My 2008 offroad just ate a bearing after I did the head gaskets, timing chains and water pump. Ran great for about 2 months then no oil pressure and knock over 2k rpms. The oil is nice and glittery. Only had 123K on it so I didnt think Id need to touch the short block and the cylinder walls looked good. Oh well. Now I'm looking into just swapping in a v8. Once done, used VK56s are cheaper that VQ40s and easier to work on. Now I found a guy thats parting out a 2005 4x4 armada with a seized engine. I can take the ecu bcm keys ignition switch and engine wiring harness for cheap. Are the Armada parts the same as the titan parts when it comes to ecu bcm and wiring? Also does anyone know which pins have to be swapped on the harness? If I use the ecu and bcm with stock headers and hollowed out b-pipes do I still need to tune it? I plan on going with cajun headers and b-pipes later with a tune but Im on a tight budget and the xterra was my daily driver so the goal is to get it running again and make it cheaper to repair in the long run working on a vk vs the vq. Plus more torque is always nice and I really miss my old titan. But I love my xterra now more. Also does anyone know if the hill descent will still work after the swap? Any info will be greatly appreciated.
KodiakGrump
VK56 Swap parts Hunting and Wiring
Thanks for getting back to me. I thought the reason for a matching bcm and keys with the ecu and wiring harness was so you didn't have to deal with nats?
I agree a running complete donor vehicle would be best. But I noticed some confusion when I comes to donor vehicles. Can all the same parts be used from a armada and QX56 just like the titan?
Is there enough of a power difference or reliability difference to go with a 2008 or new donor with vvt? The older models are cheaper and easier to find. I kinda wanna make an updated and more complete swap guide since the current ones are a bit old.
I agree a running complete donor vehicle would be best. But I noticed some confusion when I comes to donor vehicles. Can all the same parts be used from a armada and QX56 just like the titan?
Is there enough of a power difference or reliability difference to go with a 2008 or new donor with vvt? The older models are cheaper and easier to find. I kinda wanna make an updated and more complete swap guide since the current ones are a bit old.
Don't bother. Just get a single donor for everything. Mixing and matching parts will cost more and give more headaches in the process. The parts you are trying to get (BCM, key) are not needed and will just complicate things later. Engine harness has to match the ECM and the engine you get, so a random engine harness won't do any good. Things like different O2 sensors from one year to the next. You would be locking yourself into the low HP engine (04-07 only) and not the extra power from the '08 and newer that got the second variable cam.
Find a whole complete running (lightly wrecked is perfect) truck and take everything from a single place. I've had a few people try and do what you are looking at doing and later admitted to me that they screwed up royally and should have just got a single donor. I got a deal on a used engine that the salvage yard cut the cats off of. Now you are fighting that steaming pile as well. If it runs and drives before you take it apart, there is no reason it won't do the same when it is back together.
Find a whole complete running (lightly wrecked is perfect) truck and take everything from a single place. I've had a few people try and do what you are looking at doing and later admitted to me that they screwed up royally and should have just got a single donor. I got a deal on a used engine that the salvage yard cut the cats off of. Now you are fighting that steaming pile as well. If it runs and drives before you take it apart, there is no reason it won't do the same when it is back together.
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