serious possible swap?!?

[srackunderground]

Hello, very first time on this board... REALLY new at this, I just don't know who to ask... so fellas with knowledge... (I know you ZX GODS are out there) I need a serious answer to question that may seem absurd... we'll see...I have a very nice 93 2+2. I've had it for 5 years. Everything inside or on this car has been re-done or replaced at least once. I've only put about 1500 miles on the car since I've owned it. I had the motor and transmission replaced when I first bought the car with the same motor series that was in it (same year, non-turbo automatic) since I have owned the car... the friggin thing has been the biggest lemon ever. I am sooooo easy on this vehicle when I do drive it (out of fear that something else will break.) The computer has been replaced twice. Of course an injector freezes up or simply quits working every other time I drive it, all of the important sensors has been replaced, new exhaust from the front to the rear, all new suspension, new wiring and grounds, I do mean everything of any significance has been replaced... and yet... everytime I start it to drive it... within a couple of days (tops) something else on the car is broken or not running correctly... mainly with the motor or transmission and the electronics that make them work properly.Now, I bought this car for 9 grand five years back because it was the very nicest origanal one that I had ever seen. Not one dent... not one scratch, never wrecked or abused... near perfect in every way, and I bought it from a 52 year old woman that seldom drove it and she was the origanal owner. So, please don't think that I started out with a tore-down project car that had been owned by every vo-tech kid in town. All of the work that I've had done to the car has been done by the authorized Nissan tech at the large nissan dealership in our town. Recenly, I went to start the car and another fKn injector was not clicking... so, of course I gotta pull the upper intake to replace it... well, I also had a running 1990 sitting around (but it was kinda tore up) so, I asked the nissan dealership if a 1990 upper intake works for a 1993 car... he said that it did... so, I took it off and sent it out with the throttle-bodies and linkage to get fully polished. Scheduled the time to replace the injector a couple of weeks later and put the newly polished upper intake assembly on the car. It ran (kinda with a miss) for about 2 minutes... then it sounded as if someone took a hammer and rapidly BEAT on a metal table untill it died. I pulled the plugs, fearing the worst... and found that the back two cylinders on the pass. side were FULL of coolant... so, I think something is really broken inside (such a shame... new motor) so, with all of the headaches that this motor and transmission combo have given me... I was wondering... would a Q45 motor and transmission work in the car??? I've owned one of those before, they're quick for a full-bodied car, and it never gave me any trouble... what are your thoughts... please

[nsrZ32]

Welcome to NICO.

Sorry to hear about all your bad luck. The VG motor is not a bad motor...you've just had some horrible misfortune. You can swap in the Q45 motor, it has been done, but isn't really cost efficient or super easy. Honestly why not just look into having a reputable high performance shop do the TT swap into your car? You can pick up a front clip from Japan for relatively cheap and everything is straight forward, plus with the clip you get everything you need.

[srackunderground]

Thank you alot for your help.. I'll approach it that way.

[idriveaTTz32]

as tempting as it may be its not really worth it- unless you have to absolutely do it -to swap in a different series of motor. Stick with the VG motors, like nsr said look into the tt swap, most jdm tt clips are auto so if you wish, you can stick with it and save time and money not swapping out the footworks. you will need a special driveshaft though and most Z specifics shops know where to get them, good luck!

[gpelite]

Yea, check for a real Z shop, they do it for pennies on the dollar of the dealer rip offs. My car seems to be a lemon, at times, but matinence on my 16 year old car is pretty little frequent things vs. the bigger problems I had in cars the same age other models. She is a problem, but my beloved problem

I would check into the upgrades out there, there are a lot, I mean a lot of ways to stretch the problems on the Z out and I have been rolling in the upgrades lately updating, not just replacing with OEM. You can get that 9k Z back, god knows I'm tryin to get my 5k or so back in mine and its a process.

I don't have to tell you to double check all your lines, make sure its all hooked correctly. check the normal trouble spots of heads and valves too since that clanging can not be good.

Major bummer on the engine problem, gonna need to be inspected and cleaned, obviously, if not more than that. *crosses fingers*

Interested to what it was though, so let me (or us here) know