bmcgawain Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I recently purchased a 87 2 door pathfinder and the engine had a broken head bolt around number 4 cylinder. The engine is pulled and I will be doing a full machined rebuild. I was hoping to get some suggestions on switching up my power options. I know with a lot of Nissan/ Toyota engines you can swap parts from a newer/older style and get helpful hp/torque gains from them.(ie, Pistons from an old 20R fit into the 22r and add compression, etc) Since I am at the tear down stage, I have a blank slate waiting to be modified. I have never owned a Nissan truck, only Nissan Z and SX cars so I don't know all the interchangeable parts here. PLEASE help me find a better head or cam combo. Pistons, intake, cranks, distributors, etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewebster Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I don't know much about VG30i (but I did rebuild a VG30E stock) but I think it's common to put VG33 heads on VG30 blocks? Possibly boring the cylinders to make a "VG34". There are also some alternative cams available, or you could get a shop to grind some to your specifications. My 2 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beastpath Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Wow, a broken head bolt? How did that happen. There is a lot of info on upgrades all over the forum that you could look up. To get you started though there are cam upgrades available from 4x4parts.com, schneider racing and jim wolf. That should add 5-10% to your setup Without reboring the block or upgrading to a VG33 block the only other useful engine mods would be an air intake, headers, and a cat-back system. Each of these will probably add 5% to your setup. Obviously combined their usefulness will increase as the components will be working together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beastpath Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I don't know much about VG30i (but I did rebuild a VG30E stock) but I think it's common to put VG33 heads on VG30 blocks? Possibly boring the cylinders to make a "VG34". There are also some alternative cams available, or you could get a shop to grind some to your specifications. My 2 cents. Actually you can't bore a VG30 into a VG34. What you are thinking is of people taking a VG33 long block and boring it over and using qh45 pistons and the VG30 crank. Or simply just the VG33 long block with the VG30 crank. Either way will give some good gains. However this is difficult with the VG30i fuel injection system as it only has 2 injectors. If you were to rewire for the VG30E it would be a lot more work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmcgawain Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) Actually you can't bore a VG30 into a VG34. What you are thinking is of people taking a VG33 long block and boring it over and using qh45 pistons and the VG30 crank. Or simply just the VG33 long block with the VG30 crank. Either way will give some good gains. However this is difficult with the VG30i fuel injection system as it only has 2 injectors. If you were to rewire for the VG30E it would be a lot more work. Thought I read somewhere that I could bore the vg30 into a vg33? Is that false? Oh and the head bolt was just old I guess. Stock headbolts and gasket lasted 231,000. First time to tear down and nothing shows wear except the bolt head was missing on one of the bolts. Never seen that before either. Im trading my 87 toyota pickup with a rebuilt 22R for this beast. Edited March 9, 2011 by bmcgawain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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