Besides, I have come too far without splicing anything to start now.


At this point I do not think the relays in the truck have anything to with it....now after I swap the harness to get juice to my coils.....I could have a problem. Notice I said could.....I am going to stay positive and take one thing at a time. Right now all this is costing me is my time, so swapping stuff out is no biggie.

yeah, especially after you get it all working, and have a new problem a year later. no worries about faulty rigging

That right there is what I am talking about!

both are just the pump itself, though sometimes the screen is included.

the ECU normally uses grounds to control things

Ok, so I should have no troubles if I change all the harnesses and also make sure I ground it in all the right places? This is the biggest reason I do not want to splice anything. The way I look at it, if I use all the factory wiring, I should have no more trouble.

correct, but you may want to double check me. although every ECU I've had to deal with used -triggers theres bound to be some that are + trigger

Well, I will have to take your word on all this....all my background, or at least most of it, is pre-computer controlled.

I believe tat once I swap all the necessary stuff, I should be up and running. At least that is the plan anyways.

we need some sort of a heater outside lol its gonna be FRICKIN FREEZING tomorrow lol not lookin forward to that and workin on this thing....but gotta get it done lol

Quit yer whining!

Yes, it will be cold but my baby needs me right now. I got to get her rolling again.

need to give barry a call and figure out wats up wit the clutch having little to no pedal, maybe he can give us some insight seeing how many motors he's swapped lol, stupid nissans got too many things to swap lol

Nah, prolly just a bleeding/air issue.

Dang it, I have used almost whole can of synthetic brake fluid trying to bleed my clutch with no success only to find out that I had knicked the rubber hose and was losing pressure. No wonder I couldn't build up any pressure.


I have pulled the harness from the donor car. If anyone tells you this is easy, SLAP THEM RIGHT THEN AND THERE!!! I worked all evening to pull this harness and everything out front has to be d/c. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING! Headlights, turnsignals, fogs, horns, even the dang windshield washer! And all this is the easy part!!!

Anyway, I did get the dash cluster swapped so I have the proper tach. Also found out that I get to replace the waterpump before I get to drive it as it seems the seal in it decided to let go after I pulled it from the donor car. Alas, I should get to hear it run tomorrow.

dangit why'd you say we'd hear it run tomorrow....shoulda just said check back in with an update tomorrow

Oh ye of little faith!

IT LIVES!!!!!


I finally got her to run today. I still have to finish buttoning everything up. Such as all the splash shields and such. Just ran out of daylight again today.

Anyway, I will be working on a write up soon. I will run it by Greeny before I post it to make sure everything is covered.

As I said before, this can be done, it is just not the same as changing brake pads or anything like that.

Woohoo!!

glad you got it going.

I'll get down there in a few weeks to help ya with a little tweekin..

AWESOME mang! Good to yack with you. Look forward to meeting you in person too.

Ima glad it runs too. It fired right up after getting all the harness swapped. LOL

Still got some minor details to take care of and then look out! LOL

all this just brings my hopes up on doing this swap to my car as well. glad to hear the car started right up. i think i should fix my mom's old VQ motor and sell that thing so that i can go pick up a VE and start building it.

Honestly, (and yes, I know I am going to hear many I told you so's) unless you are ready to sink around a grand or better into this swap, I do not recommend it. Between the water pump, new clutch, new coils, plugs, and various other parts you might find going bad once you get into the swap you are looking at several hundred dollars. Heck, the coils themselves are close to $400 from idiotzone. What I am saying is this.....if you just got to have the VE then go for it, but for the same amount of money you can turbo your VG.

Long story short, for the money, you can get more HP for your money from a turboed VG than you can from a stock N/A VE.








So, everyone can pile on now. LOL I do not regret doing the swap, as I got a good deal on my donor car. Had I just bought a VE motor and done this swap, I would absolutely have went crazy! LOL

honestly, the easiest way to look at it is....buy a donor car.....and everything you see under the hood, SWAP IT lol and i mean EVERYTHING

no... based on what you two have said so far, is if you're gonna swap, do it with the SAME MOTOR that came with the car.

have you guys gotten it on the road, yet?

Amen! Do not even think about trying to start this without a donor. Way too much wiring to swap without it.

Now, if you don't mind splicing wires, I am sure there is a way to make part of the VG harness work. But you will, at the very least, need the ECU and accompanying harness from the VE to make this work. I do not know what would have to be rigged to make it work as I opted to not splice anything.

Where did we say to use the "SAME MOTOR that came from the car"? I am confused here. I mean, how can you actually swap a motor if you use the same motor that came from the car? I think I know what you are getting at, and I know what my son is saying too. If you are going to swap a VE into a VG car. BUY A DONOR CAR! LOL


We have heard the motor run, but I cheaped out when I pulled the VE from my donor and did not replace my waterpump. After putting coolant in, it immediately started leaking. Oh well. Anyway no parts store here had one in stock, so I had to order one and am waiting on it to come in. But it is running.

i've studied into this, it will be easier to turbo a VG, yields better gains, BUT a VE turbo can be done also, there is tons of info on this in the 3rd gen section, find mtcookson (or whatever his name is lol) he has a turboed VG, just remember to do the turbo your gonna have to beef the internals up, rods, pistons, the works, don't wanna go through all that then blow it up cause it couldn't handle the abuse due to age and wear already lol

but on another note i'm ready to get this swap completed!! as in get it on the road!!!!

