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.........


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQvVFp4ZO28

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPjMcUQsvLc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ah6GCJkTxQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPjMcUQsvLc

 

Very cool swap! I like what you guys did with the exhaust too!

 

Stock rear end?

 

very cool!

 

impossible not to like

 

Very cool, what the weight on that car? and what about overall balance?

 

very cool build, whats next?

 

Now this kind of engine swap I can agree wtih (as opposed to putting a tiny, high strung 4-banger inside the body of a 350Z).

I've always wanted to do a project like this to either put a VQ in an old Datsun or the RB26DETT.

 

Nice build, I'm sure the owner would consider boosting the car in the future

 

If he is considering it, he should do it now while the engine is out and the car not fully complete.

 

As a owner(years ago)of a 240,I found this swap most interesting.
I sure would like to see the finished product.Whats the plans for suspension,brakes etc?
I am assmuming the owner has complete refurb plans for the exterior/interior.The color the owner has chosen is excellent.You sure don't need a wild color on a 240(even though they were available in orange!).By the design of the exhaust tips(looks like the BRE aftermarket system),looks like he is planning on making the 240 more of a stealth
Z...keep it lookin very stock.I'd like to hear how the rear suspension is being modified to control the classic 240
rear squat.
Great work!Please keep us updated on this project
Whats a ball park of the cost on this project?

 

The customer plans to paint the exterior the same slate gray that we painted the engine bay (that's why we painted the engine bay for him while the engine was out).
He is going to add a nice set of wheels and upgrade brakes/suspension. He has that mechanical ability himself.
The weight of the vehicle dropped by approx 100Lbs. But the weight is distributed more evenly now.

As for what we are doing next..... OMG! We are slammed with all kinds of projects. The coolest right now is a 4.3L stroked FX35 AWD with twin GT35R's.....this thing should be fast! I will post pics as we get it a little further along. We are mocking up the manifolds now.

 

That thing sounds sweet for an S30 Z.

My windows have been broken so long, I forgot how nice a purring VQ35 sounds.

 

Y'all do some amazing work. Looks real good

 

does this mean that you can do VQ swaps with OEM ecu now without a standalone? any info on this somewhere?

 

ABSOLUTELY!!!!! We did our first one in 2007. We use the stock ECU, EFI wiring harness, accelerator pedal, and rewire it all and tune the ECU. They work great! We do not need the ignition switch or key, BCM, IPDM, or any other harness... Here is a video of a stock VQ35 we wired up and it is running without anything other than the OEM harness and ECU.... of course we needed a fuel pump and a battery. LOL
Enjoy...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtcCPtLBXvI

 

Nice

 

Very nice

 

Love this!!! Totally AWESOME!

 

Good Stuff!