ok, without telling me how hard or pain in the ass it will be, what ALL do i need to convert from the single cam engine to the double cam engine? ie;ecu, manifolds, wiring harness, vg30de lol, whatever... if you know, let ME know. thanks.
I'm actually not sure if this would be an easy swap as I've never seen it done. I haven't been in the Nissan world for very long so don't take my word for it. If it is true that there aren't any kits available to switch motors. You may want to go with a VE30DE with VG internals. Just a thought.
I thought there was some reason that Nissan didn't put a VG30DE in the Maxima. They already had it in the Z, but came up with the VE as thier performance "solution".
Maybe they didn't want the Max to have the same power as the Z, but I thought that it was a packaging problem... it didn't fit under the hood. If you see a FSTB on a Max with the VE, there isn't a lot of room left up top. I haven't done a comparison though.
ok then... im not up for the hardest swap of the year award, lol. what do i have to do then to go from the boat anchor 160 horse engine i have now over to the 190 horse engine? money at this point is no problem... not endless but enough to do the job, what am i looking at, material wise for the swap?
If money is no problem, then you don't need an engine swap... you need a car swap. Go buy a 92-94 SE and the engine swap has already been done. Why reinvent the wheel unless you don't have anything better to do?
Either that or you need to get one that has an Auto or 5spd like yours that got totalled except for the drivetrain... then you have everything you need and can figure it out.
BTW: the VE uses a different auto trans than the VG in a Max.
If you have a VG30DE already, start doing some measurements. A VG30DE swap into a Max would be a really cool thing... dunno if it will fit. You already know the other stuff you'd need.
i found a private owner that has a turnkey engine + ecu for me. 800 bucks with 30k on it. i wanna do this car cuz ive already got suspension work done to it, among other things, and the car is somewhat of a rarity here in az. its a black se, 5spd with the bose system. weve had it since 93(?). the a/c is still very cold and it ran great until the injectors started going bad a couple months ago. rather than fix the 200k engine in it now, i thought it would be nicer and sweeter if we upgraded it, you know? so, that said, any other ideas? i have a fast altima as well, and a very fast truck, but i wanna fix this one up too. thanks.
The heads on a VG30DE are significantly wider than those on a VG30E. Over at Club S12 us 200SX V6 guys have discussed this VG30DE swap idea quite a bit. Our cars are a RWD setup, and the VG30E in the SE's are a pretty tight squeeze, and the VG30DE heads will not clear the wheelwells. You wouldn't have that exact same problem in a FWD Maxima of course, but the overall width of the engine still could be a big issue.
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Christopher Scott
Raleigh, NC
1988 200SX SE V6 www.v6-s12.com
Originally posted by Asleep_94_Altima i found a private owner that has a turnkey engine + ecu for me. 800 bucks with 30k on it.
...rather than fix the 200k engine in it now...
I guess my question is what is this engine from? From what I know and can tell, '97 was the last year for the VG30DE, and that was in the Infiniti J30. Otherwise, $800 for a 30K engine and ECU is a good deal, even if it sits in the garage for 10 years.
Hey, don't knock 200K. A good engine that has been maintained is just getting started at 200k. I understand your desire for "ooommmph" though.
now you have me wondering what it came out of... ill call today and find out. yeah, like i said, the engine ran fine. cant keep up with my altima and thats what also is pushing me to build this one up. as far as the size thing goes, ill have to measure that out and see what we are looking at. i could go and spend money on a new car, but it wouldnt be as satisfying. and no one wants a payment when you already have a couple of paid off cars... didnt the max engine go to 190 horse in 93 or so? maybe 92? id go that route too, its all a matter of what i need to do and where to get the parts from.
Originally posted by tsi200sx The heads on a VG30DE are significantly wider than those on a VG30E. ...but the overall width of the engine still could be a big issue.
Any idea/comment on how the size of the VE30DE compares to the VG30DE? If I remember correctly (from reading somewhere long ago) that the VG30DE wasn't going to make into the 3rd gen Max because of its size or "packaging", but they wanted more performnce in the Max, thus they used the technology (but not the parts) from the VG30DE and... voila... the VE was born.
Again, if I'm not mistaken, the VE is still a VG on the bottom with different heads, intake and timing gear. If I'm right, maybe a VE swap is what you need for your S12.... or maybe my VE33DE idea would work.
Originally posted by Asleep_94_Altima now you have me wondering what it came out of... ill call today and find out. yeah, like i said, the engine ran fine. cant keep up with my altima and thats what also is pushing me to build this one up.
didnt the max engine go to 190 horse in 93 or so? maybe 92?
You could get cams and a reprogrammed ECU for your VG30E. Maybe a little head work. Just about anything that can be done to a 84-89 300ZX's engine can be done to yours. I think there is a healthy parts bin available.
The SE got the VE30DE in 92-94.
The other interesting question that I saw yesterday (either here or at maxima.org) is whether a VQ from later Maximas would work in a 3rd gen. That's a completely different animal, but I don't know if it'll bolt in or not. I think it would "fit" because it was built for packaging as well as power, but don't know how it bolts up. That would be cool as well. The '94 with the VE uses (one of) the same auto trans that the '95 VQ uses, if that helps any.
tsi200sx: any input here? Another possibilty for the 200 maybe.
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