Can I remove my 95 Max engine out the top of the engine compartment? The Haynes manual seems to indicate that it is removed by dropping it out the bottom.

Bonus question: How many miles can one expect to get on a regularly maintained and sensibly driven VQ engine? Trans? I have an 85 300ZX
with 275,000 miles on the engine and transmission. It is still going strong and I have not been into either of them. Any VQ stories like that out there?

 

Probably either way. I've removed my 3-gen engine from the bottom but someone I know removed his from the top. I'll be removing mine from the top shortly. Thing is, dropping it from the bottom requires you to have the front end WAY up in the air.

Engine life is directly porportional to how you care for it and how you drive it. VQs are very,very reliable. I have only even heard of maybe 1 failure here. And we have thousands of members.

 

if you take car of the engine, it'll last you a long time .... i think one member has 383,xxx miles on his/her car

 

You have to drop a VQ out the bottom...been there...done that...it's a b!tch.

 

Question: Why do you HAVE to?

 

Can't figure out this reply page. Anyhow, thanks. I thought so. It looks like it can come out the top. I don't have the means to get it up high enough to come out the bottom.

I bought this 95 GLE for $1200 with a blown head gasket. It has 125,000 miles on it. I'm going to install a 99 engine with 50,000 miles on that I bought for $250.

 

AIM Convo with MardigrasMax


me: when you did your engine removal.. did you do it from top or bottom?
Matt: trans bottom
Matt: engine top
me: thanks

 

you got two great deals.. should do a tranny swap while you are at it

 

And there you have it

 

I'm gonna try engine & tranny from the top. Should make it alot faster.

 

make sure you clean the engine off when you remove it

 

 

Seems like we have a difference of opinion going here. Did you go out the bottom because you had to or because the manual said to go that way?

 

If you keep the trans attached you need to go out the bottom. I lowered the trans first then hoisted the motor out from the top.

 

I'm still not certain I have a final and authoritative answer to my question. As it stands now, it seems like the engine and tranny, as a unit, will not come out the top.

Has anyone, with personal experience, actually removed the engine and tranny as a unit out the top? I mean a 4th generation Max.

 

I'm pretty certain it can't be done on a 4th gen. The tranny sits under the left side of the unibody. At the very least, it wouldn't be worth the effort, it would be much easier to remove the tranny from the bottom, and then the engine from the top.

 

Yes that was my thinking exactlly. When I striped the external crap off around the motor and trans I sttod their and lookit over for a while. It appeared that the batery tray holder bracket would be in the way and that you couldnt even tip the motor to make it happen.

 

Any reason you went for the 99? I did not know if it would be a bit more of a pain due to the extra sensors etc.

Also I was wondering why the head gasket went so early into that engine life. I mean only 125K and the head gasket blew? Any idea what killed it?

SuDZ

 

For sure, it is not just a straight swap. From what I have gathered, as long as I use my 95 intake, the 99 should work out without changing the ECU or anything. If anyone knows anything different, I would like to hear from you.

I went for the 99 engine simply because it only has 50000 miles on it and is available cheap.

I bought the car with the head gasket already blown. The story I was told is that it was lady-owned, she had a radiator leak, and she drove it hot. Supposedly, she did not peg the temp gauge when it got hot but who knows. That's why I'm going ahead and putting in a different engine. I'll check out the extent of the damage later. I have a head gasket set that came with the car, so if there was no serious damage, I'll just replace the head gaskets and save it for a spare.

 

exactly.