VQ35HR swap into s14

[Acreus]

yeah, but all that wire! too much of a head ache for me. I just need the engine to go when i step on the gas lol. as for the rest of the car, ill be running a switch board. i want to compete in some of the local competitions, so im gonna race car it out.

[Dorifto87]

Any updates???

[Acreus]

The Vq35hr ecu requires three different plugs. Two of which comes from the engine harness, and one that comes from the dash harness, which also has the OBD plug. these and the gas pedal with pig tails is needed for the engine swap. Just got the dash harness in the mail. it's actually a lot harder to find parts for this thing lol. Also, picked up the power steering pump and the power steering lines.



Right now, I really want to get this engine swap BAR'd. that means i gotta get keep all the emissions equipment on and fully functional. So i still have to collect the evap canister, and fuel pump. right now i have everything else.

Has anyone successfully BAR'd a vq35hr swap in a 240sx in california?

[Acreus]

For anyone doing this vq35hr swap, I have figured out a way to not have to modify exhaust manifolds, starter and even avoid getting custom mounts that go for $500+. well, aside from tranny mounts that is. but those are easy to make. I know there have been some people out there that even took great lengths as to make their car right hand drive just because of this. The solution I found that will work best, is to mock up a crossmember from a g35 who had the hr motor, using stock vq mounts, and vq35hr steering rack. This works because the stock vq steering rack is a few inches wider that the 240sx rack, so the rack goes around the starter and around the exhaust manifold. By using the original vq crossmember, your able to use the original mounts, which make the motor at this point a straight drop in. That is so long as you make your measurements for the crossmember to mount up to your frame rail correctly.

here's what the crossmember looks like as a whole
you can see where i was already cutting to make it look like the 240sx crossmember


here's the cross member with the mounts, and the steering rack


and finally here's the test fit in my s13 just to get the measurements for holes that I
will need to drill.


Now before you get into drilling and mounting, you'll need to weld some aluminum plates on the part where you drill your holes to make the new crossmember mount flush with your frame rails.

I'll post pics of that once I get it done.

I was lucky enough to have gotten this crossmember and the steering rack with all the hard lines when i got this motor. This definitely saved me alot of $$$ on mounts, and custom fab work. Also, I will now have a newer steering rack.

[Biggamehit]

are you goign to go with the whiteline swap bar for clearance?

[nd240sx3]

hey man great idea.... i must say i never would of thought of that... mine was quick and easy being my only car was in a time crunch. unable to really do any R&D. RHD swap is pricey, good thing was i had good friends in the right places and had the rhd swap done fairly cheap... but now that u have accomplished this in another more reasonable way, if i ever decide to do the swap again i will definitely be contacting u... please if u would! make a template and specs of hole and cut placements, spacers etc... awesome job... thanx for the input...

[TheFresHesT]

Have you tested out that cluster before I was looking into the same one but wasn't sure if I would like it or not. I'm trying to put a vq37 into my 98 240sx

[rik boellen]

good job!!

[DreamN]

Another great VQ swap thread.

[Acreus]

Originally Posted by Biggamehit

are you goign to go with the whiteline swap bar for clearance?

Not sure which sway bar ill be using yet. will figure that out once the motor is sitting in the car

[Acreus]

Originally Posted by TheFresHesT

Have you tested out that cluster before I was looking into the same one but wasn't sure if I would like it or not. I'm trying to put a vq37 into my 98 240sx

I have sourced a G35 cluster which i will be running in my set up.

looks just like this.



i'm going to do the best i can to get this cluster to give out as much info as the it does in the g35 like doors, oil, engine temp, etc...

[first_choice]

tough cluster

[drift freaq]

quick question about this crossmember Idea. If you are using the G35 steering rack and its a few inches wider what are you doing to correct your tie rod geometry? As it is seriously widening the tracking on the front of the car, unless you find extremely short tie rods to put on.

Oh and while thinking along those lines what about the pick up point for you lower controls is that wider as well? This idea looks great except for suspension geometry questions.

