 1st and so on, so if I lengthen my rear gear, I'll just drop down back to normal style and actually gain a true 6th gear.

[PoorMans180SX]

Sounds like you need the pathfinder cooling mod. There is a kit for it somewhere.

[Yellow4g63]

Did the Z's run a mechanical fan? or was it a OEM electric fan? Can't wait to do my swap :).

[irax]

If it isn't cooling enough then maybe you should consider hooking up the heater core if it isn't, you might want to consider modifying your radiator so the ports are on the correct side and you aren't adding excessive rubber hose causing it to not pressurize correctly. IDK.. you could get a parallel flow radiator off summit racing for like 200 and boom you don't have to modify anything.
btw I decided not to run coolant lines to the TB that isn't going to cause issues is it?

Did the Z's run a mechanical fan? or was it a OEM electric fan? Can't wait to do my swap :).

4 door G35's had mechanical fans, and other FR 4 door VQ Nissan/Infiniti cars


Sounds like you need the pathfinder cooling mod. There is a kit for it somewhere.

Proper way of doing this mod, depending on his block, can require modifying the block

[KansaiDrifter]

Yeah my setup cools fine, I'm happy with it. One of these days I'll swap the inlet/outlets. I'm actually thinking of putting a thermostat back in for the winter, it gets cold as a daily driver lol. I'd like to run a swirl tank so when I have to swap my fluid out it's easier to bleed just don't wanna pop head gaskets lol. At that pg p track we can't run antifreeze, so it's a routine to swap coolant once a month or so.

should be fine with out the throttle body cooler, I think it's a dumb thing to put on anyway, turns into a t.b. heater once you get to temp lol. Same as ka's and I know a few guys who don't run them on ka's.

I actually bolted on a ka fan to the idler pulley, would work, don't think the fan shroud fit though.

[irax]

No anti-freeze? make some home made glycol. Boil some water, add some sugar.. boom glycol! Water, Glycol, Water Wetter... I'm pretty sure that should be allowed!

[KansaiDrifter]

hmmmm that's pretty intriguing might look into that haha, anything to stop freezing and corrosion, but not antifreeze.

[gunluvS14]

nice work man

[irax]

hmmmm that's pretty intriguing might look into that haha, anything to stop freezing and corrosion, but not antifreeze.

it will stop freezing but not the corrosion

for that you just use distilled water

I think water wetter may have corrosion stopping properties.

[Odysseus]

How did you get your PS res silver? Is it polished or painted/powdercoated?

[KansaiDrifter]

oh that's right yeah water wetter helps a bit with corrossion, it's like lubricating the water system haha.

the ps reservoir is just sanded a bit with scotch brite pads and shot with dupicolor "chrome" spray paint haha. It actually has a shine to it lol. Just painted it because the original finish was all nasty lol.

[KansaiDrifter]

Got a new part in yesterday for the OneVQia, my right forearm is going to be thanking me lol

Shout out to Boostedkouki, great seller on here!

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3491.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3492.jpg

Can't wait to get this all hooked up! I'm thinking of mounting where my stereo hole is and towards my driver seat in front of the shifter. For some reason my factory handle has been acting up and I've used these before with great results so when I saw this pop up for sale I'm jumped on it haha.

[irax]

ohh yeah i for got to ask, what lines did you use for the PS?

[KansaiDrifter]

Oh I used just factory single cam lines, they fit pretty good. I would really really like to run a power steering cooler so I might try to redo it.

I almost completely forgot to mention that the hydro hand brake is a CNC Staging brake 412 model :D

Also ordered up a set of Driftspeed super angle knuckles :) Would go with pbm but can't afford the downtime and this setup's a bit less. All I'm really after is getting the steering to stop locking, but I'll gain a few degrees at the same time. I'm probably gonna wait until the knuckles get here, hopefully tuesday/wednesday next week and I'll install both the handbrake and knuckles.

