mtcookson

great info! i'll definitely keep all of that in mind incase i do the VG into a Z down the road.

...lucky! i'd so love to be able to buy a DET for cheaper than a VG30E(T). everyone else always gets the good stuff.

i don't believe you need to change the stub axle... a good reason to though would be because the 280Z design is supposed to be much stronger and you can get the much more common 5x4.5 lug pattern. you can keep the standard 4x4.5 pattern though if you wanted. basically, the biggest reason would be because they're stronger. if you're not planning on pulling all that much power it may not be an issue though.

I wouldn't really worry about the crank. These engines are so stout that cranks seem to rarely be a problem. There are quite a few Z31 guys running 400+ hp from what I can tell and they're still going. The beauty of the VG30ET is that there are tons of them out there and they are cheap. If you break one it would be much cheaper to replace than a VG30DET (granted you are in australia and probably have better sources for the VG30DET than we do in the states but i bet the single cam would still be cheaper). Another nice thing is you do still have the option of the DOHC VG's rods. They are forged and I bet quite a few companies make aftermarket rods for them. Those can be put into the VG30E(T). Then, with some pistons it would be ready. The DET is definitley an awesome engine though. One of my friends has one and they're pretty sweet. A little heavy, but they can definitely make up for it with the power and torque.

sorry man, i totally missed your last reply. yeah, i did some checking around it looks like the pathy injectors are actually side feed. makes sense being newer. but anyways, the side feed injectors do have a higher chance of leaking compared to top feed. a couple options to check for vacuum leaks (besides my smoking idea... damn i need to quit lol) would be to use either propane or one of those keyboard cleaners. the safer route would be the cleaner stuff. just blow some of it around the intake manifold area and if there is a vacuum leak it will either rev up if using propane or bog if using the cleaner. if its not a vacuum leak then my guess would be an injector(s). now that i think about it, my 91 maxima gxe bogs every once in a while and in an attempt to simulate the bog on my 90 i ran it rich then lean using the s-afc. it did the same thing the 91 did when i ran it lean so that could be the problem. as most of us know, nissan's injectors aren't the greatest so it wouldn't be an odd thing for an injector to be causing the problem.

from what i understand you would need this: http://www.modern-motorsports.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=32&products_id=62 and this: http://www.modern-motorsports.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=32&products_id=65 at the bottom of the second link is a drop down option of adding the custom axles to the order.

Its going... well, slow. I've not have much of a chance to work on it yet but something should start coming together pretty soon.

Looking at the them both, I'd say that the VG30E(T) definitely has a cast crank. The VG30E crank doesn't look quite as smooth as the TT crank did. I've never actually heard anyone say that the VG30E(T) crank wasn't cast so I'd say that the mechanic must be thinking of something else... not sure.

i can't believe i didn't notice this thread when it was originally posted. the work on the car is simply incredible and the videos are plain awesome. definitely keep the updates coming.

hey, i'm really sorry. i didn't get a chance to go check those out at all last night. i was working on a co-worker's home computer and well... lets just say they have 56k at their house and most of the work i had to do required downloading. i'm planning on getting out there tonight though so hopefully i'll have some info for you later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Alright. I'm likely going out to the garage tonight to work on some things so I'll take a look at them then. The days are finally getting a bit longer so I actually have a bit of sunlight after work... although... I guess if I had some lights in the garage that would help. A halogen and work light isn't enough for a 20'-ish by 40'-ish quanset building.

I'm pretty sure the VG30E(T)'s have cast cranks. What are things to look for to see if they're cast? I have 4 VG's laying around the garage as well as the TT forged crank so I can check them out to find out whether or not they're cast.

For some reason, some of the Z31 guys say they've seen more forged cranks break than the cast cranks (i'm not sure if they're talking about after a swap or not). If its after a swap it makes me wonder if its just installation error or something.... hmm... unless they're talking about the crank snout since that needs to be machined. I'll have to look into that some more. Either way, I actually have a forged crank, rods, and cast pistons from a TTZ myself that I was planning on putting in one of my VG's. The rods at the very least will be a good upgrade. Pistons won't work due to the combustion chamber differences (DE(TT)'s ~44 cc to the E(T)'s ~55 cc).

it seemed to get pretty good traction to me since it ran a 10 second 1/4 mile on street tires.

