Well aside from all the other BS with the speedo issues which I'm too lazy to sort out right now, I've gotten my rusty-*** tank issue sorted with a shiny new used tank and pump, and the set of injectors I got were corroded and gnarly as I expected, with only the two newer looking injectors on the rails ohming out to anything decent. I decided to put my insurance check from my totalled out mustang to good use since the damage to it was such that I could easily fix it myself at work whenever I bother to get the car out here.

At any rate, I'm getting a full set of six new injectors, the two-per-injector o-rings and the updated injector harness connector kit, and of course the upper and lower intake gaskets. Figured while we were going big, I'd have them order up the studs and related hardware, hopefully whenever I have spare time, I can drag it into the shop and start working on it. My only real concern is whether we can figure out how to do the exhaust studs without pulling the engine, I hear tell its possible but need to find the writeup for it. Having a proper shop and the right tools should make it pretty easy though, I'd imagine.

I'll need to do ball joints and lower control arms due to missing boots on all joints and the wicked bad bumpsteer I've got going, at some point but will deal with that after the big stuff.

Fairly certain I got everything I needed and that with the few injector tutorials I've read it should be a fairly simple process, not to mention a couple of the techs at the shop have done a fair few of these VG30 injectors so I've got someone to lean on.

Any input or anything I missed here from those of you that have done the studs or injectors? Any advice? I'm pretty excited to get her running right, she's a real hoot to drive even running on 4 cylinders.

 

Ha, I just dealt with a rusty fuel tank as well, but I haven't replaced fuel injectors in this car yet.

I've done plenty of injectors on vg cars and I've got it down to an art... I can get it torn apart and put back in less than an hour. When popping in the new injectors, make sure you aren't trying to put a new o ring on top of an old one that is still down in the hole. My dumb *** did this and I couldn't figure out why my injectors wouldn't seat.

As far as the studs go, I've had some colossal failures at this. Might just be my lack of talent, but I would advise you to let your mechanic do this. I've never been charged enough by a mechanic to warrant me going through the heartache of doing this myself again. At least get him to price it.

 

Yeah that's kinda where I'm at with the stud issue. I found a bunch of broken studs in the random bolts pile the car came with. I didn't see anything in the block on a couple of the holes I was able to see into. I might get lucky, the previous owner seems to have done a lot of work to this car and I hope he did all the extraction stuff himself.

know for surenext time I put the car on the rack for balljoints and lower control arms. I just really don't feel like staying at the shop after workingon cars all day.... Just to work on mine.

tried to convince one of our older techs who also knows these vgs in and out but he seemed evasive. I suspect he won't be willing even if I paid him directly. Darn.

 

Some people are funny like that unfortunately.

 

The studs near the firewall are a pain. I've done this twice already and both times I pulled my motor just to have better access. Either way I had to pull the motor, first time around is cuz I was doing a low mileage engine swap and the second time which is recently I had the car repainted. So while motor was out I replaced anything and everything that was/is a pain while engine is in the car.

 

That's what I'm suspecting will have to happen. Turns out my steering rack tore a boot and revealed itself to be leaking quite badly inside, along with the bushings being shot. It appears pulling the motor is the easiest way to swap it, so I may have to do studs and steering rack at the same time.

 

Changing a steering rack is not that difficult on a third gen, if I remember correctly there's plenty of room. In fact on the same car I did that on, I did the exhaust studs on the rear with ease as well with a battery powered angle drill. I think I went at them from underneath. Somehow my easy-outs and reverse drill bits did their jobs and it all went smoothly.

Theeeeennn I did the fronts...took the radiator out for ease of access, also the front part of the intake. Had plenty of access but my reverse drill bit broke on the last stud and after that it all went to hell.

So my advice, you don't have to pull the engine to do this job if you don't want to because you can get access, and you can probably get a mechanic to do the studs for about $100-200 labor. If you want to pull the engine, it can't hurt, but I would have some other jobs lined up while you have it out, for instance valve cover gaskets, timing belt and water pump, front and rear main seals, drive belts, I'm sure there are other things...

