Frontier VK swap

sirnixalot · 10-21-2020, 12:15 PM

Got the sheet tack welded in and finished one side. Welded a an inch or so at a time with a few mins in between to keep warpage down.

A little trouble keeping the line straight but shiny beads are always nice

sirnixalot · 11-10-2020, 08:38 AM

Finally got the fans and let me tell you they are NOT going to have a problem cooling the VK. I powered them up using the ac override trigger and damn near lost my shirt.

Side note, SPAL is stamped on the blades, looks like they make them for Derale. To secure everything to the shroud, I used riv-nuts. They are my new favorite thing for mounting things to sheet metal. The last piece of the puzzle is the rubber edge seal which I will have on Friday.

I have some shroud bypass flaps but I am not sure about adding them since there's no chance I'll be cruising at highway speeds here. I suppose I could just add them since I have them??

sirnixalot · 11-11-2020, 05:21 PM

25 row row transmission cooler with a 550cfm fan (also from Derale). Cooling will not be a problem I will suffer lol

sirnixalot · 12-04-2020, 11:01 AM

Only update is that the Level 10 converter and valve body services have been paid for.

I also got the ps pump, ac compressor, alternator and ecu.

Cams & springs are next!

sirnixalot · 12-15-2020, 10:45 AM

An 08 VK45 dual runner manifold I ordered off car-part finally made it here.

So I opened up the inlet and cut a pie slice out of a 4" 45* bend and welded a 102mm LS throttle body flange. I'll only be using a stock 90mm throttle body though.

sirnixalot · 12-23-2020, 10:55 AM

Been busy fixing up the garage a little. So I haven't made too much progress on the manifold.

Took the 120grit cartridge rolls to the all the runners on the lower intake manifold to take off the casting marks and rough spots. I am not opening them up as trying to port match the upper will be a challenge.

In the process of removing the casting flash and smoothing the entry into the long runners

Things are looking much smoother than they were before. I am not sure if this will be worth much power but every little bit helps when you're NA

Since the manifold didn't come with the stock fuel rails and the ones I see on Ebay come with injectors I don't need or are incomplete, I ordered up some FAST blank fuel rail stock and various fittings from Summit and Radium Auto to make the fuel rails/feed setup.

I will run a 6AN feed line from the stock 5/16" hard line to a tee on the back of the drivers side rail which will also feed the passenger side rail. To block off the front of the rails since it's return-less I'll use 2 of the Radium fuel pressure damper adapters for the stock Z dampers since I have 2 spare ones. Should look sweet.

The vacuum actuator or VIAS actuator was damaged in shipping which doesn't seem to be an easy part to come by, so I'll try adapting an exhaust cut out actuator to use in its place.

cv129 · 12-23-2020, 01:38 PM

I can use a truck from time to time, and this thread ain’t helping!

sirnixalot · 01-18-2021, 11:45 AM

Valve body is out!

It and the converter should be on their way to level 10 tomorrow.

Wondering if I should get the PML deep transmission pan, doubt I need the extra capacity with that big *** cooler.

sirnixalot · 01-21-2021, 10:27 AM

44 valve springs and the cams ordered

Funny how the VK is really just a VQ with 2 extra cylinders (and a closed deck block). 32 of those springs are for the truck and 12 for some "new" heads for the Z (still haven't figured out the VVEL issue in the drivers head so replacing both with known working, pressure tested heads)

Will update with pics when they are available. Next up is the oem stuff, fluids and headers so it can go in. Also opted to get a low mileage transfer case rather than reuse the 230k mile one off the Frontier transmission.

Pretty bummed when I found out that it's an SL not a Pro4x, means I don't have the E-locker so I need to fork out for a Trutrac now. Not a huge deal and it mean's I'll have better usable traction on the street where it will spend 95% of its time anyway.

cv129 · 01-21-2021, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirnixalot

Pretty bummed when I found out that it's an SL not a Pro4x, means I don't have the E-locker so I need to fork out for a Trutrac now. Not a huge deal and it mean's I'll have better usable traction on the street where it will spend 95% of its time anyway.

Hey now don’t underestimate them Costco grocery runs, those 24 muffins pack weight a ton! Lol

Keep it up!

sirnixalot · 01-21-2021, 10:07 PM

Thanks CV,

If it did come with the e-locker knowing myself as well as I do, I would have rewired it so I could lock the rear at will vs having to have it in 4-lo. With the trutrac I'll have the limited slip action all the time.

