What did you use to adapt the 6an lines to the transmission? I had a small leak using rubber hose and clamps and I'm thinking about using leftover 6an from my fuel line work.

After talking with a few people today.. including “Zen” who I trust..options are to have a kit sent from ipt or level 10 and have a reputable shop do the work near me or preferably do the vr30 swap and keep my torque no more than 5-550…obviously my engine will be the weak point at that time and will then need to be addressed.

How much power can the stock block handle with a solid transmission? So many factors to consider…

I used the fittings I purchased from Godzilla Race Works. I supplied the hose, cooler core, and other fittings. They have a full kit now though.

https://www.godzillaraceworks.com/37...0z-g37-q50-q60

Nice, I'm NA with only spirited street driving and using the same Hayden core Z1 uses in their kit (purchased elsewhere), rubber lines with oetiker stepless and ABA Awab clamps which are stronger and provide for a better seal than T-bolts and without leaks.

I'm bypassing the OE "cooler" as my current summer trans. temps. are 122*-172* via gauge in the hot line coming from the trans.; therefore, the aftermarket cooler would be fighting the OE cooler heating the fluid to whatever my coolant temp is, typically 175-190* (170* stat.) which is obviously counterproductive.

Be careful not to cool under 122* as OE torque converter lockup is 122*-176*. Outside of this range your fuel mileage will suffer so you definitely want to be within this temp. range on the highway. In winter I have to block some of my cooler to keep temps. above 122*!

Are you using the VR transmission yet or still OE?

That's a nice line kit :yum: and a good solution for those with leaky and/or degrading rubber lines.

Yes I have a VR30 7AT in my car.

What's the issue with 2 oil pan bolts having to come out and stay out to swap in the VR30 trans.? I don't see how any conflicts can happen ahead of the engine to bellhousing mating surface.

Will try and find out this winter. Got the Vr30 trans in a couple months ago, and I ordered the Z1 Black Friday deal for their flex plate.
Need to get a driveshaft and transmission mount bracket next, and finally start working on the car again. (have a few projects lined up: rear brakes, more fueling changes, new seats)

If you don't want to do the simple cut and paint the OE bracket Godzilla has those as well as the driveshafts. Are you 100% sure the Z1 flex plate works with the VR trans.? Some aftermarkets do not for whatever reason.

No, I'm not 100% sure and couldn't find confirmation either, but taking that gamble. At worst, I'll keep using the OEM one and sell the Z1.

Depending your mileage you might want to grab another good condition OEM as they are known to crack. I picked one up on ebay for $65 or so in case my 100k unit is showing stress. I'll probably throw it in anyway since it has 40k less miles and looks pristine.

UPDATE: VR30 transmission swap complete as of 2/17/24. :happydance:

Awesome, I’m fixing to do mine also.

Tell us about the driveshaft and crossmember?

I ordered a shortened shaft from Godzilla Raceworks.

I cut a window in only the crossmember wall to allow the OE mount to stick out the back. I saw a lot of swappers hacking the hell outta the crossmember which is lazy and I feel weakens it. I slotted the cross member to mount holes enough so the crossmember could slide far enough for it to hit the tail shaft to trans. housing mounting bolts. They wound up being 1/4" away but I didn't want to come up short when stabbing the transmission back in and have to start grinding again. I also added large washers to the mount nuts.

I left the mount to cross member nuts loose for easy positioning while reinstalling the transmission.

The only part I swapped into the VR30 trans. from the Z was the TCM, I retained all of the VR30 shift solenoids as (member) Franketier did.

The OE cooler lines need to be lengthened and flared or they'll leak. I highly recommend Awab style clamps and I heat shielded the rubber line extensions.

I also had to lengthen the slot on the rod between the shifter and transmission as there was tension upon assembling and notchiness going into manual mode. Never saw this mentioned anywhere.

While the two lower engine to trans bolts are known to be deleted, the next engine to trans. bolt (under starter) also wouldn't line up for me.

