i'll try to make this long story as short as possible lol

so first of all about a year ago i had a belt squeal, crankshaft pulley was wobbling. got a new pulley, and when a guy pulled my engine and suspension and looked over everything, he said its wobbling again and its not the pulley, its the crankshaft itself. if i correctly remember, he said its most likely the bearings. does this sound right? or could something else cause it?

things will be settling down towards December, and i should be able to get things done on that. i have a engine stand and whatnot, would prefer to keep my current VG30E vs getting a whole new engine but getting a low mileage JDM one is doable

questions-

is this what im looking at to fix the crankshaft wobble? on a general scale of 1-10 how hard is it to do? and any reason why the one crankshaft set is $100 more? IIRC 2nd gen redtop VG30E are nearly identical to 3rd gen silvertop no? which would i need? says VG30E Maxima but cant see why the one is more

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Nissa...item27ba075d1e

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Nissa...item230fd7f6cf

also, has anyone used these JWT cams before?

http://jimwolftechnology.com/custome....asp?PartID=26

looking to order the crankshaft right away and figure out the cams later on, thanks for any info

EDIT- should have clarified, the new pulley was put on towards late May last year and the engine was pulled late July and was wobbling again.

 

another question, so ive done some reading and the crankshaft snout could be a factor as well, would that be part of the new crankshaft on Ebay? or a different bag of beans?

 

I'm not sure what exactly is involved in fixing crankshaft wobble, but I would think a machine shop would be able to take care of it. Especially for the prices of those ebay kits, someplace that specializes in engine rebuilds should be able to polish/balance your crank for a reasonable price, and they will measure and get you the correct size bearings to match.

IIRC, I dont think I paid more than $400 for a shop to polish my crank, size bearings, balance the rotating assembly, bore/hone block, and install new pistons on my rods... so I would think just balancing the crankshaft and sizing bearings would be cheap.

 

thanks for the info

ive also been told to just swap engines, would the VG30E from 2nd gens or Z31 drop in? if so i could probably find a low mileage JDM VG30E from a Fairlady. ive talked to some guys locally and they think its the snout and to just get a JDM engine. ive got a wanted ad on a local forum and am going to call a JDM engine place and see if i can get a JDM Fairlady VG30E.

 

Depends on the amount of damage that was done! May result in you getting a crank kit!!!!! Yes if the 1st main bearing failed or turned yes wooble could occur! I would shoot for a rebuilt short block to keep your turn around time to the minimum...an engine gasket set from ITM has 98% of everything you need.....except for the intake plenum gaskets and it run about $100.....

 

if the crank itself is wobbling, you've got major problems. i.e. bad bearings and a bent crank. if only the pulley on the end of the crank is wobbling, then it's likely you just have a damaged crank snout that could be repaired by machining the crank down and installing a sleeve to make up the difference. problem there is there's a woodruff key on the crank that you would have to get around dealing with the repair sleeve and whatnot.

 

ah i see, the first guy that noticed it thought its the bearings. i'll get it double checked forsure though

if i were to get a VG30E from a JDM Fairlady, im guessing there would be wiring that i would have to swap right?

 

See if you can move the crank up and down while in the car!

 

TOPIC 1.
To do the whole fair lady swap... you'll have to swap all the accessories over to from you engine. but the block... YEP it'll fit. I'm pretty sure i remember doing the engine mounts and engine mount brackets from the maxima. this is all if your talking about the VG30e/de NOT the dual over head cam engine... that's a whole different beast.
TOPIC 2.
JWT cams - yes i have them, they aren't bad, they seem like it pulls alot harder up top. i got the stage 2 ones, and it's a ***** to fit in the head... ((rubber mallet needed)) but its pretty straight foward!

 

yeah i dont need anything extreme so S1 is probably better

theres a Nissan only junkyard but its 7 hours away from me, he emailed me today and said he has a few VG30E with under 120,000km. if hes not making any trips here i probably will end up renting a pickup for a day or two and driving there June-ish. unless i find a better local deal. and no not VG30DE i wouldnt even touch trying to do another engine besides a VG30E lol

 

the S1's aren't really a huge improvement, the S2 is a little better but i don't know if i'm a huge fan of the S2's? there really isn't much of a lope but there is a gain up top. maybe a custom cam grind would be a good way to go aswell.

 

final decision is a new engine, just gonna be alot less of a headache. he has a few VG with under 120k and i can have one for $400 and his brother makes trips into the city and can drop it off

if the JWT S1 cams arent a huge improvement i might look into the S2. thanks for the info

 

Or send off your old cams to Schneider Cams for a mild cam grind. They do good work in my experience. Pay about $100 per cam and some shipping.

 

this place?

http://schneidercams.com/

also question but my current rear engine seal has a sweat on it, i know its located near the engine and trans. the new engine would have a new seal correct? stupid question i know

 

That's her.

http://schneidercams.com/naturallyaspirated-4.aspx

More direct.

Not looked at your set up, what mods you've done. But, I would not go above the 264H unless you've done some pretty good NA mods. Just my opinion.

Regarding the seal. A "new" (or rebuilt) engine should have a new seal. I new (to YOU) but "used" engine will just have the original seal. It's cheap and straight forward to replace these seals while the motor is out. If you plan to keep the car and install any junkyard motor, I strongly suggest you do front and rear seals, timing belt, thermostat, and water pump. Reported mileage means nothing about the condition of these components. FYI: I bought an engine which supposedly had under 30k miles. Ended up having to completely rebuild and bore the block it was in such poor condition (and no, they wouldn't take it back so I just decided to do a bigger build than I originally planned.).

 

im guessing i can use all of that stuff from my current engine (minus the timing belt i'll just get a new one)? because i got a new timing belt, thermostat, water pump, etc. just in July, but afterwards i found out that the crank was having issues which really sucks. i just want to start doing this stuff myself vs. always paying for labour

so its fairly straight forward to do the seal? i read that its a cheap part just labour is the killer but i think i can probably do it

is the trans seal similar? because i have a small sweat on that as well.

 

If you are installing a new timing belt, you will be right there for the front seal. The rear seal is easily accessable by removing the flywheel. If you have a seal puller (Harbor Freight has them) it would make pulling the seals a lot easier and reduce the liklihood of damaging anything in the process (other than the old seal!). Just be careful on the install of the seals, it is recommended they not be pressed all the way in....IIRC, they are pressed in only until they are flush with the area they are being pressed into. Eh, refer to the FSM.
Shameless plug: If you need an FSM, I've got one for a 1990 Maxima!

 

i could be getting a job at a garage right away so the swap could happen there, hopefully so because all the tools will be around. if this one place will hire me i know the owner well and he knows pretty much the history of the pulley etc

are the engine seal sweats a issue until say 2-3 months when i can swap? front engine seal and trans just have small sweats and the rear seal is a heavy sweat/borderline leak. fluids stay up and such though

 

don't worry about it. just make sure you don't run it low on fluid, and put something down on your driveway or whatever to keep the ugly mess down.
there's no point in tearing the thing apart just to fix a few drips for a few months.

 

yeah im not doing anything more until i can get a new engine. i remember when the guy did everything in July he said i have a small rear oil leak but at the time didnt understand.

when i park at the mall i go on the 2nd level where its dry clean pavement and when i come back after 1-3 hours theres no drips of anything on the ground so i cant see much being lost

anyways really appreciate the info, thanks

 

alright, so we have oil i parked in the driveway for about 4 hours today and theres 4 nickel sized oil spots

as long as the level is up, can i still drive it and fill it if it gets low? swapping engine ASAP now lol