pics from this past weekend when awsm66, portdave and I pulled out dead engine from VE5spd and put in auto motor and rebuilt VTCs, knock sensor, changed exhuast studs, oil pan gasket, both main oil seals, axle seals, and lots of other stuff. Aaron92se and MikeVE/Candiman also made guest appearances.
Most of the pics are from Saturday after we did the VTCs and had already put them back in. Aaron was messing around with one of the old ones and I got a lot of pics of that.

http://community.webshots.com/album/228997037rnrRbN

 

Was there beer?

 

No beer...David and I don’t drink (don’t know about Craig since we have never talked about it) and we were guests of David. The strongest thing we had to drink was some diet coke because I have to have my caffeine.

 

looks good

thats quite a big project to pull off in a weekend but with a couple VE experts it can be done

 

all that work was done in 3 LONG days, it could have been a little quicker but we made sure to clean everything we possibly could and replace anything we got our hands on


and no, I dont drink either so all we had there was water, powerade, and Diet Coke for Michael

 

Nice work. Could you imagine how much nissan would have charged............ I'd guess $4500.

 

Them idiots at the dippyship probably could not have done it without screwing something up.

 

I can't wait until he gets rid of that pinstripe

 

Nice work. Did you also swap out the variable intake from the old 5-speed engine?

You guys are well behind Jeff, though He did all of that same work to my car (minus the VTC replacement) by himself. He replaced the studs, KS, gaskets, hoses, etc., as well as swapping in my VI.

BTW, pinstripes suck. The first owner of my car had the pinstripes professionally painted on and clearcoated over, so I am stuck with them.

 

Awesome job guys. I don't exactly know what you guys did(VTC replacement i guess?) but looks great.

 

as for the VTCs, we rebuilt them (all the pics of Aaron working on them), they are part of the variable timing system on 92-94 SEs

Yeah, I guess we did swap the intake manifold over. I didn't even really think about it before since we had both of them off anyway and it was going into a 5spd car so everything else was all ready for it.
You should have helped poor Jeff. Or at least pay him a lot

 

Wait a second so the exhaust studs arent in the vg? What that hell is that slight hissing i have then? I thought that thats what it was...??!!?? Grrrr.

 

exhaust studs and VTCs are two completely separate items

exhuast manifold studs are what holds the exhaust manifold to the sides of the engine. They are weak and tend to break and then the manifold doesn't seal well and you get exhaust leak.

VTCs are inside the engine and are the variable timing system used in the VE engine

 

Yea i know that. So i do have em? When i check do i go under the car or just from the front.

 

yes, VE and VG both have exhaust manifolds that feed from the engien to the Y-pipe and studs are used to hold them to the engine

 

Arg i hate when craig talks to me like a little kid.. Also i did the climate control and am working on the hud (had to stop got cold outside). thats what i get for living in ny with no driveway...

 

Sorry about that, not trying to sound condescending. Just wanted to make sure it was clear what I was trying to explain

good job on the ACC, the HUD should be easy compared to that now

 

random answers and thoughts...

* We did take the variable intake off of the broken motor and moved it on to the new one...you didnt think I would do without that feature did you lol. Its working like its supposed to.

* I think Craig, Dave or I could all do this job by ourselves (but Jeff is still the master of the VE engine swap...how many has he done now?)...not that hard but just time consuming. We just didnt have to since we were all available to do it. Plus we wanted to get it done in the short time we were there so I could bring it back and everyone could get back to their normal job.

* we put in a new knock sensor, rebuilt VTCs, new exhaust studs, all new gaskets, new fuel hoses and mostly new vacuum hoses. Plus some other stuff I am probably forgetting lol.

* the pictures of Aaron working on VTCs are of my spare set I had. We had already rebuilt and installed the VTCs but Aaron was a little worried about doing it so I figured I would let him experiment on my spare VTCs so he could see just how easy it really is.

* I have already started taking the pinstripes off maybe I will finish them up tomorrow.

* this car feels 10 times quicker than my auto and it is bone stock...I forgot how much fun it is to drive a manual.

* If I feel like it I may start putting my suspension, kit and interior in this week...I may wait until I can get some projectors before I do the bmw swap.

 

Go Michael Go. It was a great weekend. My old body is still recovering. At least I had the energy to work out today.

I did learn a ton. Hands on classroom.

David

 

Here is a pic when it was still connected to my jeep with the tow bar.



it was a little dirty

here is a pic I took today after a quick wash. I didnt wash the wheels since I am going to put my Radius wheels on.



It cleans up pretty nice.

I want to publically thank Dave for his hospitality and not only for the car but for his labor he put into it. Not many people would go out of their way to help a friend out like he did.

I also want to thank Craig for the company on my drive down there and back (to atlanta at least) and also for his hard work while we were working on the car.

These two are really good people and friends and although I have thanked them many times in person and in emails I just figured I would publically do it too. I really wish we were all closer so we could do a lot more stuff together.

I think I am going to go ahead and clean up my carport and get my old parts car out of the yard tomorrow and may start on the SE5 and swapping my stuff over on Friday. I am going to repaint the bumpers and paint the kit before I put it on.

 

Your welcome. It was a pleasure. A nice diversion from my daily job. Would love to do a big job again with you guys someday in the future.

 

so where did you guys do this ? in florida ? man my cousin lives down there wish i jad known i would have take a trip with my ve5 and helped out......all well maybe next time a big project comes up......

 

cool, good job guys.
....jealous as usual

 

damn u people... for having VE's. lol.

Mike so now that u have this new toy of urs what r doin' with ur multicolored SE on ur sig???

BTW: good job on fixing it guys.

 

I am moving all my goodies over to my VE5 and putting the soon to be blue car (its actually only one color now on the exterior) back to stock and sell it. I hope to have it painted soon. Its finished and in primer as it is but I just need to buy the paint to paint it. I hope to do it in the next couple of weeks so I can get it sold.

 

at Davids house in Rockledge, FL.

 

Oh yeah Craig your type R bumper is still on it. I put the bumper cover on but didnt take the R off so if anyone ever takes the bumper cover off they will know where all the power comes from.

 

Nice job guys. Wish I knew that much. big props..

 

It was very nice meeting Mike and Craig for the first time. Thanks Dave for the hospitality and the invitation to come check out your operating. I now know how to rebuild VTCs in my sleep.

 

i thought ur primered car was a 5-speed??? damn Mike all the work on that car and ur gonna let it go??? well at least u have another VE to play around with.

 

glad to here you like it

 

How much did you pick up the car for? It looks really nice.

 

You took off the bumper to tow it? Why didn't you just use a tow dolly for it?

 

I didnt take the bumper off...I took the bumper cover off and bolted the brackets for the tow bar to the bumper. It only takes me a few minutes to pull a bumper cover. I have done it way too many times .

1. The tow dolly is an extra 650 lbs.
2. I was pushing it pulling it that far as it was and didnt need the extra weight...the jeep has plenty of power to pull it but the brakes had me worried considering the Maxima actually weighs more than the Jeep.
3. The tow bar was free from a friend and the tow dolly would have cost me money.
4. The tow bar pulled better than the dolly anyway (I have pulled a max with a dolly before).

as far as how much I got it for...thats between me and David but lets just say that I should be able to sell mine for way more and come out very good in the end.

 

way to double post in your own post

it only takes you a couple minutes to get the cover off, but took us a little longer to get the tow brackets mounted on


another reason that the tow bar is better than a tow dolly is that the two dolly is VERY wide (obviously it has to be wide enough to hold a car on it and then has wheels that stick out past that). So that makes it tougher to drive with especially when there is a lot of traffic on the freeway - like there was for us in some parts.

 

I guess since it is a manual than it's not a prob but for an auto the tow bar prob wouldnt be an option, right?

This is good to know since I dont have a tow dolly and my only option is to rent one from U-Haul ($40) and have to wait for them to have one available. But my friend has a tow bar which is free!

 

Craig I have no idea what you are talking about

It didnt take long to put it on the first time...it was the second time that took a little longer lol...at least I got some new speed holes to show for it.



It would not have been an option on an auto and I would have had to use the dolly. It would burn up the auto transmission.

 

The bumper had hole to attach the tow bar or did you have to drill holes? Also, do you leave the steering column locked or unlocked when you tow it like this?

 

on an automatic you just put it in neutral.
it's not the best thing for the trans, and I don't recommend towing cross-country that way. but for a short run it's not too bad

 

No, Michael had to drill holes into the bumper to attach the brackets. That's why he removed the bumper cover.
Leave the steering column unlocked.