The VG33E information thread

I have a line on an 03 Exterra motor can someone tell me if my fidanza flywheel off of the 87turbo motor will fit on the 3.3 exterra motor?

yes it will.

you might need to remove the spacer inside the crankshaft register (which is the part the flywheel slips over).
it doesn't come in contact with the flywheel at all- in fact it's on the inside of the part where the flywheel touches (where the pilot bushing goes), it's simply a spacer for flex-plate equipped automatic cars and it's blocking most of the hole for the pilot bushing.

I wanted to share my experience with the VG33E swap. Very smooth process (Thanks to Z31P).

Particularly, I obtained a low mileage (22K) '02 Mercury Villager motor. My only minor issues were-

1). No turbo oil feed line drilled out in the stock location. I had a braided cable made and T-fitting.

oil line looks great.

for your lower timing cover, put tape around the painted area where the large rim that goes behind the pull is, and start grinding down the large rim/backing plate until you get close to the first "step" in the rim. When you get to about that point, the z32 pulley will fit over it with about 1/8 clearance (depending on how accurately nissan spot welded the thing onto the rest of the cover).

If you don't do that, you wouldn't be able to run the z32 pulley as it will hit that round plate.

Other people should take note of this oil line modification! It will work on any SOHC VG motor with the right block adapter.

I don't think you'll be using that oil pressure sensor for the Z31. it uses a different sensor. You can take the plug out of the passenger side of the block, and put it where that sensor is for now. And then put the Z31 sensor back into the original location.

The T adapter is a good idea if you decide you want to use a mechanical gauge at some point to test oil pressure anyways.

2). The alternator required some thick washers (three I think) for spacers. No pics shown.

3). The power steering pump required being moved forward about 1/2" - 5/8" for the belt

to line up with crank pulley properly. I carefully notched out 1/2" from the P/S body with the

thinnest cutting wheel I had on my angle grinder shown in background. Then I reused the

notched out metal piece as a spacer behind the P/S pump and the belt lined up right.

The only other issue I ran into was not being able to bolt up the stock clutch radiator fan. I ran different scenarios in my head

about what kind of adapter might be made but, I don't think it's worth the hassle when I have a Nissan electric fan and shroud

given to me for free. This swap was just what I needed to help me cement the basics of engine operations in my mind. Other

than the NA2T swap about two years ago I have had ZERO experience in this area. I want to thank all who helped me with

this project on my daily driver. Specifically- Careless, Michael P, Shromy and 88sinZ. Thank You very much for your contribution!

Yes, Thank You, Raff (Careless). the lower timing cover had to be ground down to remove

the circular rim that sticks up. Other than these minor issues everything went very smoothly.

I did the same for my power steering pump, but I used a nylon 3/8 spacer on the back because I ground down the pump rather than cut the piece out.

Also, you will need to acquire a 4 rib belt, and cut one rib off with a very sharp exacto knife. I've done it plenty of times, and you can't even tell the difference (unless you used the villager pulley? I never bolted it up, i think it has 4 ribs).

Yes, the small details I did not mention but, important. Installed pic.

niceee
glad to see it finally done.

Congrats, pulsecode

What was this ever done?

Careless- concerning your usage of the z32 crank pulley, what Alternator did you use with that? Standard z31 alt bracket I imagine.

that info was in some deep threads, maybe PM him


Can anyone come up with the pic of a 3.3's connecting rod? JW

350z alternator, modified kouki bracket. any alternator with multi-rib- 3, 4 or 5 rib, will work. you just have to space the alt keenly :-)