Guide To Engine Differences in the 350Z

18 May 2016

Just thought I’d make a quick breakdown of the different engines that came in the 350 for those who are curious.

Engine Types

VQ35DE -287hp
This engine came in 03-05 and 06 auto cars. These were the original that came in the 350z and was offered from 03-05.

VQ35DE Rev-Up - 300hp
This 300hp engine was an upgraded version of the DE which revved higher and achieved higher horsepower numbers while sacrificing some torque. These came in 05 manuals and in everything in 06. The thing to watch out for on these engines is their tendency to eat a little oil.

VQ35HR - 206hp
This is the newest and arguably the best version of the VQ35 offered in the 350. It offers more horsepower than the Rev-Up, and featured a dual intake system. This came in the 07-08s and the 09 roadsters.

Conversions

For the most part, it’s not really worth it to try to convert from one of these types of engines to another. The Rev-Up engines have a variable exhaust valve timing, different ECUs/wiring harnesses, different internals, and a different intake plenum. The HR does not swap easy into either of the DE engine places either, and doing so would cost quite a bit of money.

Hope this helps!

This content was originally posted by a Car Throttle user on our Community platform and was not commissioned or created by the CT editorial team.

Comments

Feel free to comment anything that I might have missed!

Didn’t know this. Thanks.

DE has 287hp at the crank, not 265; Rev-Up has 300hp; HR has 306hp
also the DE was in used from 03-05, and 06 auto; Rev-Up was only in manual version of 05 anniversary and 06; HR was only in 07-08, or 09 roadster.

Great write up! Stickied 👍

Thanks!

Posts like this are so helpful - upvoted!

Wasn’t there a VQ35VHR at some point?Maybe it wasn’t used in the Z33 or i’m just not remembering things correctly

only the VQ37 has VHR as far as i know.

I belive it isnt to hard to swap the head of an hr onto a de engine and gain some horses

you need to tune the ECU for the extra MAF sensor and throttle body. it’s not really a cost effective way to get more power.

VQ35DE from the 350z had 280HP and was used from 2002 until mid 2005

Thanks updated

We had 3 cars with a VQ35DE, but non of them were Nissan :D

Really popular engine for sure!

Great little article!

Remember to mention the HP of the engines though: the later DE generated 276hp, whereas the HR generated a fruity 306hp.

Actually, there were only 5 type E 350Z’s produced with the 276hp, all others are as shown except for the typing mistake (206hp instead of 306hp).

i thought the rev-up and the hr was the same engine, thanks for the clarification 👍 also whats the power difference and the years they made the rev-up compared to the hr?