How Texas_Ace Swapped a VG30ET to a VG33ET! Complete Writeup

[quote]Texas_Ace wrote: Actually it is easier to swap the crank over to the VG33 then make the VG33 work. It is a complete bolt in affair with the VG30 crank swap. Trying to use the VG33 as is, is a totally custom job. I have talked to at least 1 guy that used the VG33 as is and he agreed he wished he had just swapped cranks.

To use the VG33, you will still have to pull the crank and then have it machined. Might as well just toss in the VG30 crank while you have the VG33 crank out anyways, much easier and no custom work.

The cams you swap due to the VG33 cams being truck cams and made for low end torque. In a sports car that makes for a very boring power band.

As for swapping part hurting power, no just the opposite. The only thing that will change power are the cams, the cranks on them are exactly the same stroke so that won’t change anything power wise. The pathfinder intake is better but only when going for big numbers and once again that is not quite a bolt in swap which is what I was going for. But it could be done, people do it all the time.

You should have an engine in your car now, be it turbo or NA you can use the crank out of it. MUCH simpler then trying to get it machined, either way you have to remove and reinstalled the crank.[/quote:rbbrg5ad]

most of what you said is untrue. if your vg33 crank is in good shape, there's little to be modified in reality. all you need to do is modify the oil pan and the oil pickup tube, use all your vg30 stuff, and use the vg33 cam gears and crank sprocket.

the reason why I personally spent money on the vg33 crank is because i had it ground, had it polished, had it nitrided, and had it balanced because I couldn't remove my vg30et out of my car when the vg33 was in the machine shop.

I actually just mounted my power steering pump this evening too, and it only takes little modification.

you can even use a z32 lightweight crank pulley to gain slight hp and still run accessory drives from the vg30.

my alternator, water pump, power steering, and im sure my AC if i still had it would all line up without much issue.

you will also need to bend the mounting tab on the lower coolant pipe and might need a new lower rad hose to bring it closer to the block for the power steering pump to clear.

Other than that, it's pretty standard fare.

dropping in the vg30 crank if you have one is definitely a good route if you're dipping into the bottom end anyway, but it's not as hard as it seems to put the vg33 bottom end bits back in.

[quote]Careless wrote: [quote=Texas_Ace]most of what you said is untrue. if your vg33 crank is in good shape, there's little to be modified in reality. all you need to do is modify the oil pan and the oil pickup tube, use all your vg30 stuff, and use the vg33 cam gears and crank sprocket.

the reason why I personally spent money on the vg33 crank is because i had it ground, had it polished, had it nitrided, and had it balanced because I couldn't remove my vg30et out of my car when the vg33 was in the machine shop.

I actually just mounted my power steering pump this evening too, and it only takes little modification.

you can even use a z32 lightweight crank pulley to gain slight hp and still run accessory drives from the vg30.

my alternator, water pump, power steering, and im sure my AC if i still had it would all line up without much issue.

you will also need to bend the mounting tab on the lower coolant pipe and might need a new lower rad hose to bring it closer to the block for the power steering pump to clear.

Other than that, it's pretty standard fare.

dropping in the vg30 crank if you have one is definitely a good route if you're dipping into the bottom end anyway, but it's not as hard as it seems to put the vg33 bottom end bits back in.[/quote:3m0hcs0m]

Well i would like to know how you plan to run 300zx accserires with the VG33 crank pulley since there is no way to mount the VG30 crank pully onto the VG33 crank witout modding the crank. In which case the machine work for the crank will be as much or more then a VG30 crank not to mention more time. I got my crank for $30, machine work costs more then that.

I just don't see a reason to spend both more time and money just for the sake of using a VG33 crank. There is no benifit from running the VG33 crank vs a VG30 crank.

And what exactly is untrue about what i said? Using a VG30 crank IS easier, IS a full bolt on deal and quicker not to mention cheaper if you have a doner engine which you really need to do this swap anyways. I never said it was impossible to use a Vtg33 crank, i said there is no reason and it is harder and makes no sense. I stand behind that when you can get a VG30 crank for under $50 or use your doner motors crank.

