Frontier VK swap
 

Being familiar with the D40 chassis I decided I wanted another. I had a Thailand model 2008 with the YD25DDTi turbo diesel engine, GT2860RS turbo upgrade, custom 3" exhaust, alcohol injection, DTE injector and rail pressure chips along with a PRG advanced lift kit and a 2" body lift on 33's. It was around 200whp and 270wtq, not fast but it could tow anything I needed. For some reason I sold that and bought the Z.

So I got my hands on a 2012 Frontier at auction thanks to Husam (BTWTuning).

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My criteria was basically to find a not too banged up 09+ king cab Pro-4x since they have the newer AC controls, white gauges and factory E-locker. The one I found is a little rough around the edges and has 230k miles. The mileage didn't really concern me since it's getting a VK56.

Naturally it will get all the general repairs and maintenance done, it needs a new front bumper, some light body work to the passenger rear and a drivers side airbag.

The plan is as follows:

Ebay 4" intake meant for an 09 Cobra (replacing the shitty ebay filter with a Vibrant velocity stack & filter)
JBA Long tube headers 1 7/8" primaries & 3" collector
Diamond Eye 3.5" exhaust (Meant for the Titan so will need a little modding)
370z injectors
AEM 340lph fuel pump
Maybe JWT cams & valve springs
Uprev tune from BTWTuning
CSF radiator
Derale dual 11" fans & shroud
New OEM transmission cooler
Level 10 torque converter & valve body upgrades
PRG engine & transmission mounts

If the suspension is good I will leave that alone while it's still in the US but I do plan to put the PRG advanced lift it on it at some point.

So far we've sourced a 30k mile transmission, 2012 Titan donor engine wiring harness and possibly a 43k mile 2015 engine. That was the last year before they went to the VVEL version and with my recent issues in the Z, **** VVEL.

The engine wiring harness will be sent to Driven Desire for a few pins to be swapped around for it to be a plug and play swap.

All in all it's a pretty straightforward and well documented swap. When it's done I'll fly up and drive it down to Miami, not the cheapest way to do that but who doesn't love a good road trip.

You're in good hands with Brennan. He's done a ton of these swaps :hello:

This swap never even occurred to me, now I want one lol

Cool project.

Are you going to titan swap the front ifs and diff as well to get the better m205? Better yet, sas the front and drop a jk d44 in there and then Currie sells upgraded rear ends for nissans. :tup:

All this work under the hood if it ends up sitting on 33s that just would be anticlimactic, at least go 35s. :driving:

Pls keep us posted, good luck with this build. :tiphat:

Nah I'm not going that wild with it. Where I live there are no real off road areas. I just want a reasonably fast truck and be able to use the 4WD to launch a boat on whatever slippery launch ramp I end up at. Most of the 180 diff failures are when one wheel finds sudden traction after slipping and shatters the spider gears.

The m205 up front would be nice but I can regear the current diffs to 3.69 for a fraction of the price compared to going 3.73's on the m205 and get a little more acceleration out of it as well.


We got the 43k mile 2015 engine so the big ticket items are bought. Will get the level 10 stuff sorted next

Cool. That’s true about the r180 diff failures. Plus if you’re staying on 33s, much less stressful on drivetrain parts. ARB, iirc, makes an air locker for the r180, the benefit besides traction is it replaces the stock carrier so you get stronger spider gears, and I’m pretty sure RCV sells upgraded front shafts too. I mean, you’re in this deep already, what’s a couple more parts. :)

I’m sure you’re already aware, but Nisstec carries all of the above plus a large catalogue of suspension parts, bumpers etc.

I have the RCV axles in the front of my Power Wagon. :tup:

I actually had one of the Lokka front lockers but never installed it on my Navara. Supposedly that addresses the weakness of the spider gears.

Mod wise I'm TRYING to focus on ones that are difficult to do here on island, while it's up there. The transmission stuff makes sense since there's already "down time" now and possibly the rear ring and pinion since that dark art wasn't passed down around these parts.

Either way I'm in good hands and I know the truck will be awesome

Ordered the engine & transmission mounts from PRG today. The motor should be showing up this week, the converter and valve body should head out to level 10 next weekish.

Next up are any accessories that the engine didn't come with and a bunch of boring **** from rock auto.

weak link on the R180 is the housing itself. Still, if you don't bang on it too bad, it should be fine. The drivetrain worked in the Pathfinders.

