84z31 Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 has anyone seen a vq35 with 6speed tranny swapped into a z31 chassis? i love the body of my Z. i just hate the power plant, transmission, and rear suspension. i love the rear wheel drive but hate that i cannot easily change the suspension geometry. i love the fact that the Z33 has so much aftermarket support. my Z31 has virtually nothing for it. i have fabricated stuff for it. the things i am wondering are if the engine will physically fit? i don't care how hard it is to wire. i've swapped motors before. i have custom fabricated engine mounts, and transmission crossmembers. thats not a problem. anyway i'm just curious what others have done. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greywolf Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 Your suspension geometry won't change with an engine swap. The engine and transmission are not the weak point of the Z31, if you swap them, swap them because you like another engine, not because they are poor. I feel your pain if you have an automatic, though--but a 5-speed swap is still a cheap option. I don't know if the engine will fit, but I don't see why not: with enough time and money, you can make anything fit. I would look at finding a rear subframe (240SX? 300ZX/Z32?) and swapping that in, and worry about the engine swap after. I don't know what the rear suspension of the Z33 looks like. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84z31 Posted October 21, 2006 Author Share Posted October 21, 2006 Your suspension geometry won't change with an engine swap. duh The engine and transmission are not the weak point of the Z31, if you swap them, swap them because you like another engine, not because they are poor. I feel your pain if you have an automatic, though--but a 5-speed swap is still a cheap option. i have a five speed. i put shorter tires on and the highway rpms are pretty high for 80 mph. i'm reving 3500 rpm. i'd like a six speed. i really like the engine. its strong. i have over 116000 on mine and it doesn't blow smoke or burn oil. i rev it to 5000 all the time. it doesn't seem to care. this is something i'd like to do when the motor dies. i'm going to reconstruct the whole car. i'll probably stitch weld all the seems. and make the chassis a little more ridged since i have t-tops. I don't know if the engine will fit, but I don't see why not: with enough time and money, you can make anything fit. i know. it seems like nissan has used the motor in everything so they shouldn't be to bad in price. cross my fingers. I would look at finding a rear subframe (240SX? 300ZX/Z32?) and swapping that in, and worry about the engine swap after. i'm leaning twords the 240sx rear suspension. i'd like to be able to adjust the camber and the s13 subframe is almost the same width as the Z31. I don't know what the rear suspension of the Z33 looks like. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_V Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 engineswaptech.com has alot of VQ swapping info. The owner of the site is the first known person to swap a VQ35 into an s14. Lots off good stuff about rwd vs fwd VQ's. The price will be high (most of the time) on engines that came out of the Z33 and G35 because they were out of expensive cars. Any way its very possible. I was considering it as Id love to see what a Z31 could do with a lighter engine. I might have a diff-less S13 subframe forsale soon if your interested PM me ~Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtcookson Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 i have a five speed. i put shorter tires on and the highway rpms are pretty high for 80 mph. i'm reving 3500 rpm. i'd like a six speed. The Z33 6-speed has a higher ratio 6th gear than the Z31/Z32 5-speed (i.e. 6th gear .794, 5th gear .752 respectively). How small of a tire did you go to? To be at 3,500 rpm in 5th they would have to be very small. I'd go back to stock or slightly larger to lengthen the gears a bit. The 84-86 Turbo already has a 3.54 rear end so it'll be a little hard to find anything lower than that and I definitely wouldn't go higher on a turbo car. Heck, the Z33 uses a 3.538 rear end as well to make up for the terrible 6th gear so you'd definitely want to keep that. If you want a better rear end you could swap in the Z32 N/A or early Q45 rear end. Either way you'll want the early Q45 differential as its a 3.538. (I just noticed you were wanting to use the S13 frame. I believe the Q45 differential would be able to fit in that as well, but I'd look into that first. I've seen a website floating around of a guy swapping the Z32 N/A differential into a 240SX rear and the Q45 diff is the same as the Z32 so it should work.) I know the VQ30 is pretty compact and should fit pretty good. I wouldn't think the VQ35 would be much bigger if at all so it should also fit in pretty well. In the end, the money spent on that kind of swap could be put into the VG to make even more power than what you'd get out of the VQ just swapping it in. The VG is definitely a very capable engine and can make quite a bit of power for very little money. The VQ is definitely lighter but the weight difference wouldn't make up for the power difference the VG could do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84z31 Posted October 23, 2006 Author Share Posted October 23, 2006 i am running 225/50/15's 3.71 gearing. na 5 speed. the gearing is nice. i have loads of power. and i have lightened the car a bit. you can definatly feel the acceleration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtcookson Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Ahh, ok. For some reason I thought you had a turbo Z. That makes a bit more sense to me now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84z31 Posted October 27, 2006 Author Share Posted October 27, 2006 no, i could only wish for that. i'd like to pick up a blown up turbo z31. swap my engine in , intercool and be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtcookson Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 Yeah, that's definitely a good way to go. We got my brother an 85 turbo Z and the engine ended up being bad so I put an 85 Maxima engine in it. The 9:1 VG with boost is a blast. I definitely enjoy driving that thing now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84z31 Posted November 6, 2006 Author Share Posted November 6, 2006 well, i went down to salt lake city to a junkyard down there. forgot my tape measure. but after checking out a few infiniti's i think i'll use a vq45 when i do swap a motor. i'm pretty sure it will fit. i won't be able to turbo it or anything. but it looks sweet. i'm going to look into trannies that will work with that motor. what i'll do is look for one at an insurance auction and get it all in one piece. not sure when it will happen. i need to win the lottery. but i think that is what i want to do to the car. i've always liked hybrids. i swapped out a 4 banger that was in my toyota truck for a supra straight six. it was pretty fun. and i enjoy fabrication. so we'll see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtcookson Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 VH45. They are very, very awesome engines... I personally think one of Nissan's best out there. I'm putting one in my Z32. You could always do a rear mount turbo setup. I'm likely going to do that as I have a very good idea for that setup for the VH. Transmission wise... nothing bolts up manual transmission wise. You can get an adaptor plate to bolt the Z32 5-speed to the VH at the moment. We had a group over at NICO get a set of them made but a few guys are selling theirs so you may contact them about it. Here's one of them: http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread/204142 Other than that its all custom to get a manual transmission on the VH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84z31 Posted November 8, 2006 Author Share Posted November 8, 2006 i'm really excited about the option. i think i will probably just stick with the auto. is it an 5 speed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtcookson Posted November 8, 2006 Share Posted November 8, 2006 4-speed auto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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