Congrats eng92....this is really exciting news. I appreciate your attention to detail on this project. You took your time and did things the right way. I look forward to seeing the dyno results, and of course, the initial test drive.

eng92

Bravo Man !!!

A number of people have PM'd me for updates on this thread.

Here is a shot of the engine bay in its current incarnation



I have been driving the car for about 3 months now. The low/midrange torque is awesome. I concur with what many swappers have said before me in that first gear WOT is a waste of time. Even 2nd, when the VIAS opens, the tires will sometimes break loose depending on temperature.

Of course you can see from the picture above that I no longer have a VIAS. I added the Z IM during the last couple of days. It may or may not remain on there depending upon what my research turns up.

I have been code free for 3 months. As far as I can tell, everything is working 100%.

The only dislike I have is a slight vibration at idle and I am attributing that to the ES motor mounts and subframe bushings that I installed. The vibration disappears completely by about 1ooo rpms.

I have also installed a Greddy EU which I still have to tune before I head to the dyno (hopefullly before the end of June).

Really really nice man

It looks really well done,

Whats the hardest part ? How much harder than 3.0 timming

I wanted to do that too , but i back off, since its my 1st swap

Looks great Dave, I should have some numbers for you today on the intake manifold.

Is it true the ES mounts lower the engine about half an inch? If so, did you have to mod the hood?

Awesome Dave.

I have not cut any of the underhood bracing yet. There is a very small area where some rubbibng has taken place between the weld on my throttle body mount and the underhood brace. Just enough to take the paint off. I am just going to push the brace in a bit and maybe take the weld down a little.

If I keep the Z IM on there, I may invest in a spacer in which case I will have to remove a section of the underhood brace (or space all four mounts down a little).

IMO I do not think the ES mounts lower the engine a significant amount. I had no issues installing my engine front and tranny mount bolts. If the ES mounts had lowered the engine, I would have had to pry the other two mounts down to get the bolts through.

I am eager to see them.

glad to hear that everything is working for you. love the engine cover.

eng92, where does your ECU and Cluster get the VSS from? I am trying to piece together my full ECU swap, and I from the FSM (04 I35 donor) it says the VSS is generated by the ABS system. My car does not have ABS, it's only source for the VSS is the actual sensor in the trans.

So far, I have this much figured out:
I have the engine harness and ECU
I can get the sub-harness pieces
I know I need the NATS key setup (I have the key from the car)
I have the original cluster
I know I need the Egas pedal assy

However, I am not sure of:
How to interface the ECU to TCM (JimE said I can use the Gen 4 TCM, but as far as I can tell the Gen 5.5 ECU needs CAN comms with the TCM and the Gen 4 has no CAN)
Where to get the VSS from, does the ABS system and VSS (Gen 4 VSS) have the same pulse/MPH? I know the VSS needs to go to the cluster and then the cluster outputs to the ECU.

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

He's using a tranny-based VSS. The ECU doesn't care where it comes from.

Nismology, thx for the input. Am I right to assume that the trans VSS and ABS spped signal are about the same pulses/MPH? Just curious if my speedo will be off, if at all. I'll be using the I35 cluster so it will be seeing the VSS for speed instead of the ABS. I believe eng92 used the same kind of cluster (CAN based) as what I want to do. Just want to be sure!

There's been no indication that his speedo is off. He's using an A33B 6-speed gauge cluster which doesn't use CAN. In any case, it's good too see someone else interested in this path that's ACTUALLY DONE RESEARCH!!

Dunno if you've seen it yet or not but this thread is a good read and answered alot of my questions when I first started looking into it. Hope it helps...

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=487345

THX for the link. Oddly enough, the FSM for my 04 I35 shows the speed signal coming from the ABS on TCS cars, OR from a VSS in the trans on VDC cars, both signals reporting to the same pin. Must mean the VSS signal is similar to the ABS signal. Thx!

Nismology, I'm reading that thread you posted, Extra ECU stuff, and I really don't quite get the importance of scharle's first post.

It seems to me that the A34 wouldn't be too difficult to wire up if all you do is essentially what Eng and Jime did: use the ECU and engine harness, and wire up the terminals properly on the dash harness where they meet the engine harness (and use the same year gauge cluster)

Lots of moving wires around it seems, but it doesn't sound like it should be "scary" or impossible, at least any more so than the A33B setup.

The first post has nothing to do with why I posted that link. As a matter of fact, the A34 ECU doesn't have much to do with it either. Read through the whole thread and you'll see the relevance.


In any case, I know exactly what it takes to wire up the 2k2 ECU (starting reading up on it last summer) and wiring up the A34 ECU would be substantially more difficult, if for nothing more than the full CAN implementation.

I guess I'm having a hard time seeing the relevance seeing as how I don't know why you posted the link, and I'm having a hard time following the direction that thread is going.

Is there any reason why the A34 ECU would be as you put it substantially more difficult? And I mean a real reason without just using the vague terminology "full CAN", I guess I don't know enough about CAN to understand why it makes using this harness and ECU so much more difficult?

If you're not willing to read the entire thread I'm not willing to discuss this any further. I posted in that thread so I know exactly what it contains. That thread addresses questions I had about the swap that this thread didn't. Move along please.

I suggest you read through the LAN PDF in the A34 FSM. It can explain it better than I ever could. Everything is interconnected on a high-speed LAN...gauge cluster, ECU, BCM (maybe), TCM (when applicable), ABS control module, Intelligent power distribution module, etc. Swap one in, you gotta swap them and all related individual components in as well. It can be done, but like I said, it would be substantially more difficult than a 2k2 6-speed ECU swap which is fairly easy once you look up the appropriate wiring diagrams and harness/terminal layouts.

I'll save my smart *** comments for PM.



Now that is a REAL answer, and for that I thank you. I can kind of see now the difference; the A33B seems to be independent of other parts, acting much more like a traditional ECU/harness setup and only needing certain information to it, such as from the dash harness, whereas the A34 needs to act more like one big CPU controlling all parts of the car and not just the engine. Am I getting it right?

Replied and not quite. The A34 ECU still doesn't control much more than the engine, but it's part of a bigger network whereas the A33B ECU is pretty independent, like you said.

Nice work on the 350Z ecu swap!

I am working on swapping a 350z engine from a 03 into my Datsun 240z and was looking for somebody who had done just what you have done.

Do you have any more info on what needs to be cut out of the dash harness? I am looking to do the exact same thing as you and then run a piggy back setup. Any addition info /schematics would be greatly appreciated!!


Thanks

-Austin

Wow, slow down there. He has a Maxima ECU(A33B) and a Z33 IM.

The links below along with the FSM should be of utmost help.
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=400371
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=487345

Man, that's it!! This thread will be for REFERENCE ONLY from now on. Any specific questions about this swap can be directed to the creator of this thread (eng92), Jime, or to myself via PM. Starting your own thread is fine as long as you've done your research beforehand and have SPECIFIC inquiries. The link to this thread as well as another informational VQ35 ECU swap thread has been included in the 3.5/00VI swap sticky for future reference. Please make sure you've read them both in their entirety before asking about them or this topic in general. Thank you.