my 1990 300zx na broked down towed it to Auto repair shop and found out the engine needed to be replaced. So I found an engine with 80,000 miles. Few days after shop picked up the engine they told me it was the wrong engine and to return it. I called the seller of the engine back & he claimed the engine was the right engine and the shop didn't know what they were talking about and all it needed was some simple changes. The shop & engine seller went back & forth about the engine until finally the shop suggested I hire the seller to make the necessary engine changes which I did. The seller made the changes some which the shop said was impossible like changing the connectors for the 1993 fuel injectors so they could plug in to the 1990 car. Another change the shop said would require taking the whole engine apart to switch over the heating core the seller proved them wrong again and was able to do it easily by just changing one bolt. The seller didn't finish the project because when he went to swap the oil pan & oil pump from my old engine he noticed that they were damaged and said to get another oil pan & oil pump then he would come back to finish the job. He asked for his money but I only gave him most of it and told him I'll give the remaining balance after he came back & finished the job. After I got new oil pan & pump I called the seller and he said he was booked this week so he'll have to do it next week... then he claimed he was out of town and back the following week.. then he said he was still out of town.... after that he said he had other projects he needed to fix first and it wasn't worth it for him to come all the way down again for just his small remaining balance so he needed to take on his other jobs first.. then he stopped taking calls & stopped replying to texts. The shop doesn't want to touch the oil pan because they think it's the wrong engine as they have been saying so since they told me to try to return it. The shop claims the oil pickup tube is pointed in the wrong direction so they don't see how that oil pan that will work with it. They now want me to get my car out of the shop or have it finished modified for them to install by August 1st and they won't give me my money back that I already paid them to install the engine with.

So I'm trying to find out if this is in fact the right engine or not in the pictures above. One thing I researched is that the oil pan for the 1990 na & 1993 na are supposed to be the same. Then why is the oil pan on my 1993 na engine different? Is it posible that it's a 1993 turbo engine and not a 1993 NA engine as he advertised? Or could it be an aftermarket oil pan?

here's best picture I could take of the oil pan that's on the engine now because it's sitting on the bottom it's hard to get a good photo or even see it

Does anyone know if this is a turbo oil pan, a NA oil pan, or posibly a infinity j30 oil pan? Or what kind of oil pan is this?

I also was trying to locate the engine number on the motor to verify what kind of engine it is but had a hard time locating it....

I looked at some pictures & posts about how to find the engine number & tried to look for where it should be but couldn't find anything....

For the pictures above is it confirmed that this is in fact a 300zx engine?

Please help! thank you!

Welcome to the club Gary and hopefully you will get some answers soon.

Hi Gary welcome to the forum i hope you find the answers you seek. I can't help im afraid but besides this forum, are you on facebook?, there are a few resources that are US based that may be able to help with parts as well.

Hi dude. Bit of a predicament here ay. The shop is being less than helpful and I would have suggested to go elsewhere if you didnt have money tied with them.

 

So yes, it's a later spec engine with late style fuel injectors but there aren't really any major changes. You are correct the oil pan is the same and it does look correct.

 

The engine number is on the back of the engine on the right side.

That VG30DE engine is out of Infinity J30. Note the orientation of the hoses and dipstick positions (arrowed)

which are different to that when the engine is used in a NA Z32.

 

That VG30DE engine is out of Infinity J30. Note the orientation of the hoses and dipstick positions (arrowed)

which are different to that when the engine is used in a NA Z32.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]113616[/ATTACH]

Interesting. Good spot.

 

Could parts be moved over from his old engine do you know?

Thanks... after your comment I've done some research today about swapping a j30 into a 300zx and some of the infomation that I came across from different people is as follows:

 

installing a j30 engine into 300zx

 

list of the things that are different and need swapped from one motor to the next.

 

Heater core coolant tubes (bent at different angles)

Oil filter Mount (not necessary for N/A. if your building it for a tt it will need done)

Oil pressure sending unit (different connection)

exhaust manifolds (come out at different angles)

valve covers (different intake hose routing)

Oil Pan

oil pickup tube

Dip stick (in order to have a correctly working dipstick you need to drill a hole through the block casting as it is plugged in the j30)****

water pump and pulley (they are made different if you use a j30 water pump use that pulley, or 300zx pump with 300zx pulley)

flywheel (use your existing 300zx bolts or get new ones) dont forget the pilot bear if you are using a manual transmission the j30 is only auto

if you use the j30 upper plenum make sure you keep the j30 egr setup and balance tube otherwise use all from 300zx (egr is at a different angle balance tube has different mounts)

motor mounts (they are completely different)

transmission blocking plates from the 300zx will need to be used

I would also suggest using all the accessory mounts from the 300zx engine, as some may be different on the j30 (i only have an alternator and water pump to run so i cant say for certain if any are different)

