# altima/maxima engine in B14?



## Guest (Jun 8, 2003)

I was wondering if it would be possible to put a V6 VQ series Nissan Maxima/Altima engine into a B14 Sentra. If so, the engine would be easy to find - just go to a junk yard. And the performance boost would be tremendous. You could then add all the bolt ons for the Maxima or Altima.

Please don't flame me for posting this. I don't know very much about engine swaps. That is why I am asking.


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## SJLucky (May 25, 2003)

Hmm
Well lets truely think about this. Im not going to get into measurements or how to rig it up but just by eye-balling my own engine (1.6) and the space it has under the hood. Also eyeing some 2.0L I would have to say that putting anyhting over a small 4 banger would be one hell of a job. Since its a front wheel drive you would either have to change it into a rear wheel drive or make the area under the hood bigger. I have seen a Honda with a chevy 350 in it. It was the worst ride of my life but it flew. 


But the bottom line is:
your ride, your rules!


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## Guest (Jun 8, 2003)

I could understand changing it to RWD if you were dropping a V8 in there, but it's only a V6. The Maxima's engine bay doesn't look that much bigger than that of the Sentra.

If this were possible, I may as well get a license plate that reads "SLEEPER."


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## g200sx (Apr 18, 2003)

yeah you probably could get the engine in the b14 hell you could put any engine you want in there
however the cost to do it is a whole other story,
basically the answer to your question is it is possible but it would be expensive


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## dry (Oct 21, 2002)

with a liscense plate that reads "SLEEPER" you wouldnt be too much of a sleeper any more eh???

the biggest problem about putting that engine in our car would be the drivechain, I mean the tranny won't bolt up to our axles, and the axles on the max. are gonna be different sizes so you'll be doing a lot of heavy duty welding under the car and I do mean A LOT... otherwise I think it would fit...


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## Guest (Jun 9, 2003)

Yeah, I guess it wouldn't be much of a sleeper then. The license plate may as well read "V6INSIDE" for that matter.

I'd probably have to weld new mounts on the chassis as well, right? Let's say I can fit the engine in the bay and get it mounted properly. What would be involved in linking the tranny to the drive axle. Does anyone know of any websites with information on transmissions and other topics of that sort?


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## go4broke44 (Jan 14, 2003)

lol, why not drop the skyline engine in a B14, "that would dessumate all"


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## niky (Jul 20, 2002)

don't know any off-hand, but i can tell it will take a lot of welding and patience... you will probably have to have the axles custom machined to fit the wheel you have, and that won't come cheap... about the easiest thing you could do is to take an entire front-end from a junked max and have them gut your engine bay and stick it in there, suspension and all...


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## mirage (Sep 5, 2002)

niky said:


> *don't know any off-hand, but i can tell it will take a lot of welding and patience... you will probably have to have the axles custom machined to fit the wheel you have, and that won't come cheap... about the easiest thing you could do is to take an entire front-end from a junked max and have them gut your engine bay and stick it in there, suspension and all... *


that would look fuckin funny. wouldn't your front end be wider than the rest of the car? just a thought.

if money is no object, get a gti-r front clip from australia or something. good stuff!


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## himilefrontier (Jan 21, 2003)

Heck, if I did it, I would make it mid engined and transplant the whole Maxima suspension and engine bay into the rear o fthe Sentra.Then make a wide body kit for it.It has been done before. Back in the late 80's/early 90's there was a car called a "SHOGUN" that was a Ford Festiva with a Taurus SHO engine mid mounted.It had the wide body look and all that too.Plus, it's better than a front heavy front driver since it would have more balanced handling due to the weight distribution.


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## niky (Jul 20, 2002)

it might be too wide, but then, we had to put altima axles in the front of my sentra (SE-R parts unavailable)... we just had to machine down the ends to fit the hubs... it _could_ work...who knows?

I've seen body kits for accords that come with a front end suspension and bodywork only... you basically take the whole front clip off the accord and stick it in the back, MR style... 

it can probably be done with a sentra, but you would lose your back seat and all your sane friends... plus all that trunk space, just for the other gas tank... 4WD twin engine sentra?... can anyone say _*Pike's Peak?*_


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## himilefrontier (Jan 21, 2003)

I was thinking to just widen the body by cutting it at the tailight panel and installing wider spaced wheelwells then wrapping the sheetmetal back around it.I also like the AWD 2 engine idea.That would be my choice!


