Engine conversion/replacement opinions and advice.

[burgundypathy]

Hey everyone, my current z24 is slowly and surely dying. Basically the 3rd cylinder is letting oil from somewhere and a number of mechanics have looked at it and given me their opinions, one mechanic thought it was likely a piston ring and another thought it was the valve stem seals. Since the valve stem seals were a lot cheaper to replace I changed those first which seemed to work but after about a week and half of driving the car is still rapidly burning through oil. Firstly 3rd cylinder keeps burning out spark plugs, like I mean they look like they've had a day in hell after only a couple weeks of normal driving and the other major issue is the bottom end is struggling to make the pressure to push the oil from the sump into the head. Today I was driving around town and when I got home I checked the oil, it looked okay because it hadn't burnt to much but when I removed the oil cap a bit of smoke was coming out.

 

So if I want to do the piston rings I'm looking at around $1000 so an engine swap makes sense. I would be happy to replace it with a z24 but in Geelong, Australia they are pretty hard to find and they aren't cheap, another option is to possibly convert it to a KA24, vg30 or an SR20. The main issue I'll have with a conversion is my pathy runs on dedicated LPG/propane through an impco carburetor. This means if I want it to run on fuel injection it'll cost me another $500-$1000 to get the LPG computer, chips etc. So another question is could you convert any of these motors to run through a carburetor?

 

Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

[MY1PATH]

IIRC the electrical difference between a Z24i and a vg30i is the ECU and the distributor. (yes the 2 injectors and the throttle body are the same) so if you find a complete VG30i with ECU it should be all plug and play.
The bell housing patter is different so you would have to do a trans swap as well.

Anything else requires a rewire of the engine electrical but KA24, VG30, VG33 and TD27 are known fits with factory parts. Matching transmissions will be required...

[PathyAndTheJets]

If the transmission is the same besides the bellhousing, you can swap that over to fit. Super common trick for the earlier fs5w71 transmissions so you could get the better gear ratios out of z cars.

 

You should be able to use what you've got on a VG, if you used the factory manifolds on the z24 then that carb should just bolt up. Or was the z24 still carbed in Australia? Then you may need an adaptor plate fabricated if they changed the intake manifold between the carbed and fuel injected z24s.

[Precise1]

Hey everyone, my current z24 is slowly and surely dying. Basically the 3rd cylinder is letting oil from somewhere and a number of mechanics have looked at it and given me their opinions, one mechanic thought it was likely a piston ring and another thought it was the valve stem seals. Since the valve stem seals were a lot cheaper to replace I changed those first which seemed to work but after about a week and half of driving the car is still rapidly burning through oil. Firstly 3rd cylinder keeps burning out spark plugs, like I mean they look like they've had a day in hell after only a couple weeks of normal driving and the other major issue is the bottom end is struggling to make the pressure to push the oil from the sump into the head. Today I was driving around town and when I got home I checked the oil, it looked okay because it hadn't burnt to much but when I removed the oil cap a bit of smoke was coming out.

 

So if I want to do the piston rings I'm looking at around $1000 so an engine swap makes sense. I would be happy to replace it with a z24 but in Geelong, Australia they are pretty hard to find and they aren't cheap, another option is to possibly convert it to a KA24, vg30 or an SR20. The main issue I'll have with a conversion is my pathy runs on dedicated LPG/propane through an impco carburetor. This means if I want it to run on fuel injection it'll cost me another $500-$1000 to get the LPG computer, chips etc. So another question is could you convert any of these motors to run through a carburetor?

 

Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

A friend of mine had a similar issue with his z24. He rebuilt it, twice in the same week but couldn't solve it. Something about the block design and #3 being problematic IIRC. I can't recall the specifics, but I can ask him...

 

So, the KA is a good motor with more power, I'd prefer the VG30 myself (especially with the 10% power loss running LPG) and I don't know anything about the SR20 at all. I'd say that you should go with what ever can bolt up to the existing bell housing first, I'd guess the KA would be the answer there, but that needs top be confirmed by someone. Nunya, you know the KA motors, got any answers?

 

JamesRich converted his VG30i to a carb set up and documented it well. Let me look... Bingo!

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/36016-carburetor-on-a-vg30/?hl=carb

 

B

[burgundypathy]

Thanks for the reply's everyone. I really do like the idea of the vg30 with a carburetor but in Australia vg30s are really hard to find especially from pathfinders and navaras. Since I don't have a great deal of money to spend I it's probably wiser to just get another z24 but I'm concerned it's going to happen again. It's also interesting Precise1 that your friend had the same issue, I'd love to know what he ended up doing.

[Precise1]

 

It's also interesting Precise1 that your friend had the same issue, I'd love to know what he ended up doing.

He ended up junking it and buying a 1992 VG30E Pathfinder...

 

I'm due to call him today, so I'll have him refresh my memory.

 

B