Vq35hr??

[Pharaohabq]

So I got a little more time to work on things this weekend, but not too much since i was tired and it was cold out. Anyway, I pulled out the stock engine mounts:

 

 

as you can see they're HUGE, they're also hard rubber which I don't think would do much as for vibrations. I could use them, but at almost 5 inches tall I'd have to really build a lot to the frame to support them. I don't belive that's really worth the trouble. I then went looking at other mounts, like the BMW 325I mounts from autozone, Soft rubber 1.5 in thick, definitely workable. but $45 EACH. aaaa no, not going to happen. So it's find something else time; thought about going to U pull it but it was getting late by the time I made it home. But I wanted to figure something.

 

I was looking at the stock L28 mounts on the parts I cut off the crossmember, and sure enough, softer rubber, in good shape. but they have kinda a C around them. Easy enough, cut the sides of the C off, and upside down it fit just fine in the VQ mount bracket. The bolt is a little short, but still workable. I'll need to build a bracket to hold the "top" of the stock bracket to bolt the mount to the frame but I think these will work. I'll get a pict soon.

 

I also figured I'll have to bebuild the AC system since the waterlines were in the way So I removed the stock AC pump, and lines to the firewall. I'll reroute those later if I can change the pully on the AC pump. In NM gotta have AC...

 

Any questions let me know, I learn from you guys as well.

 

Oh Myron in another thread said to keep the oil pan level, good advice. I'll try to do that.

 

Phar

[Pharaohabq]

Okay I did a bit of work and mostly figuring this past couple weeks. I'd gone back and forth on using the stock mounts, but in the end I decided to try the stock 280Z mounts cut back to just the rubber. I made a pair of temporary flanges below to try things out with.

 

 

 

Now I know these look simple, I found that getting the spacing correct was difficult. The bolt holes had to be 2"&1/8" from the frame to line up with the rubber. Likely I'll pull these off again, and slot them to make fine adjustments easier. I'll probably also add some 3" angle steel to the rails and some bolts to hold that in place. Similar to the Mckinney mounts I'll have that and a bar under the motor to stengthen the whole setup. I didn't want to buy the Mckinney deal (though now they say it works with the HR) because they want $600 bucks for it, and while it looks good, I've only spent about $15 in 3/16 sheet steel. Yeah, call me cheap.

 

Here's pict of the flanges tacked in for testing.

 

 

They're holding the engine weight pretty easily. I am going to bolter them a bit more though.

 

 

Phar

Questions let me know.

[Matt K]

Looks promising! I'm also in your neck of the woods, live in Rio Rancho, work at the base. I'd like to check it out, as I have an 06 G35 engine and am getting my own 78 280z this weekend.

[Pharaohabq]

Yeah, I'm hoping things will work out well. I keep looking at the Mckinney mount and thinking I'd really like to make a bolt in place cradle for the engine to sit on. I know I know welded in rail are a lot stronger, but If I get large bolts it shouldn't be too bad, not to mention a cradle like that that would slide on the rails would really make it easy to move the engine as far back as needed and a snap to pull out. Welding nuts into the frame is easy. Maybe I'll re-enforce the frame w/ angle and bolt on over that. 1/4" angle should be easy to tap and thread.

[Pharaohabq]

So it's been a while since I've posted. In that time I've pulled the engine twice and reset my motor mounts since I didnt' like how far forward the engine was sitting. Ahoke and Ey weren't kidding when they said it was tight. Though the VQ35HR does seem to fit a little better that the DE version. Mines about as far forward as theirs BUT I still have my hood latch.

 

I've been modifying my Steering crossmember much like Ahoke did, so I'll be posting some picts of that soon. I'm really happy with my hood clearance, and with the oil pan clearance. I'd thought is was a lot taller than the DE engine, but really I'm not seeing this to be much of a problem at all. Here's some picts of the clearance.

 

under hood clearance

 

Exhaust is tight at the firewall, this will take some work.

 

another exhaust view, I'll have maybe 5 inches to make that bend.

 

Hood closed no trouble.

[sq_creations]

Thats looking good Eric. The exhaust is going to be tough though. Are there any other VQ headers that fit the motor.

[Pharaohabq]

Thats looking good Eric. The exhaust is going to be tough though. Are there any other VQ headers that fit the motor.

 

There's the FWD headers, where they point more or less straight down, but When I was looking at those, I couldn't really justify spending 500 bucks on a set then having to cut them up because they're made for a sideways mounted motor. I've been looking at mine and I think if I cut the off at about the collector and grind down the edge a lot I could maybe squeeze a 6" radius 2.5" pipe in there. I'm not sure how close I can be to the firewall w/out some additional protection. I can either fab some heat shields or use that high temp matting. It may not be a problem though. I figured I would try it this way especially since the headers are the equal length tube type instead of the earlier 3:1 type. Not that I know how much difference that'll make. I'd really like you to see the car sometime and let me know your opinions.

 

I've been working on my steering crossmember, and I figure if I can get that and the Steering shaft put together, then I can get the car back on the ground. though, I need to have the driveshaft made, and get the electronics figured before it's drivable. Nothing big riiight?

 

hehe

Phar

 

(Eric)

[Pharaohabq]

I've been working on my steering crossmember. The crossmember holds the lower control arms so you can't really move it unless you figure something else for suspension. I chose to go the same direction that Austin and Myron went with their crossmember and cut out a good chunk of it. I'm not having to mount my engine quite as low as they were but the oilpan and lower crankcase are pretty deep. the Cutout that I made in the crossmember provides about an inch of clearance around the front of the engine. I made a extra 1" cutout and boxed it in on the right rear side of the crossmember to keep space around the oil filter open. If this is too tight, I may have to look into alternate oil filter options. Anyway, here's some picts. Sorry for the crappy quality, they were from my cellphone.

 

Pict of the front of the crossmember, you can see the extra 1"x1" .125 box tube bracing.

 

another pict of the bracing, I changed the contrast so you could almost see the welds.

 

Another pict of the bracing. I figured it couldn't hurt since I cut out so much of the original crossmember.

 

The back side, I know it's hard to see, but I boxed this in with .25" steel. I left the Rack mount tabs in place since they didn't seem to be too close. The weld at the top took a couple passes to fill in since the sheet metal was curved. I welded all the seams, even the stock spot welded ones on the bottom, just for exta strength.

 

Again sorry for the poor image quality. This is where I cutout for the oil filter. Originally I'd cut it too close to the suspension mount hole so I'd added back metal to clear the actuation of the lower control arm. Hopefully the oil filter should still be fine since I'd cut out a little extra clearance around it. I need to dremel out some ot the slag in the corner to clean it up a little more before painting. You can see the .25" plate welded in pretty well.

[Pharaohabq]

Here's a better pict of the crossmember after primering, that shows the cutout for the oil filter much better.

 

Primered crossmember oil filter cut - VQ35HR

 

 

I also pulled the engine (Again) to this time cut out a little more of the stock tranny mounts. I'm about 1/4 in too tight right where those mounts are. So I've got to remove more material, then hammer the tunnel out about 1/4 inch on each side so that the tranny will clear all the way up into the tunnel. In the VQ35DE installs, this isn't a problem, since you can't push the engine far enough back for the tranny to be tight enough to hit the original mounts because the intake hits the firewall.

 

My shifter, even with Austin's bracket, is still 2-3" farther back from stock. I still have my stock hood latch and haven't had to mod the firewall at all yet. (will need to make a cut for the harness to fit through later.)

 

Phar

Edited March 22, 2011 by Pharaohabq

[Pharaohabq]

Okay, I've been doing a little more work, after I pulled the engine, I decided I needed to clear out more of the stock engine compartment so I could have more room to work out the exhaust. I removed the stock wiring harness (I'm not yet sure if I'm going to splice into it, or just use only the 350Z harnesses.) I pulled loose about everything I could in the engine compartment, and sanded down the frame rails so I'd have a surface I can weld to. I'm going to wrap the rails in 3/16ths angle steel for reenforcement. My mounts will start 12" from the firewall, making the actual mounting pins to the engine at 13.5" from the firewall. This pulls the HR engine up tight against the firewall. (I'm having to change the Brake vacuum fitting to a 90 degree angle to fit past the hood latch. Pic later)

 

I also Modded the Tranny tunnel for a little better fit.

 

 

Before

 

After (The upper edges of the wide tail of the Tranny needs the extra room. I left the lower part to mount exhaust brackets to.

 

 

 

 

Passenger side cleared out, Just the harness through the firewall remaining.

 

Sanded for welding in re-enforcement.

 

 

Before mount removal. 13.5" to mount pin, 2.75" from rail. -15 deg slant. (little surface rust, cleaned up with wire wheel.)

 

 

Any questions, Let me know

 

Phar

Edited March 29, 2011 by Pharaohabq

[Pharaohabq]

TIme for another update...

 

I haven't got a lot done since I pulled the engine again.. I've welded on steel to wrap the frame rails in the engine compartment. (picts later)

 

I did get a new toy for it though...

 

A 350Z R200 short nose. 3.53 gears.

 

I opened it up to check for damage. It acts like a limited slip but I'm not real familiar with the guts.

when I turn one side, both sides turn. I looked for identifying marks per the manual but couldn't tell.

 

Closer look at the carrier

 

Assy in the center.

 

Huge Spdergears.

 

Mainly I got this because it was cheap, and that it has the sensors and rings for the Speedo.

[Pharaohabq]

Got a new part worth mentioning for the HR. My engine was missing the oip pressure switch. This is a switch next to the oil filter (see picts) that sends info to the AC amp and thus the gauges. Well Nissan has listed the switch for the DE. This is wrong for the HR. it's a different switch, with just one pin in the plug rather that the 3 the DE has. So you'll need to buy the switch they list for the VQ37, it's the same switch as the HR. It's got a black plug rather than a brown one, and plugs into a plug just like the blue oil temp sensor plug. Anyway here's picts.

 

This is the oil switch plug.

 

The dirty hole is where the switch screws in.

 

The switch and Beck/arnley part # 201-1773

[Pharaohabq]

Well it's been a while since I've updated. I've been working on the body a bit more. the Engine is out and waiting. I've decided that it needs paint before I go too much furthor. I've done all the welding for the mounts and the paint. I've reinstalled my modded steering crossmember, and will setup the steering shaft relocation when the car is back on the ground. I will install the 350Z pumpkin when I get some shafts for it. I understand I might be able to use Z31 shafts, but I'll need to clarify that. Stripping everything out of the body is fun, but tedious to document. hope I don't lose many parts.

[santanawhite]

Sounds like its gonna be a beast. Cant wait for the next update. Im following your build as i will be doing the same swap with my 240z. Very helpful. Keep up the great work.

[Pharaohabq]

Thanks SantanaWhite, I apprieciate the interrest. If you have any questions about things, just send me a message. I'm happy to discuss how this goes. I'm learning as I go, but it's been fun.

 

I'm almost ready to put the Z back on the ground. I got the steering rack and crossmember all put back in place, the brakes are all still disconnected, but that's fine, no Engine installed so it's not going anywhere, and the E brake still works. I've been pulling out the interior and getting things set for paint. Who knew there was so much crap attached to the car. Lights, body panels, trim pieces etc etc etc.

 

Phar

[Pharaohabq]

Hey Guys, Sorry it's been about 4 months since my last update. I've got a kid on the way, so things are slow going. I don't have any new picts recently, mainly because I've pulled the engine again and hav enow been just stripping out the body to get it ready for paint. It's so hard to figure what do I really need to remove, and what can stay and be painted in place. There's a lot of little parts on the Z, so I've started quite a collection of little baggies labelled with a sharpie. I've put back on the Steering crossmember, but I haven't finished a adapter bracket yet to get around the exhaust. The weather is getting warmer so that's going to help a lot.

 

Oh! speaking of exhaust, I don't know if I mentioned this, but I cut back the stock headers to the start of the collectors. I'm going to have a 90 deg welded on there and around the old pipe, then that'll be down pipe into maybe the stock HR cats if I can fit them, if not I'll probably delete. or put in non standard. I want this to be quieter at least not enough to wake the neighbors, so I'm planning mids and a large single, maybe dual exhaust. we'll see.

[SypherSlayer]

get some pics of your exhaust! ill be starting in on the same swap in the next month or so and your build has been extreamly helpful

[Pharaohabq]

Cool Deal SypherSlayer, I'll post up where I am on the exhaust soon. Are you also going with the HR engine? Post up your thread, we can all lend a hand.

 

Phar

[SypherSlayer]

I will be going with the HR and i will post my swap once i get under way. right now im in my final stages of getting my finances squared away.(damn HR's are expensive) so im hoping to get on ordering parts shortly!

 

In the mean time I'll be watching your posts like a hawk haha

 

Daniel

[Pharaohabq]

Nice, I'll have to get my butt in gear to finish and be the first HR swapped S30. (Mark is technically way ahead, but he's also rebuilt his whole car on a much more massive budget) Otherwise you're going to be the first HR. HR's have been swapped into 240SX's and such already, but I haven't seen one in an S30 so far. I can't wait to see your thread. It'll be good to have someone else to bounce ideas off from.

 

Phar