Hi there. Just wondering if there would be a lovely person who would like to come round this weekend on the Gold Coast and help me make sure my engine is all good to go. Pretty sure I've got the vacuum hoses hooked up right but expert help would be appreciated. There will be beer and humour involved. 1990 NA Z32 auto engine swap
I don't know if he received the PM or not but I am in a bit of a hurry to put this engine in so is there anyone else definitely in the gold coast south area today and is able to help?
Long way to go before putting the engine in. A young man with his first Z and very passionate about it. He brought a used N/A motor. His old motor went BANG in a big fashion with a rod hanging out the side of the block. Suggested he do 100K service on the replacement motor, replace the rear main seal, consider the deletes, and service the Auto while it is out of the car as it had displayed signs of slow engagement when selecting gears. Showed him the resources available on the Forum so good luck and told him don't be afraid to ask for help from other forum members. That's how we all gain the knowledge to become capable Z owners.
Engine swaps don't happen overnight. If you need a car for work suggest finding an alternative runner for $500 and use that in the short term. For an auto you don't need to drop the trans which makes things a bit easier, if just a engine pull and popping it all back in, with all the right tools you could do it in a day but worth doing all the servicing while replacement engine is out.
He pulled the motor and box together so easy to do the service on it while it's out. Think he may have mated the drive on the torque converter up incorrectly but having him split it again and I will have a look at it while it is in 2 pieces.
I understand engine swaps dont happen overnight, but I severely underestimated the technicalities of the VG30. I swapped a 4g93 from my old Pajero in a weekend and so far I'd had the vg30 out for 4 weekends. Thank you for all your help, haven't had time to work on it through the week cos uni and work is keeping me busy. Have a long shopping list and an even longer to do list. I do have a few other cars to choose from to get to and from work so it's not that big a deal, I just wanted to have this done as quick as possible and was getting frustrated with it.
If you do the majority of deletes there's actually alot less to have to deal with especially vacuum lines.
Yes I thought about that but didn't want to overwhelm the man. The engine has supposedly only done 100k plus and the business he brought it from is reputable. Nissan specialist in Southport. I have done business with them before with totally acceptable results and service. When I go down and help him out again I will take one with me. However my hands are size XXL so I hope his are size S. lol. I really don't know if he will do a plenum pull while he is at it. He really wants it back on the road ASAP which I can understand.
I've got pretty small hands I'm a computer Tech, should be able to wiggle around the engine with some ease. I'm planning to keep this car for a year or two at least, and there's just not enough room to work on it comfortably at the moment at home so it needs to be done soon, if I had better conditions and more time id pull the entire engine apart and do a rebuild myself, upgraded bearings, forged rods and heads. And the ground it's sitting on is like cobble stones so moving engines and gearboxes around are becoming annoying. I'm moving soon and I've already starting pricing out a mechanic workshop build plan, and if that falls through a few mates and I were just going to rent a small warehouse and kit it out with hoists etc.
