I picked up my VQ35 today and all was going well until I got home. I opened the rear hatch, undid the securing straps, turned around and walked into the garage, only to hear a loud THWACK soon thereafter. I turned around and to my horror, my engine had fallen out of the rear hatch and landed on the front valve cover. Upon visual inspection, I found that the VC cracked/shattered by the rightmost cylinder (flywheel side), the front O2 sensor connector cracked in half, and the gold "thing" (my technical vernacular is a bit lacking) by the leftmost cylinder (pulley side) popped out. So, what else do I need to look for or inspect?

 

my motor fell down the stairs by accident....and hit a concret floor. I found i did the swap anywayz and pray for the best and then after 2 attemps of takin it out and putting it back on, i found out that the 3 rear cylinders were shooting up oil like a **** and it was running like it was on 3 cylinders. oh yeah if nothing is wrong that valve cover is gonna cost you over 100 bucks at the dealers.

 

I'd gladly pay $200 for a front VC if everything else in the motor is okay. I heard about your incident and mine might not be *as* bad since there was just one impact rather than tumbling down the stairs and gaining lots of momentum before it hit the floor. F=MA...ain't it a b!tch?

 

Are you doing the full swap with the 3.5 ECU or are you going to use the 3.0L timing equipment? If you're using the 3.0L timing equipment, you won't use the VTC solenoid (the gold thing). It'll still be bolted on the engine, just not plugged in electrically or doing anything except plugging up some oil holes. In looking at the picture of the VTC soleniod, it's not clear if you would leak oil or not. If it does, you may have to remove the electrical solenoid part and fab a plate or get another VTC from a boneyard.

You won't be using the O2 sensor from the vq35 nor the exhaust manifold.

Looks like you got lucky that it fell on the plastic valvecover. It took one for the team and didn't damage the valvetrain. If it was aluminum, it would have bent and possibly f*(ked up the valvetrain. You'll just need to get a new valvecover from the stealer or the boneyard.

 

I'll be using the 3.0 ECU and timing equipment. My initial impression is the VC took the brunt of the impact and hopefully the rest of the motor is okay.

 

might want to check and make sure none of the brackets are bent. wouldnt be a horrible problem, but would need to be bent back before installation.

 

The valve cover is only like $40 bucks at the dealer ship because I had to get one. It looks like the coolant piping in pic three has a gash/hole in it but you should be able to use the one from your 3.0.

 

Damn...make sure the head isn't warped or anything...that's a high fall from an xterra. You have almost as bad of luck as I do.

 

valve cover cost over 100 bucks quoted to me from a guy who works at nissan that gets us parts for our local forum. i'm just letting everyone know how much i'm asked to pay for it and THT would be getting it from the same guy because he gets us all parts at very very low prices...i'm suprised that the valve cover cost that much.

 

The 04 VCs are cheap and thats the way I'm planning to go. I was already planning on an 04 rear VC...I just need a matching front one now.

 

well yeah i know a new one cost lesss NOW, but i was talkin about the 02-03 one becaue i didn't know that the 04 would still work.