[KansaiDrifter]

Got some more goodies in! :D

Here's the PBM Swirl breather tank, the vq is kinda a pain to bleed with the throttle body being higher then the radiator, so I'm going to run this for when I have to do so many fluid changes because of the local track.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3525.jpg

Here's the Driftspeed super angle knuckles and inner tie rod spacers. I already painted them the yellow to match the rest of the suspension haha, they came red. Look pretty nice and I'll be installing them tomorrow
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3526.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3533.jpg

[KansaiDrifter]

Spent all day putting things together lol, did snap a few shots of the knuckles but forgot to get some of the swirl tank and hydro brake. Haven't driven the car down the road yet, forgot to hook the exhaust up so I'll do it tomorrow morning. Here's a few pics, the steering is right before the lock up point and lots of angle, can't wait to try it on the track!
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3534.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3535.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3536.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3537.jpg

[97240TB]

You need a John Deer sponsorship.

[Drift_Slut]

Looks killer.Nice work.

[KansaiDrifter]

haha yeah I do need a john deer sponsorship haha, right now I'm just saying it's rooting for Green Bay lol.

Here's a few more pics of the finished setups, Here's a pic of where I intercepted the rear going brake line for the hydro handle, and where the hydro handle is mounted, oh I also picked up a bubble shifter from a local guy to make it easier to get the shifter and the handle on the hydro lever.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3543.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3554.jpg

Here's a couple pics of the PBM Swirl tank, it really does bleed air nice and now my radiator stays full, where before it wasn't. I used the throttle body heater hoses for my circulation of the tank and it comes with a cap for the radiator so the breather line from the radiator cap is now open to circulate any trapped air. I'm happy with it,
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3550.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3551.jpg

My thought about driving with the drift speed knuckles, it daily drives like normal, there's a slightly heavier feel on the wheel but it's not bad at all. The turning radius is improved quite a bit and you can feel when you reach a certain point the wheel seems to want to countersteer easily. The best part is that you can go to full lock and back without having the steering lock up.

[KansaiDrifter]

So after another long break of just daily driving and such I've gathered a few more parts up. I decided to go with the z32 rear brakes hoping that the hydro handle will lock up better, it works ok, but is a little harder then the standard cable to get the wheels to lock actually so I was honestly a bit disappointed. Now though it should lock up much better, I've got to wait on Nissan to get the pins in and I'll be able to get it all back together. For now though I did pickup some rear calipers, basic rotors and pads, Agency Power front and rear brake lines ( I just noticed I only had rubber fronts lol) and some shock sleeves because I've got the s13 coils and s14 knuckles.

Oh also picked up some drift spares, 350z 18x8's.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/106_3578.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/106_3579.jpg

March 12th I'll be back at the track to tear it up so hopefully I'll have everything done by then lol

[KansaiDrifter]

Got some HID's in today from AeroDesigns here on zilvia, they're 6k single beam kits great price and got here in about 3 days once shipped. They look kinda blue in the pics but they are a white with a hint of blue in person,

the setup
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3585.jpg

Passenger side hid, drivers side non
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3584.jpg

now both hid,
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3589.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3588.jpg

also got the new rims in, yeah they look almost identical to my current rims but they're 18x9 +15's, hit them with a coat of silver metallic, they look a lot better in person then on pics, there's a ton of overspray on them still lol. Tires should be in monday and we'll see how they look. Going 225/35 and 225/40, want the 35 series for steering clearance and the 40 series for gear ratio.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3592.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3591.jpg

[towlie]

Keeping with the theme you should have hit the wheels with some John Deere yellow ahaha.

:keke:

[KansaiDrifter]

haha thought about it lol but did throw a splash of yellow with the brakes lol

So far the hydro handle with the z32 rears works better, for some reason when I touch the footbrake, then get on the hydro it grabs really hard, but if I haven't touched the foot brake and then use the hydro handle it works ok, fine with a twitch. I'm thinking I'm still going to have to bleed it up a bit different.

