David's VG30 Swap Finally Begins

[qwik510]

So I have been planning a VG30 Engine swap into my stock 1970 2 door for over 3 years.

 

 

For whatever reason, I just couldn't get started on it. The car was so nice in stock condition that I was just enjoying driving it. Then in August, I sold my wagon to Mike and the day he took it home the engine started giving him trouble. It left him walking home and worse, it left him with a bad taste in his mouth for his first Datsun experience. We had taken it for a 30 minute test drive before he bought it and although it would ping a lot during hard acceleration, it was running ok. Anyway, I felt really bad for him and even thought he told me that I was not responsible, I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to get me off my butt and get started on my swap. The great running, Low mileage (119K) L16 would be donated to Mike and I would finally do the VG swap.

 

 

So today, with sunny skies and 75 degrees, We pulled the L16 and the automatic transmission from the car.

 

 

 

It was an easy pull and mostly uneventful. This was the first time I had pulled an automatic trans from a 510. With a manual trans, I would usually pull the motor and trans together but in this case, the motor was pulled first and then the trans. The column shifter has some funky linkage but other then that, it all went well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now I will begin the cleanup and the VG30 install. I am hoping to have time to work on it over the winter and have it ready for Summit Point 2009. This is my goal. I am not doing a restoration. I am just doing a swap. Sometime in the future, I will pull it apart and restore the car but for now, I will not get hung up in the "while I am at it" syndrome.

 

So here are some pics of how the car looked before I started and how it was at the end of the day. I will keep the updates coming.

 

http://datsun510.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=3556

[datrod]

Please post lot's of pic's. I'm thinking of doing this to my wagon.

Thank you.

[djlotus]

It has begun!!!!

[qwik510]

I spent some time yesterday scrubbing the engine compartment. It cleaned up pretty well for a 38 year old car but I have decided that I will need to paint the engine compartment if I want this swap to look good.

 

So today I started to strip everything off. I need to keep it as a rolling chassis for a few more weeks so I left the steering and brake components in place for now. I am getting the garage ready to move the car in for the winter.

 

Here are a few pics from today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am boxing and bagging all of the nuts, bolts and small parts and making sure that it is all labeled so I don't forget what it all is.

 

I ended up pulling the steering column so I could remove the column shifter mechanism. Now to finish getting the garage ready and then roll the car into it for a winter swap.

 

More to come soon.

[qwik510]

So the motor and trans came home today. I went up to my friend Vince's shop and we pulled it out from under the work bench where it has been stored for over a year. We sprayed it down with degreaser and power washed it before loading it on the trailer.

 

I drove it home and removed the transmission. The clutch, PP and flywheel all look good but I plan to install a new clutch as I already have it and I would hate to have to take it apart to do the clutch after the install.

 

I mounted the engine on an engine stand. I got it tucked into the garage next to the car so now I need to start prepping it for the install.

 

Here are some more pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Farmer]

I am boxing and bagging all of the nuts, bolts and small parts and making sure that it is all labeled so I don't forget what it all is.

 

Thats one thing I didnt do, so asymbly is going to be fun.

 

Good luck with the build.

 

larry

[qwik510]

Thanks. Good Luck with yours too.

[b210in]

cool, pretty soon you'll be tachin out in your vg510, what kind of muffler are you going to use?

[qwik510]

cool, pretty soon you'll be tachin out in your vg510, what kind of muffler are you going to use?

 

 

Thanks!.

 

Not sure of the muffler yet. I do know I want this car to be quiet. I have the LS1 240Z for speed (and noise) I plan to use the stock 200SX exhaust manifolds and 2" pipes from the both of them to a Y pipe and then a single 2 1/2" pipe from there to the stock muffler location.

 

This car will be a good weather driver so quiet and comfy will take precedence over loud and fast.

[Phlebmaster]

I can't wait to see this thing roaring. Keep us posted! :D

[qwik510]

Long overdue update.

 

So after months of this car just sitting, I finally have an update. June 10th, I towed the car up to my friend Vince's shop (Vince has the turquoise SR20DET 2 door). We removed the front fenders and the brake lines and finished cleaning and degreasing the engine bay. Vince is going to weld up all the extra holes in the engine compartment, modify the inner fenders for the install of the BMW headlights, and smooth the inner fender where the battery tray used to be. Then he will primer and paint the engine bay. In the mean time, I will be prepping the motor for the install. I need to clean it up so it can be painted and pull the flywheel so it can be dropped off to be resurfaced.

 

I need to pick a color for the car. I need to do this soon.

 

I picked up some new seats for the car too.

 

A nice set of Recaros from a Saturn Ion Redline. I got the front and back seats. I am hoping that the back seats can be made to work.It would be nice to have it all match.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since the seats are blue and the car is now blue, I am kind of leaning towards blue. I still like the Porsche riviera Blue and Mexico blue but I am not sure if they are too dark for my taste.

 

 

 

 

 

I just spent some time looking at colors on the web.

 

Here are a few i am considering.

 

 

Porsche Riviera Blue

 

 

Porsche Mexico Blue

 

Porsche Mexico Blue

 

Porsche Turquoise Blue

 

 

Porsche Turquoise Blue

 

Right now, I am leaning towards the Mexico Blue with the Turquoise Blue as my 2nd favorite and the Riviera Blue in 3rd place.

