I may be needing to swap my engine out for another vq and I was wondering if they are any benefit of getting an 04+. I have found an 02 with 86k on it for 550.00 bucks that i may pick up unless you guys think i should go with the 04 or above. If i did pick up an 04+, what differences should i let the mechanic know about when installing the engine? Also, I am going to install headers at the same time and which ones should i go with? Do the 3.0 headers work on the 3.5?

 

I do think there's a benefit to going with an '04+ if you can find it. My '02 has always burned oil. From the last poll here it seems about 20% of people here are affected by this. I've read a lot about this issue here on these forums and the general consensus seems to be Nissan sourced some bad piston rings for some '02 VQ's. That alone would have me looking at later model VQ's.

 

Unless you're reading somewhere in the forum that I overlooked, I don't think it's so much about bad piston rings as it is bad precats that like to fail prematurely, stopping up the exhaust flow which in turn burns out the piston rings...

My car just turned 176k and hardly burns any oil, knock on wood.

My pre-cats were also in excellent shape when I installed my headers. Maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones.

The only issue I do have is a little bit of a timing chain rattle on cold startups if it's below 60 degrees.

 

04 has an EGR which may screw things up for you. 3.0 headers have egr but I don't think it will match with the 04 version. So you will need to figure out how to deal with that. Otherwise and 04 should swap in no problem.

 

i have a 06 maxima motor and this **** still burns oil! even my friend in his 04 6gen also burns oil wtf??

and no there is no problems with swapping a 6gen motor in. just use a 5.5 gen manifold so you dont have to worry bout the egr.

 

Ok guys, i found an 02 with 71k on it for 700 dollars, I will probably go with that one since its local. So what years of headers will work without any problems? I was looking at the obx's, does anyone know of any other brand thats reasonably priced?

 

Thats all there is for the reasonable price the OBX"s but got to do a couple of things to make them fit up or top of the line with no fitment issues is the Cattman's for like 750 800 bucks Good Luck

 

OBX is a good brand but you will have a few fitment issues. Cattman on the other hand fits perfectly and is the way to go in my opinion.

 

I didn't want to start a new thread for this question:

I have an 03 6spd that needs a heart transplant... do I need to get a VQ35DE from an MT car or can I get one from an AT? Will the MT transmission bolt right on the block?

Thanks

 

Yes, you do. If you get auto, you have to swap your upper oil pan, so that you can bolt up the 6 speed. I am doing this swap right now.