mtcookson

The VE is definitely a cool engine. Forged crank, forged rods, actually even has a variable intake stock. I started on Maxima's with the VG and have always wanted to do something cool like that with the VE. I think it will respond very well to boost... oh yeah... VG30DE pistons will fit in there too... You should be able to put some 9:1 or 8.5:1 or whatever you want VG30DETT pistons and rods in there. That will give you quite a few aftermarket possibilities. I don't know why this engine hasn't been messed with all that much (probably because it was only in the Maxima) but they are overall an excellent engine. They did have some VTC issues which can be remedied with a VTC rebuild (when they go bad the engine will literally sound like a diesel). There's also a guy over at Maxima.org working with Ash (http://www.ashspecz.com) on trying to get the Zemulator to work with the VE. I guess the VE has a similar ECU that the later Z's have. They found out it will work on the earlier VG ECU's since they're chipped but are still working on that VE ecu. That could be a good option as, from what I understand, Megasquirt doesn't support the coil over plug system and such quite yet. Speak of the coil over plug, that's another thing to watch out for. The coils crack quite often causing running issues. They'll normally test good so you'll have to pull them out and inspect them individually. There is normally just cracks in the plastic on the sides. A good resource on the VE is the 3rd Gen Maxima forum over at Maxima.org. You can search through there and find tons of info on them. Good luck and definitely takes lots of pictures of the progress! I definitely want to see what the VE will be capable of.

I can't imagine one becuase that'd just be so wrong to do to the VH45. With fuel injection technology these days you can tune the engine to a much higher extent than a carb would ever be able to do. Basically... it would just be pretty pointless to carb a VH45. It would be like trying to turn it into a pushrod engine. No point at all... unless you intentially don't want it to perform to its full extent. Plus... if you want forced induction down the road... a carb would definitely be a huge step in the very wrong direction. free service manual

USDM VG30ET has the turbo on the left side (driver's side) The VG30ET can make tons of power. Probably not quite what the 1UZ would be capable of... but they can definitely make more than enough for some fun. Reliability... they are extremely reliable. Its very hard to break these engines and usually when you do, its from improper maintenance or when it comes to boost, poor tuning. Treat it right and the thing will last for quite some time. It doesn't have any of those small issues like some other boosted engines have with headgaskets and the such. The stock crank is incredibly stout, the stock rods are forged, and the headgaskets are clamped down with 13 head bolts on each side. People have ran tons of boost on the stock headgaskets without issues. They are definitely, incredible engines.

I didn't notice I put a space there. I meant everything bolts in rear suspesion wise between the Q45 and Z32. The tranny will bolt right up to the stock locations, then from there I'd have to do some custom motor mounts. Getting it all in there isn't really all that hard, but its not 100% bolt it. Sorry about that. The VH is wider than the VG. Its a 90 degree V8 so it sticks out quite a bit, but seems to fit pretty well inside the Z32's engine bay. The big difference is with the oil pan and huge intake manifold, the VH45 is quite a bit taller than the VG, which is why that one black Z32 had the hood cut up a bit. If you did a dry sump oil setup and did a custom intake it would be quite a bit shorter. Even with a custom intake alone, it would be a lot shorter. The only downside to the custom intake is that the stock intake is actually a piece of art. Its a very good intake manifold and I wish I could keep mine on there but its just too tall. I think the reason the VG is such a tight fit in the engine bay of the Z32 is because of the low hood, they had to make the intake very wide, which gives the look of a very tight engine bay. With the intake off, it actually doesn't look all that bad. With the VH45, the heads would basically sit in place of where the intake normally would be, and you could run a shorter intake forward of the engine. Here's a good comparison between the VH and 1UZ. They also have a size comparison at the bottom of the page. http://home.iprimus.com.au/promotive/Infiniti/Infinitihome.htm Just about forgot. The stock rated power of the VH45 is 278, however most believe its closer to 305-315. Dyno's show that they're definitely making more than 278. Most believe that the 278 rating is for a VH45 without VTC's and moreso to do with the Japanese agreement sort of thing to not make cars with over 280 hp. Also, the VH45 responds very well to boost stock because of its dynamic compression ratio. Static compression ratio is 10.2:1 but because of the the VTC's most believe it actually drops closer to around 9:1 because the intake closes slightly after bottom dead center.

