J35 build and things i found along the way

[70 baja]

Hey guys so i have been intalling a j35 in my baja bug for some weeks now and i have had to do alot of looking around for info on different things so im going to do my best and get in here some important info for anyonw that wants to do that swap in the future.

So i started with a 1970 baja bug that first had a 1835 in it then when i had too much endplay i started looking around to fix my 1835 or get another vw powerplant but noticed they were super expensive. long story short i went with a ej20 and had it for about a year and now im going j35. the only reason im going this route is because im throwing the ej in qn aluminum chasis rail that i got. Anyways, i decided to go with a j35a4 out of a 2003 honda odyssey. I was told this motor comes with forged crankshaft so they are a go to for alot of people. As i was looking around i noticed some j series have the exaust built into the head and the a4 does not so you can go aftermarket headers.

Finding the engine,
You can look around online and find different deals but if you wanna save money go to a you pull it and do it yourself. If you are going for a j35a4 look for 2002-2004 honda odyssey
and i believe also the 03-04 honda pilot.
While you are pulling the motor you can probably also get the ECU and harness. If
not available you can look up Harvey Janisse known as Dune Addict on youtube and he does harnesses for j35s. I went that route and got my ecu and harness from him and that thing came back clean.

****do yourself a favor and replace the rear main seal before throwing your motor on. you wont regret it****

Transmission,
I went with my 091 for the mean time. It full weddle internal so hopefully it can hold up until
i get a mendeola. Ive seen Rails and bajas using the stock 002 so as long as you arent heavy footed you should be ok.

Fuel system,
Upon looking around i found out that the walbro 255 pump is great for stock j35 so thats the route i went.

Exhaust,
There is a shorty header available on amazon for about 120 ish. another option is p2r (power rev racing) long tube headers or you can call hothead headers and have them built. the last option was the route i took. i paid 800 but they are well worth it.

Intake,
I decided to flip my intake and have the throttle body facing the pulleys. its not hard to do. again Dune addict on youtube has a video of how to do it step by step.
*if you are flipping your intake and send your harness to get cleaned up, make sure you tell them you will flip your intake so they can extend the connections thar go to your TB.*

Cooling,
This has been a biggie, so if you are installing on a sandrail you should have enough room for the cooling lines but since i went on my baja and i have a firewall i had two options,
a) Cut into my firewall and run my lines thru inside the firewall
b) contact p2r and order their billet water neck.
At this point i think im going with optiion A because i dont want to get the billet kit and later find out it still need to cut into my firewall cuz like i said its a tight fit back there. again people with rails wont have that issue.

extra stuff,
So i have electric powersteering on my baja but you can also use a engine driven power steering pump if you want.
Since i have electric PS i run my serpentine belt from main pulley to alternator and still use the stock tensor but P2R has a kit to eliminate the tensor.






I think i have covered alot of the things but ill keep adding as i find them. here are some of the places where you can find good j35 parts

markedmotorsports dot com
powerrevracing dot com
halferland performance products

[70 baja]

1934C56B-5C81-48C6-B87C-EEF006CE0F03.jpeg

These are the headers that were built by hothead headers

[70 baja]

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This is my baja

[Piledriver]

Slick!