Here's a few pics of the wheels mounted and then a couple of the brakes, I'll be sure to grab a better pic when the weather is better lol. Going down to PGP this saturday for a drift event, should get some pics and footage.

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3593.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3596.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3594.gif
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3599.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3598.jpg

[spent27]

Do your gauges work? I just got speedo/tach working today... It took me awhile/alotta research so I wouldn't be suprised if you've had troubles too... Also, what does yours idle at? Have you had any problems with the car cutting off?

[KansaiDrifter]

oohh I'd like to hear how you got the tach and speedo to work haha, I've not got either going yet, I've got the msd box for the tach but haven't sat down to figure out which wire it is that I need to use for the coil pack powers. I've figured out it's white/blue stripe but not sure where I can tap into it before it splits to all the coilpacks.

On the other hand I headed by the PGP track again and had a blast. Tore through a set of tires and made it back in one piece so it's a good day lol.

Got unloaded and swapped rear tires,
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/200296_1834291944515_1456937958_1989959_2660276_n. jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/IMG_3065.jpg

Got inline
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/IMG_3263.jpg

And hit some corners
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/5523018983_2e3c1d4231_b.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/5523133163_d04d2cd58b_b.jpg

Also got my new helmet painted,
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/IMG_2541.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/IMG_2543.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/IMG_2545.jpg

Looks better in person, also driver and ride along approved haha
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/IMG_3262.jpg

[97240TB]

Those wheels look so much better than the bronze one's, You need to slam this car and get spacers or something! lol

[spent27]

Actually the blue/white wire is the shared 12v source for the entite ignition circuit so that wouldn't work. Each coil is 3 wires, Ground, Signal, and Pwr. Blue/White is power and black is obviously ground. The signal wire is going to be the only unique wire per each given coil. The signal is faint, but grapping it from that signal wire works for me. I'm using a Dakota Digital Tach Interface box and I adjusted accordingly to drive my tach. I'm pretty sure that the signal wires for the fuel injectors would be a better source because they run on a higher volt signal but I've got it working so I'm not going to mess with it unless it gives me trouble.

As for speedo, since there is no VSS in the VQ tranny, you have to have a different source for speed. I'm using a J30 Diff with the ABS sensor that was attached. The ABS sensor outputs a squarewave whereas the original input for the speedo was a sine wave. The Dig Dak Speedo converter took care of altering the signal accordingly.

If you get to a point where you're serious about hooking them up, let me know I'll can elaborate more on which wires to use etc and setting up the Dak Digi boxes. I know you said you used Zfever for your wiring but I can tell you know, they don't want to help you out worth shit after they get your money. I had them flash my ECU to get mine running and did the wiring myself. I called and asked where they were getting their tach signal from and they said they would tell me for a fee, freakin ridiculous... just gave you 500 of my dollars and you're going to charge me for a damn tach signal source? Jeeses... I'm tempted to post up my VQ wiring diagram to spite them ><

[irax]

Dig dak? or DAKota DIGital ?

[KansaiDrifter]

Yeah lol Zfever turned out to be a bit of a hassle, everytime I would call or anything it was they were too busy, or blah blah blah. They're actually the ones who told me to run this msd tach box that is supposed to use the ign power for all the coil packs and get the signal from that. When I called back and asked about it they just said "we never would of told anyone that, we only run d.d. boxes". Yeah then why the hell did I buy the msd box that I was told to buy? That'll probably be my last experience with Zfever.

Yeah I'm thinking I'll just have to grab a D.D. box instead, this msd one I even called msd on and they couldn't tell me crap about what to use, basically only told me what I already knew.