What really bakes my noodle is the 4cyl frontiers come with the same size diff as the Z. You're telling me I can cut a 1.6 60ft in a 3400lb Z with that size ring and pinion no issue but as soon as I wanna put a 4500lb truck in 4wd it won't survive on an OEM torture test level? So weird.

Really wish Nismo did a plate type diff for the M226 diff.

Rusty · 01-21-2021, 10:49 PM

Nissan been known to do weird chit for a long time.

My '90 Hardbody V6 5 speed short bed. I had a Detroit locker in the rear and a Quaife in the front. 32" MT tires and a 2" Jim Conner's lift. That little thing would go places. I wanted to put a twin turbo from a '90 Z into it. But it rusted out before I could do it.

sirnixalot · 01-22-2021, 06:44 AM

I LOVED the old Datsun pickups. Yours sounded like you could get up to all sorts of trouble and not need a rescue. My grandfather bought one in 1985 and it too rusted into nothingness by the early 2000s. Man I miss that truck.

Wonder if there is a market for Eaton to develop a trutrac for the M205 front diff

sirnixalot · 01-23-2021, 10:25 AM

Seems to be a recent flood of GTR stock injectors on ebay so I grabbed another set that was missing a few things. To round off the fuel system I ordered a new fuel Carter pump module to swap the AEM fuel pump into, that way it makes life a little easier when Husam has to drop the tank.

Summit had a ship date of some time in feb for the headers so I ordered those so they would arrive closer to swap o'clock but then I get a shipping notification, they will arrive next week some time lol

Aside from that I have been thinking about the exhaust, I was bouncing back and forth between 3" mid pipes into a 4" Vibrant Y & muffler or just using a Magnaflow dual inlet, single outlet muffler. Then the dual inlet muffler made me think to just go dual 3" in and dual 3" out Magnaflow since they have a built in X pipe. It will just have some turn downs off the muffler anyway.

We also decided to get it up and running on the stock intake manifold and throttle body to simplify the initial tuning and make sure everything is good to go. Depending on cost I might do a before and after dyno for the VK45 intake manifold/90mm throttle body swap.

sirnixalot · 01-28-2021, 11:46 AM

Trans stuff got to Level10 monday. I get a UPS notification that they shipped out yesterday afternoon.

They don't **** around with turn around time

10-21-2020, 12:15 PM	#16 (permalink)
sirnixalot Track Member Join Date: May 2017 Location: Cayman Islands Posts: 685 Drives: 2010 370Z Rep Power: 57454	Got the sheet tack welded in and finished one side. Welded a an inch or so at a time with a few mins in between to keep warpage down. A little trouble keeping the line straight but shiny beads are always nice JARblue and ZontheRocks like this. __________________ 2010 Sport - LS3 swap loading 2012 Frontier - BTWTuning VK56DE swap

11-10-2020, 08:38 AM	#17 (permalink)
sirnixalot Track Member Join Date: May 2017 Location: Cayman Islands Posts: 685 Drives: 2010 370Z Rep Power: 57454	Finally got the fans and let me tell you they are NOT going to have a problem cooling the VK. I powered them up using the ac override trigger and damn near lost my shirt. Side note, SPAL is stamped on the blades, looks like they make them for Derale. To secure everything to the shroud, I used riv-nuts. They are my new favorite thing for mounting things to sheet metal. The last piece of the puzzle is the rubber edge seal which I will have on Friday. I have some shroud bypass flaps but I am not sure about adding them since there's no chance I'll be cruising at highway speeds here. I suppose I could just add them since I have them?? FL 4Motion, JARblue, danegrey and 2 others like this. __________________ 2010 Sport - LS3 swap loading 2012 Frontier - BTWTuning VK56DE swap Last edited by sirnixalot; 11-10-2020 at 08:46 AM.

11-11-2020, 05:21 PM	#18 (permalink)
sirnixalot Track Member Join Date: May 2017 Location: Cayman Islands Posts: 685 Drives: 2010 370Z Rep Power: 57454	25 row row transmission cooler with a 550cfm fan (also from Derale). Cooling will not be a problem I will suffer lol JARblue, cv129, Rusty and 1 others like this. __________________ 2010 Sport - LS3 swap loading 2012 Frontier - BTWTuning VK56DE swap

12-04-2020, 11:01 AM	#19 (permalink)
sirnixalot Track Member Join Date: May 2017 Location: Cayman Islands Posts: 685 Drives: 2010 370Z Rep Power: 57454	Only update is that the Level 10 converter and valve body services have been paid for. I also got the ps pump, ac compressor, alternator and ecu. Cams & springs are next! FL 4Motion, JARblue, Rusty and 2 others like this. __________________ 2010 Sport - LS3 swap loading 2012 Frontier - BTWTuning VK56DE swap

