Forgive me if I offend the Nissan purist but I've the Quest's Evil Twin--Yes I own a Villager. Which was working fine till a friend drove it with a hole in the oil filter and "Darn if she didn't see the silly little light-thingy, but drove it till it stalled, then drove a "little more" just to get off the interstate"--Yeah? Right!

I've a 97 Villager 250k with seized crank that I'd like to run till the economy gets better(4 More years?) and have located a 94 VG30E Engine Trany combo with 20k. For anyone else but me it would be a drop in and bolt up 2 hour dream but I an not anyone else. O'Riley says it will swap out, Hollander keeps segregating the engines into post 11/93, 94-96, then 97-98. I know there was a crankshaft diameter upgrade, I am hoping the ECU recognizes the transplant without hic-up as I plan to swap most sensors.

So how much can I get away without re-fabricating the entire front end? I am not worried per se about engineering improvements over the years but only if I can swap the engines and components for a bolt in.

Why the distinction between 96 and earlier and 97-98 in Hollander? or Why does O'Riley show a single line item for 94-98? What are the adaptations if any I'll need to make to use the 94 Engine and Transmission in the 97?

Eman

have you done any research into em? i am working on an 85 vg30et and i learned the history of the motors till 89 =)

pardon but what does the "em" stand for?

them

Sorry I was looking to deeply into the hidden meaning and thought you were mentioning a new database I hadn't tried to search--lol. Yes I have and that is why I am here asking. It is what is not said that I can't reason through. I've done a back door Hollander search via ebay auctions for various components as I don't have the $600 a year for the program to own my own copy.

There are inconsistencies in Hollander. The crankshafts are listed as totally interchangeable 93-98 as is the block , timing belt/gears. water pump,pistons, connecting rods etc. But I know t some time the crankshaft was modified for a larger snout but that could have been the 11/93 model change. The intake is listed as non-interchangeable but the gaskets are the same. The wheel hubs are the same 93-98 but the CV shafts are listed as non interchangeable between 96 and 97. The 94 transmission is interchangeable on Quest but not Villager.

Hollander doesn't state WHY it doesn't interchange but apparently does provide lots of inter-vehicle conversion information such as adapting a frontwheel design back and forth to a rear wheel application. Again the absence of 94 to 97 modifications is what is so wacky.

I just went to a junkyard where a 93 quest and a 97 Quest were available. The only two visually apparent differences I saw was the transmission oil pan and the intake manifold shapes.

I guess short of any known show stoppers I'll go ahead and get the 94 donor engine /transmission and just do it. One way or another we'll find out what the differences are that Hollander doesn't mention. I am hoping it was just owing to the crankshaft change for 96-97 and intake modifications and that, so long as I am able to swap external components and sensors, I can get on with the swap.

I've not even started to research transmission interchange but hoping that too was just a valve body performance mod etc. I figure with a 20k donor I'll at least have a good long block to work with but I'll not really know if it is a clean physical fit until I am bolting up the final nut .

Thanks for your input.

i didnt really help much lol... you have done some research! hmm... with any luck, both engines use the same electrical components.