Here's a few more pics though I found haha
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/DSC_0032-1.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/DSC_0415.jpg

Guess the yellow brakes weren't so bad haha
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/DSC_0099.jpg

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/DSC_0282.jpg

Smoke on a wet track, alright!
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/DSC_0252NEF-1.jpg

This one is actually a tandem, kinda hard to see the other car but he's there lol
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/DSC_0458.gif

Here's a small vid on inside the car, it was puring rain so not much outside footy but you can see where the hydro handle is very nice to have now lol
YouTube - Ricky Henderson PGP Winter Series 2011 Round #3 In-Car (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaU2MIubBok)

[spent27]

Seriously, let me know I'll gladly help you out!!

It's the least I could do for all of this eye candy you're sharing with us :) Gorgeous car !!

[conrad_s13.5]

awesome ur putting it too work!

hellz yeah!

[Yellow4g63]

Yeah lol Zfever turned out to be a bit of a hassle, everytime I would call or anything it was they were too busy, or blah blah blah. They're actually the ones who told me to run this msd tach box that is supposed to use the ign power for all the coil packs and get the signal from that. When I called back and asked about it they just said "we never would of told anyone that, we only run d.d. boxes". Yeah then why the hell did I buy the msd box that I was told to buy? That'll probably be my last experience with Zfever.


Good info on that company.

[shreeveco]

http://www.motormavens.com/emAlbum/albums/Contributors/Justin%20Shreeve/Events/PGP%2031211/_fullsize/Green%20face.jpg

http://www.motormavens.com/emAlbum/albums/Contributors/Justin%20Shreeve/Events/PGP%2031211/_fullsize/Green%20butt.jpg

[KansaiDrifter]

Thanks for the pics! It was a wet one haha

[Rezist89]

digging it

[KansaiDrifter]

Here's a vid from that pgp envent, figure I'll throw them up haha

PGP March on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/21246612)

Here's a in car we did, can see my steering wheel's bent lol

YouTube - Ricky Henderson PGP Winter Series 2011 Round #3 In-Car (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaU2MIubBok)

And a few more shots, I thought were awesome
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/1217066097_aDBXu-X2.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/1217056723_Zy5Hi-X2.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/1217049993_eGvsb-X2.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/1217054539_2keAd-X2.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/1217053666_FWtdM-X2.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/1217046568_ffmKz-X2.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/1217046366_VosHs-X2.jpg

[2slow2go]

i think i figured out what doesn't look right with your car...

the black roof and side pillars in the rear quarter windows throws it off. you needa paint the whole thing one color.. this isnt no donk or something.

http://i19.tinypic.com/6aryoep.jpg

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/1217046366_VosHs-X2.jpg

[KansaiDrifter]

lol, I actually like the two tone haha. It breaks up the green a bit. I think it'd look a lot better with a wing though, I've been debating on like a Origin carbon gt wing or the wing I really want is the Uras type gt drag wing, but shipping is more then what the wing costs lol.

[SKINNY D]

hey im starting this swap in a week or so and im just letting you know that this entire thread has been fantastic!!!! thanks for being so thorough!

zfever for the harness and nothing else huh?

[irax]

since you are in florida they are local for you.
in california there is a couple of people i would trust doing the harness

[KansaiDrifter]

Thanks, yeah I tried to show what I was doing. Definitely a fun engine choice in a s chassis and I've driven all types, my all around favorite so far. It's a nice balance, the LS1 had too much torque not enough rev, the sr has no torque but great rev, the vq is right in between. Could use a set of cams for a touch more top end but I also will try doing some longer rear gears first.

At the time z fever was the only ones that I found that could do it and I just wanted it done right I didn't want a maybe harness haha. But now I'm sure there's plenty of others who have figured it out. Especially if your close to them you can keep tabs on your stuff.

[SKINNY D]

yeah thanks... i have found a vq for 800, a tranny for 350... all the misc things except for shifter bracket, and flywheel for like 800... i will be surprised if i tap into the 3 thousand range... and my buddy is making mounts with/for me, so those will be just material cost. and i have this thread to reference... is pretty thorough. and im happy you like it the way you do, because i dont want to swap something in and hate it. i had a really nice sr a while back but since then i have been wanting to go bigger. nahmean!