I'm not going to start a pissing match here because both you and I have done this different ways, and it's very hard for either of us to consider the position the person on the opposite end was in, or how easy their swap went when building, etc. etc… All things considered, if you have a VG33 that you want to bolt on your things to, you don't even need to take the heads, crank, pulley or anything off of it…

You can just remove the oil pan, modify the pickup tube (I didnt cut or weld anything), and modify the oil pan.

Close it up, and never see it again.

It's really that easy. Some people don't feel like pulling the crank because then you have to pull the oil pump and the rear seal retainer, get a new rear seal, get a new oil pump while you're at it, new gaskets, might as well do this, do that.

The only thing I did was grind my power steering pump mounting boss so that I could space it forward. Get some belts for 15 bucks. and use your VG30 lifters (wear patterns matching, or get new ones) and cams with the VG33 cam gears.

That would, if you ask me, be easier than pulling and installing the vg30et crank… for the simple reason that Nissan has shitty rod bolt/studs. They are always the weak link in their rotating assemblies. The RB30 rods are almost identical to the VG30 rods, save for a couple of millimeters of length, and they use the same rod bolts, same big end bearing sizes too if I remember correctly (infact, same ACL part number). There are plenty of dudes in AUS who are blowing single cam RB30 engines to bits because they do not press in new Nissan or ARP studs or get new rods altogether, or they do not torque them properly.

I, personally, consider that to be the biggest factor in swapping cranks. Save for couple of other things… but to each their own. But for what it's worth, modifying a pick-up tube and swapping an oil pan is not that hard at all. other then that, a power steering pump.

But some would say power steering is for pussies. LOL. consider me a pussy. I just mounted my modified pump today. You do not need to use the Z31 crank pulley for accessory drive. And in using the vg33 crank, you now have more options for lightweight crank pulleys, as I believe the Z32 model will line up properly (I know it fits on the snout like a quest/villager/pathy pulley).

You say po-tay-tos, I say po-tah-tos. Basically what it comes down to.

This fellow, Demon_Z finds it a bit daunting to pull the crank and work through the bearing grading and buying a new pump and seal and gaskets etc. etc. If all he feels like doing is painting the block and putting the cams in, then I think that's easier.

I've seen people do that with junkyard 350's and LT1's.... Just pop a cam in, an exhaust, full roller valve train and some other small bits and pieces and belch out anywhere from 300-500 hp without ever touching a main bolt.

Some people would call that "easier" than taking a crank from one engine and putting it in another.

Careless wrote: I'm not going to start a pissing match here because both you and I have done this different ways, and it's very hard for either of us to consider the position the person on the opposite end was in, or how easy their swap went when building, etc. etc… All things considered, if you have a VG33 that you want to bolt on your things to, you don't even need to take the heads, crank, pulley or anything off of it…

You can just remove the oil pan, modify the pickup tube (I didnt cut or weld anything), and modify the oil pan.

Close it up, and never see it again.

It's really that easy. Some people don't feel like pulling the crank because then you have to pull the oil pump and the rear seal retainer, get a new rear seal, get a new oil pump while you're at it, new gaskets, might as well do this, do that.

The only thing I did was grind my power steering pump mounting boss so that I could space it forward. Get some belts for 15 bucks. and use your VG30 lifters (wear patterns matching, or get new ones) and cams with the VG33 cam gears.

That would, if you ask me, be easier than pulling and installing the vg30et crank… for the simple reason that Nissan has shitty rod bolt/studs. They are always the weak link in their rotating assemblies. The RB30 rods are almost identical to the VG30 rods, save for a couple of millimeters of length, and they use the same rod bolts, same big end bearing sizes too if I remember correctly (infact, same ACL part number). There are plenty of dudes in AUS who are blowing single cam RB30 engines to bits because they do not press in new Nissan or ARP studs or get new rods altogether, or they do not torque them properly.

I, personally, consider that to be the biggest factor in swapping cranks. Save for couple of other things… but to each their own. But for what it's worth, modifying a pick-up tube and swapping an oil pan is not that hard at all. other then that, a power steering pump.

But some would say power steering is for pussies. LOL. consider me a *beep*. I just mounted my modified pump today. You do not need to use the Z31 crank pulley for accessory drive. And in using the vg33 crank, you now have more options for lightweight crank pulleys, as I believe the Z32 model will line up properly (I know it fits on the snout like a quest/villager/pathy pulley).