Yeah it would be a waste of effort to be honest. The most offroady thing I could do is either air down to go on sand or go mess around in a quarry.

No mountains or even hills here. Don't tell the Jeep crowd that though.

Found some old pics of me messing around trying to drive through a flooded hole in the ground. It did not end well :rofl2:

http://www.the370z.com/members/sirni...8-17-33-53.jpg

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I ended up pulling the interior out and electrical cleaning and dielectric greasing all the connectors.

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As Joby would say...

https://i.imgflip.com/4ecpur.jpg

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Issa VK :yum:

I orderd the CFS radiator and a sheet of 1/8 aluminum to fab the fan shroud to be sent here to Cayman. I wanted to fab SOMETHING for it and I can just bring it with me when I go up for the truck.

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Got the frame and mounts for the shroud done.

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I still have to finish welding and profiling the the upper mounting tabs.

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Thinking about plating one side of the lower mounting tabs for extra strength as well.

The sheet is getting cut to shape today.

Unfortunately the Derale fans don't reach for another 2 weeks so I have to wait until then to plasma out the holes for them. I ordered a rivnut gun and some metric rivnuts for attachment points for the fans to simplify installation.

https://derale.com/product-footer/el...-14-718-detail
2000cfm each, not so much worried about engine cooling as I am worried about the A/C :rofl2:

Since they are such high current fans I went with their PWM controller as well. I'm guessing they won't ever hit 100% duty cycle.
https://derale.com/product-footer/el...r/16796-detail

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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.

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

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.

http://www.the370z.com/members/sirni...9-19-49-14.jpg

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

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!

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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

Valve body is out!

http://www.the370z.com/members/sirni...-valvebody.jpg

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.

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.

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

Keep it up!

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.

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.

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

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.

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 :rofl2:

Found someone scrapping a 2010 Altima so I got the front seats out of that. I was going to use the ones from the Z but I wanted leather and this was cheaper than recovering the Z seats. The frontier seats have next to no side support so these will keep me from propping my self up on the door panels every roundabout

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Fuel pump upgrade complete! Swapped an AEM 51-1200 340LPH pump in a brand new Carter fuel pump module.

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Comparison between the two pumps. Same diameter but the AEM is a little taller, made no difference for the install.

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The plastic piece that pump fits into was broken away from the upper half of the assembly when I opened the unit but it doesn't really affect the operation. I reused the Carter fuel pump sock

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All buttoned up and ready to ship out:happydance:

The only traction aid device available for the m205 that I’m aware of is an arb air locker. Nissan diffs don’t get the love from the aftermarket like Dana etc.

I can't find the thread on clubfrontier but I remember seeing something about a Canadian company offering an E-locker based on the ARB because ARB gave up the patent/rights.

I have no way to verify this but it would be awesome.

In related news, I've ordered the OEM timing cover gasket kit from Z1 along with some aluminum heater bleeder port that normally breaks and a Nismo magnetic drain plug to be a little saucy:roflpuke2:

Grabbed a Spectre 09 Mustang GT 4" intake off ebay as they fit right in with the exception of the throttle body coupler.

https://www.titantalk.com/threads/mu.../#post-5353665

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Cams/valve springs delivered

I just did a quick search and a cursory look showed some interest but nothing ever materialized as far as an e locker for the m205.

FOUND IT!

https://www.facebook.com/TRE4x4BC/ph...914442/?type=3

Unfortunately it seems to be vapor ware.

http://www.the370z.com/members/sirni...22881723-n.jpg :happydance:

I just realized they quoted me 272* 12mm lift intake and 289* 11.9mm lift exhaust but I got 276* 12mm lift intake and 290* 11mm lift exhaust.

Not that it matters to much to me, JWT knows what they are doing. Can't wait to hear it crank up

Since I had to specify what modifications the truck was going to have engine wise to Level 10 I reached out to them about the difference in the cams. As I suspected it's no real issue. The converter is a 3000rpm stall vs the stock 2600rpm.

Wish the TCM could be tuned properly, can only bump the line pressure via Uprev. Unfortunately I know jack **** about disassembling code.

Awesome truck project! You may want to add bilstein shocks particularly the 1500's. It will allow you to lift the front a little for a leveled stance.