As for changing the rack, of course buy new bushings, but remember your alignment will be out so far the car may be undriveable. Get the steering wheel set as close to center as you can, and get the car settled on a set of oil change ramps and use a tape measurer to line it up the best you can. Just set the front of the wheels in line with the back of the wheels. I did all this on a car I wasn't planning on keeping then drove it for a year after that and never got a professional alignment done. I would have thought I should set the fronts toward each other a bit, but I didn't, and it worked out.

 

I've actually been toying with the idea of just dropping the motor and tranny and doing this all at the same time. Steering rack, studs, injectors (I've got a full rack of brand new ones as well as the updated harness connectors in a box at the shop, waiting to be installed) motor mounts and maybe headgaskets. Why headgaskets?

I've come upon a buttload of broken studs in the pile of nuts and bolts that came with the car and it concerns me that this car may have been driven for quite some time with broken exhaust studs. That said - it passed emissions testing in Colorado for a number of years according to the VIN history. My concern is burned valves, if it was driven excessively. I've put maybe 500mi on the car since I've had it, mostly because I've been unwilling to work on the car given my lack of tools and space - and having let it sit for another year in pieces after giving up on it for a while.

At any rate, where I'm going with this is I am convinced that my coolant is getting oil in it. I can't prove it but my old coolant looked pretty oily to me, not milkshake looking but had a decent sheen on top of all the sludge that came out from the old coolant being mixed by a hapless previous owner. Headgaskets would let me get an idea of what my valves are looking like AND rule out oil in coolant for certain. I just really don't know if I want to go that route, head gaskets seem like they are a pain to do and I don't care to do them if I don't have to.

Now that I'm back in an actual shop with knowledgeable techs in it, I feel more confident in tackling this crap. I was told for these exhaust studs that generally they were charging for 4-6hrs of labor per side for a full set of studs. I reaaaaaaaally don't want to pay that and nobody wants to deal with it as it is, it seems. I'm probably on my own for the studs. As far as the alignment, the dealership has everything I could ever need for stuff like that, and since I have weekends off I don't need to wait until the body shop is slow during the week - I can just have someone from the mechanical shop do it on the weekend for lunch or a 12 pack or something.

 

I like the depth at which you two get into these procedures. Ill have to research about these studs uou speak of.

 

No need just go to Nissan and buy the studs. These are turbo studs.

 

Pretty much.

All I did was show up for work at the dealership as usual, and before I leave for lunch, go into the parts office, tell my parts guy that I needed studs for a 1990 Maxima SE with a VG30E, he ordered up all the stuff I needed and I was right as rain.

Hell, if you want to wait until next week, i've got a whole big-*** box of new parts waiting to go into the max, I'll get the part number off the bag of studs for you, dadisman.

You may need new yokes (fat washers basically) and nuts if you are looking to do studs. Mine are completely gone so I can't really reuse any of my hardware so he ordered a full set of everything for me.

I'll be putting them in hopefully next week, dropping the motor there in the shop and doing everything while its out, thermostat, studs, injectors, and steering rack. We'll see how smoothly the stud removal goes. I'm NOT looking forward to it.

I figure a week or so of occasional tinkering on it when things are slow will get 'er done eventually, I have another car plus my motorcycle so I'm not hurting for transportation during the downtime, thankfully!

 

Just spray some PB Blaster on all of them beforehand and just let them soak for awhile then use the easy-outs and they will come smooth with no hesitation. Good Luck.

 

Here's hoping.

brought the max to the shop with me, going to drop the engine after work. Any advice for the process?

 

Easiest way if you haven't done it already is dropping the motor and tranny altogether from under the car if you are using a lift obviously.

 

Already got it done. Did exactly that! Engine table with caster wheels on it made it a breeze!

 

glad it worked out.

 

Makes life easier having access 2 pro equipment/tools...I've gotten real spoiled working at my Lexus dealership. I've got plenty of tools/equipment at home but like you I try to put in my personal wrenching between services...

 

Heh, it certainly does. I wish I had a legit shop to work in when I did the clutch back in wyoming. What a nightmare that was without th eproper tools.