Ok so its time for some engine upgrades, 92 se with cai, toks and eibachs, bbk, some body mods the engine is feeling tired, 190km, ive been driving the ***** off it since i bought it a few yrs back and looking to breathe some new life into the ve30, im tearing the tranny out to rebuild it(bearing noise) and figured now is the perfect time to do something with the engine, i also have a z32 TT that im dropping a vh45de into and noticed that the vg30dett has the same bore and stroke as our beloved ve30, sooo i found some pistons for the vg30dett that are 87.5mm which is a bit of an over bore but with these would give a 11:1 compression ratio, also read some old threads about the cams being swappable, can i get grinded cams for the vg30de engine? or get a custom grind? im only finding bits and pieces, no actual answers of what people have actually done, im hoping some of you vets can tell me what you know about these options


thanx

 

VG30DE pistons drop right in, but compression is higher than 11:1. more like 12:1. you'll need to have cams ground with more overlap to keep cylinder pressures down so you don't knock and ping all the time. VG30DE cams don't fit- not without MAJOR mods. for the price, it's better to just have some OEM cams reground and shim as needed.


Follow my engine build thread in the NA section for more info on it. (it's in there somewhere about 5 years ago.)

 

so if i drop oem vg30de pistons into the ve30 it will put me up to 12:1? or do i need performance pistons for that? what about vg30dett pistons? cus i have a full engine here from a z32 tt but those are 8:1 in that engine right?

ill keep looking for your thread

 

http://forums.maxima.org/all-motor/3...hop-today.html

 

I thought vg30de n/a pistons were 10.5:1 cr?

 

thanks for the thread link, it just ends on a wierd note tho, no more after 5 pages, no info on the cam work and results or final dyno? was there ever custom headers installed? in the end what were the results and was it worth it? the most ive seen for the vg30de pistons is 11:1 cr at 87.5mm, whats the thickness between the cylinders, anyone know? how do i get the 12:1? which pistons, and at what bore? can i run 12:1 on 94 octane? sorry about all the questions.. any help is always appreciated

 

i wouldn't run any less than 93 on 12:1cr.... where are you getting 84 anyways? lowest we get around here is 87.

 

lol, my bad, i meant 94, i run only 91 now

 

o ok. that should work... the Toyota Matrix runs 11.5:1.. dunno what its owner's manual says to use for octane, but obviously it runs on pump gas.

 

the issue with the compression is that combustion chambers are slightly different size and shape. So when you install pistons that are 11:1 on the VG30DE, they're more like 12:1 on the VE30DE.
Edit.. for more clarification, I'm running JE pistons in it. They're 0.5 higher than the stock VG30DE pistons (so they're 11:1 for the VG) and only come in 87.5 and 88mm.

With 93 octane in my car and a JWT ECU, mine would knock anytime it was about 80F outside unless I moved the base timing back to around 13*. (Factory setting is 15*). Part of that is because the JWT is pretty aggressive with the timing, part of it is due to the high cylinder pressures encountered with the higher compression. Keep in mind I'm also at sea level (my house is 17ft above sea level), so the air is extremely dense here compared to the rest of the country. that makes a big difference in cylinder pressures and tuning- and is also why Houston Raceway Park is one of the fastest dragstrips in the world.

power-wise, it was noticeably faster than the stock-compression engine, but I also did headwork in the process- which should be done.

I gave up on the car after that because the moly rings neved seated and it needed a full round of suspension again- new bushings and struts all the way around. I wasn't about to spend the time and money to pull the engine, re-hone the cylinders, replace the rings, AND dump another $1500 into the suspension just to get it back on the road. car's just not worth that much to me right now.

So I bought a G35 for a DD and the Maxima has been parked for the last year. When I get my 240SX race car done, I'm going to go back to the Maxima. But for now it's sidelined.

 

Interesting. I didn't know that the VE combustion chambers are smaller than the VG. It makes sense because the VG heads are physically larger and the valves sit at more of an angle. Do you happen to know exactly how many CC's the VE and VG combustion chambers are? I have 10.5:1 CR VG30DE pistons in my VE, but I never thought that I have a higher CR than 10.5:1.

 

don't know what the VE dome CCs are. IIRC, the VG30DE is 55cc in the dome.
I would do the math on the VE heads, but I chunked all my spare VE heads when I moved in October.

 

did you ever do the cam grind or custom headers with the new pistons and head work? is it worth it to do the cam grind? what were your expectations for after the cam grind? if you had to do it all again would you have just boosted it instead?

thx

 

i have a 93 gxe with the ve30 what are some cheap mods i can do to it to bump up the hp and tq on it i would like to get it around 180 190 for hp

motor has 140k on it and still runs strong

 

93GXE = VG30 not VE30DE noob

 

You've already been corrected on which engine your '93GXE has but you were in the right range as far as the HP you were looking to get from a VG. The easiest/quickest thing is usually exhaust but before anybody should suggest exhaust I think some info is needed. Has timing belt been done recently? Have you drained/filled your trans fluid yet? Hows your suspension/steering ride? Have you done a full tune up yet? Usually most seasoned members will suggest getting your 3G to stage 0(close to new as possible). After you've gotten your Max to that point then your can start modifications. Unless your in need of new exhaust or something I'd go that route first. If you don't know when or if timing belt was ever done then I'd do that first. If your looking to drive kinda aggressively then your gonna want to make sure the timing belt is good. If your good to go or just can't wait then I'd suggest a Warpspeed or Cattman front pipe(y-pipe). Good wrenching!!

 

 

it is the single cam motor so is that not the ve30de and also i have done a tune up wires,coil,plugs,cap,rotor and air filter and have a axle back greddy on right now

 

what is a 3g and no i have not done a timing belt on it yet and i have not changed the trans fluid yet i was going to seafoam the trans then change the fluid and filter same as the motor

 

"3g" in this context is a 3rd generation maxima.
if you've done a cap, rotor and wires, you definitely have a vg30e.
never heard of seafoaming the autos, and I would advise against it.