This is something ive been toying around with for the last few years.. more recently with the repurchase of my old car, the long term goal is a big 4.5L stroker VQ turbo with Darton MID sleeves to give you an idea of performance potential of a VQ the fastest import in Europe is currently running 6's with a stock unfilled block at approximately 1800HP MAZworx built a 4.1L for their drag car at 1200HP before they tore the engine mount off the side of the block ive got a VQ35DE, a VQ30DET and a 350Z 6-speed to play with.. the VQ35 and 6 speed i bought from a guy for about 500 bux total, the motor has a stripped thread on the crank, and the gearbox has a stuffed 5th gear syncro.. so for my R&D purposes its perfect. the VQ30DET is from a running good compression halfcut i bought some 5 years ago so i thought id have a play with it while i had nothing in the bay and waiting on parts for my VG to arrive ive actually got a whole other chassis to design and engineer this in before it goes into the race car.. but the race car was sitting under the block and tackle and asking for the try dont get too excited, the VG will be in the bay for quite some time yet im not the first person to attempt this, there was one kicking around in perth with woeful steering geometry, and we all know about the awesome slotcar of UAS, and theres one in the US that cut a dirty great hole in the bonnet. im sure theres more around but these are the only documented builds the issue with the VQ is that it was always designed as a front sump, and the oil pump pickup and oil filter bosses are all integral to the diecast lower sump section that its almost impossible to remake at home in a garage ezzupturbos solution was to shift the steering rack backwards and modify the front crossmember to clear the sump, this introduced some pretty bad steering geometry not condusive to a track car UAS's solution was originally a custom sump, which they gave up on and went for a $6000 dry sump system from the US.. later down the track this is my ultimate finishing piece to an 800-1000hp beast.. but short term is to get the VQ35 running NA+T with stock sump the guy in the US raised the engine higher, putting a dirty great trans-am style reverse bonnet scoop on the hood, which looks terrible everyone that has done this conversion (and documented it on the web) in the past has tried to keep the rear sump layout of the VG, the reason this conversion works so well in a S chassis or skyline is because of its native front sump layout with the engine sitting forward of the crossmember the engine bay on an S14 for example is 150mm longer than a 300zx bay but more importantly over 300mm longer from strut top to radiator support the 350z actually centers the engine over the front axle as opposed to the 300zx that sits about 100mm futher back.. when i aquired the 350z 6 speed i found it was 100mm longer which got me thinking the VQ itself is significantly lighter due to its diecast aluminium block, so the forward movement shouldn't effect weight distribution too much, so long as heavy stuff like turbo manifold and dirty great turbo sits behind the engine not forward of how much it exactly weighs is unknown as the only comparos ive seen are full loaded twin turbo zed motors and a bare vq with people quoted wild numbers like 100-150kg heavier, which is a load of crap.. so i will be weighing a bare VG and the bare VQ so all other things remain equal front sump means engine and box can go in together can see engine centreline with relation to front axle here bonnet closes once excess bosses ground off front timing cover custom inlet manifold will be made, itll be a squeeze but theres a fair bit of room to play with might need to make custom rad support to shift the radiator about 2" further forward, or v-mount that's all that will be done with this for the short term, back to work on rewiring the car and top feed fuel rail for the VG when the crane scales get here ill let you know the outcome of the weights and my calculations around COG change introduced by having a VQ 100mm further forward than a VG
yes the 100kg - 150kg is wrong ! my VG completed with dumps and clutch came in at 231kg (stock is over 260+ kg) Be Good to see what your VQ weighs.. (block being main difference)
yeah, im thinking 30kg at best ill weigh the bare blocks and gearboxes, and try to figure a COG for the two connected to their respective boxes, because technically anything else could be done the same on the VG/VQ.. ie alternator/PS pump, turbo manifolds and inlet manifolds so no point saying with my custom manifolds and single turbo my vq is lighter than my VG with factory manifolds i also have a VQ30DET complete with factory manifolds and turbo i can compare for shits and giggles
