NV 1500 for fun and or profit

In reply to golfduke :

So far I am impressed with the sameness

I heard from the junkyard and they got my engine out. I made a quick wooden stand to avoid bringing home a tire .

It was all wood that was either in my garage or under the deck. I got my big green van ready and picked up the replacement engine. 

I had great snow traction on the way home. Stopped at the hardware store for engine stand bolts m12-1.75. Guessed right first try. Got it unloaded and then on the stand. This stand also needed a little bolt to give the stand the reach. It would make sense to get a bigger stand or make something up to fit if the vq40de is something you play with a lot. 

All of this was done with the garage door open and it was -7 to -4 so I left it at this and got warm. Preliminary inspection indicates lots of things are the same about the two engines. 

Lots of action yesterday and today. Took stuff off of the dead engine and started moving things onto the replacement. Can confirm that the replacement engine is very much the same as the original. I cannot understand why they do not list as interchangeable. The first difference I found was a plug instead of a hose for the brake booster on the upper manifold. NV1500 doesn't use a manifold vacuum booster. NV top Xterra bottom in picture. 
Wiring wise the junkyard hacked apart the Xterra harness. No big deal since I wasn't going to use it anyway. I labeled and pulled the harness off the dead engine. 

My forensic exam of the hacked up harness showed that the front O2 sensors use a different connector. That doesn't affect my project at all, but it is a difference. I did a interchange check of the rest of the major engine control components and everything said it is the same. The only sensor that is different is the oil pressure sender; so I swapped it out. Different sensor from plug pictures. 
So basically, Nissan has really been good to me and the non-interchangeable myth is perplexing. I ended yesterday with an engine dressed up for a date with a van. 

I ended up changing the mounts on the engine too, they looked the same, but I didn't want to find a compatibility issue during my install. Also swapped the passenger side exhaust manifold since the Xterra one was broken off at the flange. (Interchange confirmed)

I was super excited last night about all the progress so I worked some in the garage on my Fiat engine project then went to bed dreaming about tomorrow's engine installation.
 

Today was +10 F and snowing.

So, obviously I got right to it. Put in the refilled torque converter. 

I encountered several obstacles in addition to the weather.

The first one was lifting the engine without hurting the upper intake manifold. I watched it happen at the junkyard and it was a little uncomfortable to see. The plastic does seem tough, but after trying a few setups I just removed the intake. Better safe than sorry. With the engine lifted in a comfortable way, I struggled the crane over and went to put the engine in its new home.

second obstacle: It would not reach. I struggled with it for a while, got too cold, and warmed up by struggling the engine back into the garage. I grabbed a piece of 2" square tube and extended the boom on my crane. 
The extended boom does make the crane a little more "tippy" so I put the engine on the wooden holder I made atop a wheel dolly and covered the distance to the van with it rolling. It worked better than I expected and with the superboom I was able to get it into position. 

After a brief break to warm up. I got the engine and trans mated. No pics of this part but a large Philips screwdriver from below got the holes for the mount and the engine aligned enough for me to run the bolts in. So with the engine and trans connected and the motor mounts in the scissor jack and engine crane got to go back to the garage. I reinstalled the NV upper intake and went inside. 

Still plenty left to do. I have some parts and fluids coming next week so feeling good about where I'm at.