It's come to my attention these days that people have no idea there are 3 different generations of the fed VQ35DE. I will NOT be going over the gross details, this will not be a one stop shop, this however should stop the "Do I have an HR or what car do I get a 2nd gen from" questions.
1st Generation - the original 3.5 DE with a cast aluminum variable capacity intake manifold, variable duration intake cams and a 65mm throttle body. This motor has been all made all over the globe with varying quality. The best ones have been the last few years made in the US, I have found terribly made Mexican components in the US motors but have not personally come across a US block that's been an oil burner.
These motors are found in the following vehicles:
2nd Generation - commonly referred to as the HR motor, this however is a misnomer, the idea that it's a true HR is false. This motor only has a head that shares the casting from the red HR/VHR motor and shares pretty much nothing else with the HR/VHR platform.
These motors have been made in US and Japan as well, they have however had poor quality issues with being assembled and still hot garbage like any mass produced motor made for the masses. I have found personally the some shocking QC assembly issues that were not present on the 1st generation (poorly balanced pistons, poorly honed walls, poor headbolt tightening, etc) but they generally seem to come from the US blocks and not the Jap blocks.
These motors come with a plastic intake manifold with a dual variable capacity intake plenum, 70 or 75mm throttle body, variable duration intake and sometimes variable duration exhaust cam timing.
There are two different kinds... the Maxima motor.... And not the Maxima motor. The prices by now have come down considerably and it's pretty much pointless to not buy Maxima motor before there was a good $500 price difference now you can easily acquire a Maxima motor for under 1k.
The 2nd Generation VQ35DE found in 09-15 Maximas have variable duration intake and exhaust cams, 75mm throttlebody, larger intake runners than their other 2nd generation counterpart, a slightly more aggressive camshaft (I have not personally verified this) than it's counterpart
3rd Generation - a further step of development from the 2nd generation platform. Same as the 2nd gen. Has nothing to do with the RWD motor still except not it shares the same cast of rwd HR heads and now low friction coating like the RWD motors.
This is is rough and raw. Don't read this thread yet. I need to finish it on an actual computer.