i know some of you will proly say this is a silly question, but i have no idea.

Sure it's possible.

1. That engine, even from a wrecked Maxima, would cost more than your car is worth.

2. The transmission, even from a wrecked Maxima, would cost more than your car is worth.

3. The misc parts needed, even from a wrecked Maxima, would cost more than your car is worth.

4. The fabrication, labor, and custom parts would cost more than your car is worth.

5. Do you notice a trend here?

I've almost done enough mods to almost exceed my car's worth. When I'm done, it's SURELY gonna exceed that. So I just kinda shrug at your reasoning. It's pretty tough to buy a brand new $25,000 car so you can justify $5000 in mods(ie.. Subaru WRX) right?

An interesting observation...
I've heard it said that the VQ is based on the VE and at least the 4th gens are similar to the VE... And also, I was under the impression that the 4th gen VQs are 225 HP, but they're only 190...?
So, ignoring cost, what are the physical differences between the two?
Not wondering for myself tho, I think VG to VQ is TOO big of a jump... But for the sake of philosophy?

VE doesn't really have much in common w/ the VQ except that the VE was probably the prototype for the coil on plug ignition systems. 4-gen VQ had 190hp while the 200-2001 VQ maximas had 225 hp. The 2002+ 3.5 VQs had 255hp.

Oh it's possible, but I haven't seen ANYONE here on maxima.org that is personally good enough to pull it off. Maybe with the help of a specialized shop and a **** sized load of cash.

how much chas would u say?

ment to say a 2002 vq with 255

Well, now you are going to do some research on your own.

haha is that a hint to use your magic friend the search buddy?

I shrug at my own reasoning. By the time I am done with my car, the mods will exceed my cars value also. I am just pointing that out.

I shrug at your shrugging. What mods are going to cost you that much?

By next month I will have tripled what I paid for the car with what I have paid for goodies. I don't care becuase I will do anything to keep it alive, including silly engine swaps...

I'll do it. Someone give me a 3rd gen and I'll make it happen. It won't be a VQ35 because the trannys are hard to get. But I do know that if one wanted to they can do a VQ30DE swap for $1500-2000 labor. However the motor/tranny/wire harness is $2500-5000 hmmmmm.

yeah, the cost of the bondo broke that budget all to hell.

After my accident last week, It makes me realize that crazy mods like this wouldnt be worth the time and money. I mean you put in all that labor and all the money and time, and at any moment it could all get layed across a highway or something. If you have that much money laying aroud to put into an 8-13 year old car then thats great, but as an example I put in thousands of dollars into my car since I bought it, not to mention 1K two weeks before the accident and all I get in return is one year's worth of insurance costs back. Mod Safely.

It's not worth the money?

Wow, Matt. You've stooped to a new low now.

Just about the only thing still stock about my car is the radio, and there isn't any bondo on my car either...

But it IS worth the money if you desire to have something different than anything else on the road. When dealing with older cars it gets to a point that the question "is it worth it?" isn't worth asking anymore. Why put time and money into any older care if all you care about is the end value. To me, if I put a few thousand into my Maxima, I do so fully aware that it makes little financial sense, but I don't see a car as something I need to make sense with. If that was the case I would be driving a brandy new four banger bellybutton car (everyone has one) on a lease to turn in two years later and get another brandy new something. Not my style. Why would I put a turbo in it? That makes no financial sense. I only paid 3500 for the whole car, and now it's worht even less! See my point? To me it is worht it to have a totally unique vehicle with unexpected performance. Hence, my ensuing full tilt turbo plans..see you at the dragstrip ponycar..that's what I'm about. Anyone with me here?

I'm with you

Me as well.

It was my feeble attempt at humor, from the other post this morning. guess I should have put a instead of there..

hee... heee.. .heeeee.

BTW love the sig, Matt. It almost makes your car look fast! ... er, umm...

No, really. It's a fabulous pic, kudos to the photographer. Great sideways shot.

Matt, on the Jap drift tip!!

male - I totally agree with you on that one. That should be, like, the 3rd Gen Maxima Manifesto!

I mean, how many times have you heard someone here on the .org say that they're gonna put so-and-so parts/mods on their car, just to have some smart@$$ come behind them and say "man, that just ain't worth it"??

Almost as many times as the phrase "use search" or "search is your friend" has been used

I really dont see the need to do a engine swap! The vg, ve vqand etc were all good engines in my opinion. I'm happy with my engine and a 75 shot of zex. I killed a new max, but then again I couldnt beat a 95 with a S/C! So I guess if you got the money do what the heck you want. I'm happy with my VG!

