Ok, here is a small update. I busted the pad on my 3 inch D/A and the 6 inch is pretty much useless in this area. So that means I am sanding by hand. I had laid This long hair or Tiger Hair from Evercoat to build up the low area on top of the fiberglass sheet covering the new metal. So build up and heavy removal has been done, hopefully 2 more days or sweating in a hot garage sanding by hand and I will be ready for paint and then hopefully the gold foil will be here by then.







So like I said, heavy removal is done. Still needs more shaping and than a fine coat to even it out. SO hopefully next pictures I post will be GOLD!

 

Update?

 

Gold just came up today at 5 pm. I also work third shift, which is overnight. I will be starting to put the gold in tomorrow morning and will post pictures after. Hopefully I can get that done soon so I can pull the rear subframe.

 

Ok, so I started applying the gold. This firewall has some ridiculous curves to it, which make applying a pain in the ***. Hit, for anything one that wants to do this, order and use the roll of gold foil tape, not the sheet, Large pieces don;t fit well and look a little wrinkled after applying them, plus are bad for curves. I wound up cutting the sheet into almost 2x3 inch squares which actually worked out really well. So I started, and a 24x24 inch sheet did not go far. I just ordered two 2 inch by 30ft rolls.



Don't worry. It will look better soon!

 

Looks good!

 

Thank you!

I am trying to lay it on the weird angle areas and get it down enough to cover the majority. Tha. I am gonna go over the lines with a nice straight edge and clean it all up nice.

 

Should be nice

 

Subbed for updates and tips. My 06 is at 204k miles and burning oil, so I'm keeping my options open for a replacement engine. Basically weighing a rebuild vs VK56 vs LSx swaps.

 

Rebuilding the vq will be the quickest and most simple. LS will be quicker and way easier then the VK. VK will be the most unique.

 

This is great. So how much more space did you gain by cutting out the secondary firewall?

 

If you want easy big power, go LS you will always be able to pull the engine without dropping the subframe. Only problem with LS is that there is no system integration cause you will have to run full standalone, so whatever money you spend on the swap you will spend again on standalone and getting all your gauges and stuff to work. If you want everything to work like stock, VK. The 56 is a rear sump so it makes this swap better when removing the secondary firewall, if you are not going to remove this and you don;t care about how much you mess up the weight distribution, go vk45. The vk45 was designed more for a car, high reving long power band, so on.

Its all on what you want to do

 

I know it sounds like I am BSing you, but I would say 10 to 12 inches easy with the secondary removed completely.

Here is how far forward of the secondary firewall the stock vq is mounted.





Here is an idea of how bulky all this extra metal is.



So when you combined all that space, and removing all that bulk. You can set the motor further back than the stock vq.

I will be running Mckinny engine mounts, they are the same mounts that Ryan Kado used in his 350z swap and in that build thread they claimed over 10 inches back from the stock location and that cylinder 1 on the vk will sit between cylinder 1 and 3 on the vq, meaning the VK56 will sit back further in general and more weight further towards the center of the car.

 

So I have been collecting bushings, and my boss said I can use the shop equipment (hydraulic press and parts cleaner) so here is a quick picture of the equipment, and a small hit of the "Garage" I work at.





LOL, this is a small corner.

 

Ok, so hopefully the people following this find my post again. I have finished the gold for now until the first test fit of the motor. Once I see where the height and exactly where the headers will sit, I will be leaving the gold at this amount of coverage. Now that this is complete, I will be pulling the rear subframe along with the diff and all suspension in order to replace the subframe bushings with SPL solid bushings, The Diff will also be getting SPL soild subframe bushings in order to lock it it and give me the type of handling I want. I also have Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings for all the rear control arms. The front will follow.

 

Looks damn good!