You say po-tay-tos, I say po-tah-tos. Basically what it comes down to.

This fellow, Demon_Z finds it a bit daunting to pull the crank and work through the bearing grading and buying a new pump and seal and gaskets etc. etc. If all he feels like doing is painting the block and putting the cams in, then I think that's easier.

I've seen people do that with junkyard 350's and LT1's.... Just pop a cam in, an exhaust, full roller valve train and some other small bits and pieces and belch out anywhere from 300-500 hp without ever touching a main bolt.

Some people would call that "easier" than taking a crank from one engine and putting it in another.

[quote=Texas_Ace]
Well i would like to know how you plan to run 300zx accserires with the VG33 crank pulley since there is no way to mount the VG30 crank pully onto the VG33 crank witout modding the crank. In which case the machine work for the crank will be as much or more then a VG30 crank not to mention more time. I got my crank for $30, machine work costs more then that.

I just don't see a reason to spend both more time and money just for the sake of using a VG33 crank. There is no benifit from running the VG33 crank vs a VG30 crank.

And what exactly is untrue about what i said? Using a VG30 crank IS easier, IS a full bolt on deal and quicker not to mention cheaper if you have a doner engine which you really need to do this swap anyways. I never said it was impossible to use a Vtg33 crank, i said there is no reason and it is harder and makes no sense. I stand behind that when you can get a VG30 crank for under $50 or use your doner motors crank.
I am not arguing anything you said. What i am saying is that swapping a crank is easier for me then trying to do all the custom work to use the VG33 crank pulley with the 300zx accessories. I still don't know how you would get the VG33 crank pulley to work with 300zx stuff. Now i think your motor came out of a Q45 IIRC?

Maybe it uses a different crank pulley then my pathfinder engine, in which case you could be on to something. I know that with my pathfinder pulley it used TOTALLY different kind of belts for the accessories. 300zx uses v-belts and the pathfinder pulley used ribbed belts. No way to make that work no matter what you did without a LOT of custom work and custom pulley for the power steering unit and AC. Plus a different sized pulley for the Alternator. And on top of that the spacing for all 3 was different. That is a lot of custom work vs just bolting in a crank.

The way I look at it, a set ~2 extra hours swapping cranks and then having the rest of the build 100% bolt on vs an unknown number of hours doing custom work and having custom pulleys made. Come to think of it you could not make the AC work with the pathfinder crank pulley no matter what due to the different belts used and the AC clutch not just something you can swap out or get custom made.

I would love to see a picture of the crank pulley you used now that I think about it and how you get this to work. I can not think of ANY way to get the crank pulley that came with my VG33 to work with the 300zx accessories under any circumstances.

Plus the simple fact is that swapping cranks make the whole swap a completely bolt in ordeal, which was my point in the above post. No custom work needed at all when swapping cranks.

All this could be avoided if you guys would ditch the power steering and ac crap. 1 belt FTW.

I did. which is why i said it's easy. LOL.

[quote]Careless wrote: Oh, well sure if you want to do that then yeah you can keep the VG33 crank pulley no problem just like you said.

I do my cars right though so i want everything to work as it was meant to, in which case swapping cranks is the easiest way for sure.

I'm sorry to inform you, Tex… But you're mistaken. That is what I'm trying to tell you but you're assuming things that are not true.

The W-series, like my 87T, came with v-rib style belts.

As stated, THE ONLY thing I've done so far is grind the front of my power steering pump mounting hole to move it forward. I bought a pair of nylon bushings from lowes for two bucks, made the hole wider on one, and put it behind the pump to take up slack. I then put a longer bolt to fasten the adjustment bracket to the block.

THAT IS the only thing I did to get my VG33 accessories to line up. I even used my VG30 water pump with my VG30 water pump pulley.

Texas_Ace wrote:
I am not arguing anything you said. What i am saying is that swapping a crank is easier for me then trying to do all the custom work to use the VG33 crank pulley with the 300zx accessories. I still don't know how you would get the VG33 crank pulley to work with 300zx stuff. Now i think your motor came out of a Q45 IIRC?

Q45's are 4.5 litres. 3.3 litre engines came in the QX4, Pathfinder, Quest, Villager.