... im not sure why you would wonder... vg= 160 horse and new vq= 255 horse... even older vqs have 225. thats why i was wondering

Well your lookingat flywheel horse power not actual vg-140
ve-170 vq 200 new max 215. I guess my vg is sitting right about
160 with my mods listed below at the wheels and when you strap
on my zex kit 210-235 at the wheels! And I havent even started on my internals yet!

Yeah but you know going in the mony you put in you wont get out. You can't mod worrying about will your car get smashed, thats like not buying a benz cause you might get jacked or not buying a nice watch cause it might break. You buy what you like cause you like it, same with the car. Besides you rareley put all the money out at the same time.

You could always insure your car for more than it's worth. If you put 5K in mods into your car worth 5K, then you could insure your car for 7500 to recover some of the extras.

Yeah, but they won't give you that out of it usually. I did that for my Cadillac and when it was stolen they only gave me $6K for it and I was out $11K...
Maybe it depends on your insurance carrier???

Not to mention they raise your premium


Drive a stock 2k2 6speed, think about doing those same mods to it, then drive your VG I did that when I had my VG and almost cried But I must say, that I was happiest with my vg also. You can always remember that one org member with over 400K on his. VG Power and VE/VQ Speed!

acoording to the diagrams that i saw a VQ is physicaly smaller than a VE/VG (height wise) so the motor *should* fit. the tranny codes are all the same from 89-02 maximas RS5F5OA/V to RS6F51A (/H-helical)
the 2.5/3.5 liter altima's have tranny RS5F51A. yes the gear ratio's differ between them but the possibilities are there.

i looked at the trannies on my VE and VQ and noticed that the main difference was that the case had different frame (of car) mounting points. the VQ is on top and the VE is on both sides. after a closer inspection i noticed that the all nissan did was use different accesory brackets to mount the tranny to the car. if look at a VQ tranny (95-99) will see 3 or 4 threaded holes on the side of it where the mounting brackets for a VE would go. for all intents and purposes a VE/VG tranny *should* bolt up to a VQ. if is doesnt fine you could seperate the VQ tranny, case from bellhousing and put on your VE/VG case so you would have your original VE/VG tranny to frame mounts. you could now bolt you VQ Bellhousing/VE/VG case hybrid tranny to you VQ motor. both VE/VQ motors have a main support center member for the engine, its possible that some combo of VE/VG/VQ engine mounts will put the engine in the right position within the engine bay.

as far as electrical stuff goes, you could acquire the motor with the ecu and harness. once you do that all you have to do is intergrate it with your VE/VG fusebox/relay system, fuel pump and starter system.

yes, it is all easier said then done. we all know that money/parts/time/knowledge are needed to get the job done.
i do not profess to be an expert in the mechanical field, i'm just trying to say i think is it is very possible/maybe fun/possibly easier then we think.

for the tranny info check these websites out

http://www.drivetrain.com/transillnissan_rs5f50a.html
http://www.drivetrain.com/nissanRS5F50Afwd5sp.html http://www.vibratesoftware.com/html_...ons.htm#Maxima

It would be difficult to entirely doable for the swap. However if you used the wire harness from a 2k pathfinder it is OBD-II or higher and you can't reprogram the ECU. Since the VQ35DE's go for $2000-5000 it should be re-wired to a 95-96 federal spec 4th gen ECU/wire harness. A couple of rpm switches could operate the VTC's and variable intake manifold. Assuming one did all of the wiring so its plug and play I'd expect a shop to charge $1500-3000 labor for install. It would almost be better to use a 2k VQ30DE (if your a VG but why not a VG-T?), but if you have a VE you could sell that motor and make between $500-1000 off of that.

i'm not doubting your theory. but if you acquired any of the motors VQ30/35DE with the ecu harness and ecu itself wouldnt that be easier. than all thats left is fuel starter fuse box and positive 12 volt. when i bought my new VQ30 all the sensors were on it and the ecu harness was still attached. it even had the y-pipe, badly crushed but still there.

The problem with that is you couldn't really tune the engine persay. Sure you can bolt on intakes and full custom exhausts. But you can't change the fuel or the timing advance curve at all. I've personally seen ECUed maximas gain 6-10wtq in the midrange with an ECU. I personally would rather reverse engineer the wire harness so I can run a fed spec 95 ECU. That way I can upgrade the injectors and reprogram/tune the ECU for n2o or anything else. Either it would work, its just that one way doesn't allow you get to best optimize power output.

i see. yes you are right a 95 ecu should be able to operate an VQ-k ro VQ35 just ad the rpm swithes and your all set.