[simmode1]

2 Quick question guys: Any idea why it is that just about every VQ swap thread uses custom mounts instead of the prefabbed kit from Mckinney Motorsports? Is there something wrong with their kit?

And there are some nightmare threads about experiences with Z-Fever... Is that all water under the bridge? So they're cool now?

[ecliptic240]

When I finally source a good wrecked Z, along with the money to buy said Z, i'll be using the mckinney mounts. They've done good with RB mounts why not the VQ?

[SKINNY D]

see, i will be making/having custom mounts made too, because with the vq it seems that everything clears, and you wont need some crazy ass headers to fit. so that being said mounts seem easy enough to save that 500 bucks and put into something else such as the wiring harness conversion. you know what i mean. and zfever... idk about them but they are local for me so they will be receiving my business.


or maybe vq swappers are the more do it yourselfers of the drift community and we just dont settle for standard... lol

[vboy720]

watching the in car video, it looks like your wheel is lopsided.

[Nick_04K]

^ Yeah, it is. He said his wheel is bent earlier.

I love this car! My only wish is for it to be painted one color. Red! No black roof.

More vids with engine noise too please haha.

[simmode1]

see, i will be making/having custom mounts made too, because with the vq it seems that everything clears, and you wont need some crazy ass headers to fit. so that being said mounts seem easy enough to save that 500 bucks and put into something else such as the wiring harness conversion. you know what i mean.

or maybe vq swappers are the more do it yourselfers of the drift community and we just dont settle for standard... lol
From what I gather from this thread, the Mckinney mounts let the motor sit as low as possible. Great from a weight distribution point of view, but not so great for clearing front sway bars & steering racks. Not sure if this is true or not, but I wanna see how bad it is & what the real issue is on why ppl aren't using this kit or doing more VQ swaps. Doesn't seem that prohibitively expensive...

[KansaiDrifter]

Yeah I did custom mounts just because I wanted to save the moolah and had the materials/time to do them. I would run the mckinney mounts if I did it again and budgeted for them. Their headers are nice too, but pricey for me, although vq's with full length headers and exhaust sound amazing! If you're worried about the sway bar, I'd budget for the sikky swap bar, it'll clear way easier and is a nice bar with nice links for the price.

I have mixed reviews on zfever, my experience is that the ecu and harness worked just fine, I did extend the throttle wires just for routing easier but that's the only mod to either. They are a bit swamped with orders when I had mine done and seemed like they need better organization skills. The odd thing was they told me on the phone to buy the msd tach driver. I get one, play with it, haven't made it work very well yet and called them back to have them tell me that I shouldn't have bought that and instead should buy the dakota digital, and denied that they told me to buy the msd.... I've tried calling msd to no help they're clueless on the 350z. I've figured it out to tracking the white/blue stripe wire back to where it starts and interrupting it there to see if it'll work.

lol yeah my poor steering wheel haha! If I keep the car I'll be upgrading that haha.

[simmode1]

^^^Ahhh man, thanks! Thats precisely the info I wanted to know... +1000000000 for you!

I reread the another recent VQ35(HR) swap thread & apparently the steering column shaft needed to be relocated closer to the frame rail to clear the starter. But that doesn't seem to be an issued caused by the mounts, sooo.... seems like the McKinneys are probably a safe bet after all. I just wanna actually see a build thread where someone uses them...

[97240TB]

The steering column will hit the starter... I used custom mounts to get the engine lower in the car plus they again were more cost effective, Also... We had to relocate my steering rack in order for everything to line up without any binding. There are other ways around this, One guy went so far as to fab up his engine mount with the starter bolted to it and used an extended shaft to connect said starter to the starter gear. It was very clever and interesting to say the least lol, As far as Zfever goes they are usually rather busy. They always have alot going on. Mind you, I have the HR engine... If you went with the DE engine the steering rack issue and starter issue wouldn't exist due to the starter being on the passenger side of the engine in DE models.