My engine is from a 99 Quest, and thus, the crank pulley I am using is the Quest pulley. It's kind of heavy and large and are known to fly apart, but I'll be upgrading to a Z32 lightweight pulley because I can. Something we cannot say for W series Z guys if they ever happen to decide it's time to lose weight from their snout.

Texas_Ace wrote:

Maybe it uses a different crank pulley then my pathfinder engine, in which case you could be on to something. I know that with my pathfinder pulley it used TOTALLY different kind of belts for the accessories. 300zx uses v-belts and the pathfinder pulley used ribbed belts. No way to make that work no matter what you did without a LOT of custom work and custom pulley for the power steering unit and AC. Plus a different sized pulley for the Alternator. And on top of that the spacing for all 3 was different. That is a lot of custom work vs just bolting in a crank.

Here's where you made your assumption. I know your car is an A/B series because I remember what it looks like. I remember that you're selling it (which makes me sad ) and I remember that I really liked it and it looks really clean, and I normally don't like zenki/chuki body styles.

Being of that style, I think my assumption that the crank you took from your vg30 is an A/B series crank and has V-belt pulley on it is far more accurate than the assumption that modifying the entire accessory drive to accept 300zx stuff to work on it or modifying the crank from the vg33 engine is going to be a nightmare.

It's not. Very little has to change. W-series engines came with V-Rib style belts. INFACT. I used my original water pump, water pump pulley, quest crank pulley, 350z alternator and new 300zx Z31 alternator/waterpump BELT and it STILL all works and has good tension. And the 350z alternator was used on the vg30et before it started to smoke anyway. So in reality, the only thing that's changed is the Quest Pulley… and it still works.

Texas_Ace wrote:

Like I said, most of what you stated is incorrect in a vg33-2-T application where the vg33's entire longblock is used… The compressor IS something you can just swap out. With a later year. Or better yet, sell it on the boards here, and buy a later one from the boards here. Simple as that. But if you already HAVE the v-rib style… then you don't need to swap anything. I do have the v-rib style, and I intend on repairing my AC system when I get all the nice bits on my car.


I totally 110% undeniably agree with you. But that doesn't mean some would call it easier. Again, you're removing the big parts that are supposed to take the "boom" from the combustion chamber and turn at 6000RPM and putting them from one engine into the other. You rarely get second chances if something goes wrong. And if it does, you take it all out again.

Some are not comfortable with bearing grading. Some are not comfortable with even torquing shit down. I know I checked my ARP main studs about 5 or 100 times, and tried different torque sequences until I found one that rotated 1320 degrees without any binding. And I can guarantee that 1% of those times it binded… the first time. Every other time it was my imagination.

For you, and I, and other people that like doing this stuff. I would take the crank out and even have it polished. I can totally understand that. But that doesn't mean it's easier.And that definitely doesn't mean that VG33 Long block is not a drop in affair. Don't be fooled. It's as close as a swap can get! I'd consider it as much drop in as an NA2T.

And I'm saying that because not only am I using the VG33 crank pulley… But I ALSO removed my crank, had it GROUND, checked my clearances, and did my own entire engine build, as have many many others from this board, and I'm sure you have aswell with your other cars… I bet even more times than me.

What I'm getting at is that its ppl who've done it, like you and I, and plenty others on the board who should understand why some people DON'T want to be in their crank case doing that stuff, and why some people SHOULDN'T be in their crank case doing this stuff.

I have friends who go too far into engines and don't take my advice on things I have more experience than they do with (actually just happened with a timing belt this weekend), and they don't want to listen because they can't wrap their head around things and say "whatever" and ignore it. So I go about my own business and watch… and when it breaks "they did it".

That's all I'm saying.

- Some would say leave the bottom end alone if you're not buying new bearings
- Some would say leave it alone if you're not buying new rod bolts
- Some would say don't touch the bottom end or pull the crank if you're not going to replace all the bearings, rings, and have the block honed.
- Some would say leave it alone if you're not mechanically inclined enough to use a torque wrench or plastigauge, or pulling rotating assemblies feels daunting to you.

… But I'm almost certain that 99% of the people here would say that modifying a power steering pump or a bracket is a heck of a lot easier and gives you way more "second tries" at something than screwing up a crank install.

[quote]Careless wrote: I'm sorry to inform you, Tex… But you're mistaken. That is what I'm trying to tell you but you're assuming things that are not true.

