My engine has 177K on it, and I have decided I want to buy a used one and build it up.

I started looking at www.car-part.com for one, and found one with 32k off a 96 I30, but no intake manifold, but that's ok, because I have 2 of them already I also want to keep it within 95/6 or maybe even possibly a 97, so that I can do a JWT ECU of course.

Nothing too drastic, still streetable, just something with all bolt ons and cams.

Will a port and polish of the head do anything for me with cams and MEVI? What other mods would you suggest besides I/Y/E/UDP/MEVI/ECU?

Also, like bosco, will I have to get the harness of a 96/7 if I do get an engine from those years, being that I have a 95?

I want to keep it N/A too.

 

hell, while your at it make it a 5-speed.

 

It is going to cost you but this is how you build an awesome all motor VQ. Get a VQ35DE and install forged 11.1cr pistons, with reground cams, 350Z intake manifold. Now if you to do the VQ30DE instead, go with custom 11.1cr pistons, MEVI, custom camshaft regrinds, headwork. That should get you a 200-220whp VQ30 when it's tuned.

 

That would be a great engine and it would even be ready for FI.

 

hmm...my STOCK VQ with bolt-ons is already at the 190whp mark...stick those JWT cams in it and I will be well over 200whp.

So what would be the advantage of 11.1 compression pistons and headwork if it's only going to net about the same hp as my stock head and pistoned VQ?

 

I was under the impression that using the VQ35 block, crank and stock pistons, paired with the VQ30 heads, would yeild a CR of 11:1. Am I mistaken?

 

Clean up the flow with a port and polish and match the gaskets with the intake and cylinder heads. Everyone always talks about changing the pistons, cams, etc, just do a good blueprint job on the entire motor. Old hot rodding trick.

 

Yep, the 3.5L crank and rods can be used on a 3.0L motor to yield a 3.3L displacement. The resulting compression ratio would be 11.0:1. The only slight mod required would be to shave 0.1mm off the top of the 3.0L pistons due to a very slight deck-to-pin distance Nissan made to the 3.5L pistons.

However, this combination would likely lead to some detonation without other measures. Either a full combustion chamber job would be needed to smooth out hot points or the new JWT cams would be needed to drop the dynamic ("effective") compression. I dropped the #s for the new JWT cams into a stroker motor spreadsheet I've been working on and those cams are *perfect* for this hybrid 3.3L motor...they drop the cylinder pressures back to that of the stock 3.0L motor.

On the other hand, the more I think about it a stroker 3.0L motor would be more expensive than simple dropping in a 3.5L block (keeping your 3.0L heads, manifolds, etc). Maybe that's the best N/A solution.

 

I was thinking about blueprinting my engine. How much of a gain to you think that will yield?

 

5hp?

The purpose of "blueprinting" an engine is not to gain power. It is to ensure reliability. Making sure that all parts are that the proper end of the spec and balanced and torqued properly makes sure that it wont blow up when you add serious power by other means.

 

ok. Because I was talking to my uncle about blueprinting and he said that he got more than 5hp from blueprinting his camaro, but i guess thats apples and oranges. Thanks for the info though.

 

First, his Camaro's engine was not built with as advanced technology or advanced assembly as your VQ. (ie. there was more to be gained in the first place)

Second, he probably had more than strictly balancing and blueprinting done. Most people like to do as much work as possible while the eninge is apart.

 

I am

Sort of waht I had in mind.

great idea, but no budget for such an idea.

I don't want to go too radical, just a little more power. Besides, going with the 3.3 stroker would be nice but my Max is an everyday driver, I need it to get to school/work. So downtime with this project will hopefully be kept to a minimal. But I should get a measley gas saver for a low low price and do a VQ stroker, mmmmmmmm

 

While blueprinting is done for reliability, it is also to maximize the power available from all the parts. The engines from the factory aren't "blueprinted", but they are reliable and very rarely blow up unless it is abused. Ask any performance engine builder about blueprinting and they will tell you it adds reliability, although not adding horsepower, it minimizes the losses from loose tolerances.
And although the engines from the factory may be assembled in a high tech assembly process, chances are, your rebuild will be in a average machine shop, so blueprinting will still give you good gains( more than 5 HP).

 

Do you guys seriously think that you can hack bits and pieces and create an engine better than those Ph.D engineers at Nissan?!
Well...

 

Those PhD engineers had to work with different priorities than an enthusaist. They had to hit targets for fuel economy, noise, emissions, serviceability, durability, price...and then power.

When all you want is power, some of those listed above can be compromised.

 

YES! They aren't gods, they have to answer to bean counters too. If they extracted all the power they could, why does the 2000/2001 motors put out more power And why do our mods create more power? What MZMTG said is absolutely true. The engineers have a different set of priorities. We aren't trying to create a better engine, just more efficient.

 

If you think about it, those engineers that are aiming for fuel economy and all that effecient stuff are for Maximas, and the other engineers, for instance indy car engine engineers, make their engines scream @ 16k rpms and produce a lot of power, so with that said, I totally agree with mzmtg.