Still working on it. I was originally going to put it into a 280Z but decided after adding up the suspension and drivetrain stuff alone that it would be quite expensive to do... and even then probably wouldn't be able to perform where the Z32 would be able to. I found a Z32 that was in a slight front wreck and picked it up for $500. On top of getting a pretty decent deal, the Z32 has always been a sort of dream car for me so that made this whole deal work out a whole lot better. All I'm waiting on right now is an adapter plate to make the Z32 5-speed to the VH45 and it'll all start coming together quite fast. The adapter plate should be done quite soon and from there its just the more or less simple fabrication stuff and the not quite so simple wiring... but even then the wiring shouldn't be all too bad. I have a front clip that I just bought to fix up the front end with so I just need to start doing that in the mean time. Right now I'm in the process of putting the Q45 differential in with the Q45 hubs. Everything suspension wise from the Q45 is pretty much identical to the Z32. Its a mix of N/A and TT parts just about. The differential is an R200, and bolts right into the N/A subframe. It however uses the TT R230 style output flanges and 32 spline axles for better strength. It also uses the TT style hub/wheel bearing. Everything just bolts right in. I'll need a custom driveshaft made but nothing too difficult. It should be running by mid-summer as long as everything goes as planned, which at the moment is looking good. I'll definitely be taking lots of pictures of the progress.

Yeah, he said above it'll be a drag strip car. He already has a daily driver so just wants gobs of power for the strip. Reliability is another reason for the VH45 and 1UZ. With the extra displacement and gobs of strenght, they'll be more reliable than the others at the power output he wants to make.

I think the VH45 is actually even stronger than the 1UZ. Larger internals and such for even more power handling. There's actually a guy in NZ I believe running about 1,000 hp out of a VH on stock internals (used a factory rebuild) and put the thing on a boat. Its just incredible. http://www.dynologic.com.au/vids/Nizpro-Speedboat-low.wmv I think the big reason why the 1UZ started getting more well known than the VH is because of companies like HKS and I believe Turbonetics built cars using them. Either way though, they're both incredible engines. I'm using a VH45 in a 300ZX myself. Its going to be an absolute blast

What kind of limitations are there for the strip in your area? Basically, any certain class you want to race in? Reason I ask is, why don't you go with the Nissan VH45DE or Toyota 1UZ-FE? Both are lighter than the engines above, have quite a bit more displacement, and are absolutely strong as hell stock. I know for sure the VH45DE will put out 600 hp without a problem on the stock bottom end. For short bursts like on the strip, it would probably handle even more without having to do any bottom end work. With internal mods the sky would be the limit. 4 digits would be nothing for it, but on top of the 4 digits you'd have a hell of lot more torque and less weight to boot. Since it'd be a strip only car I take it you'd probably use an auto tranny. The stock auto tranny is the same used with the auto 300ZX Twin Turbo and can definitely be built it up for whatever power you throw at it. If you used the Toyota engine there are some Australian companies that make bellhousings to mate trannies like the Ford C4 onto it and such. Both of those engines can be bought for less than the above listed engines as well. The aftermarket isn't as good, but custom stuff can still be done quite easily. If you can't or don't want to use either of those, I'd probably go with the VG (I'm a bit biased towards Nissan ). I know the 2JZ is definitely a good engine, but I don't know much about how it makes its power. The VG30DETT is of course, very strong. The beauty of it compared to the RB is its ability to create and incredible amount of torque. Of dyno's I've seen of a nearly equally modded VG and RB, the VG made only 10 hp less than the RB however made over 300 lb. ft. of torque more than the RB. The VG would definitely be a better drag race engine due to that. Now, the next thing would depend on the money you want to spend on everything. If you've got a decent amount of money to put into the project, I'd actually go with the VQ35. Stock, yes they are weak... but modified they are incredibly strong. Going for the numbers you're wanting, none of the options you listed would be stock anyways so its just another option you can add to the list. Oh yeah... VQ35 http://www.theexperience.com/recordrun.htm Good luck with whichever route you take though and definitely keep us updated on the progress!

That's amazing. Glad to hear it came out good!

To start, how much power are you wanting to make and what will be the purpose? Street, strip, track, mix, etc?

aftermarket? i know stock they're a standard 90 degree crank. happen to have a link on that?

Take that dyno comparison of the KA-T and SR-T above. Look at the 4,000 rpm point. The KA-T is right around its peak torque and the SR is making about as much as a stock Honda. You have to rev the SR to make your power, even if it only revs to 7,500 rpm. The extra 1,000 rpm is not an extra 1,000 rpm of power. The power is shifted forward another 1,000 rpm so all that means is there's more time under the power band that you have to accelerate. That KA-T makes over 250 lb. ft. torque from roughly 3,400 rpm to 6,800 rpm. That SR makes slightly over 250 torque from roughly 5,000 rpm to just about 7,500 rpm. KA-T - 250++ torque for 3,100 rpm ST20 - 250+ torque for 2,500 rpm Horsepower? Edit... now that I look at that SR20 dyno some more... its completely screwed up. The HP/TQ crossover point isn't at 5,252 where it should be and the numbers are all misaligned. Anyways... that doesn't really change the point I'm trying to make that going by the above, that KA-T is clearly more power but does it quicker and doesn't require the revs. Most should know that the higher you rev an engine... the harder it is to keep it together, which is the beauty of forced induction. No need for high revs since all of your power can be available lower in the rev range. Granted that 7,500 rpm isn't all that high but the above still remains.