I wouldn't be too worried about the crank. They seem to handle some major abuse pretty well. There's plenty of Z31 guys making 300, 400, even 500+ whp on the stock crank. To be on the safe side you could have it cryo treated or one of the other numerous tricks to strengthen it but the crank shouldn't be the weak point. BRC makes really good forged pistons for a very decent prices. I think they used to be $550 for a set of 6. I'm not sure if they're still that price but I'm sure they are still pretty affordable. The Q45 piston setup isn't really all that high compression because what it all really comes down to is tuning. If you can keep the tuning good it should last quite a while. The VQ Maxima guys are making some pretty amazing power even though the VQ's are either 10:1 or higher. So far from what everyone can tell the majority of the engines that've blown are due to tuning issues. Either way though, the VG33 with boost should make some pretty awesome torque. That would definitely be a fun project.

actually the back pressure thing isn't quite true. not sure where it all started but actually backpressure is never really a good thing to have. i believe its more of you want to keep velocity up.

yeah, i was thinking about using the whole 240SX subframe per these threads: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=96050 http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=106726&page=1&pp=25 The other idea is stick with the stock rear and get the Modern Motorsports stuff to put in the Q45 R200V (using the appropriate mustache bar of course). Then from there just strengthening everything.

Took me a second to figure out why my top speed was only 30 mph in 5th then I finally realized they wanted circumference of the tire. I accidentally put in the tread width. This program will help you find the circumference in mm http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

I was planning on using the Q45 R200V differential. From there I can bolt the Q45 hubs onto the 240SX subframe (from what I understand) then just get custom axles. That way the hubs would be the same and I'd have the 5 lug pattern that I want. The thing I really like most about the 240SX setup is that I can use the 240SX coilovers from what I understand. I would so much love to use real coilovers over the sleeve type as the quality is just so much better and there are tons of choices. From there I'd just have to figure out how to make the front work out and improve it since, suspension wise, the front seems to be the weakest link in handling.

I'm pretty sure it will work out. I know for sure that the bolt batterns are the same between the Maxima VQ30DE and the later Maxima VQ35DE (i.e. the 6 speed maxima tranny bolts to the VQ30 maxima). I'm quite sure that the 350Z 6-speed bolts to all of the VQ's but I'll have to double check. Hopefully Nissan made them like they did the VG's. They were put in both fwd and rwd applications and nothing changed between them.

I wouldn't bother with the crank angle sensor. They're located in the distributor itself and I've never heard of anyone having problems with those. Cap, rotor, wires, and plugs are always good to keep fresh. Make sure to check for vacuum leaks. That can cause some issues like what you're speaking of. Blue smoke means oil is burning. If the turbo isn't spooling right there's a good chance it is bad and is leaking some oil into the intake and/or exhaust. Does it have an aftermarket boost gauge? If so, it should tell you where your vacuum is at. Should be around 20 inHg. If not, I believe they sell vacuum testing gauges at most auto parts stores. Autozone might even have some that they will loan out essentially for free. You basically purchase it, then if you want to bring it back you'll get all of your money back. If you happen to smoke, pickup a cigar, take a puff, then blow the smoke into a hose going into the intake manifold. If there's a vacuum leak you'll see where its leaking right away. I found this method to work out very well.

So would you say the R200V with MM billet adapters, custom axles, and the billet stub axles would be a strong enough setup? Then from there just basically build up the subframe to keep it all from twisting and such. I'm thinking of settling with the R200V because for one, I already have it, but there seems to quite a few more options around if I use it. If I happened to go with the 240SX rear suspension I could fit that in there, there are already a bunch of mustache bars made for it... seems like the way to go. I just want to make sure I can build up the rear to handle the power. Thanks for the help.

I don't know why I didn't remember but I've had this on my computer the whole time. Its up on my site now: Right click and save as please. http://www.machzracing.com/various/87%20Engine%20changes.rtf

Yeah, I definitely like how well built these engines are. I know of a few guys actually making around 500-600 hp on the stock block. One was twin turboed, the other with a supercharger and nitrous, and the third with solely nitrous. They do an incredible job. Reason why I wanted to go this route was, at the time, it hadn't been done to my knowledge and was incredibly unique. I at first was just going to go the VG30ET or VG30DETT route but I wanted V8 power. Problem with that is I'm not much a fan of the domestic V8's and they've also been done a lot. I wanted something with some good technology, with the incredibly reliability of a Japanese engine, and something from Nissan. I finally remembered that Nissan did make a V8 for the Infiniti Q45 and everything went on from there. The RB is a very awesome engine and all... but I'd actually prefer the VG30DETT over it simply because its more of a low end motor. The VG can produce an incredible amount of torque down low that the RB couldn't even touch which is what I like and I figured the VH would do even better being a V8 with another 1.5 liter of displacement. Cam wise I'm not too worried at the moment since they've been able to crank out so much power with the stock cams. I know some improvement could definitely be made by decreasing the overlap quite a bit and either changing around the VTC release point to optimize it being turbocharged or possibly just delete the whole VTC setup. That'll definitely be down the road though because I know as it is, the thing can make tons of power quite reliably.