12-15-2020, 10:45 AM	#20 (permalink)
sirnixalot Track Member Join Date: May 2017 Location: Cayman Islands Posts: 685 Drives: 2010 370Z Rep Power: 57454	An 08 VK45 dual runner manifold I ordered off car-part finally made it here. So I opened up the inlet and cut a pie slice out of a 4" 45* bend and welded a 102mm LS throttle body flange. I'll only be using a stock 90mm throttle body though. FL 4Motion, BGTV8, cv129 and 4 others like this. __________________ 2010 Sport - LS3 swap loading 2012 Frontier - BTWTuning VK56DE swap

12-23-2020, 10:55 AM	#21 (permalink)
sirnixalot Track Member Join Date: May 2017 Location: Cayman Islands Posts: 685 Drives: 2010 370Z Rep Power: 57454	Been busy fixing up the garage a little. So I haven't made too much progress on the manifold. Took the 120grit cartridge rolls to the all the runners on the lower intake manifold to take off the casting marks and rough spots. I am not opening them up as trying to port match the upper will be a challenge. In the process of removing the casting flash and smoothing the entry into the long runners Things are looking much smoother than they were before. I am not sure if this will be worth much power but every little bit helps when you're NA Since the manifold didn't come with the stock fuel rails and the ones I see on Ebay come with injectors I don't need or are incomplete, I ordered up some FAST blank fuel rail stock and various fittings from Summit and Radium Auto to make the fuel rails/feed setup. I will run a 6AN feed line from the stock 5/16" hard line to a tee on the back of the drivers side rail which will also feed the passenger side rail. To block off the front of the rails since it's return-less I'll use 2 of the Radium fuel pressure damper adapters for the stock Z dampers since I have 2 spare ones. Should look sweet. The vacuum actuator or VIAS actuator was damaged in shipping which doesn't seem to be an easy part to come by, so I'll try adapting an exhaust cut out actuator to use in its place. FL 4Motion, JARblue, cv129 and 2 others like this. __________________ 2010 Sport - LS3 swap loading 2012 Frontier - BTWTuning VK56DE swap Last edited by sirnixalot; 12-23-2020 at 10:59 AM.

12-23-2020, 01:38 PM	#22 (permalink)
cv129 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 3,223 Drives: 09 Nismo, 16 Nismo Rep Power: 163995	I can use a truck from time to time, and this thread ain’t helping! FL 4Motion, JARblue, Rusty and 1 others like this. __________________ Setrab \| RE-71 \| SPL \| JRZ \| Nismo \| ARK \| Whiteline \| RacingBrake \| CJM Oil Pan \| Ti shield

01-18-2021, 11:45 AM	#23 (permalink)
sirnixalot Track Member Join Date: May 2017 Location: Cayman Islands Posts: 685 Drives: 2010 370Z Rep Power: 57454	Valve body is out! It and the converter should be on their way to level 10 tomorrow. Wondering if I should get the PML deep transmission pan, doubt I need the extra capacity with that big *** cooler. FL 4Motion, JARblue and Rusty like this. __________________ 2010 Sport - LS3 swap loading 2012 Frontier - BTWTuning VK56DE swap

01-21-2021, 10:27 AM	#24 (permalink)
sirnixalot Track Member Join Date: May 2017 Location: Cayman Islands Posts: 685 Drives: 2010 370Z Rep Power: 57454	44 valve springs and the cams ordered Funny how the VK is really just a VQ with 2 extra cylinders (and a closed deck block). 32 of those springs are for the truck and 12 for some "new" heads for the Z (still haven't figured out the VVEL issue in the drivers head so replacing both with known working, pressure tested heads) Will update with pics when they are available. Next up is the oem stuff, fluids and headers so it can go in. Also opted to get a low mileage transfer case rather than reuse the 230k mile one off the Frontier transmission. Pretty bummed when I found out that it's an SL not a Pro4x, means I don't have the E-locker so I need to fork out for a Trutrac now. Not a huge deal and it mean's I'll have better usable traction on the street where it will spend 95% of its time anyway. FL 4Motion, JARblue and Rusty like this. __________________ 2010 Sport - LS3 swap loading 2012 Frontier - BTWTuning VK56DE swap