[Acreus]

conveniently enough, the OEM inner tie rods on the g35 steering rack are really short. I used s14 outer tie rods, and they end up being the same length. Then, i centered both s14 and g35 steering racks, and compared the distance they go left and right. They have the same exact amount of steering play! perfect.



as for the crossmember, I decided to go a slightly different route. I will be using my original s14 crossmember. The reason being, i became very skeptical after machining the g35 crossmember and part of the aluminum chipped off. O_O I soon imagined hitting a pothole or something in the road and my crossmember cracking/breaking leaving my motor on the ground. so im fitting the g35 steering rack onto the s14 crossmember. will still solve the exhaust and starter getting int the way problem. as for mounts, i found a set of conversion mounts. It's possible to still go this route if you use a 350z crossmember that is metal.

[jt1583]

that gauge cluster in there is gonna be absolutely awesome. got more pics of the car?

[rwtf]

sweetsauce dude, def looks like you got alot of work ahead of you, hopefully it all goes smooth sailing.

[Acreus]

So far i have everything i need for the swap. except my evap canister. Because it's part of the emissions, and i want to get it bar'd, I need it. Unfortunately when i ordered the evap canister from ebay, it got "lost", and now im waiting for a new one to come in the mail. i will post picks of the motor going in soon! thanks

[drift freaq]

Originally Posted by Acreus

conveniently enough, the OEM inner tie rods on the g35 steering rack are really short. I used s14 outer tie rods, and they end up being the same length. Then, i centered both s14 and g35 steering racks, and compared the distance they go left and right. They have the same exact amount of steering play! perfect.



as for the crossmember, I decided to go a slightly different route. I will be using my original s14 crossmember. The reason being, i became very skeptical after machining the g35 crossmember and part of the aluminum chipped off. O_O I soon imagined hitting a pothole or something in the road and my crossmember cracking/breaking leaving my motor on the ground. so im fitting the g35 steering rack onto the s14 crossmember. will still solve the exhaust and starter getting int the way problem. as for mounts, i found a set of conversion mounts. It's possible to still go this route if you use a 350z crossmember that is metal.

very cool. This would actually be a good thing to do in the S13. One would assume that using the G35 or 350Z steering rack might also make the DE swap into the S chassis even easier.
Another question, what are you doing about overall engine height. Our experience was we had to modify the crossmember for the oil pan so we drop the engine down enough to clear the hood.

[WhiteGLX]

updates??

I got my VQ35HR from the old S13 race car into my S14 finally. Wiring to commence over the next few weeks.

[Acreus]

Sorry guys, dont have much updates just yet. Got custom mounts, and im planning on pulling the KA motor out of the s14 in the next two weeks to drop in the vq so i can measure for the driveshaft. post pics soon

[Jissan]

Great thread! This has helped with a lot of questions I still had since I'm planning this swap in my S13 coupe. I picked up a wrecked 2007 Nismo 350Z off Copart and I think I'm going to try to put the Z steering rack on the S13 Xmember and fab up some mounts. This will take care of the starter motor/steering rack issue and the fact that my current rack is full of metal filings from a bad power steering pump (previous owner, thanks a lot).

I'm doing a lot of reading and will try to make a build thread about my car but since I have an entire donor car, I don't think my thread will be very helpful to most people. If I'm lucky it will just be a 350Z crammed into an S13 How-To.

[Acreus]

Originally Posted by Jissan

Great thread! This has helped with a lot of questions I still had since I'm planning this swap in my S13 coupe. I picked up a wrecked 2007 Nismo 350Z off Copart and I think I'm going to try to put the Z steering rack on the S13 Xmember and fab up some mounts. This will take care of the starter motor/steering rack issue and the fact that my current rack is full of metal filings from a bad power steering pump (previous owner, thanks a lot).

I'm doing a lot of reading and will try to make a build thread about my car but since I have an entire donor car, I don't think my thread will be very helpful to most people. If I'm lucky it will just be a 350Z crammed into an S13 How-To.

Awesome! I can't wait to see how it goes. your lucky you have the entire car. I had most of the engine and chasis harness, but there where a few things missing that i needed to make it all work with the emissions. im trying to get it BAR'd out here in California. It's going to be tough, but not impossible.

when you start it, post a link here!

[Acreus]

Here's how I figured about building the rear end for the proper gear ratio in the differential.

http://zilvia.net/f/s-chassis/330704...nversions.html

^ great thread!

[Arteeste]

Any updates ?