I need a new ve...My 92 se has 212,000 on the clock and the previous owner didnt change oil for 12,000 miles. he just kept poring and poring in oil. my engine burns oil like a B***h. MY VTC tick 100% of the time.
WHere would i be able to buy a lower mileage ve (JDM Please)

 

Try your local yellow pages for "engines" or "engine importers". Your in CA so places that import engines should be a dime a dozen

 

the best deal i can find for ya

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW

i bought my jdm VE from the same company off ebay about 11 months ago only i paid $1100

it runs great although the VTC's have started to tick on startup

 

I got my engine from "Jeff's Import Engines". The cost was $1100 shipped to a business. For residential delivery the cost was $75 more, but I had it dropped off at work. The VE is severely heavy, around 6xx pounds. We had to use a cherry picker to lift the pallet into the pickup, and to get it out we let air out of the tires until the bed was even with the engine stand; then we just mounted it up and rolled the stand away. I chose Jeff's Engines because they had a lower price, free shipping, and a six month, unlimited mileage warranty.
Engine as it comes: http://ghettomods.net/gallery/JDM/DSC00903
Engine on stand: http://ghettomods.net/gallery/JDM2/P4060005

You have to actually call up and verify availability of the engine, but once I paid, it was here in 3 days. Jeff's Engines is based in AZ I belive. Ordered on thursday afternoon and it was here on Monday at 10AM. The weekend could have skewed the delivery time, but the guy said that was average.

Between Myself, and two friends we did the whole thing. It could have been a two person deal except for the weight of transporting the engine, which could have been avoided with home delivery. Excluding the clutch fiasco, we could have been finished with the car in a weekend.

Friday night we pulled the axles, tranny, and all the harnesses.
Saturday the engine came out, and most of the day was spent swapping parts to the new engine, exhaust studs, and a few unexpected problems with motor mounts being *****es.
Sunday the new engine went in, but we had no clutch. Reconnected all harnesses, put the tranny in just enough to hold the starter on.
You pull the Fuel Pump fuse and crank for spurts of 10-30 seconds to prime some oil pressure, replace the fuse and off it goes (hopefully)! Mine started on the first crank after replacing the fuel fuse. It smoked for about 5 minutes to burn on the new gaskets, all our fingerprints, the oil I squirted into the plug holes, and the 2 cans of CRC Brakleen I used to take gunk out of the intake plenum.

Here are a bunch of things I made note of while doing it myself.

BEWARE:
If the engine is from an automatic (like mine) you will need to swap the intake plenum with VI over. ($Free from old engine) (May have to buy an intake gasket for about $10)

Flush the cooling system as much as possible. I had nasty stuff all throughout mine. Replace the Water Pump, Thermostat, and IACV housing. ($100 for water pump, $17 Thermostat, $10 IACV Gasket, I just cleaned the housing I had.)
Water Pump: http://ghettomods.net/gallery/JDM2/P4060019

Do the exhaust studs while you can! Even though the JDM studs were all perfect, and even appeared to be the upgraded ones, did it while it was on the stand, ~1 Hour ($64 in parts)
New studs and sanded surfaces: http://ghettomods.net/gallery/JDM2/P4060024

Valve cover gaskets: I had a kit for my other engine that I never put on... If you've got the intake plenum off, it's only another 5 minutes to replace the valve cover gaskets, also you get to inspect the lifters and cams on both heads.
New Valve Cover Gaskets: http://ghettomods.net/gallery/JDM2/P4060018

Hoses and Harnesses: Be prepared to use your original wiring harness. JDM Importers are ruthless. All wiring is just hacked off. Same with hoses. Be prepared to buy new ones if your old ones are getting cracked. There's a particular U shaped hose on the driver's side of the head that is a particular pain if the engine's in the car.

Belts: New ones. The JDM belts are likely cut. ($40)

Cam Position Sensor (CPS): The JDM CPS is different, you'll need your original. ($Free)
JDM CPS: http://ghettomods.net/gallery/JDM/DSC00911

Flywheel!!!! If from an automatic, make SURE you use the flywheel bolts out of your manual engine. the automatic ones are too short, will not hold the flywheel on and will strip out their mounting holes. !!! This got me! Had to re-tap a hole or two on the crank!
Thin automatic drive plate: http://ghettomods.net/gallery/JDM/DSC00912

Various fluids and supplies: Brakekleen, Engine oil, tranny fluid, antifreeze, beer, other liquor.. http://ghettomods.net/gallery/JDM3/P4110012

You can use cheap oil and filter for the first fillup, since the oil must be changed with filter after 500 miles.