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## SJLucky (May 25, 2003)

isnt there an addon to the tranny for a 4wd setup?

Now if I were to go with a mid-mount in my 200sx I would go for a Falconer engine
http://www.falconerengines.com/prod04.htm#Click below for specs:
but thats just me and im sick


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## sprayin200sx (Dec 3, 2002)

if u really want to use the motor...the drive axles from the sr tranny and ka tranny are the same...u could even check and see if the disks on the hubs for the altima are larger and change the hubs...also the brake booster is a direct swap...but i would say all the money u are goin to do that cuz the motor mounts and stuff just get a sr turbo or not and swap...easier and direct bolt in...


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## STillmatic (May 22, 2003)

Since when are altimas and maximas RWD???

Second,.... why would you put in a V6 in there, when:
A- everything must be custom fabricated
B- a v6 in our car would throw off the handling balance
C- how much WHP would you get??... much easier to swap a SR20det and have whatever WHP you wanted with different size turbos... and nothing will have to be custom fabricated, because all the parts are available


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## niky (Jul 20, 2002)

it's an exercise in _wishful thinking_... it's possible, but expensive, probably dumb, and will probably look like sh#t, but honda performed the same experiment on the CRX pack in 1990... the results were _pretty_...


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## himilefrontier (Jan 21, 2003)

STillmatic said:


> *Since when are altimas and maximas RWD???
> 
> *


Altimas, never.Maximas were originally RWD when they were also called the 810,and the newest Maxima returns to RWD and shares the same chasis with the 350Z and Infiniti G35.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

himilefrontier said:


> *Altimas, never.Maximas were originally RWD when they were also called the 810,and the newest Maxima returns to RWD and shares the same chasis with the 350Z and Infiniti G35. *


 U serious? the gen. 6 Max is RWD?!!?!?! DAMN, I WANT ONE EVEN MORE NOW!!!!!!

the Gen. 6 Maxima does not share the same chassis as the 350Z and the G35. It has similar styling and shape, but it is a different chassis...CORRECT??? People call it the 4 door Z b/c of it's similar aerodynamic appearence.


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## himilefrontier (Jan 21, 2003)

From what I have read, they are the same chassis underneath! The only difference between the 4 cars is wheelbase and engine output(all 4 have the VQ35DE and the same transmissions,but the powerband varies slightly with application.)Plus, why would Nissan engineer 2 different RWD chassis of the same relative dimensions and powertrain and release them in the same year?It would be more expensive to engineer a special chassis for just the Maxima than to share it with 3 other vehicles of similar architecture.


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## niky (Jul 20, 2002)

yup... the Gen6 Max is on the same platform... basically, its Nissan's way of supplying all four cars (Z, G35 sedan, G35 coupe, Max) with the same chassis and engine to bring down overall production costs... _and give us cheaper Zs_ 

I'd personally like the G35 coupe, but since there is no way in hell i could ever buy one, i'll just mope...


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

niky said:


> *yup... the Gen6 Max is on the same platform... basically, its Nissan's way of supplying all four cars (Z, G35 sedan, G35 coupe, Max) with the same chassis and engine to bring down overall production costs... and give us cheaper Zs
> 
> I'd personally like the G35 coupe, but since there is no way in hell i could ever buy one, i'll just mope...  *


 and don't forget the V35 Skyline GT-S


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## TheVodKA (Sep 19, 2002)

2 things guys

1. 6th Gen Max is still FWD. They upped the price/feature in order to eliminate the I35 and make the max compete with cars like the TL, but not because they changed the drivetrain. This is according to cars.com. I dunno where the RWD Max info came from. However, it is a possibility that they might come out with an AWD setup. Oh, and IMHO putting the max in the G35's price range wasn't a good idea for the max 

2.V35 Skyline=G35. I made a post on the specs of this earlier


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## Nismo200SX (Oct 7, 2002)

just like dropping in an SR into a GA equipped car .. there would be more custom work needed to drop in an altima KA into there ... not too sure if its worth it ... cuz your still only going to have FWD and a KA .. stock too .since u spend so much on the swap ...