The W-series, like my 87T, came with v-rib style belts.

As stated, THE ONLY thing I've done so far is grind the front of my power steering pump mounting hole to move it forward. I bought a pair of nylon bushings from lowes for two bucks, made the hole wider on one, and put it behind the pump to take up slack. I then put a longer bolt to fasten the adjustment bracket to the block.

THAT IS the only thing I did to get my VG33 accessories to line up. I even used my VG30 water pump with my VG30 water pump pulley.

Originally posted by Texas_Ace

I am not arguing anything you said. What i am saying is that swapping a crank is easier for me then trying to do all the custom work to use the VG33 crank pulley with the 300zx accessories. I still don't know how you would get the VG33 crank pulley to work with 300zx stuff. Now i think your motor came out of a Q45 IIRC?

Q45's are 4.5 litres. 3.3 litre engines came in the QX4, Pathfinder, Quest, Villager.

My engine is from a 99 Quest, and thus, the crank pulley I am using is the Quest pulley. It's kind of heavy and large and are known to fly apart, but I'll be upgrading to a Z32 lightweight pulley because I can. Something we cannot say for W series Z guys if they ever happen to decide it's time to lose weight from their snout.

Texas_Ace:1oykheeq wrote:

Originally posted by Texas_Ace

Maybe it uses a different crank pulley then my pathfinder engine, in which case you could be on to something. I know that with my pathfinder pulley it used TOTALLY different kind of belts for the accessories. 300zx uses v-belts and the pathfinder pulley used ribbed belts. No way to make that work no matter what you did without a LOT of custom work and custom pulley for the power steering unit and AC. Plus a different sized pulley for the Alternator. And on top of that the spacing for all 3 was different. That is a lot of custom work vs just bolting in a crank.

Here's where you made your assumption. I know your car is an A/B series because I remember what it looks like. I remember that you're selling it (which makes me sad ) and I remember that I really liked it and it looks really clean, and I normally don't like zenki/chuki body styles.

Being of that style, I think my assumption that the crank you took from your vg30 is an A/B series crank and has V-belt pulley on it is far more accurate than the assumption that modifying the entire accessory drive to accept 300zx stuff to work on it or modifying the crank from the vg33 engine is going to be a nightmare.

It's not. Very little has to change. W-series engines came with V-Rib style belts. INFACT. I used my original water pump, water pump pulley, quest crank pulley, 350z alternator and new 300zx Z31 alternator/waterpump BELT and it STILL all works and has good tension. And the 350z alternator was used on the vg30et before it started to smoke anyway. So in reality, the only thing that's changed is the Quest Pulley… and it still works.

Texas_Ace wrote:

Like I said, most of what you stated is incorrect in a vg33-2-T application where the vg33's entire longblock is used… The compressor IS something you can just swap out. With a later year. Or better yet, sell it on the boards here, and buy a later one from the boards here. Simple as that. But if you already HAVE the v-rib style… then you don't need to swap anything. I do have the v-rib style, and I intend on repairing my AC system when I get all the nice bits on my car.


I totally 110% undeniably agree with you. But that doesn't mean some would call it easier. Again, you're removing the big parts that are supposed to take the "boom" from the combustion chamber and turn at 6000RPM and putting them from one engine into the other. You rarely get second chances if something goes wrong. And if it does, you take it all out again.

Some are not comfortable with bearing grading. Some are not comfortable with even torquing shit down. I know I checked my ARP main studs about 5 or 100 times, and tried different torque sequences until I found one that rotated 1320 degrees without any binding. And I can guarantee that 1% of those times it binded… the first time. Every other time it was my imagination.

For you, and I, and other people that like doing this stuff. I would take the crank out and even have it polished. I can totally understand that. But that doesn't mean it's easier.And that definitely doesn't mean that VG33 Long block is not a drop in affair. Don't be fooled. It's as close as a swap can get! I'd consider it as much drop in as an NA2T.

And I'm saying that because not only am I using the VG33 crank pulley… But I ALSO removed my crank, had it GROUND, checked my clearances, and did my own entire engine build, as have many many others from this board, and I'm sure you have aswell with your other cars… I bet even more times than me.

