BLOZ UP

That looks like normal corrosion/crap from the engine block, not sand. I have some in my new radiator from my crappy VG30 that never saw a coolant flush. I flushed a bunch out but there's still some stuck in there. Not a big deal and unlikely to remove all of it unless you take it to a radiator shop to get it cleaned.

Thanks. Thanks to a late night engine remove and replace, careful welding, and some JB weld I made my engagement photoshoot without losing any oil. I seem to have a coolant leak still but I cannot determine where from as it's very slow. I've decided to use the slightly too large intercooler rather than getting a smaller one.

I got the motor hooked up and running but found a fuel leak that required removal of the upper intake. After fixing that it ran alright and I tuned it just a bit to get it more driveable for a photo shoot. Around 3-4k RPM it stumbles quite a bit at any load percent, I think it's going too rich, as adding fuel doesn't seem to help. I haven't looked at it much though. I think this is due to the vastly different actual VE vs what it's tuned for since I have the turbo disconnected. I've reassembled the interior and put the hood on. Also went to Autozone and got some crappy intake piping and joiner to be able to filter before the throttle body. There's still some wiring and cleanup to do in the engine bay but it's drivable as is. Definitely has more low-end than before. My right turn signal has stopped blinking (bulb appears to be out), and the hazards don't work. Really want to replace them with LEDs. I'll be ordering a new intercooler shortly and selling my huge one. Then I can get some turbo boost.

I took the motor out. I rewelded the bungs, and put JB Weld over that to help ensure anymore pinhole leaks would stop. Really dumb idea to weld on the oil pump. Should have made a adapter out of some new, easy to weld plate and welded the bungs on that. So, sorry, a ding on my gearhead card for using JB Weld but I want the best chances of zero oil loss. The horrible noise in the video is the crank pulley hitting this small raised portion of the VG33 lower timing cover. I've tried pushing the cover a bit and whatnot but the best be would be to machine the crank pulley a bit. Or, better yet, to get the nice ATI pulley. The motor is back in but not hooked up.

What worked for me on the Z31s I've megasquirted was reusing some of the stock wiring. This took some time and planning but required less rewiring. On my S30 I opted to use one of the fancy wiring harnesses. Totally worth it, especially since the S30 wiring was really archaic, and a lot of wires were the same color. Also, I didn't have to assemble that damned DB37 which in itself was worth the price. So, go with rewiring it with the DIY harness. Keep in mind you'll still have to locate the stock ECU power, ground, CAS, etc. wires. You may also have to rewire a relay or two, IIRC. So first wire up what you need, get it running, then you can remove unneeded stuff later.

Here we go again...

It runs.... but it still leaks oil. Coolant leaks appear to have stopped. Crank pulley is hitting the timing cover. Going to pull it off and see if anything can be done. Might have to pull the turbo assembly out and/or the motor to fix the oil leak.

The 88t came with a CLSD from the factory, yes. That's nice to have. The stock Z31 turbo manifolds and/or turbo will not fit on the VG30. The steering rack is in the way. You might be able to use a relocation pipe. There are a couple documented build threads on this site. I've done one of them. I do not recommend spending money on a built NA VG30. For $5000 you will get maybe, maybe 200hp. For that price and perhaps a bit more on a turbo motor you can get custom manifolds and a built motor and make 300-500hp easily. None of the Z31s have 'high' compression by today's standard. It's actually somewhat preferable to get a NA Z31 and do a turbo swap, as the 9:1 ratio works well with mid-range turbos. I do not recommend using the stock ECU. Using Megasquirt will be simpler.

