260DET Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Into a 280ZX presently fitted with a VG30DET. Seeing a brand new complete VG33 motor is now available to me at an affordable price it may be on. Apparently the blocks can be bored out to 3.8 liters which would be interesting but I'm not sure how that would affect head gasket reliability, seeing part of the gasket underside would be exposed to combustion forces? May be better to do a conservative 3.6 bore job. Present thoughts are to use a VG30DE/TT forged crank, Scat rods and custom forged pistons to suit the rods. Oil pump? Don't know, a port job would not hurt I suppose. Port the heads, Ferrea 1mm oversize valves, VG30ET cams? Aftermarket fuel rails, not sure what style injector they take. GT35R turbo, manifolds could be a problem unless the stock VG30ET ones are as good as any other. Otherwise front mount the turbo? Plenum, yuk. Have just sorted that out on the VG30DET so something similar to that may be the go, see http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=157316 VG30DETT sump with a windage tray of some sort, present motor has that sump which fits in the car perfectly. Have a near new Z32 gearbox plus MoTec ECU, CD ignition system, good fuel system, so that can all transfer. Looking for comment and suggestions on the motor itself, be nice to be able to use the brand new 33 crank but why take a risk with a maximum 500 WHP motor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoov100 Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 subscribed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedBeauty84ZX Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 For the oil pump contact Mitch at EPRacing: http://www.epracing.net/ I know hes building up a big HP VG30ET right now and can tell you what you should do with the oil pump. I believe he may also be making a few modified oil pumps to sell. The Z32 bell housing won't bolt up to a SOHC VG....your best bet is to use the FS5R30A from either a 87-89 300ZX Turbo or a FS5R30A from a VG33 Pathfinder/Frontier... Good luck and keep us updated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
200sxdatsun Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Mitch is been a big help to the vg30et community, he has a customer that has bought old gtp electromotive parts and he going to put some r&d into some custom parts ,oil pumps etc. I building road race 200sx and all info is a big help.let's see vg33 + racing around,do it...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted January 4, 2010 Author Share Posted January 4, 2010 Bugger about the TT gearbox not bolting up, I have a new one in the car at present. Will have to see if it can be adapted. Yeh I'm thinking about doing a Electromotive style plenum, will contact EPRacing in due course see what he has, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 Bugger about the TT gearbox not bolting up, I have a new one in the car at present. Will have to see if it can be adapted. You could swap the VG30E bellhousing on to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted January 5, 2010 Author Share Posted January 5, 2010 Yeh those late VG turbo boxes are virtually unobtainable here though. Anyway an engine importer reckons the Z32 box will bolt straight up to a 33, the problem is the starter motor which mounts differently. But with a Z32 crank and flywheel the box should bolt straight up together with the Z32 starter. Its something which can be checked, I have a spare Z32 box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 Yeh those late VG turbo boxes are virtually unobtainable here though. Anyway an engine importer reckons the Z32 box will bolt straight up to a 33, the problem is the starter motor which mounts differently. But with a Z32 crank and flywheel the box should bolt straight up together with the Z32 starter. Its something which can be checked, I have a spare Z32 box. I think you are correct on that, although I haven't tried it, I'm just going off of memory of the trans and block. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedBeauty84ZX Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 Yeh those late VG turbo boxes are virtually unobtainable here though. I believe the VG33 Pathfinder/Frontiers used the same transmission, just slightly different ratios. Anyway an engine importer reckons the Z32 box will bolt straight up to a 33, the problem is the starter motor which mounts differently. But with a Z32 crank and flywheel the box should bolt straight up together with the Z32 starter. Its something which can be checked, I have a spare Z32 box. I believe there was another guy in Australia that was using a Z32 gearbox on his SOHC VG as well...let us know if you get it working and what it takes to do so.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nphocus Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 I don't have the link to give you, but I'm pretty sure that gearbox bolts to the VG30 without any problems. The problem is with the starter and that is resolved by a few washers to space it out properly. I read that on a forum somewhere, so it's gotta be true Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260zturbo Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 http://z31performance.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2536 i thought about putting a z32 tranny behind my sohc vg30 but luckily found a donor with FS5R30A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted February 3, 2010 Author Share Posted February 3, 2010 Whoo, its going ahead, have bought a 33 motor out of a El Grand (sp?) which is some sort of JDM AWD luxury station wagon/SUV thing. Supposed to have done ~106000 KM, looks very clean, should arrive Friday. I'm very content with the decision to go with a VG33, people say get a VQ or a Nissan V8, much better engine, four valves, aluminium block and so on but pffft. Why? Because the 33 will fit in with no sump clearance problems, all the aftermarket stuff I want is available at reasonable prices, the blocks can be bored out for more capacity - none of this open deck nonsense, the 33 is significantly lighter than a L28 so I'd assume similar with any RB motor, with the mods I have in mind the 33 will reliably produce all the power I need and I can happily work on it myself. I am mystified why the 33 has not received a lot more attention, perhaps it has but not on the intrawebs. Anyway, I'm looking forward to this, but no hurry, probably won't be finished until late in the year. Which is no problem because the VG30DET is going well at last. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nphocus Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 That's great news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted February 8, 2010 Author Share Posted February 8, 2010 See the new Retro VG33ET thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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