What I'm getting at is that its ppl who've done it, like you and I, and plenty others on the board who should understand why some people DON'T want to be in their crank case doing that stuff, and why some people SHOULDN'T be in their crank case doing this stuff.

I have friends who go too far into engines and don't take my advice on things I have more experience than they do with (actually just happened with a timing belt this weekend), and they don't want to listen because they can't wrap their head around things and say "whatever" and ignore it. So I go about my own business and watch… and when it breaks "they did it".

That's all I'm saying.

- Some would say leave the bottom end alone if you're not buying new bearings
- Some would say leave it alone if you're not buying new rod bolts
- Some would say don't touch the bottom end or pull the crank if you're not going to replace all the bearings, rings, and have the block honed. />- Some would say leave it alone if you're not mechanically inclined enough to use a torque wrench or plastigauge, or pulling rotating assemblies feels daunting to you.

… But I'm almost certain that 99% of the people here would say that modifying a power steering pump or a bracket is a heck of a lot easier and gives you way more "second tries" at something than screwing up a crank install.[/quote:1oykheeq]


Ok, that makes MUCH more sense. See I know exactly nothing about Z cars other then what I have learned on my car. I have never had another one and never been a part of the Z community till 6 months ago.

So I just assumed that my factory crank pulley was the same throughout the Z31 series. My mistake.

See now that you explained it I now understand what you were saying and have to agree with you knowing what I know now. But you also have to see where I was coming from my advice that swapping cranks is easier then trying to make the VG33 crank work was well founded with me having no idea there was a v-ribbed belt version of the 300zx.

It is easier, cheaper, and better to use a vg30 crank for your swap. Regardless of what your reasons are careless, thats just how it is. Its not worth arguing with you here, because it was said in several other build threads.

Bottom line is Texas Ace's car was done correctly, will perform better than stock while being completely reliable. And is a steal for the money he is asking.

Not disagreeing. That's why I did the vg33 swap too. But that's not the say that using a quest crank is going to make the car unreliable, slower, or any less "correct"… because if that's what you're saying then I'm going to agree to disagree.

Yes, indeed your work was well founded… but there are too many misconceptions on the internet and having done the swap I can honestly say that If I were someone who's never pulled a crank or checked bearings or done this stuff on other engines… I would try and get it to work with the VG33 crank and in the end it wouldn't be a big issue for accessories. The water pump and alternator belt is really the only one you need anyway, and you can get those from a number of nissans to convert to the v-rib style from an older accessory drive style.

Like I said, the person obviously asked if he had to pull the crank for a reason. Reason being is that he probably doesn't want to pull the crank and have to go through all that comes with doing that.

So for HIM, it would be easier.

And it would cost the same. And it would actually have less chance of error because there's less changes to a bottom end assembly that was previously working.

That's all I was trying to say.

sometimes pulling the crank isn't the easiest.

Less oil volume with the quest oil pump, and if the donor motor came from a frontier, pathfinder or xterra, you cant use the oil pump with a turbo motor mount.

so much for not arguing with you in this thread.

[quote]aceman wrote: So much for trying to keep correct information in this conversation.
The quest pump puts out enough oil volume to match with 300zx Turbo specs.
Check the manuals. It even has more pressure.

It's not the Pathfinder, Frontier, or Xterra oil pump that has the problem.
It's the QUEST and VILLAGER Oil Filter ADAPTER that is too long.

You must be forgetting that I just did this WITH the quest motor and crank.
This is why you guys are saying it's easier. Because you haven't done it this way.

When I did it, I pretty much did BOTH the crank swap and the simple modifications in one fell swoop.

I'm just saying, pulling the crank, oil pumps, rear seal retainers, rod caps, main girdle, and retorquing everything and hoping it works is not EASIER than grinding a power steering pump and torching an oil pickup tube and cutting an oil pan in like 3 places.

If you think it is, then fine. go tell people to do that.

Well you are also being short minded. If that has a 300zx like mine, doing it you way means they have to get ALL new power steering pump, AC compresser and alternator, a good $500 at least to convert to your setup. No to mention i don't know if those are just plug right up.

In that case of a car like yours, sure you can do some custom work and get it to work. In a car like mine a bolt in option is a LOT easier.

Plus i know a lot of people that can do pretty much anything that is bolt on but are scared stupid of the word custom.