VQ35DE swap info
 

Over the past couple years, a few more people have successfully completed the VQ35 swap into an S-chassis by themselves, including 4-5 people putting the final touches on it this week. There is a lot of info out there. So much of it was helpful. Some of it misleading, some of it hard to understand, some of it just plain wrong, I wanted to gather all of yours and my info to make this easier for future people to do this swap.

I think I have done one of the lowest cost/most basic swap out there. I also have a lot of knowledge of the Z33 platform that helps me out.

This thread is going to be a work in progress, so give me a bit to clean it up and make it pretty.

A big thanks is due to all that helped me and others whether you know it or not.
Dudewutup, your original tutorial is what sparked it all. Not the easiest to understand, but you showed it was possible.
40flash (john) - You helped me numerous times. Thanks much. You made it a lot easier to understand,

Start with what you need.
-VQ35DE motor. A revup should be 99% the same swap. HR is another story but will be extremely similar

-350z/G35 transmission. One should know that the 03 trans (cd001) had a lot of 3rd gear issues. I would put money on it. 04-06(cd009) is the way to go.

-ECU/harness. Now you have some matching to do. In 04.5, they changed to wideband O2s for the fronts. Your harness must match your ECU. 03-04.5 has a 4pin 02 sensor up front. 04.5-05 uses a 6 pin plug. 06 and 05 track editions have revup motors and need the revup ECU and harness anyways.

- Your ECU need to be flash to remove NATs. Any shop that used UpRev tuning can do it but I highly recommend Jon Parham from Z1 Motorsports. One of the most honest and courteous shops I have ever dealt with. 250 out the door. You can do shipping too. He will even make you a deal and take the 250 on the flash towards what it would cost if your brought your car in to get a flash and tune.

- 350z/g35 accelerator pedal - Mounts in the stock position. I had to alter the bend in my pedal slightly to light up with the rest.

- Driveshaft. Get a custom one made. The yoke can be very hard to find. But with the magic part number, it is cake. Spicer part 7091. Rear flange for whatever diff you may be using. I wouldn't pay more the 300 for one.

- Mounts. McKinney Makes some.... some guy on ebay copied them. They worked for me. Here

- Shifter bracket -This guy designed and actually sells them to McKinney and Zfever and Vqswap.com Here Great guy to deal with and the actual product is FLAWLESS!!!! You can make one yourself if you want.

- Fuel system. You will need an upgraded fuel pump. Walbro is simple and cheap. Now, the 350z uses a returnless system that has the fuel pressure regulated through the fuel pump. You need to setup a return system. I for now used the stock line. Added one of these on the end of the fuel rail to a aeromotive FPR. Now I read somewhere that the fuel pressure is static at I forgot what PSI, but that should mean that you DONT hook up the vacuum line to the AFPR.

- Harness from the 240sx. It shouldn't matter obd1 or 2 but I do think there is a difference in the F3 plug in Zenki/Kouki. Same idea though, just different pins. You actually don't need much at all of the harness, just the f3 plug and what is attached to it.

- OBD2 pigtail from 350z or g35. I found mine on a newer Sentra I think. As long as it has pins 4,5,8,14,16.

- Cooling system. There are so many ways you can do it, I'm not going to tell you how. All and all, you need a radiator and electronic fans and hoses to wrap it all up. How you route them is up to you. I am using a stock style radiator with just rerouted hoses. When I do my tube front end I will put the outlet/inlet ports in the correct spots (Passenger top/ Drivers bottom). E-fans, wire them how you want. There is many ways you can do it.

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Fitting this beast in there:

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Could you please post up pic of the plug that has the White/Blue, red/black, red/white wires for the supplied 12v... PLease and thank you

WOW, I figured this was going to be another dumbass thread. I am quite pleasantly surprised! Really the ONLY part of the VQ swap that hasn't been worked out is the smog legal part. Mainly the fuel and evap system. But I have never seen this much info in one place before. KUDOS TO YOU!!!

Good topic!

Finished my wireing this week.

My nats was done by

Horsham development (uk. Europe)
Jez did a great job
Was sent back to me in 2 days.
(I have read other things on here)

website

Horsham Developments - Nissan 370Z, 350Z, 200SX and Skyline tuning specialist

My note to the mc-cinney mounts:
-I think that they are way over priced
-The fitment is not good (Engine isn't lining straight)
Raised the right mount to fit the engine correct
-They dont fit s14 body because of the firewall bumb
If you don't modify the gear tunnel i think the engine and gearbox lays way to far backwards

In the future i think i made new mounts.

For the perfect swap we need to find out for

-headers (that fit sbody) that clear the steering rack.
-better mounts
-feul system (of shelf package)
-axle
-like the lsx,rb swap kits

Hope i can contribute this treat with photo's of the wireing on my new harness.

Regards,

Rik

subscribe and taking tons of notes.

Wow wish this thread was up when I did mine, would have saved me some coin! Nice thread. I'm a happy VQvia owner, currently doing the vqvia-t setup. I see lots of potential in these engines and i really think once people get over the LS craze and want to get back to being "out of the norm" it'll catch on.

Nice! Maybe this will help me with some of my wiring headaches in my VQ swapped s13. Great write up man!

Good to see write ups like this always thought a vq35 into and s chassis would be badass. Great swap for those that wanna stick with na and still have a good amount of power, the sound of a vq is always a plus.

thanks for this, its another option other than an ls swap. Im not too familiar with the vq motors specs, so I googled it. Here it is:

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VQ35DE

Internals

The VQ35 in a 3.5-liter engine. It has a 3.76-inch bore and a 3.20-inch stroke. The bore and stroke combine to create 3,498 cubic centimeters of total displacement. From 2003 through 2006, the VQ35 has a 10.3-1 compression ratio, and from 2007 through 2008 it comes in either 10.3-1 or 10.6-1. In 2009, it only came with 10.6-1 compression.