[Yellow4g63]

When I contacted Mckinney about the HR swap they said they had to use a spacer for the driver side mount to make it clear the steering rack. I was just about to buy all the stuff I needed then my friends told me to finish my other projects 1st lol.

[simmode1]

Mind you, I have the HR engine... If you went with the DE engine the steering rack issue and starter issue wouldn't exist due to the starter being on the passenger side of the engine in DE models.
:bowdown: Emmensely helpful! You guys just answered every major question I had about a VQ swap...

[240sxr]

well about the mounts ,i guess everyone wants to mount it in a different way ,and the mounts aren't that hard to make here i have some pics of my engine (FWD) and i wanted it to be the the most back out i could



http://i51.tinypic.com/331deh5.jpg

http://i54.tinypic.com/11ukwfa.jpg

http://i52.tinypic.com/14nhfy9.jpg

[KansaiDrifter]

Yeah I want to do a HR one of these days. I wonder if it's possible to upgrade the heads, intake and electronics on a de block to run the HR setup? I'll have to investigate haha. Would be a great time to do the block deck reinforcement for boost too. If I keep the car I'll be considering single turbo, ~10psi around ~400hp good times haha

[dreamin240sx]

nice build man another great zilvia exclusive

[97240TB]

I feel like something like swapping out heads manifold and all necessary electrical hardware wouldn't be impossible... Just time consuming and perhaps... maybe difficult? lol It would make for the best way to do the HR swap i think, not having to worry about the starter but getting those heads and that twin intake system.


I think the one thing I love about this swap is the weight distribution of the car, The engine sits so far back and helps give the car such great balance.

[simmode1]

well about the mounts ,i guess everyone wants to mount it in a different way ,and the mounts aren't that hard to make here i have some pics of my engine (FWD) and i wanted it to be the the most back out i could



http://i51.tinypic.com/331deh5.jpg

Something weird about this motor. The front looks really bare, like it's missing its VTC gear... Is this a Maxima VQ30DE?

[irax]

yeah its running VQ30 timing gear, you can tell by the fact that there is a cable throttle body, and the maf is different

[simmode1]

^^^I also just noticed the oil inlet on the valve cover is more flush instead of raised like it is on VQ35's or even the VQ30DET... That Maxima VQ30 is actually a pretty handsome motor... hmmm... Would look even nicer connected to two T28's...

240sxr, plz tell me you're making a build thread for that...

[KansaiDrifter]

Yeah I've really liked the weight distribution, I don't notice any more understeer then a standard s chassis. Just firing it up and revving it, the car just has a awesome sporty feel and sound. I'm really happy with it haha.

I keep thinking if I get a daily again I'm going to have to fire up the tig and make some turbo headers haha.

[97240TB]

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i315/nick718887/Weds-Kranze-LXZ.jpg


^^^ These and Daily this car slammed. Pleaseee. hahaha Keep the other wheels for track beating.

[SKINNY D]

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i315/nick718887/Weds-Kranze-LXZ.jpg


^^^ These and Daily this car slammed. Pleaseee. hahaha Keep the other wheels for track beating.

he dont live in FL like we do, im sure dailying a slammed car is much harder anywhere else... hahaha we have such nice, flat, well paved roads here!



BUT I DO AGREE WITH HIM LOL!!!

[sftmb]

he dont live in FL like we do, im sure dailying a slammed car is much harder anywhere else... hahaha we have such nice, flat, well paved roads here!



BUT I DO AGREE WITH HIM LOL!!!

yeah... roads here in WA are HORRIBLE. lol

[97240TB]

I think with a little careful driving and making sure he uses roads he knows are flat and pleasant, he should be okay. =]

[KansaiDrifter]

Haha yeah I think the way I drive I could pull it off. Nicest set of wheels I ever had were a set of AME circlar spec-r's wish I still had them, they'd be very nice on this car. My ultimate rims would be vskf's I've always loved them! But nice rims are expensive, if I finally got a job I might go after some though, if I didn't go after the s15 haha. If I sold this car I'd be saving for a s15.

