Im in need of a engine for my car and i found this '87 maxima engine. it a vg30e will it drop right in my '91?

 

Engine swaps aren't my thing, but assuming that it does mount up in the same way (which I would guess it doesn't) you'd have the issue of '87 Engine meets '91 Wiring harness.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_VG_engine#VG30E
nissan changed the engine in 87, so there is a possibility that the engine is not the same.

 

There are plenty of VG 3rd gens out there. It would take much less effort to do a direct swap.

 

any issues with wiring harnesses can probably be rectified by just using the block and heads off the 87 motor, and using the distributor and other electronics, manifolds, water neck, vacuum gallery, and all that jazz from the dead 91 motor. granted that is more work than just finding a 3rd gen VG like Maxitech suggested (which is what i'd do unless the 87 motor was rebuilt and balanced by a race shop or something

 

the problem im have is find a 3rd gen engine in my area that doesnt need to be rebuilt. the one i have now has fried pistons rings and i need the carrunning asap so im wanna hopefully replace it with the 87 engine. all my senors are still good so i would reuse them while im rebuilting my fried 91 engine(which i wanna turn into a 3.3 or 3.4 ltr). so im hoping to save myself alot of headache but getting the engine i just dont wanna be wasting money on something thats not gonna work. im gonna put all my intake parts on the 87 if i can. if anyone sees any problems with this let me know cuz i would like to get it this weekend. oh and i dont know if this matters but the engine code is a vg30e(duh) and the vin code is still H which is the same as my 91.

Thank you everyone for your input its helping me out aot

 

i just got home at looked at my haynes repair manual and its for a maxima 1985 - 1992 so i dont see why its wouldnt fit and its says nothing about it being different than my 91 so what do you all think?

 

I think you shoulld jump on car-part.com and see what comes up

 

any VG30e will work the changes that were made were internal i.e. piston pins, water jackets, use the intake, exhaust, sensors from your old engine, if you go with a longitudinal engine (RWD) you will need motor mounts and mounting brackets for a/c alt. and such

you could use a vg30i (pre 90 pathfinder, hardbody) but will need to change the distributor due to the crank angle sensor and irrc it has a longer crank snout

 

thank you very much for ur help she has been sitting for like 2 months and i have been dying to drive her so im gonna buy it this weekend and start working on her next weekend. any tip or pointers i should know of?

 

replace water pump and timing belt on the new motor and maybe new exhaust studs while you can get to them, oh and you might want to swap valve covers the oil fill needs to be on the #1 cylinder (back side of motor) side due to the intake on on the 3rd gen going over the front of the motor.

 

and do the pathfinder intake mod..

 

yea I was going to mention that but he would lose VI but could be nice for turbo or CAI

btw where are you KillaKarebear if your close to MN twin citys area I have a 90 pathfinder to get rid of