- Location
- Portland, OR
Yo dudes. I picked up a complete VQ35DE on the super cheap a few days ago and wanted to make a thread to document my time spent with said motor. I found it on CL and the seller's story was that it had been in a flooded 350z that he purchased for parts. After significant procrastination, I finally went over to check it out a full three weeks after I initially saw the ad, found it to be in pretty good shape relative to my expectations, so I bought it, for $300 delivered to my driveway, and so began my little project. Immediate plans are a full tear down. If I find hardcore water damage I'll probably keep a few things and part it out. If the stars align, I may attempt a rebuild, but to be honest with myself the former is much more likely. Anyway, here's what's happened so far. I'll update this thread with pics as I progress. Enjoy. 
DAY 1
This deal completely took me by surprise. I wasn't looking for a motor or anything, but my list of projects is down to about 4 single spaced pages so I figured what the hell. :tongue (2): My point being I had nowhere to put the motor and no way to move it, so the first thing I did was to hit up Harbor Freight for a simple engine stand rated for 750lbs. I'm not usually a fan of HF for tools due to their disgustingly low quality standards but something like this is pretty hard to screw up...and it was $50. :top:
.
.
Fortunately the seller had a pretty big engine hoist that he brought to lift the motor out of the back of his truck. Unfortunately my work space is in my tool shed which is built such that the floor is about 10" off the ground. That meant I couldn't put the motor onto my new engine stand with any hope of getting it up into my shed. Ergo, I had to have it delivered onto a plastic pallet just outside the shed. I threw a tarp over it until I could figure out a way to get it inside.
.
.
DAY 2
Not having figured out a way to get the motor inside yet, I decided to begin lightening the load and commence dis-assembly. Here's the back, still outside under the tarp. There is a fairly subtle water line about halfway up the flywheel that I didn't notice before.
.
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First to come off was the throttle body. It looked entirely unaffected by the flood, but there are pretty sensitive electronics inside so I'm going to hold off on an inventory comment until I can test it.
.
.
Next was the plenum, both upper and lower. They are dirty as hell but don't appear to have been wet.
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.
Next was the fuel system, including fuel rail, injectors, and injector harness. All complete, undamaged, and very dirty.
.
.
Injectors and seals look great and were holding a good amount of fuel in the rail without leaking.
.
.
Intake manifold - dirty but no signs of water.
.
.
At this point things got a little ugly. As soon as I removed the manifold I saw a good amount of surface rust on the back sides of the valves. Until then I was kind of hoping that the flooding hadn't actually entered the motor. Unfortunately I was wrong. :.frown:
.
Cylinders 1-6, respectively.
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After seeing that I threw the tarp back over it and quit for the night.
.
DAY 3
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Next, with the help of my buddy Archimedes, I was able to pry, prop, and drag the beast inside without so much as a scuff or stubbed toe. Score.
.
.
.
Next I removed the valve covers to see whats what on the cam shafts. Another dose of disappointment was swallowed when I saw surface rust on 3/4 of them.
.
.
.
.
After that I pretty much gave up on the idea of a smooth rebuild plan and settled into the reality of the project; I'm going to have to completely tear this thing down and assess each component individually to determine the fate of the whole assembly. So the valve covers went back on, the engine stand interface went on, and I began scheming on a means of lifting it onto the engine stand. Yes, I could just call up a couple friends to help, but what's the fun in that? :tongue (2):
.
A car jack is far too precarious and even if it wasn't. it's not tall enough. Idea #1 - out.
.
.
DAY 4
.
This lead me to building a simple hoist system, which was a fun little project in itself. It basically consists of a couple Simpson hangers, a few 3/8x3" bolts, and a 1 ton cable ratchet winch hoist.
.
.
.
.
Once the mini-crane was in place I threw a couple ATV ratchet straps rated at 600lbs each around the motor and began lifting it in place.
.
.
.
.
Success!
.
.
DAY 1
This deal completely took me by surprise. I wasn't looking for a motor or anything, but my list of projects is down to about 4 single spaced pages so I figured what the hell. :tongue (2): My point being I had nowhere to put the motor and no way to move it, so the first thing I did was to hit up Harbor Freight for a simple engine stand rated for 750lbs. I'm not usually a fan of HF for tools due to their disgustingly low quality standards but something like this is pretty hard to screw up...and it was $50. :top:
.
.
Fortunately the seller had a pretty big engine hoist that he brought to lift the motor out of the back of his truck. Unfortunately my work space is in my tool shed which is built such that the floor is about 10" off the ground. That meant I couldn't put the motor onto my new engine stand with any hope of getting it up into my shed. Ergo, I had to have it delivered onto a plastic pallet just outside the shed. I threw a tarp over it until I could figure out a way to get it inside.
.
.
DAY 2
Not having figured out a way to get the motor inside yet, I decided to begin lightening the load and commence dis-assembly. Here's the back, still outside under the tarp. There is a fairly subtle water line about halfway up the flywheel that I didn't notice before.
.
.
First to come off was the throttle body. It looked entirely unaffected by the flood, but there are pretty sensitive electronics inside so I'm going to hold off on an inventory comment until I can test it.
.
.
Next was the plenum, both upper and lower. They are dirty as hell but don't appear to have been wet.
.
.
.
Next was the fuel system, including fuel rail, injectors, and injector harness. All complete, undamaged, and very dirty.
.
.
Injectors and seals look great and were holding a good amount of fuel in the rail without leaking.
.
.
Intake manifold - dirty but no signs of water.
.
.
At this point things got a little ugly. As soon as I removed the manifold I saw a good amount of surface rust on the back sides of the valves. Until then I was kind of hoping that the flooding hadn't actually entered the motor. Unfortunately I was wrong. :.frown:
.
Cylinders 1-6, respectively.
.
.
After seeing that I threw the tarp back over it and quit for the night.
.
DAY 3
.
Next, with the help of my buddy Archimedes, I was able to pry, prop, and drag the beast inside without so much as a scuff or stubbed toe. Score.
.
.
.
Next I removed the valve covers to see whats what on the cam shafts. Another dose of disappointment was swallowed when I saw surface rust on 3/4 of them.
.
.
.
.
After that I pretty much gave up on the idea of a smooth rebuild plan and settled into the reality of the project; I'm going to have to completely tear this thing down and assess each component individually to determine the fate of the whole assembly. So the valve covers went back on, the engine stand interface went on, and I began scheming on a means of lifting it onto the engine stand. Yes, I could just call up a couple friends to help, but what's the fun in that? :tongue (2):
.
A car jack is far too precarious and even if it wasn't. it's not tall enough. Idea #1 - out.
.
.
DAY 4
.
This lead me to building a simple hoist system, which was a fun little project in itself. It basically consists of a couple Simpson hangers, a few 3/8x3" bolts, and a 1 ton cable ratchet winch hoist.
.
.
.
.
Once the mini-crane was in place I threw a couple ATV ratchet straps rated at 600lbs each around the motor and began lifting it in place.
.
.
.
.
Success!
.
.
Last edited:
