# JDM V6 VG30E engine install tips on a 94 Nissan 4X4 5-speed



## Thews (Aug 9, 2014)

I just finished installing a VG30E engine in my son’s 94 Nissan 4X4 and learned some things along the way, so I figured I’d pass the knowledge. The truck blew a head gasket at 141K miles. The shop he took it to wanted $4000 to redo the heads. My friend bought a JDM engine for his Toyota for $1500 and had no problems. After doing some research, I found out these engines come from Japan where it costs so much to keep an older car on the road, they typically scrap them even though they run fine and have low mileage. The one I bought (off eBay) cost $1000 and included shipping to my door. It was supposed to have 45-55K miles on it.

When the engine arrived it looked very clean and had everything connected to it, PS pump, alternator, AC, harness. You could tell by what was connected to it, it was cut out, with the harness still attached to it. Things I learned:

1)	I bought the service manual for the truck and it was almost worthless. Step #2 in replacing the engine tells you to remove the transmission. I put a clutch in a 97 truck and it was an absolute pain to get it to move back far enough to replace the clutch. The reason they tell you to remove the transmission is to lift the old engine straight up. The oil pan sits just behind the front differential, so it won’t move forward. The answer is to drop the front differential. It’s heavy, but wasn’t all that difficult to remove… much easier than removing the transmission.

2)	When removing the engine, I didn’t remove the wires to the starter and alternator. I just left them connected and moved them out of the way. I left the wiring harness on the new engine and had to replace one of the connectors which was damaged during removal/shipping. The old engine has all this stuff, which makes it easy. I also bought an adjustable engine removal tool. It connects the engine hoist to the engine and you turn a crank which tilts the engine. It was well worth the $40 and made installation much easier. 

3)	With the new engine sitting on the stand, you can easily get to everything. I would suggest replacing all the water hoses. They’re specially bent hoses at the rear of the engine and the local parts places had them in stock. I had one break after installing the engine and it was a pain to get to. Also consider replacing the knock sensor, as it’s right there under the intake manifold and you don’t have to take the intake manifold off to replace it. The new engine had no press-in nipple to connect the intake manifold cooling line. You can’t buy this part and the dealer told me to replace the entire intake manifold as the only option. I didn’t notice this until the engine was installed, so I had to take the upper intake manifold off the old engine and swap them. I would have had to replace the intake anyway, because the old engine had cruise control and the new one didn’t. If I had replaced all the hoses when the engine was out I would have noticed it then. 

4)	Replace the timing belt, tensioner, thermostat and water pump when the engine is out. It’s much easier to do when it’s sitting on the engine stand and you’re sitting right in front of it. The dealer sold me the wrong timing belt (round tooth instead of square) even though I took the old one in with me when I bought it. I tried to install the round tooth belt, and it almost fits, but it won’t work. With the correct timing belt, you’ll find a lot of different information on the web about adjusting the tensioner. I took a picture of the old tensioner and compared it to the old engine, and they were installed the same way. The allen-head adjustment for the tensioner points to the center of the crankshaft. The belt seemed a little tight, but I sided with a little too tight vs. a little too loose. I bought almost all the parts from PartsGeeks.com and had no problems. 

5)	The engine I bought was out of an automatic car and I had to pull the pilot bushing thing that connects at the back of the crankshaft. You’ll read online how some people use a Dremel tool to cut it out, but that’s way too much work and you could damage the crank. I rented a slide hammer (for free from the local Autozone) and bushing removal tool to pull it out, but it didn’t work because the end of the tool wouldn’t grab the edges. I modified the ends to be triangular instead of square and it popped right out. Even though the clutch only had 10K on it and looked good, I replaced it, the throw-out bearing and the flywheel.

6)	I didn’t want anything to overheat this engine, so I replaced the radiator and all the hoses. If I were to do this again, I would have flushed the engine while it was out. When I pulled the old water pump there was a lot of sediment inside it. 

In the end, what I thought would take a few weeks in my spare time turned into a few months. I own an engine puller and stand with a lot of tools, but most of the tools you’ll need are in a standard metric set. It was much harder than I thought it would be, but the truck runs like a top now and I don’t plan on doing anything else to it for 100K miles.


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## jp2code (Jun 2, 2011)

Good first post!

So, I've got a 1994 with 222,000 miles on it. It's only 2WD, though.

How much would you charge to do mine?


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## Thews (Aug 9, 2014)

jp2code said:


> Good first post!
> 
> So, I've got a 1994 with 222,000 miles on it. It's only 2WD, though.
> 
> How much would you charge to do mine?


That's funny. I already told my son if anything else goes wrong with this truck, he's buying a new car. If you don't have to pull the front differential in a 2WD (I don't think you do), it shouldn't be that hard.

A couple of thing I forgot to mention...

Mark the harmonic balancer. I swapped the best looking parts between the old and new engine, including the harmonic balancer, and other than finding TDC and hoping for the best, I'm still not sure the timing mark is going to line up (there was no mark on it). 

There was also no mark in the lower front of the engine (at the crank on the right) for the timing belt mark. I did find the marks for the upper timing belt, but not the lower one. Counting the teeth in the belt is the way to go.

Since I took the upper intake off I also replaced the valve cover gaskets. I don't remember exactly what the service manual said to torque them to, but it was a helluva lot more than my V6 Toyota. With the engine out you may want to consider replacing the valve cover gaskets even if you don't have to take the upper manifold off. I wasn't going to initially, because the engine looked so clean. I can't guarantee it really did have 45-55K on it, but it sure looked like it.


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

"_If you don't have to pull the front differential in a 2WD (I don't think you do), it shouldn't be that hard._"

If it's 2WD, it doesn't have a front differential!


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## Thews (Aug 9, 2014)

smj999smj said:


> "_If you don't have to pull the front differential in a 2WD (I don't think you do), it shouldn't be that hard._"
> 
> If it's 2WD, it doesn't have a front differential!


I'm aware of that, but was not sure if there was something in front of the oil pan to keep it moving forward that you had to remove.


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## jp2code (Jun 2, 2011)

Thews said:


> My friend bought a JDM engine for his Toyota for $1500 and had no problems. After doing some research, I found out these engines come from Japan where it costs so much to keep an older car on the road, they typically scrap them even though they run fine and have low mileage. The one I bought (off eBay) cost $1000 and included shipping to my door. It was supposed to have 45-55K miles on it.


JDM is an ebay seller.

Look at this drool, and imagine that in my truck (not yours):

Infiniti Q45 JDM VH45DE 4 5L V8 Engine Motor Long Block VH45 de President Nissan | eBay


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