VG30DETT Replacement

Canada Nissan Automotive
1

Just an update to my WTB thread.
I initially went to the importer I bought the car from and he didn’t have any in stock or had any enroute. I have a better feeling about his sourcing than I do about the other dozen or so importers I visited in Montreal last year. I think he felt obliged to help me find another engine since I got my car from him. He went to another importer and did a compression check on a stand alone engine and didn’t pan out - 2 cylinders were at 125. That same shop had just recieved a front clip in immaculate condition and he just finished doing a compression check on that engine this morning. It has readings in the low 150’s on all of the cylinders - no variations by more than 3 psi. The odometer on the front clip shows something like 70,000kms which may correspond to the condition of the front clip. At any rate, I’m going with that engine and it’s hopefull it may be lifted out of the car by the end of today and possibly shipped to the shop in Kingston sometime tomorrow.
I asked my importer to verify the coolant condition and apparently it seems to be a normal occurance for owners in Japan to use predominantly tap water instead of anti-freeze - tropical climate occurance. Hence the crux of my initial problem in the first place. But then again, I think the tap water usage combined with a suspected use of one of those coolant stop-leak products must have been the catalyst for plugging up and/or detiorating most of the coolant pipes/lines. I wouldn’t be surprised that with the absence of real coolant, a stop-leak product might just solidified quite easily and turn hard as rock as in my case. Something one really couldn’t see or find even after some tertiary checking. At any rate, all of thos possible issues will be looked at before the install. As well, the water pump and the timing belt cover will be pulled to verify their integrity and decide then if the 100K maintenance schedule should be applied. As a side note, the engine was mated to an A/T tranny which could mean some other positive prospectives, ie: The inherent charastics of an A/T shifting itself at safe rpm levels would possibly negate the potential for over revving that is highly possible from an M/T tranny. Unless there were a number of mods done to eliminate the rev limiter, then this would be a mute idea. As far as I’ve been told, there appears to be no modding done to this engine that is clearly visable (which is also a good thing). Hopefully, it’ll be back on the road by next week. fingers crossed again

Patrick, it may be worthwhile during your swap to pull the water pump and have a real close inspection of that and the coolant lines/pipes so you don’t encounter similar problems.

2

Thanks John
I’m doing the full 100K maintenance on my car. I’m waiting to receive the water pump etc. I’m thinking of coolant line delete once I get the intake manifold off. Not sure yet, but based on the condition of every thing else I think this motor is good. When we pulled out the rad it was obviously just changed, but there was some weird liquid in addition to the coolant that came out. My speculation is stopleak.

I have yet to do a compression test. The people that imported the clip guarantee that the compression was good across the board. They had a 90 day warranty on it, but who knows how it will end up. I asked for a copy of their compression results but they said it was checked before the clip was shipped and they didn’t have it. Number 6 cylinder is notorious for dying far before the rest. When I get a new oil pan for it I’ll be checking all that.

Thanks for the heads up,

Patrick

3

Patrick, if you suspect any sort of foriegn additive like stop-leak type of thing, have a real close look at the thin coolant pipes for the turbo’s. Make sure those are completely clear. The heat and all of that tap water and possible additive stuff will really bung that up because of the severe heat from the turbo’s. Hate to see the turbo’s give out prematurely because of cooling issues.

4

Engine delivered to shop for installation on Friday - $1,500 for engine and $150 for shipping. FWIW, there’s all the remaining bits of a J-Spec front clip sitting at the importers shop in Montreal for the taking.

5

Well that engine from JDM Advance in Montreal didn’t pan out. When it arrived at the shop last Fridaythe techs there gave it a good looking over and this engine definitely is not a low mileage engine. In fact there was RTV on almost every coolant line, vacuum line, egr, valve cover gaskets, etc. There’s no way an engine reported to have approx 70,000kms on it to have all of this done. The engine would have had to been pulled to do all of that work not to mention that the owner cheaped out with the RTV rather than replacing hoses, gaskets and lines with new. Add to this that the valve cover was leaking again. So the engine was sent back and I have to absorb the $300.00 plus shipping fees because of this.
On Tuesday this week I go to Toronto to check out some prospective candidates. One place has an engine that’s been powered washed so hard the black paint on the balance tube was peeled off in places. They were very rough in cutting every electrical connection when it was removed from the car. There were remnants of blingy parts on the engine which suggested prior ownership usage. The compression was all around 160. Unfortunately, like the engine I sent back to Montreal, this too had traces of water-only coolant usage. I pulled the coolant lines to the turbo and saw excessive pitting on the tube tips as well as mirky dirty brown water.
I for the life of me cannot fathom why almost every JDM Z engine I’ve seen has been sorely abused in the cooling department. Rather than maintaining proper antifreeze levels, whenever the level gets low, they add tap water. This progressively gets to the point that there is no longer any antifreeze used at all and only tap water is used. I guess they don’t realize that antifreeze has better cooling properties than any tap water. At any rate, tap water will also do nasty things in the block as well. Compound this with excessive higher engine temps because the water just doesn’t cut it and we eventually see premature failure of coolant lines, and turbo’s because of this lack of cooling properties.
Rather than settle with a questionable imported JDM engine, I’ve decided to scrap the engine swap for now since every engine I’ve seen has been crap. I’m going to cut my losses at this point, have all of the new coolant, vacuum and fuel lines installed and have the mechanic do the best he can and then button her back up. I’m considering having my current engine rebuilt and will look to have this done when I return from Afghanistan next January.
Now, my quest will be to find a quality Z engine rebuilder near the Toronto area. I’m even receptive to taking my car south of the border, leaving it there for the 3,4 or 5 weeks necessary for this. While I’m at it, I might as well replace the turbo’s with 500’s (just thinking out loud here).
I wonder if Vuk from AMS would be avle or does engine rebuilds and what sort of $$$ we’re talking about.
Options anyone??

