Austarion

I keep looking at my Starion thinking "I love how she looks, but she needs a lot more oomph" and I realised I have a VG30DE from a 90-something Nissan 300ZX sitting in the garage, everything ready to go apart from the ECU / ECCS. It'll be supercharged eventually with a nice chrome blower out the hood.

Anybody have any advice on this before I concider doing such a thing to my baby? Is there anything very obvious or very stupid that Im just forgetting, other than engineering reports and emissions testing and such?

Don't use the VG30....

They are too old, they are not a strong motor...and power into them and things break...

If you want to drop anything in, try the motor out of the GTO...

If you do go through with it, make sure it can handle some power before putting it in....They are a major pain to work on.... At the best of times

vg is no weaker than the gto motor .. both suffer from heat in cramped engine bays...

make sure all mods are done to either engine before sloting in as they pretty much have to be taken out to work on

The placement of the turbos on the VG (and GTO I guess) was low and trapped a lot of heat in the engine bay. And makes them a pita to work on without pulling the engine. But if you are S/Cing then no turbos, so should be easier to work on, plumb up etc.
I have heard those engines are pretty big across the top, that may be your biggest issue.

The block is teeny wheeny, its the size of my head (Im exagerating of course, I dont have a giant head) but the head is freakin massive. I've done some measurements and I know I can fit it all in there with some hood modifications. I plan to split the hood scoop down the centre, separate the pieces, remove the bulk from under the hood (Insulation and foil covering) and have the Blower mouth sticking out in the middle.

Im drawing up some designs in photoshop for it now.

Will the rear differential be able to handle the increased load? I imagine that with all the power some of you guys put into yours it wouldnt be so bad. Its only going to run 5psi anyway since Im too lazy to replace the pistons to low-comp.

My first (And very rough) attempt. The hoodscoop has been widened, the blowers there too. You can see I got really lazy by the time I got the blower in there.

I just realised that the gearbox might need an upgrading as well. PROBABLY a dumb question, but would the Starions stock 5speed manual fit to the VG30DE easily?

perhaps a jb bonnet would suit your application better?

yeah go the JB bonnet. no sense cutting up a perfectly good JA bonnet!

there's already a VG30 staz in nsw (an orange one) so it will fit. better off playing with the 4G I.M.O. though... (*cough* KKR430 and multipoint *cough*)

VG30 is weak ?? Where do folks get this crap from ? :)
Its one of the most rugged, inexpensive imports available. Smoother than any 4cylinder too. I've witness daily drivers survive 'abuse' that I'd be nervous subjecting any mitsu 4cyl to. Yes it is obviously more difficult to work on.

I'd turbocharge it and set the turbo out in front like a buick v6, or as this project;



This particular VG shown (not far from me), made 700+ atw on a *stock NA* VG bottom end pulled straight from a ute! How weak did u say ?
Before the resident 'hp experts' here start trippin' over dynos, just remember these pros are out of your league.... not some 'forum know it all wannabe tuners'. I've seen their work, right down to 7sec rotarys.

Lots of street z31s boost stock non-turbo vg motors, to the tune of 4-500hp/4-500 ft-lbs tq on 93 octane pump gas. Some even spray 100-150 shot on top of 20+ psi. Amazing performance, on relatively small budgets too.
Most 300zx guys don't chase more power as the tq + weight only destroys gboxes and snap axles. Still a fast enough street car tho.

A street z31 featured in our most popular import magazine was conservatively estimated at 450hp. The authors comments went something like;
"one of fastest street cars ever" - "frightened piece of baggage" - "soiled passenger seat"
Keep in mind, these folks are regularly offered a variety of beasts for critique.... yet he makes these outstanding remarks- on VG power.

At the extreme end.... remember what the record setting GTP Nissan did to the best the world had to offer - retired after undefeated season. No competitor had an answer for the "old" 2 valve mule.


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I think the only issue you may come across is if its the dohc version of the vg30 it may not fit as they are a pretty wide engine, though the fact that you are going to supercharge it means wont need to worry about space for the turbos.

The VG30 suffers a bad reputation from heat related failures due to the tight engine bay with the twin turbo gear, as well as poor maintenance when the cars were owned by their japanese owners. It would be easier to fit a vg30 than a gto engine given its already rwd orientated engine with a strong rwd gearbox.

imagine the exhaust restriction on that setup!!

I gotta agree there....the VG is a brilliant engine if its looked after. Not if its a 200,000km old Japanese owned shopping machine that some stooge decided to wind the boost up till it blew. We tune these babys sometimes and they are a great performer.

I own the orange staz with the vg30 and I can tell you that I have given
that motor some what of a hiding, and it is still going strong. I had a
rebuild done a few years ago and a dyno. It pulled 182 kw at the wheels
on 13psi. Thats running a standard turbo and computer. It doesn't have an overheating problem and the motor fits in nicely. The main problems
would have to be the gearbox and diff. I use it every day and enjoy
the ride. With a bit more money spent I would enjoy it even more.

Starions and 'charged V6 is a great combo ;)

nice colour