I finally drove my car a few days ago, remember I posted that the valve train on the rear bank blew up!? The engine sounds and drives good.
I did have a hard time with the rebuild because Nissan changed the heads on the 4th gen. Sometime in 2001 they made only 1 change and that was making the bore for the lifters smaller so the lifters on the 3.5 fit both 3.0 and 3.5 heads. since I was replacing all 24 lifters, I had to buy 2 new heads even though the front head was ok. Also, I now had to do a valve job on both heads, replace all 24 valve stems, and port and polish and gasket match both heads. The cams on the rear bank were also beat up so I called JWT and we decided to use the new milder cams they just made.
Jim claims the more aggressive cams are good for nonaspirated cars and the milder cams are good for forced induction. The new milder cams made the motor idle much better. Since we were in the engine I decided to replace all the timing chains and tensioners this time around.
The oil pump from the 3.5 fits right in with no modifications and it is thicker and pushes more oil. According to my gauge I am getting 8 more pounds at idle and 20 more pounds at higher speeds. I am beginning to think my motor blew partly because of a lack of oil pressure. I'll never know for sure.
This rebuild was a pain in the a-ss and I don't think I would do it again!!

 

Congrats and good luck with the newly rebuilt motor!

 

 

Good look this time around...