Engine swap help!

[denley]

94 pathfinder le 4x4. I'm in need of a new engine but I can't find anything local except a 3.0l vg30e out of a 95 nissan quest. I know the motor is the same size but is their differences such as mounts or exhaust due to the van being fwd? If it's not interchangeable can someone recommend a website I might find a good priced used v6? I appreciate any help I just want my pathy back on the road.

[Trogdor636]

94 pathfinder le 4x4. I'm in need of a new engine but I can't find anything local except a 3.0l vg30e out of a 95 nissan quest. I know the motor is the same size but is their differences such as mounts or exhaust due to the van being fwd? If it's not interchangeable can someone recommend a website I might find a good priced used v6? I appreciate any help I just want my pathy back on the road.

 

If I was in your shoes, I would look into the 3.3 Swap.

 

 

 

VG33E

[sewebster]

I think that you could make the quest engine work, but you need need to switch components over from your pathfinder vg30e to the quest vg30e in the process. Makes it less of a drop in operation. I am not sure about this.

[vagabond]

If I was in your shoes, I would look into the 3.3 Swap.

 

 

 

VG33E

this is the way I'd go

[nunya]

IIRC JamesRich used a Quest engine, but I could be imagining things might be worth an ask/pm to him though...

[denley]

Yea I briefly looked into the 3.3 swap when my engine first went, if I remember correctly there was a lot more work then I wanted to get into. I'm just having trouble finding a used engine that's not on ebay or online where I have to pay freight shipping. oh and the quest engine was pulled out of a wreck with 70k on it. Would it be worth considering a rebuild on my original engine? I don't know what a shop charges for that kind of job.

[adamzan]

Whats wrong with it?

[ejin4499]

if you get the accessories and the wires its cake. Otherwise you just swap the crank and follow nissannuts writeup on his website. I reused my oilpump cams lifters and fuel rail from my vg30. GL

[denley]

My cousin got it stuck in a deep mud hole and tried too hard to get out and messed up something. It won't start unless you jump it off with a battery charger on start setting with a new battery so i assume the alt and starter are shot. Also when I do get it to run it misses a lot and has a terrible roaring noise inside the engine like it's straining to run at all. Figure it spun a bearing or something. I don't have the time and know how to tear apart the engine to find out, but I can do a engine swap. Figured it would come out about the same price wise considering most rebuild kits are around $400-$600.

[MY1PATH]

Yea I briefly looked into the 3.3 swap when my engine first went, if I remember correctly there was a lot more work then I wanted to get into. I'm just having trouble finding a used engine that's not on ebay or online where I have to pay freight shipping. oh and the quest engine was pulled out of a wreck with 70k on it. Would it be worth considering a rebuild on my original engine? I don't know what a shop charges for that kind of job.

 

 

The complication with the 3.3 is the crank snout diameters. You either had to fit the 3.0 crank and oil pump or convert your rig to run 3.3 accessories...

 

MR 510 has developed a 3.3 hub crank that your stock 3.0 pulleys can bolt to. I think they will be aprox ~$80 once he gets a run of them done.

This eliminates all the extra work and complication. No tear-down and no modification to the engine are required with this HUB.

 

This will make the swap very straight forward; Install the hub, swap the pulleys from the 3.0, swap all the accessories and drop the engine in.

[Slartibartfast]

Chances are, clean the mud out and you can get it going again. Check out the Mud Sick thread, your issue sounds similar.

 

But for swapping in the van engine, I imagine you'd need to use the Pathy intake, maybe the oil pan, and probably a few of the old sensors etc. Chances are the different stuff is all bolt-in, could be frustrating to get it all figured out though. Before it's in you might as well do the timing belt/water pump/thermostat, and with swapping parts around I imagine it wouldn't be that much more work to do a legit rebuild. It'd take a little longer/cost more, but you'd have better peace of mind and less risk of having to do it all over again later.

 

TBH I'd go for the bigger swap-in engine too, just because if I'm putting that much work into something, I'd rather make it better than it was before it broke. Then again, my time isn't worth a hell of a lot.

[Mr.510]

The longblock from the Quest will work in your Pathy, but only the longblock. You'll have to take everything off down to the block, heads, and timing covers as none of the accessories, mounts, or oil pan will work. Also, the Quest engine won't have the heavier duty "4x4" oil pump, water pump, and related timing covers. The only difference between the 4x4 parts and car stuff is there is a heavy aluminum housing protecting the timing belt and components from rocks and crap where the car version is all sheet metal.

 

If you decide to go with a VG33 I produce the necessary custom oil pickup tube and will soon have the crank pulley hub Garret mentioned into production. Those two parts make the VG33 swap a bolt-in, once again taking it down to a longblock and running all your accessories and brackets. Actually, I guess you'd also have to drill out your exhaust manifolds for the larger 10mm bolts, or run headers.

[denley]

I looked into the mud sick thread, sounds kinda like my problem. I've replaced the battery, dist cap, plugs, oil and filter, and computer and that got it to start after it first happened but after a week fiddling with it I finally got a code to throw and it was knock sensor. So is it possible it did jump time and is causing it run rough and throw that code?