01-21-2021, 10:07 PM	#26 (permalink)
sirnixalot Track Member Join Date: May 2017 Location: Cayman Islands Posts: 685 Drives: 2010 370Z Rep Power: 57454	Thanks CV, If it did come with the e-locker knowing myself as well as I do, I would have rewired it so I could lock the rear at will vs having to have it in 4-lo. With the trutrac I'll have the limited slip action all the time. What really bakes my noodle is the 4cyl frontiers come with the same size diff as the Z. You're telling me I can cut a 1.6 60ft in a 3400lb Z with that size ring and pinion no issue but as soon as I wanna put a 4500lb truck in 4wd it won't survive on an OEM torture test level? So weird. Really wish Nismo did a plate type diff for the M226 diff. FL 4Motion, JARblue and Rusty like this. __________________ 2010 Sport - LS3 swap loading 2012 Frontier - BTWTuning VK56DE swap Last edited by sirnixalot; 01-21-2021 at 10:09 PM.

01-21-2021, 10:49 PM	#27 (permalink)
Rusty Ronin Samurai - Assassin Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Fayettenam,Pennsyltucky Age: 68 Posts: 35,190 Drives: 2011 Nismo GM 6M Rep Power: 2684437	Nissan been known to do weird chit for a long time. My '90 Hardbody V6 5 speed short bed. I had a Detroit locker in the rear and a Quaife in the front. 32" MT tires and a 2" Jim Conner's lift. That little thing would go places. I wanted to put a twin turbo from a '90 Z into it. But it rusted out before I could do it. FL 4Motion likes this. __________________ 浪人 - 殺し屋 "The Difficult Anytime, The Impossible By Appointment Only" http://www.the370z.com/members-370z-...o-journal.html

01-22-2021, 06:44 AM	#28 (permalink)
sirnixalot Track Member Join Date: May 2017 Location: Cayman Islands Posts: 685 Drives: 2010 370Z Rep Power: 57454	I LOVED the old Datsun pickups. Yours sounded like you could get up to all sorts of trouble and not need a rescue. My grandfather bought one in 1985 and it too rusted into nothingness by the early 2000s. Man I miss that truck. Wonder if there is a market for Eaton to develop a trutrac for the M205 front diff FL 4Motion likes this. __________________ 2010 Sport - LS3 swap loading 2012 Frontier - BTWTuning VK56DE swap

01-23-2021, 10:25 AM	#29 (permalink)
sirnixalot Track Member Join Date: May 2017 Location: Cayman Islands Posts: 685 Drives: 2010 370Z Rep Power: 57454	Seems to be a recent flood of GTR stock injectors on ebay so I grabbed another set that was missing a few things. To round off the fuel system I ordered a new fuel Carter pump module to swap the AEM fuel pump into, that way it makes life a little easier when Husam has to drop the tank. Summit had a ship date of some time in feb for the headers so I ordered those so they would arrive closer to swap o'clock but then I get a shipping notification, they will arrive next week some time lol Aside from that I have been thinking about the exhaust, I was bouncing back and forth between 3" mid pipes into a 4" Vibrant Y & muffler or just using a Magnaflow dual inlet, single outlet muffler. Then the dual inlet muffler made me think to just go dual 3" in and dual 3" out Magnaflow since they have a built in X pipe. It will just have some turn downs off the muffler anyway. We also decided to get it up and running on the stock intake manifold and throttle body to simplify the initial tuning and make sure everything is good to go. Depending on cost I might do a before and after dyno for the VK45 intake manifold/90mm throttle body swap. FL 4Motion, JARblue and Rusty like this. __________________ 2010 Sport - LS3 swap loading 2012 Frontier - BTWTuning VK56DE swap

01-28-2021, 11:46 AM	#30 (permalink)
sirnixalot Track Member Join Date: May 2017 Location: Cayman Islands Posts: 685 Drives: 2010 370Z Rep Power: 57454	Trans stuff got to Level10 monday. I get a UPS notification that they shipped out yesterday afternoon. They don't **** around with turn around time FL 4Motion, JARblue, cv129 and 1 others like this. __________________ 2010 Sport - LS3 swap loading 2012 Frontier - BTWTuning VK56DE swap

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
4.08 Frontier gear swap	jnaut	Engine & Drivetrain	157	01-23-2015 02:47 AM
2013 Nissan Frontier - 21k	Mike	Other Vehicle For sale	1	08-25-2014 07:09 PM
4.08 frontier gears and LSD	quicksilver08	Engine & Drivetrain	8	08-08-2011 09:09 AM
New Frontier Pics and Dad's Mercedes SL	HKYStormFront	Photography	3	05-10-2011 10:51 PM
Anyone here own a Nissan Frontier?	kannibul	Other Vehicles	12	12-08-2009 02:53 PM