[towlie]

I saw this for sale on NWN classifieds

If I lived a lil closer id come and take it for a "test drive" ;) lol

GLWS dude!

[lhoy12]

:trogdor:Green and Yellow Green and Yellow Green and Yellow:trogdor:
Did you go to GG this year? Your car should have a song dedicated to it...
YouTube - Lil Wayne - Green and Yellow + Download + Lyrics (Black and Yellow Remix) *NEW* (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xezCwpZOWww)

[KansaiDrifter]

lol Yeah since the Seachickens were run over by the Bears I was rooting for Green Bay haha.

Cleaned the interior and took a couple pics tonight
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3628.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3629.jpg

Also got the Heartbreaker's for Japan sticker finally lol
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3626.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3627.jpg

And mounted some new rubbers to go have some fun tomorrow. I've had a crappy few weeks lately so tomorrow's event is a good place to shred some angry rubber haha Oh also did paint the spares silver too, they'll look way better the same color I think
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/106_3630.jpg

[KansaiDrifter]

Did some driving yesterday at Evergreen Speedway, took a small vid of in car with just having my passenger hold a camera lol but you'll get the idea

YouTube - VQvia drifting, Evergreen Speedway 4-10-11' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R63hgW5pWfc)

Only real pic I saw so far sadly, I was getting some crazy angle on the bank with the Drift Speed/326 knuckles so I was hoping to see some bank pics.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/4-1-0-11evd.jpg

[SKINNY D]

how well does the vq do that track in the dry???

[KansaiDrifter]

The vq runs/drives like a semi built sr basically. It's right at 260rwhp for the de model, hr's are 300rwhp so if you see the local guys with that range of hp same idea. The nice part of the vq is it's got a bit more torque and earlier so it'll dig out of holes but still rev out nice. I found with the LS1 I ran before it had too much for my style and I had a hard time slowing down for tandem, the vq has a awesome balance though. If you go back a few pages I've got a couple vids of PGP in the dry.

Found a couple more pics, nothing fancy but meh,
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/5611711279_6f6d2fe8a5_z-1.gif
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/5612289572_ee79ac88d2_z.jpg

[spent27]

Are you still running no thermostat? I ran my first SCCA event this weekend and had some high engine temps... undoubtably has something to do with the coolant routing...

If so, what kinda temps are you seeing and how long does it take to warm up?

[KansaiDrifter]

Yup no thermostat and water with redline watter wetter only. I do run antifreeze in the winter months though.

Under daily driving with no fan if I let it warm up to normal (center of gauge, takes roughly same as with thermostat since there's no fan and little flow anyway) once I start driving my 35mph road it will drop below the gauge reading under normal driving. I still have heat in my heater core though, all without the fan on. I leave it off unless I'm sitting in traffic for more then a couple minutes, soon as I run the fan for a little and burp the throttle the gauge literally falls.

Under track conditions it will stay at the center line with the fan on and full throttle for laps at the PGP track. At Evergreen last sunday I ran the fan but didn't need to since the runs are short.

I really should get a oil temp sensor though so I can keep an eye on it better, that would give me a better idea of where the engines running temp wise, but I'm not overly worried about it lol. Really the problem is keeping heat in it now.

I never had a thermostat in my LS1 back in '07 and ran it like that forever, never had overheating issues with that either. I will be investing in a fan controller though and just forget about it. I have a sensor that's setup for just over the center line just in case it gets hot and I forget to run the fan kinda deal.

[spent27]

Where did you put your temp sensor? And I assume you're talking about the stock temp gauge?

And I'm suprised you're having issues with temp even though your heater is hooked up... from everything I've read, removing the heater core is the main culprit for vq overheating problems.