6

apparently mississauga engines is an excellent shop. I’m having my motor built at Ajax Engines (my old work)

7

I was at Shannonville yesterday for the Z Track Day and didn’t see any familiar faces there - what happened??

Anyway, I did get to see and meet all sorts of Z’s and Z owners including Marc from TIZCC. He’s got quite the mulit-coloured 240Z, stripped and sporting a Q45 engine - OMG!!
I asked a number of Z32 owners if they new of Vuk and AMS and none knew him. They did however highly recommend Greg Whitehead from Whitehead Performance. Is anyone familiar with his work/service?
So far, it’s between;
Vuk at AMS;
http://www.amszstore.com/aboutus.html

or Greg Whitehead at Whitehead Performance;
http://www.whiteheadperformance.com/

Any suggestions/recommendations between the two?

8

Was it a Q45 with a 5 speed?
That’s what I plan on doing with my Datsun 200SX.

9

It’s been a while so I thought I’d update my original thread.
I dropped off my Z at AMS in July the day before I flew out on deployment. I didn’t want to give up one minute of driving it. I had few conversations and meetings with Vuk prior to this. I decided I was going to have him do a complete teardown and rebuild. It’ll be fairly similar Kyle’s at IPP Stage 2 long block rebuild (for those that know IPP, you’ll know what I mean http://www.importpartspro.com/vgloblpa.html ). I also included a fairly lengthy upgrade list to compliment the rebuild. I fugured I might as well do everything all at once and do it right the first time rather than piecemeal it. Here’s what’s happening;

Complete teardown, bored, decked, flowed, acid dipped, #5 and 6 cyl coolant gallery clean-out.
Parts to be installed as part of engine rebuild process;
All new Nissan gaskets and seals where required or stated otherwise
200k belt, pully and water pump install
GT675 Turbo’s
PE850cc Injector Kit
Wiseco Pistons
Cometic Gaskets
ARP Fasteners
ARP Head and Main Kit
Nismo T-Stat
Dual Z w/2x filters
Z1 ECU (850/dual/5spd/fed)
EFI Harness
Greddy Profec B
Apexi Neo
Z1 Clutch and flywheel
Z1 TT Driveshaft
Down-pipes - new 5 bolt divorced
CZP Louvers
CZP 12.75" Big Brake Kit w/ rear CD/SL rotors
SS Braided brake lines, PBR pads
AMS Main Pulley
AMS OD Pulley
AMS Manifolds
OEM Oil Pump
OEM T.B. Assembly
Detonation Sensor
Det Sensor Sub-Harness
Coolant Temp Sensor
Coolant Temp Sending Sensor
Engine Mounts
ETD SMIC’s
AM Short Shifter
OBX Silicone Hardpipes
ES Bushing install
Rebuild and Powder coat (Brembo Gold colour) calipers
Upper IM and VC’s powder coated Gloss Black

So far parts alone have come to nealy $9,000.00 I still need to spend about another $3,000.00 in parts and then there’s the labour on top of all of that. Fairly hefty price tag to say the least, but that’s the cost of having over 600whp.
Anyway, Vuk says the progress is going well and I plan on picking her up during my R&R in Nov/Dec. Fingers crossed the roads are bare and dry then. After the pick-up from Vuk’s, the Z will be dropped off at a paint shop near my place for a complete respray. I’m having the paint shop remove the pebbled portion on the lower part of the car. The upper windshield roof pillar between the t-tops and the windshield will be painted gloss black as will the upper roof pillar between the t-tops and the rear hatch. The gutters in the t-tops will also be gloss black with the rest of the car getting a new Nissan silver paint that has a bigger metal flake content than the oem Platinum Mist but will not be noticeably different colourwise. I’ve alreay got new RHD windshield wiper cowlings from Australia and well as a bunch of other RHD bits like new Z floor mats, dash carpet and a few other RHD goodies.
Oh ya, I also won these;
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150150380017&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=005

http://i4.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/ae/fd/14d1_1.JPG

I’ll now have new leather seats with 2 front power front seats. :slight_smile:
After the paint job, I have new fog lights, new front clear turns and new clear rear side marker lights to put in since the JDM rear fender markers are only reflectors and not illuminated lights. Oh ya, new Nismo clear front fender markers as well.

