Z-Fever Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 We just finished the build on a 1971 Datsun 240Z. The customer dropped the car off here the week before he was scheduled to be deployed to Korea for a year. He wanted us to build this car using a VQ35DE engine swap. Since we are a Nissan and Infiniti specialist that have been building Nissan cars for over 23 years now AND......considered by many to be the leaders in this AND........we are the owners of VQ35swap.com it is a natural fit. We started with a basic 240Z that had been sitting for many years...... We pulled the engine and transmission then stripped the engine bay fully and re-painted it to the color the customer wanted, an 2011 Corvette slate grey... Then we acquired a COMPLETE VQ35DE motorset including trans, harness, ECU, and all accessories... Then we acquired a set of Mckinney Motorsports VQ mounts for the 240Z. Be careful here because they are NOT perfect! They require some manipulation to get the fitment just right. They are designed to have a new X-Member welded onto the factory frame rails. This X-member is what the engine mounts will rest on and bolt to..........It takes some time to get it set just right. We also had to cut the exsisting factory 240Z X-member and we had to weld on support pieces to make sure it would not flex after cutting away about half of it. Otherwise the front sump engine's oil pan would hit the stock X-member....... Here is a good look from underneath that shows the x-member, engine mounts, and front x-member after we did everything....... You can clearly see where we cut away the old X-member and the alignment to the oil pan Then we made the custom driveshaft and fully installed the rear trans mount. We also made a custom shifter bracket that lengthened the shifter to align with the opening in the transmission tunnel...... Then we re-wired the OEM 350Z EFI harness and added the OBD-II connector as well as the accelerator pedal from the 350Z. This way the drive-by-wire system will function correctly and be controlled by the ECU. We also tuned the ECU and reconfigured it to work without the BCM, ignition key, RM module, and IPDM..... Then we installed the radiator, made the custom aluminum intake pipe, installed the wiring harness, installed the pedal, added a fuse box to supply enough power to the ECU, made the custom aluminum radiator hoses, and installed the electric fan........ Then we made the custom 3" stainless mandrel exhaust system from front to back. We used a 3" single inlet muffler with dual 2.5" exits and added nice double wall stainless tips to give it that nice old school Z finish........ Here are a few videos of the car in action......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluDestiny Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 (edited) How much did this cost the customer? or whats the average price of a swap? Edit: Checked out the website. I may be interested in a sr20 swap in the future.... Edited January 12, 2012 by BluDestiny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texis30O Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Seems like a lot of work to go through, and not throw some boost at the motor...... good to see the work was done well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v8dats Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 love the swap. looking good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dershum Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 How much heavier/lighter is the motor/trans than the L that came out of it? Also, It's amazing how far back that motor sits..I'd also love to see what it does to the overall handling of the car with the engine that far back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proxlamus© Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 I am interested in having a harness modified to disable the NATS setup. I believe I saw on your site that you can no longer use the factory 350z gauges.. is that correct?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Nicely Done, I'm in the middle of a vq35HR swap. I'm planning on using the factory gauges so I'm keeping the ACAmp and BCU. I'm swapping in the 350z shortnosed R200 for the sensors for the speedo. It looks like you used round pipe to bolster the steering crossmember. I'm Curious as to how you modified the stock headers? Did you just cut and weld on a 90 degree down pipe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurbycar32 Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Have you guys figured out how to make this swap work with air conditioning? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.