Basically, for the engine, engine stand, clutch, flywheel, UDP, and other stuff I needed, I came in about $1750 for the job.

LMK if you have more questions...

Other photos of interest:

ASP Underdrive Pulley installed: http://ghettomods.net/gallery/JDM3/P4110007
Engine in car: http://ghettomods.net/gallery/JDM3/P4110008
Old Engine: http://ghettomods.net/gallery/JDM3/P4110009
Old Clutch: http://ghettomods.net/gallery/JDM3/P4110001

 

JDM's usually have much lower miles (30K-60K), but I think that's about it.

 

good job keelan, thanks for the info -- I will need that when I do mine...

 

Isn't all the stuff in all 3gen Maximas made in japan? Then what does it matter if it's JDM or not? It's the same thing...

I guess the only difference really is lower millage

 

The only difference is the mileage, thats all.

 

I don't really agree with that mentality. Japan is not THAT small. By your logic, Rhode Island VE's should be disintegrating after 50k. The law of averages says that an engine with 50k miles on it is more likely to have less wear than one with 100k. My $0.02.

 

Shaken, a costly combination of taxes and mandatory roadworthy tests, added to the price of all cars "on the road". Renewal is mandatory at 3, 5, 7 & 9 years from first registration...... Each japanese car requires this....This is not a cheap afair! Each single renexewal costs about 1000 for a basic car plus road tests and so on. Its not just emissions, but the actual cost of owning the vehicle just becomes too high and unrealistic. The japanese mentality also in the whole is a very perfectionist attitude with most taking very good care of their automibiles.

 

Don't quite know how emissions got into this. But I've had all three of me VE engines emissioned tested. Two had well over 100,000 miles and the current on has about 70,000. All passed USA emissions with ease. In fact, the emssion levels were so low, I really can't see them being much lower when new. But I will say this. Having your emissions equipment work properly is a vital function to good levels. Also a newer cat also helps greatly. These things have a bigger impact on emission levels than the mileage of the engine(assuming it was even 1/2 taken care of).

IMHO. If the valvetrain area of the JDM VE is aluminum color, there is a decent chance that the engine's oil was changed at some type of normal schedule. And this would indicate at least a decent working engine. Not too much more you can ask for unless the engine has the compression tags attached.

 

So, from the responses here, sounds like JDM is a pretty safe bet?

Thanks for the insight on this.

Rikshaman, it would be great if you could keep us apprised of your success.

 

From what I read here, most have been happy with the quality of the engines they received.

It would be very difficult to get an USDM VE engine with less than 100,000 miles now. Except for me that is.

 

Im happy with mine , got it from enginereplacement.com just under 1200 picked up, with a 6 month unlimited mile warrenty, Ive had it for just under a year and have put about 4 or 5 k on it with no problems.

 

my jdm VE tested 155 to 165 psi across all cylinders which is well within spec so im pretty happy with it

 

Can't really bump a sticky, but I edited my post so the pics work again and added some additional info and pics.

good luck to anyone who tries the swap

 

More info on JDM engines & Japan in general. Yes, most engines will be in the 40-80K range, with some as low as 30K miles. No, Japanese regulations do not require owners to replace their engines every 50,000 kms!

The Japanese car registration charges are setup to protect the new car industry as much as getting older cars off the road & replacing them with newer & safer models. They definitely get more expensive the older the car gets. If the US followed the same practices, the lawyers & Congress would have a field day!

Don't kid yourself about traffic congestion = lower mileages & less wear - the Japanese average around 6-8k miles per year, 60% in congestion. The good news is that nearly all Japanese owners regularly service there cars as part of the warranty requirements, so the engines will be very clean & well looked after. As most Japanese drive autos, the engines are gonna be less stressed anyways.

Here in New Zealand, where we have a healthy used import car industry (ex Japan), it's not uncommon to see 6-8 year old cars with between 50 - 75K miles on the clock. The general rule of thumb here is not to trust the odometer reading unless it's been independently verified as some cars with "only 50,000kms" really have 150,000kms!

BTW: great write-up on the swap :-)

 

If you are buying an used motor or JDM motor, this thread shows what to look for
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=332356

 

Addendum:
A) Coolant temp sensor needs to be swapped to an USDM one. If you don't, the radiator fans stay on all the time and the car goes nuts when it switches to closed loop mode (ie.. when the car warms up)