Advice on Engine Swap/Rebuild

[GokuElway]

Hey All,

I'm looking to do an engine swap or rebuild on my 93' 300zx. I'm looking to increase the base hp as much as possible while rebuilding/swapping the engine at minimal cost.

For Rebuilding i would like to know about how much HP i can boost my engine and if there are parts that dont get touched in the rebuild that i have to worry about since my car has 230k on it right now. Aside from that i dont have any other questions on the rebuild.

For the swap i also have the same question about parts i need to worry about. Also my other question is what is the best engine to throw in the bay for the 300zx. Should i just replace the Vg30de or should i go with a completely different engine. And if im going through all of this would it be worth it to change it out to a vg30dett or some other turbo'ed engine?

Thanks in advance for all your advice!
-Dan

[t.mcginley.jr]

You'll likely never get close to 300hp with the VG30DE engine, and that's with like every mod you can think of. If you want higher power like 300+ then you should just swap in the VG30DETT. If you want more power, don't bother rebuilding your NA engine since you won't be able to get alot more out of it and it will cost a pretty penny on its own to rebuild. There are other engines you can swap into the engine bay but all of them other then the VG30DE and DETT will require custom modification of the engine bay to make everything fit, such as motor mounts. Some guy even put a chevy 350 in one. For the TT swap, you'll need the engine itself, TT front clip, TT harness and ECU, and you'll need to adjust the exhaust to match up to the turbo downpipes. Depending on what transmission you want that will also dictate what parts you need. An NA auto trans isn't really up to handling the TT power. The swap WILL cost a good amount of money even if you're doing everything yourself. JDM Engine Depot in New Jersey sells JDM engines/trans for our cars.

[GokuElway]

I have a 5 speed transmission but are the gear ratios different for a tt model? And how expensive are we talking if I do the swap myself?

[nissanfreak12]

5 speed is the same between NA and TT models, bellhousing is different, and few other little things, gearing is the same. The rear differential is diff. NA has 4.10 gears and TT has 3.73 gears.

If you do the swap yourself, you could do it for under 5k. That is waiting for good specials on people selling the parts. I was able to do mine with a 5 speed swap for right around 3500-4000. It was not easy, frustrating at times, but worth it in the end. Just never go cheap on parts, it will bite you in the end.