VG30DE daily driver.

[prelewd]

I have been lurking around the site off and on for a few days now and finally got some time to do a legitimate search. I apologize upfront if this post is redundant, but in the past two hours I have come up with nothing relevant to the information I am looking for.

 

Recently, I came across a 1970 240z that a man was selling for a price that I could not pass up. Immediately I started making plans for the car. Being a big fan of the later model 300zx, I decided that a VG30DE might make a good, inexpensive, daily-driven engine for the car seeing is how the original engine is only half there.

 

What I am asking is:

 

-Will the VG30DE's large heads fit between the strut towers?

-Will the stock exhaust manifolds fit, or would I have to machine one-off manifolds?

-Relative to the original L24, how much more does the VG30DE weigh?

-Is there a company that makes stand-alone engine management for the VG30DE that I can test and tune from my laptop with the aid of an experienced dyno tech, or will the stock n/a ZX ECU be adequate?

-Is there anything else I should think about while doing this swap? Other engines (I'd like to stay Nissan, but am open to suggestions)? Wiring?

 

Again, my goals are to have a good daily driver that I can take out to the amateur auto-x on the weekends. I would also like the ability to upgrade in the future and was thinking that if I prepped the car for a VG30DE, I could step up to a TT later on.

 

Sorry the post is so long and thanks in advance to anyone who offers any insight at all. I know by working on this car already that it wont be my last Z.

[Nismo280zEd]

That engine is the devil as far as i'm concerned. Two Maxima's 90 and 93 both with never ending problems. Gotta be an electronics engineer to figure anything out with them.

-Ed

[CasperIV]

I have to disagree with the problems on the VG30DE. The VG30DE in my 1990 300ZX never had a problem... even with around 200,000 miles on it, and being taken to redline atleast once a day. The only thing I had against the engine was the weight to power....... I wanted to swap for a VG30DETT.

 

As far as I know, most of the problems with these engines are the peoples faults who break them, not the engine. I know people with Z32's putting around 300,000 miles on the engines without any sort of rebuild.