Hello
This weekend I tried to put the intake manifold from an 04 Maxima onto my 97 Maxima engine. The lower manifold will bolt on just fine and appears to form a tight seal to the heads however, the holes for the injectors are different. If you want to use the 04 Maxima lower IM you will need to dremel the injector holes on your VQ30 heads slightly, not much, but some. The upper intake manifold hit the coil packs as well but that could probably be solved with a little effort. I gave up because of other issues with my particular application.
Of course you will need to use a top feed fuel rail and top feed injectors. The 04 fuel rail is a returnless type and is probably not the best way to go. The 00 VQ30 uses a top feed returnable type, that is what I was going to use but gave up before I got the chance.

Hope this helps someone,
allen

 

1 question, why did you try this? Any special reasons, im curious

 

What were you planning to do about the heads intake port vs. LIM different shape/angle?

 

yes, i'm interested in icey2k1's question also.

the vq30 heads have oval shaped ports where the lower IM meets up to it. The vq35 heads have round circular ports where the lower IM meets up to it.

 

I need an IM that will allow for a side or front entry throttle body to go into a RWD chassis.

allen

 

I wasn't going to worry about it, I've got enough issues to deal with on this project to worry about a relatively minor mismatch in port shapes.

allen

 

What exactly are your plans for your max?

 

It may look like a minor mismatch, but there are six of them and they will lower your volumetric efficiency. The higher the rpm, the greater the loss in VE.

 

Pathfinder VQ35 is your friend....

 

I'm sure your right.

allen

 

That's what it's lookin like, if there isn't hood clearance for a custom tubular type IM I'll look for one of those.

allen