 

 

 

I stopped by to see the progress on the engine bay prep. Vince is doing a great job and has welded most of the extra holes shut and modified the inner fenders for the BMW projector headlights. He smoothed the inner fender where the battery tray was too.

 

 

 

 

 

Soon it will be ready for paint.

 

More updates soon.

 

*********************************

I stopped by to check on the progress today. Vince has finished welding all the holes shut and is working on the final sanding and priming of the engine compartment so it can get painted. He opened up the radiator opening in the core support to allow max airflow through the VW VR6 Radiator. I must say that the VR6 radiator fits nicely in the car. He still has some finishing up to do to clean up the area he opened up but it is looking pretty good so far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More updates soon.

 

 

************************

UPDATE! 9/8/09

 

As nice as the stock color is, I decided I really like the Porsche Mexico Blue. So that is what it will be.

 

Thanks for all of the opinions and advice.

 

 

 

Here are a few pics of the freshly painted engine compartment

 

 

Before:

 

 

 

 

 

After:

 

 

 

 

 

Now I can't wait to get the car painted. It will have to wait. I want the VG in and running soon. I miss driving it.

[CharlieBucket]

Very nice color choice, and i love the seats. i will ad that to the many things i search for{ion redline seats!} so what is the story with your other cars? i searched your name and didn't come up with any post about your Brock car or 240z.

[qwik510]

Very nice color choice, and i love the seats. i will ad that to the many things i search for{ion redline seats!} so what is the story with your other cars? i searched your name and didn't come up with any post about your Brock car or 240z.

 

I guess I need to post about the other cars on this forum too. I have them on other forums.

 

I will try to make some time to do this soon.

[qwik510]

Time for another long overdue Update.

 

So I promised myself I would not get hung up in the "while I am at it" syndrome but it bit me again. ;)

I have decided that I no longer want to install the VG30 engine. I know. I seem a bit wishy washy as I have had this planned for many years but things change. But not too much change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I decided to install a VG33! :D

 

I got a great deal on a VG33 from a 99 pathfinder with 72K on it. So now it will be 3.3 liters of V6 power and torque. Vince and I spent a few hours going over the new engine. There are a few things that will need to be modified in order to make it work but it should be worth it.

 

The oil pickup on the VG33 is located in a different location then the VG30. The modified VG30 oil pick up tube I got along with the modified oil pan from Team Thump will not work. The baffles in the oil pan will need to be trimmed so the pick up tube will clear and we will be modifying the oil pickup tube from the VG33 to fit. We removed the oil pickup and test fit the oil pan and it fits fine with no issues. The Team Thump motor mounts bolt up too and it all fits as it should. With the crossmember in place, there seems to be no other issues. The 33 has the oil filter on the front of the engine and it looks like it will work as it is too.

 

The injectors in the 33 have a different type of connector on them and I did not get the 33 harness so I will need to change the injector plugs on the harness I have.

 

The 33 has the larger exhaust manifold studs so I will need to open up the holes in the 200SX exhaust manifolds to make them fit.

 

I plan to use the stock pulleys from the 33. The starter may have clearance issues but it looks like the smaller high torque 300ZX starter will be the fix we need.

 

I don't know what other differences we will find or mods that will need to be done but I guess we will find out. I think the extra power and torque as well as a 12 year newer engine will be worth it. :)

 

More to come soon.

[Jesse C.]

I am currently on the hunt for a VG33 and hope to replace the VG I already have.

 

Post pics when you can!

[alabama_lowlife]

i'd love to see some pics of that 240z. silver is my favorite color....of course that mexico blue is pretty bad too

[fisch]

BTW man I am loving this color blue!!!

[72240z]

Looking good :thumbsup:

[qwik510]

Finally Another Update:

 

The first test fit of the VG33.:D

 

It's in :D

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty of room up front.

Maybe even enough room for a turbo or two :eek::cool:

 

 

Plenty of room for heater hoses, etc. back here

 

There are a few issues that need attention. The VG33 dizzy is too tall so we need to swap it for the VG30 dizzy. The main input on the alternator is very close to the frame rail so we either need to change the bracket that holds the alternator or trim the stud and put a protective cap on it.

 

All other areas seem to fits well.

 

More to come soon.

[Rubberman]

Lookin good Qwik, nice color choice, luv the seats.

[sick620]

looking sweet! i love it! :D

[djlotus]

Gay.

 

Just playin. Look at all that space in there! Nice to see that it's progressing nicely.

[slam_dat_sun]

Well I got to be honest , this is the first time I have looked at this thread . All I have to say about it is that this is a awesome build keep up the good work . I will be keeping an eye on this one :lol:

[Ant-dat]

looking good,

On the alternator have you more space on the other side? on the VG the alternator can be fitted either side of the block (with correct bracket)

[fisch]

Just awesome Qwik! Man I would be super curious how wide this engine will be at its widest, with manifolds on. If you have a tape measure handy I'd love to know!

 

And again, I just love this color. If I were to get around to painting the '59, I think I'd have to do it blue as part of a two tone.