I HIGHLY recommend installing a dipstick tube in your existing Z transmission and checking the fluid level per the manual. Then scribe the dipstick for cold full fluid level and warm full fluid level i.e. 104*-113* per the FSM process to check the fluid at the pan. You must scribe the dipstick as the OE markings were not intended for the Z and are inaccurate. Now you can swap it over to the VR30 transmission as it will make filling and checking levels much easier.

I initially filled the VR30 trans. with 8 qts., started the engine and immediately poured in another qt. while running. I then topped it off using my dipstick warm fluid level scribe in the 104*-114* range. Of course it was rechecked and adjusted after the first drive and will do so on the first few subsequent drives as well.

More info. can be found in post 6319 and 6323 here
http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...-only-422.html

Thanks,

So the drive shaft quality is ok in your opinion? $750 is a lot and I can have them made for less. Any vibration? Just not sure what shop is making them for GZ.

And the cross member, we need pics, cause everything I’ve seen so far is a hack.

Definitely go with the less expensive driveshaft if you can. I do have a vibration at 3,000 rpm so I'll be having the shaft balance checked locally. I'll email ya the pic over the weekend at the latest as promised.

Thanks for confirming the driveshaft is indeed shorter on the shaft needed for the swap. Had someone on FB swearing a driveshaft spacer would work, and I think this settles it for me.

You're saying their steel driveshaft is a better buy than their more expensive aluminum one? or just that it'd be better to get one made locally due to balance issues with theirs?

Let them put the spacer in to find out the Z shaft is now WAY longer than what's needed :icon18:.

I don't know if a steel is better, it's definitely heavier. Godzilla swore up and down it's balanced and in fact was 21 grams out of balance at my local driveshaft shop. Sent them the invoice for balancing the $750 shaft that should have been ready to go out of the box. I spent 2 hrs. indexing to the rear end, 3 hours in drive time to and from the shop, and $75 for the balancing service.

We'll see if they issue a partial refund but they're already were deflecting asking what my driveline angle is, what the spacing is between the shaft flange from the tail shaft housing, and noted that I didn't buy their $200 trans. mount when their instructions clearly say it's not necessary and just a luxury if you don't want to hack your OE mount like I did.

Driveline angle changes negligibly with the tail shaft housing only 1/2" closer to the rear end. So that's laughable.

Spacing at the front driveshaft flange is a direct correlation to their shaft length NOT any installation mistake as the transmission position is dictated by where the engine flange is located (no change) and the rear end position is fixed. So the distance from the engine flange to the rear end flange stays the same with the VR trans being 1/2" longer and new driveshaft 1/2" shorter than OE. If the spacing from the tail shaft housing to the driveshaft flange is wrong that would be an effect of their driveshaft length.

BTW, I didn't touch the driveline angle nor spacing at the tail shaft, only had their shaft balanced and the vibration is gone!!! :rolleyes:

Thanks for the update!

My VR30 transmission is on the way, should be here next week.

Engine is all fresh and ready to go back in.

I will not be ordering a driveshaft or cross member from Godzilla.

Just call Drive Shaft Shop, aka DSS, up and they can make you a custom carbon fiber driveshaft. It is $1800 dollars, Just $200 dollars more than a stock manual transmission driveshaft Carbon Fiber drive shaft. I put one in my Z when the factory U-joints were on the way out this last rebuild.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. FWIW, I got aluminum driveshaft from them ~2 years ago (no housing) and have been running it a year without issue.

I'm glad you had good luck. So far they haven't answered my email requesting a partial refund for the additional cost of balancing the shaft they sent me.

I swapped the TCU from my 2010 into the 2018 VR30 trans valvebody. Kept the original VQ30 solenoids with the 2018 VQ30 valvebody.

I notched the Bellhousing also for the crank sensor. Went a little big on the hole saw I guess.

Much nicer crank sensor hole than my square one. I did cover the OE one though so nothing falls from above into the bellhousing. :eek:

There's a little difference between the Z gearing and VR30. I don't notice it seat of pants.