[KansaiDrifter]

Yeah it's the stock temp sensor, it's just inline on the coolant hose. I originally put it on the incoming hose on purpose so I can keep track of the radiator and make sure it's doing it's job properly, that's why it'll drop fast.

Issues? I wouldn't call it issues, I think it works great, even better then what I need it to. Actually I am remembering that when it was freezing temps, I taped up the front cut out on my bumper and it kept one line for a lot longer and kept my heater going haha. I'm happy with it, I don't worry about it at the track.

[spent27]

Well, you removed that thermostat because you were having issues correct? With the heater core routed in with the engine cooling system AND the thermostat in, you shouldn't have issues, that's all I was saying...

[KansaiDrifter]

I removed the thermostat because it was stuck from being old, planned on replacing it but never had to or did. It's actually listed in the thread earlier on.

[SKINNY D]

hey if you are still on, could you further explain your powersteering lines with me... or to me that would be fantastic! thanks!

[KansaiDrifter]

The power steering lines are just single cam lines, bolts right up.

**If you guys have more questions, please look through the thread first, all these answers are actually already posted lol

[SKINNY D]

The power steering lines are just single cam lines, bolts right up.

**If you guys have more questions, please look through the thread first, all these answers are actually already posted lol

yeah my bad, i have actually read through the entire thread at least twice but just wasnt sure if it bolted straight up... not sure if i missed that... but thanks anyway!

[drift donkey]

nice build. car looks sick

[ArBy25DeT]

he dont live in FL like we do, im sure dailying a slammed car is much harder anywhere else... hahaha we have such nice, flat, well paved roads here!



BUT I DO AGREE WITH HIM LOL!!!


south florida is noooo place for a slammed vehicle...maybe mid to northern florida....but the south will kill anything under the car lol

[KansaiDrifter]

Thanks for the compliments! I ended up buying a new quick release from 9Kracing here on zilvia. It's the new Spline design setup, a huge upgrade from the universal ball bearing type. It's a very solid design and the nice part is how many ricers have the ball bearing type, and how many have this new spline type? A little better for security I think. So far I like it, looks good, feels solid, better then what was there lol.
*oh btw yes that's Hello Kitty duct tape haha
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/110_3631.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/110_3633.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/110_3635.jpg


Also got yet another PGP event tomorrow! Got it all loaded up,
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/110_3638.jpg

Also remembered that I never did so the fire extinguisher setup, it's a 7lbs. bottle if I remember right and it's mounted using a bracket from a school bus lol but it is bolted down. It's required for PGP on track.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/110_3637.jpg

[[email protected]]

update some photos of your track event!

[97240TB]

How much was the Quick Release?

[[email protected]]

$120 shipped

[towlie]

update some photos of your track event!

I second this! :)

[KansaiDrifter]

Sorry for the delay, finally re cooperating after the double header. Here's a batch of pics I found, pretty good pics but am kinda waiting to see some of the good ones, had a great time tandeming with the white soarer and purple hatch and chasing the red z but of course haven't seen pics yet. I've gotta get a go pro and get more on board too, our other cam broke ugh. Hopefully I can save up enough money to buy tires for the next round on may 1st at Evergreen Speedway.

Here's a few from PGP, waiting to see the Instruction day where us Instructors got to tear it up haha.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/DSC_0057.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/DSC_0171.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/IMG_5301.gif
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/DSCN1040.jpg


Just through the 1st corner,
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/DSCN1049.jpg
and if you look in the background, through the 2nd corner haha
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/DSCN1045.jpg

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/4-16-11pgp2.png
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/4-16-11pgp1.png

And here's the aftermath on the wallet, left was instructor runs at Evergreen got 5 laps on these, Right is PGP, were brand new tires and got about 25~30min of run out of these, guess that's what happens when you link everything lol
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Dorikun/350sx/110_3639.jpg

[towlie]

what're you talking about?

Those tires still have 50% tread

lol