Mercury Villager VG30E Headers

[TurboVillager]

I know there are people here that know the VG30E inside and out, so I thought I would ask this question here. Will 1994 Maxima Headers fit a 1995 Mercury Villager(same as 95 Quest)? Both vehicles have the 3.0 VG30E that sits transverse. I used the CAI from a 95 maxima and it worked great and added a noticable gain in performance. Just wondering if anyone knows offhand if the headers will bolt up? I bet you have never gotten this question before. Thanks for reading this far.

[seang]

I don't know if it would work or not. I want to say that it would with maybe some minor fitment mods, but I've never even been under the hood of a Maxima or a Villager. This forum is slow, though; at least lately it is, so why not shoot the s*** a little. Maybe a search will turn up some underhood pictures of a Maxima and then you can compare them to your van. There might be a Maxima for sale somewhere you can pop the hood of, or maybe you will run into a friendly enthusiast somewhere who will let you take a look.

People would hear you and be looking for a car, and then see your van. Haha, that is pretty cool.

I gotta respect the van, man; my zealous roommate zoomed off a 4 1/2 foot embankment in his Pontiac Trans-Sport (with me as a frightened passenger) and it landed without breaking in half. I wouldn't even want to abuse my truck like that. Not that the van was completely unhurt. I think something went out not too long after that.

[TurboVillager]

Thanks for the reply. The reason I was thinking about this is I have decided to tackle the broken exhaust manifold studs problem. I figure if I am going to be in there doing all this work I am going to do it right. I will probably do the head gaskets as well.

I was looking at pictures of the 94 Maxima heads and the 95 Villager. The main difference is the exhaust holes in the head of the Maxima are ovalized and a little wider than the Villager which has round exhaust holes, will this cause a problem? I figure it is because the Maxima is DOHC where the Villager is SOHC, they have similar HP though. I didn't know if the headers being more ovalized mated to a round exhaust hole would cause a problem. Also on these engines there have 4 stud holes around each exhaust hole, so I figure the stud placement can be changed to accommodate different bolt patterns, but I will have to check the spare engine I have for sure if there are threads in the unused holes. I noticed the gasket for a 95 Maxima goes around all 4 bolts on each exhaust outlet.

The only other problem I could see is whether they will reach far enough down to go under the Villager. I know the Maxima sits lower, but I would have to measure to see where the engine sits in relation to the bottom of the car. Once again I am definitely no expert, just a guy with some mechanical aptitude. Anyone the can forsee problems I'm overlooking is welcome to chime in. Thanks!

[seang]

Oh, I plum forgot that the Maxima had DE heads, I don't know if the flanges are even the same.

Earlier Maxima's came with SOHC engines, maybe they have headers available? I don't know.

I guess if you are really tenacious you could always go completely custom with it: custom steel flanges, custom tubing, etc....

[TurboVillager]

I looked up the Maxima SOHC engines and they look like they would work. The outlet is circular as well. I will probably try a set of OBX SS304 headers and see if I can get them to work. I might try to find a old Maxima SOHC manifold to see if it will bolt up to my spare engine. I think that will depend on whether I can alter the stud configuration using the holes that are not normally used. Anyone know if all four holes around the exhaust outlets on the SOHC heads are all threaded, or if you have to thread the ones not originally used on the engine? I figure either they are threaded or can be. I'm going to try to keep this as stock as possible to keep it reasonable. I'm not committed enough to go full custom.

[seang]

I hope the power gains will justify the effort and money spent. Our VG forum has low traffic for some reason, maybe you should duplicate this thread in the Maxima forum since it is the same engine; then you can expose it to the crafty veterans.

[TurboVillager]

Thanks, maybe I will give that a try. As for the cost, I figure the van has 164K, so it is about time to change this stuff anyway. I've already added the rear sway bar, rebuilt the suspension, rebuilt the entire brake system, all vacuum lines, added a real CAI, among other projects. Parts of my muffler system need replacing anyway. It is only $350 for some decent stainless OBX headers, so I would only be looking at $550 to go from engine to tail pipe. If I am going to go to the effort to replace the studs, might as well put new parts back in so I don't have to tear it apart for another 160k, and yes, the Villagers last that long. Maybe not the way I drive it, but I'm going to try to keep it as long as possible. If you blow the engine, $500 and a long weekend and you're back on the road, my kind of value!

[cencarnacion]

Hi TurboVillager. Just curious how your project went? How hard was it to work on the firewall side? I have a 95 NIssan Quest GXE and like you I plan to keep it as long as I can. I have 208K and it still runs great most likely due to synthetic oil since new (both engine and transmission). It has developed an exhaust leak due to a broken stud right beside the AC compressor. I may have to remove the radiator to make room for extracting the stud. The firewall side does not leak so I will leave that alone for now. But if I were to replace the studs there, is it possible to extract broken studs without having to remove the head?

I have done many DIY repairs on the van and would be glad to share my experience if applicable.

[300ZXttZMAN]

no it will not bolt up directly

[Joe84]

I used the CAI from a 95 maxima and it worked great and added a noticable gain in performance.

Got any pics of your CAI installed?