Oil filter doesn't fit anywhere else, really. So I hooked it all up, put oil and coolant in it, had to redo a battery lead as it turned out to be too loose, and tried to prime the oil pump. After about 20 seconds I wasn't seeing pressure. I poured oil down the filter send and return lines, then tried again. I got maybe 1-2psi to register on the gauge then. Well I was about to pack it in (too late at night to start) when I noticed coolant and oil on the ground. I looked briefly, the coolant appears to be coming from the LIM or above. Maybe (hopefully!) one of the coolant lines on top for the turbo. The last time it leaked the most popular spots were the thermostat housing or housing outlet hose, but those are dry. The oil is from the fittings on the side of the oil pump (surprise!). I didn't tighten them to the 30 ft-lbs. or so -10 AN is supposedly supposed to be at (that seems awfully tight....), so I will try that tomorrow. It could also be--I really, really hope it's not--the welds between the bung and the pump. If it is, it appears to be a forward facing, easy to get to spot. But it would still require cleaning all the oil out of the vicinity.

Got the exhaust installed. I had to drill out the holes a bit more than they were to get them to fit without raising the engine. Cutting the flanges inbetween each runner made it a pain as I had to man handle it a bit. This Frontier valve cover didn't fit, so I swapped back to the Z31 ones, after cleaning them a bit. Installed primaries and the secondaries/turbo/wastegate/downpipe assembly as one unit. Man it, uh, takes some finagling to get it all in there but it fits. New oil feed is easy to run, nothing really in the way. Just have to turn the turbo coolant line over a bit. Remote oil filter block should also be pretty easy but I don't have enough line. Plug wires run a little close to the exhaust... but this is no different than with the old motor. I'll tidy them up. I'm going to test putting the oil block on the other side, but it definitely fits well here.

What's left before I can start it... DON'T FORGET: Reinstall coolant block plugs since you still haven't done so! You will be sorry! Find belt that fits 42" 42.5" 43" 44" 45" 45.5" (?) 46" 46.5" (also learn how to measure) Torque crank bolt Widen flange bolt holes and install exhaust manifolds Install turbo and hook up exhaust, oil and coolant lines Mount and hookup remote oil filter (might need custom mount) Fix/replace coolant overflow (might need to build custom one) Oil Coolant Re-wire up fuel pump Fix oil leak(s). Fix coolant leak(s). What's left before I can drive Transmission fluid Engine hasn't exploded Unexploded engine isn't hemorrhaging fluids Mount intercooler Charge piping (lots of custom fab needed)

I was hoping to start it last night but there's really a lot of small things to do in one night. Plus, the later it gets the more time I spend fighting off insects. Coolant plugs are in. I freaked out for a bit when I check the FSM for the location of the coolant drain plugs. On the VG33 pathfinder, one of them is apparently right where my oil feed is located. On the VG30 this is an oil passage. Well I eventually calmed down when I remembered cleaning out the old oil after taking out the stock oil pressure sending unit. Still, that's weird. Maybe the FSM is wrong. My coolant plugs were lower down on the block, which makes more sense. Tightened motor mounts down, which took way too much time. Mocked up exhaust to try and determine where to put oil filter block. Decided it should go right where the coolant overflow is--it's time to replace the overflow anyway.

What ECU are you using? I'm assuming standalone since you have large injectors. How's the tune? Ramping up fuel too much too quick when building boost will make it feel like a pig. Should still be relatively fast to NA, though.

Reno, NV? Hot fuel vaporizing pre-pump causing loss of suction? I had that problem with a high-flow pump before I ran a sump. It was circulating so much fuel to the rails and back it heated up the tank and in combination with the low pressure before the pump it evaporated and caused vapor pockets which killed outflow.

...And yeah I welded some extra intake bolts in to the support for the alternator mount. Couldn't find my extra 1/8" mild sheet.

