tdauria Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Hey all! It's been a while but hopefully I will be able to be a much more active user in the coming months (to each their own, but I loathe working on the truck in the cold lol) So, I have been reading up on the m30 ecu swap for quite some time recreationally like many others probably have. However, I recently realized how achievable this would be with my current experience levels with the pathy and with electronics in general. Furthermore, the swap is even more enticing for me due to the fact that I threw together some basic hardware and software to interface with Nissan Consult, and the m30's ecu supports this! One of my first questions is with regards to other ecu options. In my searching I came across some information in a forum where the VG33E ecu was mentioned in passing, which got me thinking. Correct me if I am wrong, but from what I understand, a VG33E engine into VG30E-based WD21 does not require an ecu swap. Could this mean that a VG30E could be run with a VG33E ecu? The implications of this would be not only being able to use consult, but also OBDII (been dreaming about this for years lol)... I am aware that an ecu swap will not do too much for me with stock everything else, but as a Computer Engineering student, I am much more interested in the data interfacing aspect of it (although knowing that headers,etc ontop of the ecu swap would net me more than normal is a nice bonus) and doing it as a personal challenge. Do we know if anyone has done this before? I cannot recall ever reading anything about it. Worst case scenario I do plan on doing the m30, especially as MY1PATH has provided tons more info than i would need (i'm already mpfi). Thanks for reading! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkorahil Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 I dont see this working for the following: The 3.3L ECU monitors more sensor imputs than the 3.0L. Without these inputs it will be confused. Given the above, the harness pin connector for the 3.3L is probalby larger than the 3.0L Most importantly, the 3.3L is mapped differently than the 3.0L Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdauria Posted March 27, 2014 Author Share Posted March 27, 2014 Didn't even think about that. Even if adding all the sensors would make it work, it would definitely not be worth the effort for me haha Could you elaborate a little on what exactly being mapped differently means? Like air/fuel type stuff? Will be ordering an m30 ecu shortly Thanks, Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdauria Posted March 27, 2014 Author Share Posted March 27, 2014 UPDATE: Ordered last night off ebay for 40 bucks, and it's already been shipped! Time to start gathering the rest of the parts and sit behind the door waiting for ups.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gv280z Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Well this is quite a bit more than 40 bucks but atleast you know that it's had all the kinks hammered out, been tested and is a good product..I would certainly do this if I could spend the money on it. http://www.jimwolftechnology.com/customer_part_detail.asp?PartID=212 Would also look at their POP charger too..looks nice, with his cams, pop charger and ECU you could tip the high side of 175, 180 HP probably...drawback on the ecu is you gotta use premium fuel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkorahil Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Well this is quite a bit more than 40 bucks but atleast you know that it's had all the kinks hammered out, been tested and is a good product..I would certainly do this if I could spend the money on it. http://www.jimwolftechnology.com/customer_part_detail.asp?PartID=212 Would also look at their POP charger too..looks nice, with his cams, pop charger and ECU you could tip the high side of 175, 180 HP probably...drawback on the ecu is you gotta use premium fuel. Jim Wolf stuff is good quality, but pricy. They were the supplier for the POP charger Nissan offered back in the day. Had it on my truck, worked ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkorahil Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Could you elaborate a little on what exactly being mapped differently means? Like air/fuel type stuff? Yes, that is correct. The map is the 'If-Then' statements for the ECU. It tells 'maps' out the inputs and resulting outputs based on the engine state such as air/fuel mixture and the adjustments for that, air intake volume, desity and temperature, RPMS, transmission speed and revolutions, and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdauria Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 Well this is quite a bit more than 40 bucks but atleast you know that it's had all the kinks hammered out, been tested and is a good product..I would certainly do this if I could spend the money on it. http://www.jimwolftechnology.com/customer_part_detail.asp?PartID=212 Would also look at their POP charger too..looks nice, with his cams, pop charger and ECU you could tip the high side of 175, 180 HP probably...drawback on the ecu is you gotta use premium fuel. Oh trust me, I've spent quite a bit of time drooling over the thought of doing those upgrades haha. At this point especially, I'm pretty sure spending that much on basically a tune for my stock engine wouldn't be worth it (doubly so for a broke college kid). So unfortunately we're pretty much in the same boat for the time being On the plus side, I could've sworn the POP charger cost $100+ the last time I checked. $65 doesn't sound too bad at all, and I've never really seen a negative review/comment about them only neutral or some degree of positive. I'll have to remember to do some research or inquire about an m30 POP charger, this would save me a little work as well adapting the m30 MAF bolt pattern to the pathy airbox (i think). Thanks for the input Yes, that is correct. The map is the 'If-Then' statements for the ECU. It tells 'maps' out the inputs and resulting outputs based on the engine state such as air/fuel mixture and the adjustments for that, air intake volume, desity and temperature, RPMS, transmission speed and revolutions, and so on. Gotcha I was never really all too clear on that, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkorahil Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 (edited) I got the most joy out of my pop charger from hearing it suck in the air. PPL could tell it had one on it. I also remember the installation instructions for the mounting brackets that came in the box were for a RH drive Terrano, which had be scratchig my head and having to think opposite. As for power big gains, it felt slightly more peppyier on the throttle at idle or from a dead stop; marginally so. I didnt notice and MPG gains or losses. I would not use this though if you go out in deep mud, water crossing, etc. There is no shield for the filter element. Edited March 29, 2014 by Alkorahil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverton Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Well, Alkorahil you are right in a sense. But since us WD21 guys can swap in a 3.3 without changing ECU's it would work the other way as well, say put a 3.0 in a 96-99 Pathfinder or 00-04 Xterra or whatever years the 3.3 came in the WD22. You COULD run a 3.3 ECU in a WD21 as long as you took the entire engine harness and sensors from the donor vehicle. But probably not worth the effort. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdauria Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 I got the most joy out of my pop charger from hearing it suck in the air. ... I would not use this though if you go out in deep mud, water crossing, etc. There is no shield for the filter element. Sometimes that's all that matters lol. Might mask a little bit of the manifold leak noise too! Definitely a good point with the water, I'll have to get a driver side inner fender for splash protection but other than that I generally avoid water crossings and deep mud ever since i had a bunch of mud hit the fan and well, now I truly understand the expression 'when the s--- hits the fan'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gv280z Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 You know fixing that little manifold leak will help on your power, since your engine exhaust isn't evacuating properly as it is now, you should start there, don't let that go indefinitely. Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 I had a leak at the Y pipe just before the o2 sensor. I fixed it and it actually feels like it has less power lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdauria Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 Well, Alkorahil you are right in a sense. But since us WD21 guys can swap in a 3.3 without changing ECU's it would work the other way as well, say put a 3.0 in a 96-99 Pathfinder or 00-04 Xterra or whatever years the 3.3 came in the WD22. You COULD run a 3.3 ECU in a WD21 as long as you took the entire engine harness and sensors from the donor vehicle. But probably not worth the effort. I'd like to stay on the side of *most likely* possible, but absolutely agreed; the realization of having to deal with more O2 sensors had me running immediately.. You know fixing that little manifold leak will help on your power, since your engine exhaust isn't evacuating properly as it is now, you should start there, don't let that go indefinitely. Definitely on my to do list, my mechanic tends to check/tighten them as a courtesy when I bring it in for jobs I don't feel confident tackling myself, but the leak still tends to show up with a change in seasons I think. Hoping to get headers within the next year, fingers crossed everything falls into place for that --literally and figuratively. I had a leak at the Y pipe just before the o2 sensor. I fixed it and it actually feels like it has less power lol. Haha maybe you're just not breathing in as much exhaust gasses anymore? Weird though, maybe it helped breathe slightly better past a restrictive(ish?) cat but still got enough gasses past the sensor to get a decent reading Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92Path_68CJ Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 You can get the Jim Wolf ECU de-tuned to run on 87 Octane. My dad's rig has it running on 87. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdauria Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 Good info, from the website it sounds like they're pretty open to working with whatever the customer would want. oh man the things I would do for that motoiq pathy lol for a while I knew more about that thing than my own pathfinder from reading those posts xD good to see it's with a forum member 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enkrypt3d Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 http://www.jimwolftechnology.com/customer_part_detail.asp?PartID=466 Has anyone tried this MAF sensor? I'm sure it requires an aftermarket ECU right? I also want to try this with their pop charger to go with my new headers and exhaust..! Will this give me some good gains? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5523Pathfinder Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Z car guys use them when building big power. That upgrade has been around for quiet some time. IIRC, the factory AFM tops out when building much over 400hp. The ford AFM changes those parameters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nefarious Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 I would just go with an n60 or e60 maf from a maxima. They are 3" diameter and can support 350 or so horsepower. They can be had for like 20-30 bucks, you will need a tune to run it though. I'm about to test an ecu tune I'm working on to convert to n60 maf with the stock pathy ecu, I'll let ya know how it works when I try it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enkrypt3d Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Yes! Thanks Nefarious! I'm trying to squeeze as much juice out of this poor little VG30E... I might try the VQ35 swap to make the cost worth while.... added doug thorley headers with gibson exhaust so hoping that will put some life back into her. She needs more power off road... Let me know how it goes. Looking for something better than the stock MAF which has about a 1" diameter hole.... Would the pop charger fit directly onto the MAF in this case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nefarious Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 The cone style filters on ebay all come with maf adapters for the n60 (and n62 from a z32tt since they use the same maf housing). Usually like 15 bucks including adapter. If ya need more torque I would always suggest a vg33 swap but the other air and exhaust flow mods will definitely help things. I'm running a vg33e in my 93 wd21 with obx headers, 2.5 exhaust, cone filter, and soon to be n60 maf and vg33e throttle body and intake manifold. Will be swapping in my old vg30e cams into the vg33e at that time and will be hoping for near 200 horsepower and maybe 220 lb ft of torque when it's all said and done. Might even be able to get a little more by working on the tune Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enkrypt3d Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 The million $ question is that are these mods worth the HP gains? Nefarious, are you running a VG33 block as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nefarious Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 (edited) Yup I run the engine and accessories from a 96 r 50 pathy in my 93. I figure that once all is said and done with re grind cams and the vg33e upper manifold/n60 maf and ecu tune I'll be over 200 hp and 230 or so lb ft torque. Right now I just run headers/exhaust with vg33 and everything else is stock. I figure 180 hp and 210 lb ft right now with the work I've done but there is still a lot more to be had from this engine Edited August 26, 2014 by Nefarious 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enkrypt3d Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Yup I run the engine and accessories from a 96 r 50 pathy in my 93. I figure that once all is said and done with re grind cams and the vg33e upper manifold/n60 maf and ecu tune I'll be over 200 hp and 230 or so lb ft torque. Right now I just run headers/exhaust with vg33 and everything else is stock. I figure 180 hp and 210 lb ft right now with the work I've done but there is still a lot more to be had from this engine That sounds pretty cool. I'm itching to get some more air into my VG30... I emailed JWT to find the right pop charger / MAF to use and to stay ca smog legal... sounds like it would require an aftermarket ECU... but also not looking to dump more $ into this beast as tempting as it is haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkiBumBrian Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 You nailed this on the head... CARB legal is the issue in Commiefornia, I am looking toward a Jim Wolf ECU too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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