vg30et in a s13

[mtcookson]

i know its been talked about on this board a little bit and i know quite a few guys said they wouldn't do this engine swap but i'm going to do it.... because i already have the engine. i'm just a big fan of the vg because of its awesome torque and very awesome reliability. since i have one sitting in the garage from my maxima i figured it be a good engine to swap in.

i'm just posting though because i'm curious if anyone else has done this swap. i'd like to know your opinions of the swap if you have done it.

my plans for it would be vg30dett internals, all the regular fuel upgrades, hopefully the vg30dett transmission... but i'm ont sure if that will fit or not (anyone know?), bigger turbo, you know the basics.

my brother has an s14 and i think he's wanting to do the rb20 or sr20. it seems the rb20's can be bought for much cheaper and i'd be willing to help him do the swap since i know it will be much more labor intensive. since he's wanting to do either of those i decided to do the vg30et and see how it would compare to those engines. the vg30et has a strong block and i know it can handle a lot of power. they say 300-350 on the stock crank however i know of a guy pushing 400+ rwhp on a z with one so they can be potent engines.

whew... lots of typing. thanks in advance for any opinions and such!

[nismofan14]

I say go for it. I have seen a nice write up on it somewhere around here and it got me interested in the swap but i couldnt decide on what route to go so I kept the ka. I will try and find a link for you.

[Dookie]

Isn't the maxima FWD? That won't work if that's the case.

[drifter_for_life06]

sounds like an okay idea post progress if all goes well

[Nissan-S14]

lol hahha, i was going to swap that into my maxima, but i got rid of it, before i had the engine droped, The VG30ET is from 85-89 300zx RWD, but its very easy to swap it into a maxima FWD. The engine is about $1200 and the swap about $800. But i believe its only like 205hp or not even.

[mtcookson]

Isn't the maxima FWD? That won't work if that's the case.

Actually, the blocks of all the vg30e(t)'s are identical. The only differences are power output and then of course when you get the turbo engine lower compression and different manifolds. There's also the intake manifold and some other small stuff but all of that can be easily swapped from one engine to the other. They do have a rwd and fwd setup for the engines but all that consists of is the piping for the coolant and some of the accessories i believe, all of which can be swapped from one engine to the other.

Here's some info the VG engines for anyone interested:

84-87 300ZX (short crank snout, has v-belt pulley) (some 87 engines have the longer crank snout like the 88-89's do)VG30E - 160 bhp @ 5200 rpm and 173 ft. lb. torque @ 4000 rpm 9:1 compressionVG30ET - 200 bhp @ 5200 rpm and 227 ft. Ib. torque @ 3600 rpm

VG30ET - 8.3:1 compression, T3 style turbo

88-89 300ZX (longer crank snout, multi ribbed belt pulley or whatever its called)VG30E - 165 bhp @ 5200 rpm and 168 ft. lb. torque @ 3200 rpm9:1 compressionVG30ET - 205 bhp @ 5200 rpm and 227 ft. lb. torque @ 3600 rpm8.5:1 compression, T25 style turbo

89-94 MaximaVG30E - 160 hp @ 5200 rpm and 181 ft. lb. torque @ 2800 rpm 9:1 compression

There are many more vehicles that the VG came in but these are probably the most popular of the bunch and the most known.

[Nissan-S14]

yea vg engines are the shizny. I use to rip that engine up and nothing went wrong with even once and my car had over 130k, and it was 15.9 in a 1/4 mile, pretty much stock. I remember how I use to abuse on alot of people because i had a 1990 maxima, and no one would even think it was that fast. I use to have fun with that car.

[mtcookson]

Yeah, these engines can definitely take some abuse. My Maxima had almsot 150k miles on it before I swapped the engine out. The thing ran strong as ever. Hell, it ran better than our gxe did with only 100,000 miles.

I definitely can't wait to get this 240 now. I'd love so much to have rwd and actually be able to take some mean corners in it. I can't wait.

[Syntax360]

I thought mattback had done the swap into his S13. I know i saw pictures, i just forget who's car it was. I remember him telling me it wasn't a very hard swap at all.

[mtcookson]

yeah, i wouldn't think it would be very difficult. i think one thing that might be nice is if i can get the engine closer to the fire wall it might help weight distribution but i won't really know until i try.

[f s t caz]

didn't mattback say custom oil pan/pickup?

better off starting w/ a VG33E motor (larger displacement, slightly higher compression, better flowing intake manifold) and getting a custom exhaust manifold and turbo.

Z31 guys have been using them for a little while now w/ good results

[mtcookson]

i was thinking about that but since i already have the vg30 and can easily make it a potent engine i'll just stick with it.

[NeedCAforS13]

orginal thread about mattback's car... but its so old the pictures don't work anymore:(

http://forums.freshalloy.com/u...&vc=1

Sean

[mtcookson]

sweet! pictures work but just can't be hot linked. that thing does look small in there with the modifications he did to the engine bay.

[Syntax360]

if u do go w/ the pathy 3.3 block, get lower compression pistons. they come w/ 9:1 (my Z31 also has 9:1) and that'll get old fast. i'd much rather have 8.3:1 that came in the W series block.

[Nissan-S14]

My old car i miss it sometimes VG POWER!!!!!!!

But my 240 rocksssss now

[Dattebayo]

You know i hate to burst your bubble, but i tossed this idea around three years ago. there was a website that was gonna do the swap, but they ran out of money trying to fab parts to swap it. The weight of the z31 motor will set off the 240's delicate balance such that handling will not be good at all. You would need some mean struts and springs to handle it, that = no drifting. Not to mention that the stock 240 mounts are close, but no cigar. You would need custom ones made and god knows if you could figure out the harness adapting. you have to cut out the firewall as well to make room for the exhaust cross-piece in the back of the engine.These are all the reasons i decided NOT to do it. So i have a Z31 engine sitting in my shed gathering dust. *sigh*

[mtcookson]

hmm... i'll think about it for a little bit when i finally get the car and see where i can go from there.

[mtcookson]

looks like this won't be happening after all. turns out someone who previously owned put that it was stolen and i don't feel like messing with a title like that so i guess this project is out.