how hard is it to change or repair the vtc clicking? ive read the stickies on the top, but it doesnt really say... has anyone done it themselves? and before you say i have a vg... one of my buddies offered to sell me his 93 SE 5 speed, but the vtc chatter is so bad, that it sounds as though the engine is going to fall apart...any ideas on how much parts cost, and how much a dealer or mechanic would charge to fix would be appreciated... he offered to sell me the car for 100 dollars, is this worth it or no

 

well for $100 i would get b/c you could fix it and if not it could be a parts cart

 

$100 - definitely worth it!
maybe it's a typo and you meant $1000, but its still a great deal

The vtc is a little noisy but usually it wont really hurt the car (maybe a little less performance). You can ground it for free and that'll usually quiet it. If you want to rebuild it, you can do that. Nissan sells rebuild kits that are $50 or so each but then you'll need lots of other gaskets and stuff and then there is a lot of labor and it's not 100% sure to last (I've heard the problems comeback on rebuilds).

I rebuilt mine over xmas and they've been quiet now which is nice. If you read the autozone repair manual online, that'll get you to the VTCs and then use the TSBs from there and you should be able to do it.
I have some pics on my site of when awsm66, portdave, and I rebuilt some with the engine out of the car (much easier that way).
http://community.webshots.com/user/bracecraig
Check out VE swap and broken VE
There are some other good threads on here too. I suggest investing $20 in maxima.org so you can search and find lots of good info from others that have rebuilt.

 

ok thanks guys
btw, it really was 100 as in one hundred dollars...
i dont know if he will keep that deal though i hope he does
i want the ve and 5 speed...

 

can't go wrong for that kinda money

 

the problem is that my dad hates having cars sitting in the yard, and if the car is not going to be able to be fixed for a reasonable price, it will sit in the yard, then my dad gets mad..although he is pretty good about letting his sons use his garage for fixing cars...

 

btw, if i pulled the cams? off the engine, and brought them somewhere to get the vtc fixed, wuldnt that be a lot cheaper than having a mechanic do the whole deal? or is there something actually physicaly on the engine that does not come off that needs to be fixed?

 

dang man for $100 bucks i would denfinetly buy it and if it cost to much to fix it sell it and make money off of it!!

 

yes, you can pull off the camshaft and have the VTC sprocket fixed, but it's really not that hard if you get that far into the engine (the rear one is more of a pain). The biggest hassle is making sure the timing marks line up before you take it out and then realigning them. And it's a pain pulling off the timing chain side covers but it's doable.
They recommend you also clean the oil gallies leading to the VTCs when rebuilding, but you have to pull the head to get to them so I didn't do that.

 

ok thanks guys