VG30DETT swap for Z31???

[gudbar]

hi, im new to the world of Z, i just bought my first Z31 two days ago. the engine has 180k+ miles on it, so i dont want to do any mods to that engine. so what i DO want to do is save some cash and just by a new or near new engine, and i want something in it with LOTS of power, and i want to keep up with the the Z32 TT's around here. so is ther a pre fab kit available? how would i go about finding the DETT engine and kit??? and about how much cash would i be looking at for the hole swap? one thing though, its an automatic (im not to good w/ manual)!!! go ahead, make fun if you wish.... it could take between 6 months to a year before this is done, im just trying to get some info about it right now

[ttinfinitiM30]

hey man. i got a 91 M30 which has the vg30e in it the same as the Z31. im doing all the work my self and cant say that ive found many people suporting the swap. they say its esier to jus go w/ the vg30et instead. but anyway i got my engine from ebay. harness transmission ecu all for 1800. but parts of the harness are cut so i may be looking at a stand alone like megasquirt. anyway the things ive found so far in my m30 are the oil pan need to be swapped for the old engine which reqires three holes to be put into the side of for the oil return for each turbo and return for the oil cooler. another is that the p/s rack needs be moved a little for clearence of the turbos. and the motor mounts will need to be fabricated. thats what ive found so far. dont let this stuff scare u away from the swap tho. its simple things that any good mechanic should be able to accomplish. but if ur looking to pay someone to do it for you it may cost a little. ill be posting a full report when im finished but till then......

[poiboi]

wow, it looks like it's just us three looking into swapping a vg30e for the more powerful vg30dett. every one else might be saying we're crazy, but if so i'm proud to say i'll be keeping you two posted on my progress cheers!

[mtcookson]

These posts are over a year old so the original poster is probably not around any more. ttinfinitiM30 is still around but I believe is still working on the swap.

The VG30DETT is a great engine but too many people pass off the VG30E(T) as being junk in comparison... its sad really. The VG30E(T) is lighter, more compact, cheaper, and still incredibly strong. With the amount of money put into just purchasing most DETT's, you could put that into the VG30E(T) and be making more power to start.

The beauty of the VG30E is you don't even have to swap engines. The stock 9:1 compression isn't too high for boost and many run them in daily driven, high power Z's. One guy I know of made 450 HP to the wheels in a Z31 with a 9:1 setup (yes, 450 WHP on stock 9:1 internals).

Anyway... basically what I'm trying to say is don't think of the VG30DETT as being a super superior engine to the VG30E(T). The DETT does have the benefit of having more aftermarket support making high power easier to attain... its just that there seems to be some belief that the VG30ET can't make that power which most definitely isn't true and I want to make sure people know that before going to the headache that is swapping a DETT into a VG30E(T) powered vehicle.

If this is still something you want to do I definitely wish you the best of luck and to keep on it as it is going to take a lot of work.

[poiboi]

i'm deffinately going to follow through with it, i have the DETT engine at the local college, along with my disabled z31 (i killed the clutch doing break stands on ice... in 5th... ). the instructer at the college wants me to gather all the information available on the swap, including a walkthrough, but nobody does the swap, i do agree that the et engine is amazing, and i was looking at doing an N/A to turbo conversion, but finding the parts was being a real beast, and getting the engine to put out 400hp would have taken a serious turbo upgrade. i managed to pick up the DETT engine, transmission, wiring harness, and an aftermarket ecu all for 1650 and as long as i do a good intake, exhaust and intercoolers i should be getting 410-420 hp. if i can find a good and cheap electronic boost controler i could be hitting 450. so the et engine had a lot of potential, but a dett with simmilar mods could hit 600hp (way more than i'll ever need). any help i can get would be awesome, especialy on where to find parts.

[mtcookson]

I wouldn't really consider 400 hp requiring a major turbo upgrade. A Holset HX35 could support that much, probably more, and you can pick those up for less than $300. I believe a Garrett T3/T04E 50 trim will also support upwards of 450 hp for around $600 for a new unit.

I'm actually working on a twin turbo VG30E setup right now and with some low cost Mitsubishi TD05 14B turbochargers could do upwards of 550 whp potentially (though by that amount of power you would probably want a different turbo as these would start getting terribly inefficient).

As far as writeups go... you're definitely stranded there. There has been maybe a handful or less of these swaps done and no one has done a writeup on it. There is one going on right now that I know of but doesn't have any info on how to do it at the moment.

Fitment wise it will be tight but shouldn't be too much of an issue (may have to watch for steering linkage clearance). Wiring will be the bigger pain from what I've read.

Here's a couple videos of the current DETT swap. He's been working on it for over 8 months and I believe might be doing a writeup but it probably won't be till after its running.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTeBzVfv ... 4Wbw4aoGLM

If I see any more info on the swap I'll definitely let you know.

[poiboi]

wow, thanks for all the good info, i was able to track down someone who did the vg30det (single turbo) and the only "major" thing he had to do was modify the engine mount on the side with the turbo, so i figure that i just have to mod both... *fingers crossed*

[z210]

there is just something really cool about the vg30dett. for one it got this newness and recent affordability, and the fact that the prices for these engines is dropping really fast just sweetens the pie. the swaps for this engine are a lot less common then compared to sr, rb, or ca swaps. i dig your idea about swapping it into your car. there is some cool to be had with cars that sport dual overhead cams and twin turbos from the factory. while i dig the vg30e for it's robustness and availability, it simply can't match the coolness of a factory nissan twin turbo engine.

but, with all that said, there is a bit of complexity involved with this swap. good luck with your project, can't wait to see it.

[poiboi]

hey thanks for the support, alot of people like to just blow this swap off, so any encouragement is really good to get.

[penguins4fuel]

Getting ready to start mine too. Got an 85 N/A, going for a JDM VG30DETT. anyone Know of any absolutely must happens, besides the oil-pan conversion?

[neonbomb]

if i were you guys id go the 200zr approach.

its baller status

[Zdaddy]

WHat? Why? The 200ZR is a dog. There are no performance benefits in swapping in an RB20DET. It's just slightly better than a plain jane VG30E (Naturally Aspirated).Ever heard of the sayin "There's no replacement like displacement"...??

The 200ZR was made out of necessity for Nissan to create a 2.0L...do you know what that necessity was? Taxes. Do you know why they made that car sporty? So it would sell.

[poiboi]

so far the all i've heard is that you have to shorten the mounts on the cross member, and the transmission cross member also needs modification. oh and shift linkage. you got it, custom. one of the biggest pains will be the wiring, i'm not looking forward to it my self. so far it doesn't seem too bad, but i havent got too far in my swap. as for putting in an rb engine, no, actually more like hell no. there would be way more custom work and less of a performance increase. so deffinately go with the vg30dett, it's a sick engine with tons of potential and alot of aftermarket parts available. with alot of money and work you can hit 1400hp with it, yeah, 1400hp. a guy in greece did it. here's a picture, and a link to the fourm where they were knocking the vg30dett engine.

http://www.greekdragster.com/i...d.jpg

have fun

[Zdaddy]

well if you do it, and you wanna be the first to document it and help others do it, we can make you an author and have your writeup hosted

As far as the VG in that picture, there are more mods on that engine than you can shake a stick at. No way in hell is that thing streetable, and the fuel tuning for it to even work is an art in itself...not to mention the sensors that can take that kind of range + getting the sensors to work with your tune. That was probably the biggest challenge. Everything else you can just throw money at and have it work.

The SOHC, with those kind of mods, has the same potential. Just no one bothers to do it because its not cool enough. Electramotive did nearly the same on their VG30ET with 800+HP in the 80's, they could have done more if they wanted. Theres one Z31 guy I know of that currently has an 800HP Z31 (streetable) with the VG30ET, and another that is going to be reaching those numbers very soon and will be writing all the gory details about it on VGP when the time comes.

[mtcookson]

Is the 800 hp Z31 the WWR Z31?

[Zdaddy]

I believe so. He used NOS but without it he had something like 780+WHP. Insane for an SOHC. Oh and Electramotive was making 1000HP VG30ETT's. Yes, thats a VG30ETT with no "D". They had 2 of them in an airplane supposedly making 2000HP. Too bad it leaked oil and caused a fire, resulting in pilot death.

Just email me and I can give anyone the link to the 863WHP Z31 or the VG30ETT airplane. It's probably not appropriate to post it.

[mtcookson]

I thought they started off with a single turbo setup... hmm, I'll have to check out my GTP book on that. Speaking of which, I should scan it and get it posted here and at VGP.

[poiboi]

i won't argue the amazing potential of the vg30et engines, i was looking into taking that road myself, but i have a habbit of doing things the hard way, not to mention i was having all kinds of troubles finding the parts to convert the na to turbo. i have the vg30dett in my car, to make it fit under the hood you need to shorten the crossmember about an inch and a half, the wiring hasn't been bad so far, i have 3 or 4 extra connectors on the wiring harness from the dett engine, and i still need to wire everything into the body harness. it's coming along though.