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Reconditioned VR38's


mutantZ

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Very pretty, a twin turbo VR38 would rock, but these are sans a lot of the extras you'd still need to run it, in addition to the motor, you'd need the dash harness/ecu the BCU the engine harness, the power dist, the KEY programmed, the fuse boxes. Not to mention most of the accessories. by this point you'll still be in the range of buying a wrecked GTR and swapping from that. My point is that yes you can get an engine, and maybe cheaper than this, but it's always going to need more than JUST the ECU and engine harness. Getting a whole Donor is highly recommended. Now I would LOVE to see a VR38 in an S30, that would rock, and Yes the R200 can handle the power.

 

If you were going to use the VR38 gauges, it's a whole additional set of parts on top of that.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Very pretty, a twin turbo VR38 would rock, but these are sans a lot of the extras you'd still need to run it, in addition to the motor, you'd need the dash harness/ecu the BCU the engine harness, the power dist, the KEY programmed, the fuse boxes. Not to mention most of the accessories. by this point you'll still be in the range of buying a wrecked GTR and swapping from that. My point is that yes you can get an engine, and maybe cheaper than this, but it's always going to need more than JUST the ECU and engine harness. Getting a whole Donor is highly recommended. Now I would LOVE to see a VR38 in an S30, that would rock, and Yes the R200 can handle the power.

 

If you were going to use the VR38 gauges, it's a whole additional set of parts on top of that.

Surely there are engine management options besides the stock ECU...

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Yeh, at that level an aftermarket setup would be mandatory I would think.

 

 

True, with almost any modern car there is so much tied up with the body control computers and anti theft devices that the number of parts and electronics needing to be swapped in to get the ECU to run the engine without blinking "THIS AIN'T MY CAR, CALL THE COPS" codes and shutting the engine down, that a standalone ECU is really getting to be the only way to go for a modern engine swap.

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No, Not true. The main trouble is that these specialized engines have the ECU's specifically programmed to run the engine to high performance. An aftermarket managment system may be able to make it work, and might even support some of the functions like the VVT and maybe even the VVEL but it'll take a LOT of tuning to get even a Haltech to run an engine like these at the same level that the stock ECU does. For the price of the Haltech or other and the tuning, it would be cheaper to just pull the stock electronics and harnesses and use that. If it all comes from the same car you shouldn't even have to have the key reprogrammed.

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No, Not true. The main trouble is that these specialized engines have the ECU's specifically programmed to run the engine to high performance. An aftermarket managment system may be able to make it work, and might even support some of the functions like the VVT and maybe even the VVEL but it'll take a LOT of tuning to get even a Haltech to run an engine like these at the same level that the stock ECU does. For the price of the Haltech or other and the tuning, it would be cheaper to just pull the stock electronics and harnesses and use that. If it all comes from the same car you shouldn't even have to have the key reprogrammed.

MS + tuning = $1500, on the outside. How much do all the additional BCM, BDSM, harnesses, etc. cost for a VQ or VR?

Edited by Jehannum
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No, Not true. The main trouble is that these specialized engines have the ECU's specifically programmed to run the engine to high performance. An aftermarket managment system may be able to make it work, and might even support some of the functions like the VVT and maybe even the VVEL but it'll take a LOT of tuning to get even a Haltech to run an engine like these at the same level that the stock ECU does. For the price of the Haltech or other and the tuning, it would be cheaper to just pull the stock electronics and harnesses and use that. If it all comes from the same car you shouldn't even have to have the key reprogrammed.

 

The OP concerns engines only not a complete car so things like keys are irrelevant. Haltec, MoTec and possibly others by now have developed engine management systems specifically for the R35 engine so that it may be tuned for more power and cater for aftermarket performance improvements. Plus such stand alone systems are what is needed if the engine is to be transplanted into a different car.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'd imagine these "stand alone" systems all require at the very minimum the stock harnesses. The VR38 is a very new engine, I would be suprised if any aftermarket setup would be really cheaper to implement on a complete running basis, than a stock system would be. If you're putting down $20K for a VR38, then likely you can afford the stock harnesses etc.

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I really don't understand what is so hard about it. It is an engine right? Yes it is more complex, but it is in ways no different than an LS1 per say. You remove the complicated systems you don't use, then run it on a full stand alone. Not saying it would be cheap, but likely easier than trying to implement the stock GT-R harness in an S30. I'm sure there are cam timing controllers and stuff that would be hard to program into a stand alone system, but not impossible.

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You remove the complicated systems you don't use, then run it on a full stand alone.

 

But those "complicated systems" are what make the GTR such a great car. The computer control of every aspect of the engine, transmission, and 4wd system is what gives the car such supercar killing levels of performance. Remove that stuff and you've got a generic twin turbo 3.8L V6. What's so special about that? Might as well build a turbo VH37 for half the cost.

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Or, dare I say, a GM 3800 SC for like dirt cheap?

 

Really guys, some swaps just don't make sence. Like John says, buy the GTR. A guy in a garge just doesn't have the resources that Nissan has.

 

Those motors are for guys with GTR's that have blown their original mills and are out of warranty. Wait five or ten years and then maybe we can talk swap.

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we had the same issue when a v6 from a Toyota Aurion "fell" into our laps the amount of time effort and money we would of used just to get that engine to the same point our cars are already it was not worth it. But we did get a fair bit of money from the scrap yard.

 

It's a good idea but IMO it will be a "I put a vr38 in my car because I have too much money and I wanted to" thing... At least until they are truly cheap.

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Well of course if one of these engines was being used as a replacement in a R35 then the most likey option would be to use the existing managemeent setup. But this is HybridZ so I am looking at it from a Z engine change scenario.

 

Friend of mine is preparing a 370Z for racing using a MoTec ECU which operates the VVT with the variable vale lift locked. With just a custom noise limited exhaust it did 374hp on an engine dyno. I'm not up with the late model stuff but from what I've seen a properly tuned good aftermarket ECU setup will give a significant power increase by itself.

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While opinions on this swap are still up for debate, according to auto-otaku.com there is is already a shop in Japan swapping in two vr38 into a Z and a kenmeri skyline. It will be interesting to see what solutions they come up with for this engine install.

 

 

http://www.auto-otaku.com/home/2011/09/kenmeri-s30z-vr38dett.html

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