I believe I've solved all the belt issues, now it's just a matter of finding a belt that fits. The old belt was 46.5", I 'measured' and got 42". The 42 and 42.5" belts I picked up were too small, so I exchanged them for a 43" and 43.9" which also turned out to be too small, despite the 43.9" fitting right in the middle of the tensioner range at one point. Before that I verified the timing belt was installed correctly and tensioned it. Then I fumbled around with 3.0 and 3.3L timing covers before settling on the 3.3L covers. The lower needed a little adjustment with my mini-sledge to fit the thermostat outlet pipe (which really needs to be redone, but some other day...). Otherwise... Fixed, welded and painted engine/alternator mount and installed alternator. Cleaned and installed the lower intake but forgot to put that coolant hose on the easy way Installed annoying coolant hose the hard way Installed crank pulley with spacer (on the front, the way it's meant to go). Pressure tested new fuel lines Cleaned and installed upper intake. Connected injectors Installed spark plug wires Hooked up CHTS and CAS Got some SR20 filters, oil, coolant and gear oil. Cleaned up exhaust manifolds My fuel pump didn't sound happy. It might be time for a new pre-pump fuel filter. Then again, it could be low voltage since I ghetto rigged it up to pressure test, the wires I used were a bit thin and got hot. I only got 20psi on the gauge, so perhaps the pressure regulator needs adjustment (it shouldn't). What left before I can start it... DON'T FORGET: Reinstall coolant block plugs since you still haven't done so! You will be sorry! Torque crank bolt Install exhaust Manifolds Install turbo and hook up exhaust, oil and coolant lines Mount and hookup remote oil filter (might need custom mount) Oil Coolant What's left before I can drive Transmission fluid Engine hasn't exploded Unexploded engine isn't hemorrhaging fluids. Charge piping (lots of custom fab needed) White balance was set wrong for a few shots, sorry.

I'm pretty cheap and while the 4 wheeled HF stands mentioned in this thread so far are fine by me, the 3-wheeled ones (also from HF, I think) are pretty unstable even on smooth pavement. I move pretty slow and carefully with a loaded engine stand so I've never had an 'almost' moment, but still, I could just feel the 3-wheeled variant wanted to crush my feet or something so i got rid of it.

Man I wish I was still in TX.

Big difference, but irrelevant to modern fuels, tuning methods, and knock detection/avoidance. The biggest problem with swapping on the Z31 turbo components in the S30 is that the steering rod goes right through where the turbo is supposed to sit. You need to reroute the steering rod, or move the turbo. If you move the turbo, I'm not sure you can even get a relocation pipe on it, but I could be wrong. If that's the case, you'd need custom manifolds. It's going to require custom fab one way or another.

I've switched back to the VG33 water pump. I didn't like the way the VG33 front cover fit without it, and this will allow my timing belt to be fully enclosed as well as fully support the front cover so I don't have to modify it. Since this brings the water pump pulley out up to the middle pulley on the balancer there's now another problem: The alternator needs to come out as well. I could run two belts if a very short (<24"?) belt exists and I had a way to tension it. Since that's a lot of work I'm going to try the seemingly much easier task of getting the alternator and/or alternator pulley out up to the next pulley, then it should just work. Assuming the 2" extra length doesn't interfere with anything else, which it shouldn't. I might pick up a Titan alternator which has overkill amperage output as well as a thick 6+ rib pulley that will help get the belt lined up. I may end up integrating a new passenger side mount/alternator mount, which would a) allow me to redo that engine mount which is kind of whack anyway, allow the mount to be smaller, and c) save a few lbs of redundant metal.

There've been a 3-4 people on here, including me that've swapped the VG30ET into the S30. Two documented ones (inc. me again) in to the later 280Z (although my pictures are AWOL at the moment). Custom engine mounts are required but were not hard. Exhaust routing/turbo placement is difficult but there are a few options, the steering rack being the main point of consideration. If the transmission mounts are the same as the 280Z, it just bolts on. For me, the 71b driveshaft fit with my 71c (z31) transmission and 280Z R200 without any modifications. That's what determined engine placement. I used the Z31t driver side engine mount and just made a wedge to change the angle to mate it with the 280Z crossmember. The other side required the mount to wrap around the alternator mount block.

You're braver than I. Although I eventually warmed up to rolling the fenders.

Noice. Funny you mention that today. It's my bday.

I'm having them all machined down to 11mm, this will raise the price.