Hello! Z32 Owner here! (Possible VH45 Swap)

[Crash]

Hey people. I've been reading posts on this board for a while, and I've decided to do a conversion too.

 

Originally, I was going to spend my money on a new 370z (at least the money I have for the down payment) but I'll wait until next year for that. I currently have a 5-speed '90 300zx N/A. I bought it mid last year and LOVE it. Before that I had a 2002 WS.6 Trans Am that was stolen. I miss it and the power of the LS1. But honestly, I love the way the Z32 drives and feels more.

 

My current Z is mostly stock and runs really well. It has low miles for it's age (about 7K a year) and it's pretty clean, inside and out. But that's not the car I want to convert. It's reliable right now, and as they say "If it ain't broken, don't fix it." So it's a good daily driver.

 

I plan to buy another Z32 as my project car (another N/A 5-speed) and my thoughts are to drop a VH45 in with the possibility of either turboing or twin turboing.

 

After reading a bunch of the posts, I see that it's obviously NOT easy to do this and this will be my first conversion.

 

I have about $12K to work with (maybe a little more depending on how much time this takes... LOL) and I figure that I should be able to do everything for this much.

 

Here's my questions:

1) There's been a lot of discussion about the oil-pan/X-member being an issue. But a friend brought up the point that Dry-Sump might be a better solution. The bonus would be the added reliability and some extra HP. Any thoughts? Has this been done before on either a Z32 or a VH45DE?

 

2) I can't fab. Never done it before, so I'll run into the issue of where to get motor-mounts and an intake that would fit under the hood. I've been looking into ITBs and I REALLY like that option for both power and reliability. I've seen some that were done for VH45's but no kits, so again, fabrication is required. If I were to force induct the motor with ITBs, I'll need to construct a good plenum which I don't think is that big of a deal. I've seen them made out of aluminum or fiberglass, so that shouldn't be a problem. Any idea what would be the best way to go?

 

3) I know that the power-steering pump pullie doesn't clear the sway bar. Someone on either this forum or the Nico forums lowered the sway bar with some square tubing and still needed to modify the pump brackets and ears. I was thinking that since this isn't my daily driver, an electric power steering pump may be a better solution. That way I won't run into the clearance issue and I'll pick up a little extra power. Does anyone make a power steering pump for this car with a smaller pullie or perhaps a relocation kit/bracket? I don't care if it's an electric pump or if it's engine powered.

 

4) I know this is practically impossible to accurately answer, but does anyone know how much power I can expect from an N/A 94+ VH45? I know the stock power, but I'll obviously be using custom exhaust, possibly dry-sump, and ITBs. I don't know much about the Nissan motors as I've been driving and working on GM's most of my life. I've been told that the stock injectors and internals were good for around 500HP reliably. I saw on another forum 600. But with N/A, I don't expect more than 400 crank. Dry sump is supposedly good for about 30-40 HP because the crank isn't slapping the oil.

 

5) I'm really used to having plenty of power on demand. My goal for this car would be about 350WHP N/A or 550-600WHP Turbo'd. I can always replace the internals if I go TT, and likely will, but what would I need to replace? I read that the stock crank and connecting rods are forged steel. How much power will they handle? I'm sure piston heads will be required for the Turbo application, right? At that point, should I lower the compression? Or will the motor handle it at the 10+ compression? I figure 9.5:1 or 9:1 would be better.

 

Anyway, thanks in advance. This is a fantastic forum!

[BRAAP]

Here's my $.02 on this.

 

 

1) I personally don’t see any really big issue between the cross member and oil pan, none that I would consider to be daunting. In fact, of ALL the engines I have stabbed into the engine bay of the Z-32 for mock up purposes, the VH45DE has to be the most natural fit, other than the hood clearance of course. The cross member forward edge needs a bit of a trim to clear the VH45 front sump. It’s not like the other V-8 swap where the rack is the in the way. To convert the VH45DE to dry sump would be a much larger project with more stumbling blocks to overcome than retaining the stock oil pan. The gentleman that took that route I think did so for other reason, not just clearance, race car if I recall.

 

2) Induction will be a project in of itself, yet a rewarding one. Here is thread dedicated to VH intake and exhaust design; http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=125027

 

3) …

 

4) My bone stock ’96 Q-45, (VH45DE was bone stock, from the dirty OE air filter to the stock chrome exhaust tips) put down 242 HP to the wheels on the Dyno at Torque freaks, through the automatic. That is approx 300 crank HP, which falls inline with reports from others, (apparently Infiniti underrated the engine with their claim of only 278 HP). After I removed the VH45DE from my Q ship, I was amazed at how small the collectors were in the exhaust. Measured exactly 1.70” ID, (circled in MAGENTA in the first pic below) With a tubular header with at least 2” collectors, more like 2 ¼” or 2 ½” collectors, that alone should uncork considerably more power!

 

5) Not sure how much boost it can safely handle with out replacing the internals, (assuming a good safe fuel and ignition tune of course). I would venture to guess that 5 lbs of boost would be safe, so long as you were spot on with your fuel and ignition tune.

 

 

Oil pan and cross member mods.

These 2 pics show slightly modified pan with trimmed cross member.

 

Courtesy NiCO forums

 

 

This picture shows a cross member with more modification, one that might clear the stock 100% just fine, (This Z-32 now has a turbo LT1 in it) :2thums:

Courtesy of DTS.

Edited March 14, 2009 by BRAAP

[Crash]

Very cool. Thanks for the info. The third question is mostly about the powersteering pump not clearing the sway bar. I've never dealt with Dry Sump so I was wondering how that might help, but I see that the x-member really isn't a big deal at all. Not a lot of modding was required there.

 

So, what I'm seeing with the oil pan is that you cut away about 50% of the sump and simply welded some sheet metal there? That's pretty cool. I'm assuming that's about a little more than 1 qt less oil?

 

5Lbs of boost isn't really a lot. Makes me think the turbos I was looking at are just WAY too much, and I could get away with much smaller turbos, but that wouldn't make sense, so strengthening the internals would be the best bet. I'd like to put about 12Lbs of boost or more. Lowering the compression may be a must. But who tunes these motors?

 

Yeah, I'm going to have custom headers made by my exhaust guy. If I go with a turbo, he'll make the manifolds. I'll likely be mounting them where the stock TT intercoolers were and use a front mount double pass intercooler. But that's just one possibility.

 

Again, thanks for the info. Got any idea about the powersteering? Was that a problem on your swap?

[BRAAP]

Sorry if my post and those pictures made it look as though I did the swap. Those pics are not mine, I did not do a VH45DE Z-32 conversion. I did "set" my VH45DE in the engine bay of my Z-32 mock up mule and my findings matched those pictured. I decided on installing an LSx and 6 speed in my Z-32, and sold the VH45DE. (my thread with various engines "set" in the engine bay of the Z-32 including the VH45DE) http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=142025

 

I feel the oil pan does not need to be cut like that to fit if the cross-member is modified.

 

As for the power steering? Sorry I have no input on that.

[Crash]

Hmmm... OK. I was thinking about doing an LSx motor too. They're easy to find and there's a billion mods for it that are all cheap. I miss my LS1, to be honest. But the problem I see is that if I wanted to go turbo, there's nearly no room left under the hood to do all the piping leaving the rear-mounted turbos as the only reasonable option.

 

How much modifying to the fire wall is there to do the LSx swap?

[BRAAP]

If you are wanting to turbo charge, either dual or single turbo, the LSx leaves more room in the engine bay for those parts than the VH does! The VH physically, is a large engine.

 

If you are willing to cut the firewall and trans tunnel entrance, most of the issues of installing the LSx become no more as the firewall is the single biggest fix for those issues.

 

We are working on installing the LSx in the Z-32 without cutting the firewall. Been in contact with an outside source already mentioned elsewhere on this forum about a custom pan, mounts, etc. As we progress, more details will be revealed.

 

Here is another LSX Z-32 conversion in process, lots of pics during the mock up showing the fitment issue areas.

 

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=144469

 

Either way, LSx or VH, I'm sure you'll enjoy the additional torque.

[Crash]

Yeah, I just found that thread and I'm following it. I'm holding off on my project until I get a better idea of what's involved in doing the LSx swap. I can get my hands on an LS2 or LS3 pretty easily (I think) so that'd be pretty cool. Although, I'd likely go with an LS6 because I don't want to deal with fly-by-wire and the LS6 is still pretty sweet.

[Crash]

OK. So I'm putting together a list of items I need to buy so I know exactly what and what not to spend on right away.

 

I'm trying to decide on if I need a better radiator (Maybe a Z1 z32 TT radiator with electric fans?) or if my stock N/A radiator with an electric fan (or dual electric fans) will work for the LS1. I'd rather use a radiator that was meant for the Z32 since it fits as is. I've never had cooling issues with my LS1 (even when I was racing in the hot desert with the engine AND A/C running 100% of the time... LOL). A friend of mine that has a 260z with an LS1 says that the radiator he has is way too much for the LS1 so he plans to swap it out with a smaller one... After looking at the LT1 fitment I've seen on this board, it looks like there's plenty of room once the motor is in, so it will have plenty of free running air around it to boot.

 

Also, I was looking at fuel pumps. I'm going to be running 32# injectors, so I don't think that the stock fuel pump will be able to keep up. Anyone know what the stock N/A fuel pump is capable of? I need the bigger injectors because I'm going with the cheatr heads/cam, 85mm MAF, FAST Intake, and 92mm throttle body, and long tube headers. I plan to make 420-450HP to the wheels (if not more). I don't think that the stock N/A fuel pump will handle more than 400BHP. (Anyone have any experience with this?)