Project N14 sleeper

[throttlehappy46]

With the SR20VE Pulsar phenonem taking off in Australia and my own VE Pulsar becoming the my sisters daily driver, I thought it was time to do something different. I recently bought an N14 Pulsar Q with a fully sick(and I mean sick as in dying) GAy16DE for the princely sum of $400. I contemplated a simple N15 SR16VE conversion but after ringing a few of my contacts and checking the viability/difficulty of the project on the sr20 forum, I sourced a 2005 Nissan Maxima front cut for less than an SR20VE motor. Good old supply and demand

The plan is:
Custom engine mounts, customised driveshafts, N14 hubs machined to accept a bigger wheel bearings and converting to a cable gearshift should be the biggest hurdles of the conversion.
More simple customising will be an S13 radiator, GTiR hydraulis clutch setup, remove the brake booster and mount the mastercylinder direct to the firewall, bigger fuel pump, R34 ECU/AFM/wiring harness with the ECU fitted with Bikirom to upload a suitable N/A map then tune the cam shift points and it should be a goer. I have a budget of around $4000 for all of the above parts as I will be supplying the labour.

The VQ35 is rated to around 200Kw@flywheel and over 350Nm of torque in standard tune but Bikirom should liberate a fair bit more with extractors, a dual exhaust and possibly JWT cams + a twin throttlebody manifold to be built using two N1 throttlebodies onto customised plenums

VQ35 is reported to weigh around 20Kg more than an SR20DE and about the same weight as an SR20DET. The gearbox weight is very similiar to the stock Pulsar but I will put it on the scales to confirm before fitment.

Current hurdles are:
1. Firing order and the CAS sensor is my first priority as that will determine if the R34 ECU will run the VQ motor.
2. Exedy do not have a clutch kit for the late model Maxima yet. Might need to fit a 350Z one...
3. Finding time to work on the car without having my girlfriend find out I bought another car.

Pics of the USA swapped car that I am using as a reference:

[Turbofied]

Motor will be free ball'n in the breeze! not much room for radiator, fans, headlights ect! but yes the torque and HP would be unbeatable!

Would you be able to run a 350Z tune on this motor?
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Thanks for Joining!
132wkw sr20ve loving the RPM

[throttlehappy46]

The 350Z tune is completely different so I intend on plugging in a fuel table similiar to the SR20VE and then check AFR's using a wideband with 15 degrees in each ignition timing cell. Onto the dyno for so we can increase timing until it is making power similiar to a stock Maxima/350Z as a base map. Copy fuel/timing tables into the Map 2 section of the Bikirom and activate the cams across the entire rpm scale in Map 2 for a dyno run and see where ignition timing and fuel cell values need adjustment to suit. Save that file as a base map for anyone wanting to do the conversion later on.

After that, should be around 20 minutes of dyno time to get a full power tune of both Map1 and Map 2 to suit my mods. Once they are both tuned, I find at what rpm the two dyno graphs intersect on the torque scale and activate the cams at that rpm point to keep a progressive power output.

As we all know the R34 air flow meter can flow enough air for a RB25DET, it should not pose a restriction for a N/A 3.5L engine.

Top Secret have a twin plenum inlet manifold for the VQ engine and there is a guy in Qld from the LS1 forum who can make me up the necessary linkages to create the twin throttle kit. Might even just use two SR20DE throttlebodies, as I have a few spare

[DeRail]

Sounds awesome nice one!

Now if only I could get my damn Bikirom working like your able to... Been giving me nothing but grief

[reeceknot]

dude that's gonna be nuts, i was looking at one of these this afternoon and the maxima's are massive lol, looks like there may be just a tad of custom work
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[throttlehappy46]

I have had my share of grief with Bikirom but I think I have spent enough time with it to know what to expect and how to troubleshoot it. Try spending 4 days trying to work out why the Bikirom would not synchronise with the laptop, only to realise you had turned off the USB hub in device manager

I have been writing a comprehensive supplementary guide *.pdf file on how to get the best from Bikirom and little tips on what the changes mean, which I will be sending to Lucas shortly for hosting on his website.

[DeRail]

[throttlehappy46]

I will do a few screen shots tomorrow on how to get it to synchronise first go. The datalogging is also dependant on your laptop processing speed and how much data your trying to transfer across the USB cable at a time.