The 3.5 L (3498 cc) VQ35DE is used in many modern Nissan vehicles. Bore and stroke are 95.5 mm and 81.4 mm. It uses a similar block design to the VQ30DE, but adds variable valve timing. It produces from 231 PS (170 kW; 228 hp) to 304 PS (224 kW; 300 hp) of power and 246 to 274 lb·ft (334 to 371 N·m) of torque depending on the application.

The VQ35DE is built in Iwaki and Decherd, TN. It was on the Ward's 10 Best Engines list from 2002 through to 2007. It features forged steel connecting rods, a microfinished one-piece forged crankshaft, and Nissan's nylon intake manifold technology. It has low-friction molybdenum-coated pistons and the intake is a high-flow tuned induction system. Since its inception Nissan has improved upon the VQ35DE with changes keeping it an efficient class leading V6 engine.

A modified version of the VQ35DE, called the S1, is produced by Nismo (Nissan's motorsports and performance division) for the Fairlady Z S-Tune GT. It produces 300 PS (220 kW; 300 hp) at 7,200 rpm, a higher rev-limit than that of the original VQ35DE. The 350Z GT-S concept has a VQ35DE equipped with a switchable Novidem supercharger, producing around 382 PS (281 kW; 377 hp) with a supercharger.

It is fitted to the following vehicles: North American

2001–2004 Nissan Pathfinder (240 hp)
2013–present Nissan Pathfinder (260 hp)
2001–2004 Infiniti QX4 (240 hp)
2002–2004 Infiniti I35 (255 hp)
2002–present Nissan Altima (240 to 270 hp)
2002–present Nissan Maxima (255 to 290 hp)
2003–2009 Nissan 350Z (287 to 306 hp)
2003–2004 Infiniti G35 (260 to 280 hp) all models
2005–2007 Infiniti G35 (280 to 306 hp) automatic transmission models
2007 Infiniti G35 (282 to 298 hp) Coupe only
2005–2007 Infiniti G35 (298 hp) manual transmission models
2003–2008 Infiniti FX35 (275 hp)
2003–present Nissan Murano (Z50) (240 to 265 hp)
2004–present Nissan Quest (235 to 260 hp)
2006–2008 Infiniti M35 (275 to 280 hp)
2013–present Infiniti JX35 (265 hp)

JDM and other markets

2000–present Nissan Elgrand 240 PS (180 kW; 240 hp)
2001–2007 Nissan Stagea 272 PS (200 kW; 268 hp) and above
2001–2009 Renault Vel Satis 241 PS (177 kW; 238 hp)
2002–2008 Nissan Skyline (V35) 272 PS (200 kW; 268 hp) and above
2003–present Nissan Teana/Cefiro (350JM-J31) 231 PS (170 kW; 228 hp)
2003–2009 Nissan Presage (231 hp)
2003–present Renault Espace 241 PS (177 kW; 238 hp)
2004–2007 Nissan Fuga 350 GT 280 PS (210 kW; 280 hp)
2005–2008 Nismo Fairlady Z S-Tune GT 300 PS (220 kW; 300 hp) (VQ35DE S1 engine)
2006–present Renault Samsung SM7 217 PS (160 kW; 214 hp) (Neo VQ35)
2008–present Renault Laguna Coupé 241 PS (177 kW; 238 hp)

Edit: Info to add about the alternator
So my alternator wasn't charging after I did what I said before. For shits and giggles, I put a 12v light bulb between the other pin on the alternator and a 12 positive. On a 350z, it outputs a ground to the dash to light up the battery light while the positive end on the light is supplied through ignition hot +. Pretty much I was simulating that dash light. Boom! 14v on the mulitmeter.
In the end, I ended up taking that signal ground from the alternator and there is a plug under the that runs to the dash and works just like it should. Light on when the motor is not running, light off when the alternator is charging correctly, light on when it is not.

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so its been 2 months... think you could correct the diagrams in your original posts that have errors?

Corrected. Procrastination at its best!:cool:

in the picture it says do not cut the ascd wires? I dont see it connecting to the ecm in any way so is it actually optional

Correct. It is tied in with the wiper harness for a short length so I left it as is. In hind sight, they could easily be removed and wish I would have.

Ok cool man thx for the reply im starting this swap this weekend

Thanks so much for this thread. I tried Googling that Spicer part number for the driveshaft and got nothing, is it something that my local driveshaft shop should know?

Vq35de is trash, either HR or go home! great thread though!

Oh my god, thank you. Thank you so much.


My mind has been made up, vq swap it is.

No. It isnt in any of the 2012 books. I had a really hard time getting my driveshaft made and finding that slip yoke. It was 40flash that got me the correct info.

Isn't trash but the HR is the tits. I just love the powerband in my Z that I fiqured something 1200lbs lighter and a 4.1 diff would be perfect for a dedicated drift car.

Do it. Anyone that needs any help, just pm me. Usually quick to reply and I will be glad to help.

just read your thread, alot of good info here subscribed. just wait till you get the car going its crazy fun.

For anyone doing this swap, I have some VQ35HR headers that I BELIEVE clear a 240sx steering rack.
Chase bays fuel line swap stuff.
Vq shifter
VQ maf

Selling all of it, I ended up just buying a 350z so I dont need it anymore : ]

this swap is really on my mind. thinking of going for it

I am very interested in this swap, I just need to find out if it's carb legal

OBD2 Plug can be from any 96+ Nissan Vehicle.
Gas Pedal can be from any VQ Drive-By-Wire Vehicle (Maxima, Murano, Altima, 350Z, FX35, M35, 350z, G35)