VQ swapping an R34

[ElPablo]

I've been trying to look for information about swapping my r34 with a vq35de, I bought an hr34 and really don't know which route to take. My thoughts are to turbo it or swap it.

I'm based in Japan and have access to auctions. 350z are being sold for a low price. Around 300k JPY to give you guys an idea. Putting work on my rb20 would probably cost more for less power. 

Now my questions are;

If I were to buy a 350z and use the harnesses and everything would I be able to keep my interior stock? Like my speedometer, A/C or I would go better off using my stock harness; if so how can I mate it to the engine side.

 

How can I keep my A/C running?

 

And lastly if I were to do it, up to which parts will I be able to use? 

 

I hope someone can help me out. 

[iruvyouskyrine]

No idea about 350Z things but...

Keeping your stock Tacho, thats easy.
Keeping your stock Speedo, thats easy. Just keep your ABS ECU
Keeping your A/C, thats easy, the signal is just an output from the AC control unit that runs through the standard ECU.

56 minutes ago, ElPablo said:

And lastly if I were to do it, up to which parts will I be able to use? 

Not enough information to give meaningful answer. 

 

Also.

Sell me the engine out of your car when you do the swap

 

[GTSBoy]

You will need to make a hybrid loom out of both the original car loom and the new engine loom. There is no easy way to do this.

Quite doable. Just needs the work put in.

[DashyyPC]

Interesting choice really.. Wondering what youre doing with the car? is it a drift car or something along those? 
the VQ35DE youre limited to like 250-260whp Realistically (although those motors are cheap $1200-$1600 Generally)
 

The DE's also burn quite a bit of oil Which is why you would better off doing a VQ35HR or VQ37VHR however then it becomes somewhat even more complicated 😅

 

[SteveL]

3 hours ago, ElPablo said:

I've been trying to look for information about swapping my r34 with a vq35de

 

[ElPablo]

2 hours ago, GTSBoy said:

You will need to make a hybrid loom out of both the original car loom and the new engine loom. There is no easy way to do this.

Quite doable. Just needs the work put in.

So I'll use the r34 harnesses and somehow fit it to the new engine? 

Using the donor car's coupler and everything? If I were to do that wouldn't it keep me from using the vq's ecu?or  I could just use the vq's harness and everything and rewire the interior electricals of my r34? 

[ElPablo]

20 minutes ago, DashyyPC said:

Interesting choice really.. Wondering what youre doing with the car? is it a drift car or something along those? 
the VQ35DE youre limited to like 250-260whp Realistically (although those motors are cheap $1200-$1600 Generally)
 

The DE's also burn quite a bit of oil Which is why you would better off doing a VQ35HR or VQ37VHR however then it becomes somewhat even more complicated 😅

 

Yes I'm planning to make it a drift car but yeah I'm still planning to use it as a daily. I'd love to swap in an HR to be honest. Wpuld it be a harder task to do? 

[DashyyPC]

3 minutes ago, ElPablo said:

Yes I'm planning to make it a drift car but yeah I'm still planning to use it as a daily. I'd love to swap in an HR to be honest. Wpuld it be a harder task to do? 

No problems if you have the money to deal with all the finnicy parts that come with a swap aha. look into a VQ37VHR swap if you can get one cheap. here in aus theyre also very cheap motors. Strong too. Easily 600hp On stock internals if you want to boost it

[ElPablo]

5 hours ago, SteveL said:

 

I've read this thread and yeah there nothing much to it about what I wanted to know. Thank you anyway! 

[SteveL]

12 minutes ago, ElPablo said:

I've read this thread and yeah there nothing much to it about what I wanted to know. Thank you anyway! 

More about it being done (13+ years ago....) than anything else.   You're in Japan so drop into Top Secret and ask them 😎.   Alternatively, throw lot's and lot's of money at them and I'm sure they'll do it for you......... 

[GTSBoy]

9 hours ago, ElPablo said:

So I'll use the r34 harnesses and somehow fit it to the new engine?

No. Think more along the lines of laying the new VQ harness down on the floor, taking off all the insulation, stripping out all the wires in it that will not be needed in the R34, then working out how to put back in all the wires needed to work up against the R34 body harness (ie, dash, fuel pump, ABS signals, etc etc etc). See the Skid Factory video on YouTube on doing an engine transplant loom merge.

There is no easy way. Only the lots of work way. And lots of understanding what the wires are for too.....

[ElPablo]

5 hours ago, SteveL said:

More about it being done (13+ years ago....) than anything else.   You're in Japan so drop into Top Secret and ask them 😎.   Alternatively, throw lot's and lot's of money at them and I'm sure they'll do it for you......... 

Not everyone is blessed with so much money man. I mean if I had the money I'd probably do that. Thanks man! I mean it's not impossible I just wanted some advice of some sort because swapping doesn't come with instruction manuals and I'm not really that knowledgable about it. 

[ElPablo]

2 hours ago, GTSBoy said:

No. Think more along the lines of laying the new VQ harness down on the floor, taking off all the insulation, stripping out all the wires in it that will not be needed in the R34, then working out how to put back in all the wires needed to work up against the R34 body harness (ie, dash, fuel pump, ABS signals, etc etc etc). See the Skid Factory video on YouTube on doing an engine transplant loom merge.

There is no easy way. Only the lots of work way. And lots of understanding what the wires are for too.....

Thanks man I'll look into that! Is it possible to merge the r34 loom with the vq ecu? Or I'd have to buy a standalone?

[GTSBoy]

Yes, this is aimed at using the VQ ECU and most of the VQ engine loom to go with it, but mashing it together with what you need out of the R34 engine and body looms to make it all work together.

[ElPablo]

So after some reading, I found out that custom engine looms are being sold. Made to order from companies like Panic Made. But somehow they are so busy and declined to do one. Do other companies do that kind of work? 

[Blakeo]

On 4/28/2021 at 11:36 AM, ElPablo said:

So after some reading, I found out that custom engine looms are being sold. Made to order from companies like Panic Made. But somehow they are so busy and declined to do one. Do other companies do that kind of work? 

Hi mate I have put a vq35de into a r33 drift car. The wiring is straight forward, I can send you thru the engine harness diagrams for both - it does require some work, took me a weekend but only spent about 6-8 hours total on it going slowly. 

You will need to notch the chassis rails, since the r33 was a stat write off, we cut out about 20mm and boxed it back in. On a street car it would be more suitable to make some new headers for clearance. I believe r34 shared the same chassis rail width as a R33. 

You will also need to bash the firewall in for clearance of the gearbox, and cut a new hole in the trans tunnel for the shifter (I believe serial nine may have a shifter that puts it in the right spot now though). 

Other than routing new ac lines, power steering lines, fuel lines, charcoal canister, brake booster lines etc its a fairly straight forward. 

Definitely wasn't worth the effort in my opinion, go an LS.