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I am making some progress on cleaning things up in the engine bay. Wires are all rerouted and mostly tucked away, only thing not presently connected is the big ground wire, working out an alternative location to keep things clean. Also in the current picture the upper plenum and Takeda intake pipes aren't on the car as I am waiting on rocker cover gaskets to come tomorrow as I realized there was some slight oil leakage out of both sides. I really wish the plenum wasn't so ugly looking as I'd love to leave the cover off as the VQ is a good looking engine once you move the wires and strip off the brackets. AAM manifold is nice to look at but not at $2k. I also need to put the fender liners back in. I stripped the whole front end to get at everything, fortunately I didnt have to cut, extend, or modify the wires or connectors and mostly was able to keep stock pathway aside from not running out in the open.
I am making some progress on cleaning things up in the engine bay. Wires are all rerouted and mostly tucked away, only thing not presently connected is the big ground wire, working out an alternative location to keep things clean. Also in the current picture the upper plenum and Takeda intake pipes aren't on the car as I am waiting on rocker cover gaskets to come tomorrow as I realized there was some slight oil leakage out of both sides. I really wish the plenum wasn't so ugly looking as I'd love to leave the cover off as the VQ is a good looking engine once you move the wires and strip off the brackets. AAM manifold is nice to look at but not at $2k. I also need to put the fender liners back in. I stripped the whole front end to get at everything, fortunately I didnt have to cut, extend, or modify the wires or connectors and mostly was able to keep stock pathway aside from not running out in the open.
Great progress on your bay Kidjai, we are fortunate for the hood seals and manifold covers that hide quite a bit. I ended up cutting mines to look like the 370z so my power wires had to be moved completely.
Here's a diagram of my routing as best as I can possibly decribe.
I ran mine very similarly. the only slight difference was that I kept the starter wire inside the engine bay rather than running it into the cowl space below the windshield. I actually initially started it that way but then decided I didnt want the wire that exposed to the elements (although in retrospect it never really sees elements other than sun, lol) so I kept it along the firewall then used my step bit and cut two holes below the engine bay vin area to allow them to run to the battery. I snipped off the rubber accordion shaped tubing from the original grommet and ran it backwards down the loom to isolate the wires from the metal and keep things snug.
The one thing I changed up a little was the part of the harness that connects under the radiator shield. It always annoyed me that it clipped there because its a pain to take the bumper off. I actually drilled out oblong holes for the clips just above the radiator on the radiator support and routed the harness there. It worked out perfect and I can still get to the back of the clips for removal if needed.
The next thing that I may address is finding nicer looking power steering and coolant overflow reservoirs. I enjoy a clean and minimalist look in the engine bay, which in a modern engine isn't the easiest thing to achieve.
Hit up CWorksDesign. He's on here and Instagram. He makes some nice dress up items for the VQ motors such as the PS reservoir, coolant catch can, fuse relay box cover, washer neck. He typically makes them out of aluminum but can do some in burnt titanium. He's also the guy that makes the AdminTuning intakes (must be bought from Admin though).
Engine bay looks really good, great work so far on it.
Ok Bull it took me a few minutes of staring at this picture to figure out one of the subtle changes you made and I am curious as to how. It appears you’ve deleted all the holes in fender/wheel well area. Some held black plastic plugs and others were bolt holes. How did you clean all that up? It’s one of the areas that’s bugging me and I’m trying to work out the most clean solution.
Also if you haven’t already done it, you can reroute the wire you have running behind your dip stick that goes to the two timing control solenoids. If you pull the upper plenum & injectors you can actually route the connectors through the hole behind the dipstick making them pretty well hidden. I know its a bunch of work, I had everything apart anyway as I was replacing rocker gaskets, so it made sense.
Ok Bull it took me a few minutes of staring at this picture to figure out one of the subtle changes you made and I am curious as to how. It appears you’ve deleted all the holes in fender/wheel well area. Some held black plastic plugs and others were bolt holes. How did you clean all that up? It’s one of the areas that’s bugging me and I’m trying to work out the most clean solution.
Also if you haven’t already done it, you can reroute the wire you have running behind your dip stick that goes to the two timing control solenoids. If you pull the upper plenum & injectors you can actually route the connectors through the hole behind the dipstick making them pretty well hidden. I know its a bunch of work, I had everything apart anyway as I was replacing rocker gaskets, so it made sense.
So the wire was initially tucked prior to removing the timing cover, I moved it out after and I need to place it back behind the cover. I ended up De-pining the VTC connectors to give me the space I needed.
As for the engine bay I used some tricks learned in the autobody world. Threaded holes with 3m liquid nails.
As for the big holes, JB epoxy stick with plastic backing. Then sanded smooth and painted over.
As for the engine bay I used some tricks learned in the autobody world. Threaded holes with 3m liquid nails.
As for the big holes, JB epoxy stick with plastic backing. Then sanded smooth and painted over.
Ahhh sneaky, I'll have to give that some thought. I like your shaved down manifold cover. I was actually playing with some cardboard yesterday contemplating designing my own. I have been contemplating the PCV system and how to best deal with it. I don't like the hoses either. Did you just delete the baffles on the intake side? Where/how did your reroute form the pcv valve? I saw you capped off the manifold and you mentioned possibly putting a can in the master cylinder area. Do you just have it venting to the atmosphere right now?
I was giving thought of routing running PCV valve to catch cans and then venting the can to the atmosphere rather than back to the plenum. Seems that there are all kinds of opinions, only mild concern would be emissions testing issues (which I could always reconnect for inspection) but probably the bigger issue is that there are those that say that venting to the atmosphere produces a lot of vapor which can get into the cabin, I feel like on a N/A engine with basic mods this shouldn't be a huge concern.
Originally Posted by jpowersjr2
Hit up CWorksDesign. He's on here and Instagram. He makes some nice dress up items for the VQ motors such as the PS reservoir, coolant catch can, fuse relay box cover, washer neck. He typically makes them out of aluminum but can do some in burnt titanium. He's also the guy that makes the AdminTuning intakes (must be bought from Admin though).
Engine bay looks really good, great work so far on it.
Thanks! Its been a fun project but admittedly my OCD has taken hold and now my brain is off to the races to see how clean I can make the engine bay. I did look over some of CWorks Design's stuff, he is an impressive fabricator. I may have to give him a shout once I figure out a budget and plan of what I want and where I want to locate things.
Ahhh sneaky, I'll have to give that some thought. I like your shaved down manifold cover. I was actually playing with some cardboard yesterday contemplating designing my own. I have been contemplating the PCV system and how to best deal with it. I don't like the hoses either. Did you just delete the baffles on the intake side? Where/how did your reroute form the pcv valve? I saw you capped off the manifold and you mentioned possibly putting a can in the master cylinder area. Do you just have it venting to the atmosphere right now?
I was giving thought of routing running PCV valve to catch cans and then venting the can to the atmosphere rather than back to the plenum. Seems that there are all kinds of opinions, only mild concern would be emissions testing issues (which I could always reconnect for inspection) but probably the bigger issue is that there are those that say that venting to the atmosphere produces a lot of vapor which can get into the cabin, I feel like on a N/A engine with basic mods this shouldn't be a huge concern.
Yes and no. The engine and it's idle has been configurated to run this way.
OEM = manifold pulls lazy gases from the crankcase and in case it pulls too much vacuum it uses the breather to relief while pulling METERED air
Atmosphere = 3 ways
1 PCV to atmostphere = reducction of oil to manifold however this will create a slow vacuum leak as the breather pulls air also
2 Breather to Atmosphere = not much really other than a slow vacuum leak due to the pcv pulling air from the VC which tend to pull air from the breather but this is not metered if vented
3 Full system to Atmosphere = the ideal way to Vent the system, this way prevents the engine from building too much pressure during WOT however this pressure is relying on itself to vent
On the G37 it's ideal to keep theses gasses moving, the PCV is the only way this happens at low RPM so a catch can in between both sides is ideal. With the breather it would be a good idea to monitor excess oil from the breather any excess means that the factory system cannot keep up with the additional blowby and may need some attention. I added Z1 breather hoses in mines. I dont see enough blow by from my breather to actually do something about this.
To your question, I moved my hoses to the back where I used 2 Tees to tie them to the vacuum source by the throttles, this way they're out of the way.
Yes and no. The engine and it's idle has been configurated to run this way.
OEM = manifold pulls lazy gases from the crankcase and in case it pulls too much vacuum it uses the breather to relief while pulling METERED air
Atmosphere = 3 ways
1 PCV to atmostphere = reducction of oil to manifold however this will create a slow vacuum leak as the breather pulls air also
2 Breather to Atmosphere = not much really other than a slow vacuum leak due to the pcv pulling air from the VC which tend to pull air from the breather but this is not metered if vented
3 Full system to Atmosphere = the ideal way to Vent the system, this way prevents the engine from building too much pressure during WOT however this pressure is relying on itself to vent
On the G37 it's ideal to keep theses gasses moving, the PCV is the only way this happens at low RPM so a catch can in between both sides is ideal. With the breather it would be a good idea to monitor excess oil from the breather any excess means that the factory system cannot keep up with the additional blowby and may need some attention. I added Z1 breather hoses in mines. I dont see enough blow by from my breather to actually do something about this.
To your question, I moved my hoses to the back where I used 2 Tees to tie them to the vacuum source by the throttles, this way they're out of the way.
Well explained... I've seen people go a variety of directions usually all in the name of eliminating the recirculation of gas/oil/water back into the manifold. Given we have port injected engines it hardly seems as necessary as it does for those with direct injection. I have just over 71k miles and I've owned the car since about 27k miles. This was the first time that I've pulled it apart to clean the throttle bodies and manifolds. They were a little dirty and there was some residue in the manifold but it was negligible at best. Catch can system may be more useful to me as the engine ages. From a clean up the engine bay standpoint, manufactured catch can systems for the G seem to make things worse from a hoses running all over creation standpoint, but I'd think a custom setup could be built rather stealthily.
I had a feeling you may have tapped back in to the system, just couldn't tell from the picture, I may go a similar route, no sense reinventing the system or spending a ton of money unnecessarily (plenty of better unnecessary reasons to spend money on the G).
Well explained... I've seen people go a variety of directions usually all in the name of eliminating the recirculation of gas/oil/water back into the manifold. Given we have port injected engines it hardly seems as necessary as it does for those with direct injection. I have just over 71k miles and I've owned the car since about 27k miles. This was the first time that I've pulled it apart to clean the throttle bodies and manifolds. They were a little dirty and there was some residue in the manifold but it was negligible at best. Catch can system may be more useful to me as the engine ages. From a clean up the engine bay standpoint, manufactured catch can systems for the G seem to make things worse from a hoses running all over creation standpoint, but I'd think a custom setup could be built rather stealthily.
I had a feeling you may have tapped back in to the system, just couldn't tell from the picture, I may go a similar route, no sense reinventing the system or spending a ton of money unnecessarily (plenty of better unnecessary reasons to spend money on the G).
We share the same mentality. No offense to the octopus catchcan owners, I just feel like most of these are over engineered, bulky with the CAN being at most importance when the outlook of the bay should be priority. If your engine requires a can bigger than a pint then you should spend some more time under the bay.
The VHR has tons of potential look wise, the problem is it can be a cluster**** and some of the tech it uses it's necessary, though most it's useful since it's ugly, new or we dont agree with it goes.
The VHR has tons of potential look wise, the problem is it can be a cluster**** and some of the tech it uses it's necessary, though most it's useful since it's ugly, new or we dont agree with it goes.
It's funny, that in the 4+ years I've owned the car I haven't really taken a good look at the engine, as it was always shrouded in plastic, wires, brackets, and tubing. My recent free time really helped me see the VQ's visual potential. Here is a slightly more together shot minus the cover, and wheel well shrouds. Next on the to do list is delete the PCV baffles, delete the various holes, reroute pcv hoses, and come up with a more visually appealing coolant, power steering, and washer fluid reservoirs.
I don't know about you but I really like symmetry, and have given thought to using matching resevoirs for the coolant and power steering overflow mounted symmetrically on each side. I have also thought about locating all the resevoirs front and center rendering the sides of the engine bay completely clean.
It is definitely worth the effort (in my opinion anyway). The best advice I would give is to give yourself plenty of time, and don't try and take a short cut by leaving things together. Its way faster and easier to strip off the bumper and headlights to quickly access all the various connectors, clips, and re route things than to try and keep it all together and wedge your hands awkwardly and try and pull wires through tight or impossible spaces.
Also... something I stumbled on as I was doing this, is that you should never throw away the plastic clips. You can cut them off, cut off the entire zip tie portion then reuse the clip base with a new zip tie. I didnt need to reuse all the old clips so I have a bunch saved in reserve for future needs. Admittedly I was so proud of myself when the light bulb went off in my head that I could do that...also felt like an idiot since it took me 15-20 years of working on my own my own cars before I realized it!
If you look at my old pics I have one without the coolant reservoir. I used a cylindrical tube tied to the frame on the passenger side. The problem is I'm monitoring a small coolant leak and the reservoir that I came up with is not as easy to check as the OEM one.
02-07-2020, 09:38 AM
