Vq30de engine rebuild help

Discuss topics related to the VQ series engine.
BoostinBy
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:43 am

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I have recently received a vq30de engine for free for a build I am doing but every part is not labeled and the motor is torn down to the shortblock. My plan is to rebuild it with low compression pistons, low overlap cams and boost the crap out of it. currently checking to make sure everything is sound that nothing is warped and I can use this block.
I am hoping there are a few saviors in this forum that can help me with this build seeing as how I will have to piece this entire thing together bolt by bolt referencing sizes and buying bolts. Finding a good manual has been difficult if anyone can help me that would be great i also have questions regarding where to find some trustworthy aftermarket parts i do not have any experience with this motor.
I believe the motor is sleeved at first I thought it was allmost nikasil plated like a dirtbike but further examination with a magnet proved that it deffinately was a ferrous material so I know that i can bore it out 1mm over if i make a torque plate, what is the max bore anyone has done with a vq30de safely?
later il post pics of the block and parts as I clean them, this is just the start of my build and wanted this thread to post pictures of the build and ask for information from anyone who has experience building a vq30de.


BoostinBy
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:43 am

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I got the engine into the shop today, Removed the heads and the crank then pressure washed the block to remove some gunk before I start to make sure nothing is warped or distorted.



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Used a giant file wrapped in fine sandpaper coated with WD-40 to clean up mating surfaces and checked the surfaces for distortion with a machinist flat edge and a 1 thousandth feeler gauge, not one spot warped even tho this engine clearly overheated.

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Ball Honed the cylinders to remove surface rust and check for pitting in all of the cylinders, 1 cylinder had 1 pit in it.... so close to getting away without boring if I wanted to but of course I want that 1mm extra displacement

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Pressurewashed the heads and started to remove the shims and buckets, 3 buckets will not come out I have pushed them in with rubber mallets and oiled them with 10w30, wd40, pb blast I even forced them to spin by using a pick pushed into the oil feed hole in them but I still cannot get those 3 out the rest either pulled out with a magnet or the previous method.

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Started sorting out parts aswell that were just thrown into a box this is where I am really gonna need some forum help from people with experience, none of the bolts are labeled this is a nightmare of an issue but im keeping optimistic with it.

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BoostinBy
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:43 am

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So I removed the stuck lifters with alot of effort it was not easy, I assumed the head was warped but after analysis it is not.

removed the all of the valves from both heads and pressurewashed the heads again to remove more crap off of them.

Valve seals were all s***, had oil creating silly putty on the back of some of my intake valves.

Decided to go with the 350z crank after a little bit of research, all objections to this decision will be welcomed hopefully someone can match my math because im now sure if all of the spec's i have received are trustworthy.



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NutriaforBreakfast
Posts: 1316
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:41 pm
Car: Nissan Maxima 1995 VQDE engine

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Was interested in assembling a new vq30de on day. My orig car has nearly
250k. My skill is basicaly with replacing parts and have helped a friend
rebulid his engine.

Want a good daily driver i can open up on the freeway every 3 months for
my regular trip out of Dallas

Would like some forged pistons, forged crank, forged cams, and good
flowing heads.

i have some dumb questions like;
1) is the engine a full aluminum block?
2) are the crank, cams, all steel?
3) Any recommendations on the heads or crank?
4) Did you have a machine shop do any work (like overboring .001) etc?

BoostinBy
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:43 am

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Been so busy I haven't had time to do much to the motor but I cleaned it with glass beads, removed valve seals, checked out a lot of the specs and started to piece together my rebuild heres a few pictures.

valve seals were pretty stuck on there not used to that.
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The cam caps were all out of place idk why but I matched them up correctly, oiled it up and installed the cam to make sure it does not bind at all.

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BoostinBy
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:43 am

Post

NutriaforBreakfast wrote:Was interested in assembling a new vq30de on day. My orig car has nearly
250k. My skill is basicaly with replacing parts and have helped a friend
rebulid his engine.

Want a good daily driver i can open up on the freeway every 3 months for
my regular trip out of Dallas

Would like some forged pistons, forged crank, forged cams, and good
flowing heads.

i have some dumb questions like;
1) is the engine a full aluminum block?
2) are the crank, cams, all steel?
3) Any recommendations on the heads or crank?
4) Did you have a machine shop do any work (like overboring .001) etc?
Im going off of memory and not sure if any of this is correct so someone correct me where it is needed.

1. yes all aluminum with iron sleeves, the block is cast around the sleeves.

2. yes but the crank is forged.

3. crank is really friggen strong already, stronger than the vq35de crank, heads flow decent not amazing but the intake manifold is the air flow problem along with the throttle body, I plan on tig welding a custom intake manifold to accommodate this problem. If after I am done anyone else wants a custom turbo intake i might sell a few. also im not a fan of polishing intake ports or manifolds the decrease in roughness from the casting actually causes fuel to not atomize the same way as with rough areas and collect into liquid droplets instead of staying a mist.

4. no i did some old time tricks to remove a nick in the deck from some sort of casting issue causing the head gasket to not seal for the previous owner in cylinder 6 i was going to bore the motor but the main webs get in the way for the boring bar, i figured out how to get around this but my stone hone wont get a perfect hone with the webs in the way so im not going to bore anymore but it was my original intention.

BoostinBy
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:43 am

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Forgot pertaining to question number 2. the vq35de head flows better and has bigger valves i think like 22mm or something on the intake i cant remember off the top of my head but it will fit right on with no combustion chamber problems from the increased cumbustion chamber on the head because the vq35de is the vq30de with slight differences.

NutriaforBreakfast
Posts: 1316
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:41 pm
Car: Nissan Maxima 1995 VQDE engine

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Must be 25 wrecked 95-00 max's in the junkyard here
i am going to plan to get a motor later in the year and
tear it down and micrometer it. :gapteeth:
want it for real but it might be practice
Thank you for letting me know about the steel sleeves
in the aluminum block
Are you worried about the vq35 heads on vq30 motor?
I guess you have plenty of combustion chamber room and
the springs aren't too strong? :bowrofl:

RoyXLR8
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:38 pm
Car: 1992 Nissan 240sx s13vert - KA24DE
2003 Nissan Maxima - I30 DE-k Swap

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This is late but, if you put the vq30dek cams, and the vq35's pistons, you'd be bringing the displacement to 3.3
The 30 pistons are spooned and the 35s are flat. Better intake from the dek's cams and the motor will hold good compression.


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