I vote KA24DET. More low to midrange torque Lots of power Cheap to modify Cheap to replace Tons of them out there Reliable The SR20DET is definitely a nice motor... but I'm more of a low end power person. I don't want to rev it to hell to make power and get going. Granted its very light weight... I would still stick with a KA24DET. The 4G63... its a Mitsubishi... The 4G63's are definitely proven to be able to make power but Mitsubishi has such a terrible reliability record that I'd have a hard time dumping a bunch of money into something that's likely going to give you a hard time. That's just me though.

HX35 is slightly larger than the HY35. The exhaust housing is usually a 12 cm (supposed to be roughly a .80 a/r equivalent) while the HY35 is a 9 cm (roughly a .55 a/r equivalent). The HX35 always has a dual scroll turbine housing while the HY35's is always a single scroll. The HX35 compressor housing is supposed to be roughly a .70 a/r while the HY35 roughly a .60 a/r... both flow the same maximum amount of air though, being .46 kg/s or 60.8 lbs/min. I'd say the difference is in the locations of the peak efficiency between the two. They both have an anti-surge compressor housing but, stock, have a sort of ring covering that part to reduce noise. It can be taken out to regain the "anti-surge" design. Both have a T3 style turbine inlet flange. Another way of telling the HX/HY apart is the HY35 uses a V-band clamp to hold the turbine on, HX35 uses bolts. HX40 is supposed to have a 1.00+ a.r turbine, .70 a.r compressor, and flows .53 kg/s or 70.1 lbs/min. I believe the HX40 uses a T4 style turbine inlet flange.

You could probably find someone to machine a crank for your that is 180 degrees apart then do the cams and all of the timing accordingly with one of the various ecu options to a VH45DE or similar for less. That would be fun.

Check your cam gears themselves, make sure you have those one right, and double check your timing belt install. I got ahold of an 85 Maxima engine that was supposedly burning oil. I found oil in the intake so figured likely the PCV. Tested compression and found it to be low on all cylinders. Figured I'd take it apart to inspect but found in the process that someone had put the cams gear on wrong. The left (front) was on the right (back). Swapped them, double checked the timing belt, and all is good. That would be my guess first hand. The chances of ruining the pistons/cylinders are usually quite low, bent valves is a possibility but you took the right steps in assuring that wasn't an issue. May pop off a valve cover and just kind of watch the valves moving while hand cranking it to see if there are any oddities going on in there. I guess there could be a chance that the head is warped... but I would think you'd see compression on at least one cylinder so I don't believe that is it. I'd check those things first and see if there is any issues with what I mentioned.

http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread?id=170932&page=3

I just control that with the throttle.

That style with the long end takes is actually supposed to be a superior design to the normal style aftercoolers from what I've read. Supposed to flow and cool much better simply due to the way the end tanks are designed, more of an even flow.

Not only that, but made one very badass VG30ET.

Very awesome numbers. Makes me want to get my Maxima done even faster now.

6A won't work on the DE(T)(TT) as they are coil over plug. He's speaking of the Z31 300ZX, which uses a distributor. I have the 6AL, which is an awesome unit. I think MSD does make some coil over plug setups but I've not looked into it too much. Which car is that in? I believe the Leopard (Infiniti M30 + J30) only made about 255 hp and 255 tq with the DET... at least, that's the claimed power.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Nissan-VG30DET-Engine-Automatic-Transmission_W0QQitemZ8069552781QQcategoryZ33615QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

A VG30E will never make in the 300 hp range with ecu, fuel, and cam mods. 200... possibly. At the very most, maybe 250. Not very likely at all though. You might get that much with a rotary cam swap... but you're probably looking at $10,000 for that. Its simply impossible to get a lot of power out of a VG30E normally aspirated without a lot of money. Even then, you're very limited. That $10,500 engine makes 300 hp. Like I said, with that money going turbo you could easily make double that... probably more. On a VG30E with an unrestricted intake and exhaust the chances of you bringing the volumetric efficiency up high enough to make a big difference in power would be slim. The best flowing intake and exhaust might get you 20 hp... 30 if you had the worst stock intake and exhaust on earth... but considering Nissan makes very good stock manifolds and such, not likely. With good fuel tuning you would maybe see another 10 hp or so... more if the initial tune is really bad. Nissan actually tends to run their maps a bit rich so if you were going normally aspirated you would increase power a bit by running their stock maps a bit leaner. Unless the mods you added allowed enough extra air to go through to cause a very lean condition, turning up the pressure won't increase power. N/A engines tend to run better when the fuel is closer to stoich. That's why when you see BSFC calculations N/A engines are around .5 while boosted upwards of .65. I could go on, but shouldn't have to.

When they have a large number of feedback I tend to find that a lot of the negatives are from shitty customers. I'm sure some are bad of course but a lot shouldn't be there. That said... the big problem with Ebay feedback is its mostly from the sale. If the guy ships it fast and it looks good when he gets it, they'll leave good feedback. Little do people actually come back down the road and give feedback on the longevity/reliability of the product sold.