Spooled

Hey all - I'm looking for the plate that bolts to the left cylinder head under the distributor. It's a triangular(ish) piece of metal, and it's what the distributor hold down bolt threads in to. If anyone has a bad VG30 laying around and doesn't need that piece, I sure could use it! Can't find a single wrecking yard around here with a core motor they are willing to part out.

It's easier if you have 2 people on the job. I bolted the torque converter to the flexplate first, then had someone turn the motor via the crank pulley bolt until the splines lined up. No matter how you do it, it's a pain in the arse.

No Pathfinders, 87-95 had traction control. If you have a manual tranny, sounds like maybe a slipping clutch or something.

I removed both the charcoal canister and EGR system from my 93. Haven't had any problems at all, and it was nice to get rid of some of those vacuum lines.

I believe you want to bolt the torque convertor to the flexplate (flywheel) first, and then install the tranny. I'm pretty sure that's what I did when I replaced my auto tranny.

Hey guys - I've started smelling raw fuel when I turn my heater on. I checked under the hood, and it definitely smells stronger from the driver's side. I've inspected the fuel lines on the passenger side, as well as the injector seals, and the rubber hose at the front of the fuel rail, and they all look good. However, I notice there is one rubber fuel hose on the back of the motor that I can't see well enough, and I'm unable to really inspect the injector seals on the driver's side, since the intake plenum covers it. Is there an area on VG30E WD's that is more prone to leaking? I'm probably going to be taking the plenum off anyway, as I have new lifters to go in both heads to get rid of my awful tick. (already replaced broken manifold studs and installed Thorleys) But I wasn't quite ready to do that, and won't be driving my Pathy until I get the fuel leak taken care of. Any thoughts? Much appreciated!

The answer to that is definitely a no. They will not fit without either modifying the firewall, or modifying the headers' rear primaries for each side. Stick with the Thorley's. They are a quality fit.

It's funny you mention how the REVO's pick up gravel so well. I've had my REVO's for about a month now, and I absolutely love them. However, I was parking my Pathy in my gravel RV parking on the side of my house - I had to quit doing that because the tires kept stealing all my gravel and dispersing it down the street. DOH! Oh well, the tires are more than worth it.

If it was the pinion gear, the cable wouldn't be spinning. I thought of that though. It must be in the connection. It looks like the cable isn't sticking out far enough for some reason. I can pull it out further, but unless by some miracle it happens to be perfectly oriented and placed to go right into the speedometer as I install it, it just gets pushed back in. I'll talk with my parts guy at Nissan and see what he thinks.

Good suggestion. Don't know why I didn't think of that. Still a no go though. I just tried holding the cable - I can not stop it from spinning. Nor can I make it spin in Park. Looking at it closely, the speedo head is definitely not stripped out. Still a perfect square. And the speedo head spins very freely. The connection was my thought too, but I just don't see how it could not be making a positive connection. It's pretty fool proof - not that I haven't proven myself a sufficiently talented fool before. I've removed at replaced the cluster at least 5 times, and tested after each time. It's too bad there is no viewing angle to see the connection being made. I'll keep plugging away at it, but keep the suggestions coming if you've got them. Thanks!

I've been working with my speedo all afternoon and I'm just not seeing why it's not working. I'm working with an automatic '93 Pathy with a mechanical speedo. I installed a brand new speedo cable, thinking that was the problem. Nope. I took the instrument cluster out and drove down the street. I can see that the speedo cable is spinning, so that's not the problem. I put a drill in the back of the speedo to spin it - the speedo read up to 25mph. So, I learned that my drill spins at 25mph. So, if the speedo spins freely with the drill, and the speedo cable spins correctly, why are two halves not making a whole? I am getting a vehicle speed sensor code out of the tranny diagnostics, but figured since the speedo itself isn't showing speed, the speed sensor reed switch in the speedo wouldn't have any information to give, thereby triggering the error code. So........anyone care to take a shot at this one? I'm out of logic and could really use another perspective.

What about the MAF? I think if the MAF is bad, it goes into limp mode and limits RPMs to about 2500rpm.

Like I said, I'm not doubting it made a slight difference. And drag races don't prove much. Too many variables. Sorry, I live in the Pathfinder world and Nissan's sports car worlds, and in the sports car forums, there's lots of people talking about how much more power they feel from a mod, but most of their improved "power" is in their heads. That's why they're always disappointed when they end up dyno'ing their car. I know how small the opening of the MAF is, which is why I believe that it does give you more power to bore it out. I'm just saying that without supporting mods, it's not going to be a huge increase.

Honestly, although the MAF is a small restriction in the intake system, I can't see much of a gain in power from boring it, unless you have supporting mods, such as upgraded cams, headers, etc. Do you have dyno data from your modded MAF? Just curious. I'm not doubting that it made a slight difference. As for intakes, if you want a JWT intake, you can get one made for an early Sentra SE-R. I happened to have on laying around. It's not a perfect fit, but almost. I just had to slot the MAF bolt holes slightly in order to bolt up to the JWT intake.

Check out www.z31.com. They have information on hacking the system. It does require removing the soldered in eprom and installing a socket.

That's actually not in a Z31. That's in an S12 - the Nissan 200SX from the mid 80's, which has even less room in the engine bay than a Z31. It came equipped with the VG30E only in the U.S. market and only in '87 and '88. If you'd like a little more info, here are the guy's posts about it on club-s12.org - Clicky

hehe If he's in the NorthWest, that price is pretty low.

Is there a particular reason you guys are using platinums? Standard copper cores are better conductors by far, and cheaper as well. Personally, I only go with copper core or iridium plugs. The platinum plugs do last longer though.

You might try MAPP gas instead. It burns those bushings out a lot quicker than propane.

Just so there's not misinformation out here - the 300ZX TT doesn't have a rear axle. It's IRS. It also uses an R230 rear diff, so that wouldn't work in a C200 either.

I'm in awe of the guy that was able to memorize most, if not all of that! That is a mouthful!!!

A compression check would be a lot faster than tearing everything down again.

The VG30E can run well at a wide range of timing settings. My older 87 200SX with the VG30E has a stock setting of 20 degrees before TDC. I actually run it at 30 degrees before TDC and it runs great! On a dyno, it actually gained me 15hp at the wheels. However, the Pathfinder has a lower stock setting, so I wouldn't run anywhere close to 30, but I can see how 19 would feel pretty good.

I put a 96 auto in my 93. The transfer case has a slightly different shift linkage though, so I used the transfer case from my 93 and bolted it to the 96 tranny.

Have you tried running a diagnostic on your ECU to see if it throws any codes? That would help narrow it down. Also - check all your connectors, especially the fuel injector connectors, MAF connector, and O2 connector. They can get corrosion in them and cause a bad connection.