Z

1st 4.924

2nd 3.194

3rd 2.043

4th 1.412

5th 1.000

6th 0.862

7th 0.772

R 3.972


VR30

1st 4.783

2nd 3.103

3rd 1.984

4th 1.371

5th 1.000

6th 0.871

7th 0.776

R 3.859

3 percent longer in 1-4, about 1 percent shorter 6 and 7.

Mildly preferable given our cars have more power than stock I guess, though yeah, doesn't seem like it'd be noticeable.

EDIT:
Just put my order in for an aluminum driveshaft.
Now seeing if Z1 will actulaly ship my flex plate by end of April as they indicated last year.

Anyone got video of the shifting on the 370Z after the swap?

Made my VR30 driveshaft 3/4” shorter than the original 370Z carbon driveshaft.

Center to center on the u joints looks like 1” difference but the aftermarket yoke and flange are slightly different dimensions than OEM so it’s really 3/4” shorter flange face to front yoke spline end.

I measured both transmissions from Bellhousing to output shaft and saw about 3/4” difference.

Hope this helps someone.

Shocked at the weight difference.

Some VR30 RE7R pics

Engine and VR30 trans wiring mounts for O2 sensors. VR30 transmission does not have bosses to mount the 02 harness bracket but there are a couple of bolt holes the can be used on each side of the Bellhousing. I used 1” wide x 1/8” aluminum flat bar.

when doing VR30 swap, is this worth it:

https://sohomotorsports.com/products...smission-mount

OR should I get fab shop to custom make it?

I wouldn’t pay that for something that looks like it was built at a high school welding class.

Just modify your own, it's simple.

You're install is looking good. I did mine on jack stands with the engine in and deleted so many silly brackets holding wires and connectors as they're nearly impossible to reinstall, especially the one at the top of the trans bell housing.

I simply zip tied my O2 wires to others on the sides of the trans. Nissan is guilty of bracket pollution on the transmission! :p

Curious as to why you shortened the shaft by 3/4" what it calls for 1/2" everywhere.

On the driveshaft length…

I measured the original driveshaft and just shortening it by 1/2” would be a really tight install on my car. The drive flange was very close to the pinion shaft threads.

Then, after measuring the two transmissions side by side several times it looked like 3/4” shorter would be a little better choice for my 2010 model touring.

I have a 2016 3.69 mt rear diff, with a different than stock pinion angle also. That may be part of it.

Just an update on this transmission swap. Pretty happy with it overall, but it has some quirks that are frustrating, much like the VQ version.

The biggest one is:
I occasionally get a rough 4-3 down shift when stopping hard in D.

So, I will be researching this issue and report my progress.

Odds are good it’s a VB shift valve or solenoid issue, but not sure yet.

Godzilla raceworks has the brace and aluminum driveshaft cheaper.

Godzilla sent me an unbalanced shaft then ignored my evidenced filled email when requesting a measly $75 refund for the rebalance labor which fixed the vibration issues. Of course this request did not include 6 hours of my time to index their shaft in the 4 available positions on the flange, test drives, and round trips to the closest driveshaft shop to me. :mad:

They laid blame on everything and anything but their product which wound up being the problem as noted above.

I swapped over the entire VR valve body with solenoids and employed the Z's TCM. My 3-4 shift is still harsh (had this problem with the OE Z trans) and now so is the 4-5. I'm leaning toward needing a new Z TCM as stated above the valves were swapped from the VR.

All downshifts are much tighter and no more driveline "slop" that felt like a blown mount or bushings.

That would have to be either your original Z TCM or the tune (either factory or aftermarket tune) on the ECM.

So a re flash at the dealer or your tuner should fix it.

From what I've read only the line pressure can be controlled by a Tuner via manipulating the torque the ECM sees. Nothing's changed there and the trans behaves the same 3-4 but I picked up a 4-5 issue as well.

The TCM has been updated via TSB at Nissan so they say there's nothing else they can do. At this point I'm thinking failing TCM.