AND the VG has a more ideal compression ratio than the VE

John..if you ever get the pleasure of taking a spin in a nicely modded ve5(ask goon about his ride in mine) you would see the difference,it's not subtle,it's dramatic.

Keep in mind, i drive a car exactly like yours frequently.they are two different worlds in driver excitement.

I'm not knocking the vg engine by any means,but until you have experienced a nice running ve5,shut ya trap.

i agree with greeny, hell they don't even have to be modded, take a bone stock VG 5speed then drive a VE 5speed....that 30 hp&tq makes a HELLA DIFFERENCE, when we went up to get the donor car we took it out for a drive and well needless to say that car is stupid fast lol a LOT more than wat i expected

He's holding out until he finds the one. I respect his morals. The problem is, lot of VEs have blown a shaft one day, only to have a different one inside them a week later. You would be hard pressed to find one that doesn't get all ticked off when you don't use the right lubricant.

we got'er runnin again today, well dad did i was asleep lol, new water pump, clutch line.....just waitin for the stupid idiotzone to get the coils in that were suppose to have been here today, then it'll be out on the road

Huh? A shaft? not sure what you are talking about there?


I been screwing around with the ve engine for going on 8 years now,experimented with different oils brands/viscosities,and have found out that it's the correct oil filter that makes the difference on the ve, not the oil..The napa gold is a good all around choice,also the mobil 1 filter is great filter in terms of vtc clack issues.

As far as the ve/vg dependability issue,the vg maximas are a tried and true workhorse as long as you keep the t-belt changed,but it also has it's major downfall issues(weak *** crankshaft,major injector failure issues,auto trans failures out the ***)..Again i say, the vg maximas are a fine car,but it has it's share of mechanical downfalls as well. IMHO,the auto transmission failures in the vg are the main reason most people steer clear of the vg model maxima,and imo the main reason why alot of our past members have moved on to other gen maximas,or other model cars entirely..As a matter of fact,my local j-yard has 6 vg autos in their yard right now,not a one of them has a single dent,all are in the yard due to auto transmission failure.ALL.

The ve has one major downfall,the vtc's,which is remedied by grounding at first onset of clack,then onto replacement of the springs when you get brave enough to tackle the job,or have enough money to have it done by a shop.Also, the ve auto transmission is as close to a bulletproof transmission as nissan has ever made.

My vtc's were replaced at 140k by the previous owner of the car in 1998,the engine now has 319,000+ miles with intermittent clacking when cold weather is present,in summer time,much less. So in closing,be sure to have some long term experience with the VE maxima before calling it an unreliable engine.

Congrats, that should be nice

Haha, I was joking man. Put your mind in the gutter and read it again

There is Quite a big difference the betwean a VG and VE power. Greeny's car is the first VE I rode in that ran right! Even having a vg with all the bolt ons, it still doesn't feel the same, but it getting close! All the blown Ve's I've bought were from lack of oil change. If I started with a VE I would swear by them, but I'm partial to what I have of course

true, but apparently doing an engine swap is not rocket science for me. ive done 1 already on my car, 1 on my old '89 SE, 1 on my mom's '96 GXE, 1 on my dad's '89 corolla another on my dad's '87 mazda pick up, 1 on my friends '97 SE, another on my friends '91 240SX, and the list goes on. i spent less than a grand when i swapped my VG motor into my '93. everything under my hood is practically new. but it is true what you are saying about the coils costing that much and sourcing all the other parts needed for the swap. i can take my chances if i wanted to but not now but i would love to do it soon after i finish fixing my S-10 which has been in my backyard for some time now. i can practically pick up a junked VE motor for about $200 from my local junkyard and just rebuild the thing little by little and not all at once cuz if not im really going to be broke for a long time. lol!

This is a strange situation....my son originally owned the car, but when he bought his 5th gen, I bought it from him. He always talked about either turboing the VG or swapping in a VE. So, when the VG gave up the ghost, I found a good donor car (read, no title, rest of the car is crap but has a good drivetrain) I thought, what the hell. It has given my son some valuable experience in working on cars.

Wayne, you are so right about the excitement part! I never thought 30 HP would make that much difference, but DAMN, when I was driving the donor car around, it was like a different experience all together.

Are you saying you did an engine swap, such as same motor type, or totally different type? Cause I knew what I was getting in to and it was still a lot more than what I thought it would be to go from SOHC to DOHC. Hell, I grew up working on cars....doing anything from small jobs to complete overhauls, and even an occasional swap from an I-6 to a V8 chavy in a '68 Camaro, and I promise you....this was way more intense. I am not trying to discourage you, just make sure you know what you are getting yourself into.

I cannot say If I'm also doing what your doing or not.
VE swap is tempting...

i'd say it was definently worth the work, i always wanted to do it when i owned the max, lol just took my dad to get it done

Well, I got my ignition coils in today. GGGGGGG's that is a lot of doe rae mee for what I carried out of there in one hand. LOL

I will be installing them Saturday morning and buttoning up everything else (splash shields, fender wells, and such).

Got my A/C swapped over to R134 and it is cooling nicely.

Water pump is on and heater is working!

Should be able to take her for a spin early Saturday!!!!