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## himilefrontier (Jan 21, 2003)

I guess the new Maxima is still FWD.I went to the Nissan website and that's what it said so I guess my information was wrong.What a disappointment!It would have been nice to finally see another everyday car with RWD,instead of having to buy special "performance"cars to get that kind of feature.


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## rbloedow (Nov 2, 2002)

What in the hell are you guys smoking?!?! THe new maxima is built off of the ALTIMA platform, it's FWD. IT shares nothing in common with the 350Z, G35, etc, except for the VQ engine (and that in itself is designed a little differently between the FWD cars and the RWD cars). Yea, they also share the Nissan name, but that's it.


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## niky (Jul 20, 2002)

oops... _excuuuse meeee...._... don't own either, so I don't really know... 

but still, Nissan's multi-model single-platforming and engine sharing is an exercise in cost cutting that's a wonder to behold...

unlike Volkswagen's crappy decision to base so many cars that are almost EXACTLY alike (in terms of style and performance) on a single platform (think GOLF)... talk about cutting your own throat, *self-competition*.

Remains to be seen whether Nissan suffers from the same... with the Alt and Max and G35 sedan sharing the same engine (with only 10hp+10hp and a few sandbags difference here and there) and the G35 coupe (or V35, whatthehell, imanidiotanyway) and the Z sharing almost everything and costing almost the same... hopefully demand can keep all those lines going...

as for the engines... maybe a QR would do... (read the NX2500 thread, it's out there somewhere), but it's still hella expensive.


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## Max_2NV (Mar 9, 2007)

I got a 2000 Nissan Maxima. I want to make this ride crazy but it has 250,000 km on it.
Whats a good engine swap for it? I need power and something that I can put lots of mods.
Is it possible to swap it with a j-spec?


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## redser (Aug 30, 2006)

back to the origonal question. the easiest way to do this is build a full tube front end. it will make it lighter, stronger and give you the space you need to fit the bigger motor. There are probably some shops around your area that could build you the front end. give them the specs of the motor and let them do their thing. then all you would have to do is make motor and tranny mounts and wire it up. 
A LOT of work but is fairly easily done. i would also beef up the front suspension and brakes all the way around. might as well try to get some weight in the rear too. but the battery in the trunk and maybe a fuel cell. you would need a bigger fuel pump as well to supply the extra fuel.
I dont think it would be too crazy of an idea if you did it this way. it would be easier than trying to cut and weld the stock unibody front. the panels would bolt on afterwards and no one would be able to tell. then you could do a twin turbo setup and really give em a run.
Good luck and you are looking at spending a hefty amount of money.
And like many have said before me, there are cheaper and almost better ways to get the speed and performance out a of a B14 than doing someing like this. you are adding more weight to not really gain a whole lot that you couldnt by spending the same amount of money if not less on a DE or DET. and dont forget a whole lot less time.


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## xomiax (Jul 13, 2006)

what are the cost estimates on this?


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

You know, it's ironic this thread got bumped when it did.

First off, the VQ35 only weighs about 30-50lbs more than an SR20, I might be so bolt to say it's actually LIGHTER than the GA16 b/c the GA is cast iron. Second, it does fit b/c I have one in my B14. I'm still working on the wiring, but it's very doable with the proper mounts. Third, yes, you will prolly need a bigger fuel pump. It's about a $6-7000 project including standalone.

Pictures and more here:
http://www.sr20forum.com/showthread.php?t=189711


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## primerblack200sx (Aug 29, 2004)

yo ninety i bow down to you...that's a hardcore swap...are those the streetsport industries headers?? if they are, i just ordered those last week for my altima 3.5 , should be comin in anytime...good luck on the rest of the work


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

primerblack200sx said:


> yo ninety i bow down to you...that's a hardcore swap...are those the streetsport industries headers?? if they are, i just ordered those last week for my altima 3.5 , should be comin in anytime...good luck on the rest of the work


Not sure who makes them, ordered them off ebay, it was listed as Altima 3.5. I got it in remarkable time, not to mention, they look fantastic.

The only down side is my car's too low, but it doesn't matter, I'm chopping them up after the DP and running 100% independent exhaust with an X-pipe.


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