V-8 SWAP from Infiniti Q45

[Guest Gaderene]

I just got a 280Z, with automatic transmission. It had been burned from fuel leaking out of the fuel canister. The body and interior are sweet. The thought of rewiring the little ol' 6 banger caused me to dream again about the V-8 monster Z car. Well, that thought landed me in San Jose, CA where I bought a 1990 Infiniti Q45. It is also automatic, Limited slip, and independent rear suspension. The Q45 has a 32 valve all aluminum V-8 rated at 278 hp and 294 lbs torque. Has anyone else considered this kind of a swap? I was hoping to get some tips, pointers and the like.

 

I plan to swap the engine, overdrive tranny, third member, and the four wheel disc brakes. It's kinda cool that the Q45 is from the same mother company.

 

All comments will be appreciated.

[Tim240z]

welcome, and:

http://forums.hybridz.org/search.php?

 

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=84963

 

Moved from the Chevy forum

Please post in one forum per topic. See second link above

[mtcookson]

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=97216

 

and... if you would rather have a manual tranny

 

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=98356

 

if you keep the auto though be sure to get a decent tranny cooler for it. the stock setup isn't that great and actually heats the trannies up more than it cools them. most of them die due to that.

[Guest Gaderene]

Hey - thanks to Tim240Z I learned how to search the site....very cool!

 

I will be using the Q45 tranny. Thanks for the tip on the Auto tranny cooler. Is there a shift kit available for this tranny?

 

The Q45 that I bought has limited slip and a lot of power (compared to anything I have driven since I sold my big-block monte carlo). I can't wait to tear it apart and build the 280Z.

 

BTW I have a 240Z 4-speed car that I am getting ready to make streetable. It was a daily driver two years ago, and is still pretty dependable. It is a rust free Oregon car, but there is rust under the battery. I am going to sell it either as a painted and nice running Z in about 6 weeks, or someone can make me an offer and get started on it themselves.

 

PM or email for pics.

[mtcookson]

Level 10 should be able to modify the valve body on the tranny and such to make it shift a bit faster and harder (which actually makes the tranny more reliable since less heat is generated between shifts).

 

Here is an excellent site for info on the Q45 http://www.q45.org

 

I'm not sure how much you studied the engine but just incase, since you have the 1990 Q45 you'll need to check the timing chain guides to see if they're intact (90-93 have this issue). The stock ones were made of plastic and get very brittle with the heat of the engine and evetually will break (not all are full plastic). Being an interference engine these definitely need to be checked. If they are intact I would still replace them with the new metal backed ones so that you never have to worry about them again. Sometimes you'll even get lucky enough to where they have already been replaced. The only way to really tell they're condition is to take the timing cover off.

 

If they did indeed break you'll most likely have to take the oil pan off to get the pieces out of there (you'll be able to tell if you need to pull the pan off by whether or not the pieces are still intact).

 

What is really cool about the older VH45's is that contrary to their factory ratings, they pull somewhere closer to 300-310 hp and 315-330 ft. lb. of torque. What is even cooler about these things is the power of the engine peaks twice giving it one of the most unique feelings when accelerating.

 

On top of that... these things are incredibly strong. 6 bolt main, a huge girdle to tie it all in, forged crank and rods... its almost a race engine built for the street. Considering the Infiniti Indy car engines were based on this engine and the newer VK45DE you know that these things are stout. I know of a Q45 guy pushing around 600 hp using a supercharger and nitrous... on the stock engine. He said his engine is showing no signs of trouble at all.

 

Another guy was running 275 shot of nitrous though his... stock bottom end. These things are nothing short of awesome. If you add a little boost to them they can be absolute monsters... especially in a very light Z car. (Q45 weighs nearly 4,000 lbs or more).

 

If you have anymore questions about these things just let me know and I'll try helping out the best I can. As soon as I started studying these engines I really got into them. They are some very fine engines.

[Zgringo]

Couldn't have said it better myself. One of the better and natural swaps for the Z.

[tonycharger72]

What is required to get the VH45DE to fit into a 240/260Z?

Do you need to custom up a sump?

[mtcookson]

you'll need to make custom motor mounts, might need a custom oil pan so that it doesn't hang under the crossmember, might need a different exhaust manifold design to clear the steering stuff but i'm not positive on that one yet, and there might be a chance that the intake manifold won't clear the hood but i don't believe that's a problem... i'll find out soon enough though. then of course you have the wiring harness and such for the ecu. those are pretty self explanatory however once i get into it all i'll figure out what wires need to go where so that you can just hook it up and go.

 

from there, for a tranny, you can hop in on the conversion plate deal to use the Z32 transmission so that you don't have to deal with making a custom bell housing and dealing with weird clutch setups using different trannies.

 

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=98356