My only difficulty is finding where to get my interior panels that are currently in grey tweed re-done in a black leather/vinyl as well as the rear passenger panels and T-Top panels. Any ideas where I can get this done that won’t break my already depleated bank account as it is?
Anyway, I think I’ve covered most of it. More to follow later.
:slight_smile:

John Schrauwen
Airfield Operations Center
Kandahar, Afghanistan

BTW, I’m posting this from my car PC in my tent. :slight_smile:

10

Hi John,

Cant wait to see the finished product.

Hope your tour goes by smoothly and safely.

Church

11

good luck man.
as a former cadet and reservist, hope you stay safe, and god speed.

12

Hey John,

Your buildup is nice… but expensive. Your Weisco pistons, are they overbore?

I’m thinking of going for 600WHP next summer too now that I’ve conquered the 400WHP mark, but I’m gonna do mine on the cheap. I’m looking at 4G right now with everything done but for me, right now, the Harness is the most important thing. But I think the 850cc injectors are overkill.

To get to where I’m thinking, I’m gonna get
555cc injectors
Dualz (Dual MAF)
Upgraded bigger BB turbo

And while the engine is out I’ll change the DET sensor and clean the water galleys for 5 and 6. But to keep it all under wraps I’m thinking a Koyo rad and some electric fans. Not to mention some freer flowing exhaust, test pipes and I’ll weld in some Cherry Bomb mufflers so it looks like there’s cats in there.

That’ll add a nice complement to my secret weapon that’s supposed to get here tomorrow, but it seems UPS got help up with Customs on it.

13

holy shit john, that sounds wickid! your car will be totally nuts… it wont even be the same car!

pat, your eyes must be turning green with envy, lol

i like everything in that motor setup except the forged pistons. they’re not ideal for a street car. just make sure you give it time to warm up fully before you floor it.

cant wait to see it next summer.

BTW, there is a really good interior place in the unit next to mine at work. he could do what you are asking but im not sure how his pricing is. it doesnt sound like a big job though, just a few interior panels. he does excellent work, mostly muscle cars and classic restorations.

14

Terry the pistons in the stock TT are forged.

Green with envy… No mine is the underdog back yard builder cheap monster.
I’m looking to get the same numbers and still DD my beast.

15

I think we’ve had this arguement before…

16

Yeah, but I think we were both drunk off our asses on a Sheesha Buzz after just filling our guts with BBQ steak.
Now I actually have my FSM which explicitly states that they are Forged Pistons.

17

Thanks for the props guys. I’m really looking forward to getting back and picking her up in Nov/Dec. Fingers crossed there’s no snow on the ground. Sheesh, I can’t even picture snow right now with the temps still getting to 36C and 38C every day.
I trust Vuk in what he’s doing. He’s quite precise in the selection of parts and what combination of parts work well together. As a matter of fact, we changed the choice of turbo’s and injectors after finding that the PE 850 kit will drop right in and the turbo’s will not have to work overly hard to produce some substantial HP. Trying to achieve 600whp on Nismo555’s would put those at the max end of their duty cycle as opposed to the PE’s. The PE’s still leave room for future considerations, if required. I’ll have the dual Z1 intake as well. What I didn’t include but which Vuk will do doing as well is the TB coolant bypass, the EGR delete, (I already have the AIV delete done) as well as a major clean-up of the engine bay. Of course, a new clutch is required for this extra HP and along with that is the lightened flywheel. The Z1 programmed ECU will be specific for the my config as well. Yes, the Wiseco pistons will be the next size overbore since the engine gets the complete teardown, re-bore, decked, flowing the heads and IM. It will be still very user friendly as a DD but won’t be used as a DD. The platinum single driveshaft from Z1 will also add the less rotating mass which will attribute to easier spooling of the disco-potatoe turbo’s. I chose a stage level of build that’s quite aggressive but not unmanageable. I’m really not sure what hp numbers it will put out. I suppose that it should show impressive results at the 19psi range. I’m still not all that familiar with setting boost levels and the like so, I’ll take it very conservative in the beginning. I’ll have to let the new engine break itself in and I’ll be learning about my boost controller and A/F controller during this break-in phase.
Hanz, thanks for the tip on the interior shop. Ya, they’re not big pieces and it shouldn’t be all that difficult to have them re-covered in a nice leather type vinyl or something. Patrick can show you what I mean - glove box, center consol side pieces, the under dash piece, the 2 rear passenger side pieces and the small sections on each door panel. I’ll have to leave that part for the spring though.
Take care guys, and thanks,

John :wink:

18

I just found this site. I think I’ll be around Stage 7 or 8;
http://www.z32tt.com/modifications.htm

19

your car is going to be a monster!

20

:drivin
:smiley: