Swappable parts with other Nissan/Infiniti cars, 96' J30

[Leuthesius]

Hello.

I am the proud owner of a 96' J30. She's got almost 140,000 miles on her, and she's unfortunately starting to show some of her age despite my disgruntlement of this.

So I'd like to confirm a few things before I throw the money at them.

The engine for the 96 J30 is a VG30DE.The engine for a 96 300Z is a VG30DE.The transmission for a 96 300Z is a 5 speed manual transmission.Would this be directly swappable? Would it be fairly "simple" to put in a clutch pedal? Is there a 6 speed manual transmission that fits that engine?

Also, my lower ball joint on the passenger side front is going out. I really, really don't want to have to replace the whole control arm, and it looks like I can pop that ball joint out. So since I've already asked for some model numbers for a ball joint that will match, I'll report back if I can find a match for it by its measurements.

Finally, the rack and pinion on my J is leaking like a horny hooker at a Corporate getaway, and I don't want to have to spend the ridiculous amount of money to buy another new [Infiniti] one, so I'm wondering if the part is swappable with any other car on the market that year. I would think that it's a hell of a lot more cost effective to manufacture the same part and put them on multiple cars than not.

[maxnix]

You can get a rebuilt rack from Maval or Joe has the Meridian rebuilt available also.

http://www.infinitipartsusa.com

Some have even put VG30DETT into the J30 with the 5 speed.

[Leuthesius]

Is the transmission just flat swappable? Nothing special required to finish it?

[maxnix]

Don't know. You'll have to read the posts, but not sure if any actually document the process rather than reference the result.

Master cylinder and clutch pedal mountings would be first problem.

[Leuthesius]

Isn't it possible to do a steering wheel electronic clutch?

[maxnix]

Sure, if you have cash coming out of the kazoo!

[Leuthesius]

I don't know why this thing is double posting on a refresh.

I'm having a hard time finding threads with clutch installation info in them here. Anybody know which topics I should be looking for to be more precise?
Modified by Leuthesius at 1:15 PM 5/18/2009