I find that TPS, MAF voltage, O2 sensor and rpm is my most common datalogging values. O2 sensor is only really needed if you suspect there is a problem or your trying to lean out the mixtures a lot past 12.7:1 AFR's(which should only be done with a wideband)

As long as the fuel and ignition timing tables are linear, there should be no problems with basic tuning. Values below 92 in the fuel table are bad

[throttlehappy46]

I love RS5F50V gearboxes and imported Maxima VLSD bellhousings so much right now.

No mess, no fuss and the driveshafts are an easy upgrade that plenty of people have completed before. The VQ35 driveshaft bracket can also be used for the driver side so I only need a new intermediate shaft Fidanza have a VQ flywheel and organising a clutch to suit.

Sure it is not a 6 speed but the VQ35 has plenty of torque so the wider spaced ratios of the 50 series box should suit it well.

The mechanical side of the conversion should be finished by late next week once a few other issues are sorted. ECU/wiring is hardest hurdle to overcome right now.

The whole project including car purchase owes me less than $6500 right now

So far, from what I have seen the gearbox is the only extra weight in the front end. The VQ weight is respectable, once you consider that most of a V6 is hollow space inside and that the weight is more over the axle than a DET motor which should help with traction and turn in.

-- -- --

NamSSS: Probably need a driver towards the start of December for some tuning. Raleigh Raceway are having a test & tune day around then as well if your interested with the chance to set a few lap times as well.

Also need to organise a time to deliver your parts and pickup the Biki. Will call you to arrange.

[throttlehappy46]

Mechanicals are finished. Car is arriving home on a flatbed on Monday afternoon and I am finalising the wiring harness for a bolt up job. Use an SR20DE harness, need to add the extra wires for the extra cylinders and the variable cam phasing.

Found a Nissan ECU that works with the VQ35DE and Bikirom plugs straight in, just got to get Lucas to fit it. RB26 MAF and two 2.5" pipes off the back of the stock inlet manifold to a pair of SR20DE throttle bodies with a common throttle linkage and one TPS = aural pleasure.

Will be using all three Biki maps, with the 1st map for idle and low rpm with 100% cam engagement but also have flat shifting setup for the high-rpm range of this map.

2nd map will have mid range torque with the cams 50% activated, keeping in mind that the VQ35 cams are PWM activated.

3rd map has no cam shaft phasing and is tuned solely for hi-rpm power. The low rpm parts of this map will have launch control setup.

Local exhaust shop is fitting the extractor primaries and O2 sensor setup on Monday morning and creating a custom Y pipe, single 3" system all the way with a resonator and a dual 2.5" outlet muffler

It can be done and using a Nissan ECU means engineering will be a breeze!

[Alex_W]

all i can say is holy shin digidy damn!! your engine is the tightest fit I have ever seen. makes a mitsubishi fto look like a massive engine bay! did you end up getting the rest of the ecu wire up sorted out last night or today? when do you expect it to fire into life?

did you head down to the drift today? rumour down there was that mark actually made another set of secondaries for you? are you really contemplating that setup because a pfitzner gearset would be mandatory.

one of joes mates was asking if your were going to sell a conversion kit?
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Red N15 sedan with phunny noises

[throttlehappy46]

Hey mate,

The Q has not progressed much further since you saw it the other afternoon. I have cut the stock ECU socket off the original ECU board, then soldered up relevant wires to join onto the new ECU plug. That way, I can use the stock loom plug to get the MAF wiring, speedo, coolant temp sensor, TPS, IACV, alternator, A/C, starter motor, oil pressure switch, dash temp gauge, etc to connect to the new ECU plug. I figure this is the easiest way of doing it without totally rewiring the car. All the wires specific to the new ECU are on a new loom using about 20 additional wires for the coils, injectors and VTC, etc.
This thursday may see me call in sick to get it finished in time for the weekend, not to mention celebrate old age and try to get it into the hill climb event on Sunday

No plans on a conversion kit yet, those guys are getting ahead of themselves since it has not even started yet For all I know, I might have to rip it all out and start again.

Mark was not supposed to mention 'that' but we can discuss that next time you get your other half to bring you up this way


Pics:





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N14 Q: big block
N14 SSS: Evicted
SCR kit car in England
SS ute with TT flutta noises - zuuu-too-choo-too
R32 Golf - For Sale

[Turbofied]

pics dont work...
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Thanks for Joining!
132wkw sr20ve loving the RPM

[evlnxr]

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P12 sr20ve 20v plus 6 speed manual trans
1994 NX-R

[evldan]

throttlehappy46 =
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VZ-R N1 spec I