 

 

*******if you use the j30 dipstick on the passenger side it can not be left in as it will interfere and possibly damage the crank with the 300zx pan. it is also inaccurate as it makes contact with the oil pan.***********

 

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- A Z32 NA oil pan is required to have the dipstick pan entry in on the DS

- The oil dipstick must be relocated to the DS. This involves removing the block dipstick casting plug from the DS and putting it on the PS and moving the dipstick to the DS. Not sure if the tubes are unique, but you can probably make it work.

- I would swap on my Z32 upper plenum and all the PCV hoses and bits so the balance tube lines up, plus the PS throttle body on the J30 plenum is broken.

- You will need to splice in new injector harness connectors to work with the new style J30 injectors.

 

Upper radiator water pipe on the J30 is shorter. Can't use it on the Z32.

Exhaust manifolds are way different as well. Can't use them either.

 

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swap brass insert from left side it to right side let's you put dipstick to right side hole

 

change intake valve covers on 300zx they go down but on j30 they go out forward both sides...

 

fuel temp sensor... j30 had hole for it but no fuel temp sensor so install fuel temp sensor from 300zx into empty hole for it on j30

 

change right side timing cover because ptu is on the right side of it on 300zx but j30 it's on top of plentum

 

change crank pulley if want to run like 300zx because j30 crank pulley is bigger....

 

oil filter tree...felpro has a conversion gasket kit

 

plenum has differences so used 300zx balance tube different...so used 300zx

 

cooling line bypass

 

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some of this I understand and some of this I know has already been done like the heating core coolant tubes I saw him change those.... and he spliced the connectors already so it can work with the new fuel injectors, he spent a day changing things up in front of me but I'm not sure what everything is called or remember what else he did change....

 

he said all that needs to be done is swap the oil pan & oil pump and we're done with parts from old engine... I know he didn't switch the dip stick tube yet either... nor do i believe he changed the oil pick up tube because that's what the shop is complaining about & don't see how it can work because it's pointing in the wrond direction...

 

from the pictures above & the following pictures from what's left on my old engine can you tell what has been done already and what still needs to be done.

I finally got ahold of Alex today after months of trying...he must have lost his old phone & got a new one which didn't have me blocked. I'm not getting my hopes up on him finishing the job as he promised but I was able to get some answers from him. But some info he gave me I believe may be inaccurate.

 

First I mentioned that a hole needs to be drilled into the right side of the engine to switch the dipstick to that side. But he said no don't drill a hole. Does anyone know if there's a way to put the dipstick on the right side without having to drill a hold for it?

 

Then I mentioned that the fuel temp sensor from the 300zx needs to be put in the empty hole for in on the j30 engine. He said I don't need that because my car doesn't need emissions tests anymore. I asked are you sure but he didn't reaffirm when I asked. Does anyone know how important this fuel temp sensor is and the imporance of installing it since the j30 didn't even have a fuel temp sensor I'm wondering how important it is & what the difference would be of installing this or not installing it?

 

He said i don't need to switch the flywheel because my car is automatic transmission so I can just leave it the same. Anyone know if he's right about this?

 

He also said don't need to switch the upper radiator water pipe but when I read to him from my notes that the upper radiator water pipe on the J30 is shorter & can't use it on the Z32, he was silent and didn't give an rebuttal.

I brought a friend to drill the hole for the dipstick on the other side but we ran into some compiications that prevented us from trying. He did come up with a suggestion that I wanted to find out if that would work. He suggested leaving the dipstick on that side of the engine but taking the dipstick out and corking the hole and only putting it back in while the engine was off to measure oil level. Will that work?

Have you considered that the engine is still unproven? with all of the issues and problems you have come across with this engine not been correct it really would be worth thinking about stopping and get another correct engine, you have lost so much time messing with the issues, the seller and the garage are all making it worse for you. Call it a day on this engine and get another one that will drop straight in is my advise.

 

Jeff

Have you considered that the engine is still unproven? with all of the issues and problems you have come across with this engine not been correct it really would be worth thinking about stopping and get another correct engine, you have lost so much time messing with the issues, the seller and the garage are all making it worse for you. Call it a day on this engine and get another one that will drop straight in is my advise.

 

Jeff

 

Have to agree with Jeff on this one.

Have to agree with Jeff on this one.

 

Yup - me too....:sad: