Jordan's Garage- 1986 Notch Se, Vg30, 5-lug,

This post is dedicated to the many projects I have going on in my shop right now. My primary project is my 1986 notch which just got a fresh paint job (cheap but effective). I'm in the process of doing a full SE swap(suspension and full drivetrain).

Engine and Trans are bolted in. Suspension is swaped. Working on electrial and repairing the damage caused by an injector fire the last owner suffered. IT FINALLY RUNS!

Enjoy the pics and let me know what you think.....

My notch before the paint job....



Prep work....







Starting the primer....



My Brother finishing the primer....



And the finished product after a thunder storm....





Here is my 1985 Supra with a 6MGE, painted this one about a month ago. This car has been auto crossed so it really tested body work skills. I have the louvers for this car as well but havent had time to install them yet....

This is my brothers current project witch is quite time consuming. I wont be doing much with my projects untill this is done. We just pulled a 22RE from a 1983 Celica today and are putting it into his 1977 Toyota Celica GT Liftback. I have never done a swap so this will be quite a learing experience but will also help get me ready for the VG swap I'm planning on doing for my notch....

Nice cars!  The paint looks great on the S12.

If you decide to part the Z31 instead of sell it, I may be interested in some interior parts, depending on color.

your bro is swapping in a 22re??.....he should go 7mgte

Kustamogenyour bro is swapping in a 22re??.....he should go 7mgte

there are a few turboed 22re's (not outta the 4runner....built up ones).......and they can be pretty kick ass.....theres a celica here with one that ran 11.4 on a 22rte

I couldn't really tell but why did you repaint your notch? The paint looked like it was in decent shape (from the pictures I saw). Did you just want another color?

The car had been dinged in the drivers side front fender. The fender and turbo bumper were both the other red nissan offered. The hood was taken from my white SE and the lip kit was a parts yard find and didn't match either. I do have a spare lip kit but its missing one of the drivers side pieces if anyone needs it.

Dibs! lol

Said you have the front lip from the SE? I have a running great SE myself, just someone either tore of the lip from parking or something, or it was removed.

Price?  Send me a PM.

Nice paint job on the cars. I thought about going black, but just gonna stay with some shade of red myself.

OK........ So some bad shit happened the other day. I was cruising down the freeway and my engine got really loud. I flipped on my hazards and pulled over. By the time I got over to the side of the road the engine had died. I checked the driveline to see if anything had come loose. Checked for leaks but there was none. I checked my dipstick and it was bone dry! I don't know what the fuck happened since my ca20 bairly burned oil. But now my engine is totally siezed and I need help deciding what I should do with my notch. The ca20 only has 120k miles on it, new timming belt, water pump, new valves in the head, and the trans. has a brand new clutch. I don't know if I'm better off rebuilding the ca20 or if I should go ahead with my VG30e swap. The VG I have is from my 87 SE parts car and has about 150K on it. Its never ran since the last owner had a fire from the 5th injector. I'm assuming the VG needs the trans with it and I have no idea how much life is left in that clutch. Money is tight but I need my notch back, I love the car!

WTF should I do??????

Ideas?

lol a lot more that 120 thou miles on it now lol. the ca20 is trash anyway

Save the oil pressure sending unit, its small harness, and fitting.  There are a few other things that some people might want off it

Crap, I figured as much. Even if I abandon the ca20 its still a gamble on the VG I have. I know another guy with a VG from a 90's Maxima but I'm not sure how compatible it is with the SE VG.

Since you have the whole vg parts car with with almost everything you need you could probably get the few missing parts from junkyards and on cs12. Your really actually in a good position to swap to the vg since you have the whole donor car. Replacing the ca20e while having crappy power will probably happen a lot faster since its just the stock replacement. If you have the time the vg swap would definitely be the way to go in my opinion. Weight distribution in the lighter notch might be a little more front heavy compared to the hatch but probably not bad enough to really kill your cornering. You will definitely notice a difference compared to the ca20e in terms of understeer. If your on a time limit I would look at just replacing the ca20e now since they are basically free. Throw all the good parts from your current ca20e on the replacement with a new timing belt and cross your fingers! Haha.

Thanks Redneck. If I want to go crazy I can also swap the 5-lug suspension from the SE or the 88 300 zx. The only problem with that is I only have cool 4-lug wheels...

Yeah a complete SE parts car really is like s12 gold in terms of what you get compared to any other USDM s12. If you are fairly interested in looking into what you need for the vg swap Andrew's thread has a lot of good info ( http://club-s12.org/v3/index.php?topic=22158 ). I am a little bias because I like it so much but the vg30e really is a great way to go with the only inherent downside being engine weight. Considering how great every other department is though that is pretty easily overlooked. It would be pretty original though since there are not very many vg swapped notches. I am probably gonna join the ka train with everyone else for the ca18et replacement in the turbo.

I'm a big fan of the VG myself. I've drove a VG SE and I thought it was a blast, plus they are a dime a dozen since Nissan put them in everything. I'm going to do some diggin on the forums tonight as I know where a running Maxima engine is. I need to find out if the oil pan ect. are the same between the two VG's. I know that Nissan switched to a "W" series VG as some point but I'm not sure when. Thanks for the link Redneck, I'll read up on it right now.

Not to sure about interchangeability between the Maxima vg and the s12 vg. Are you plans to just steal whatever you need from the maxima vg and use the s12 vg as the base motor or vise versa?

As for the 5 lug wheels there is nothing wrong with keeping your stock 4 lug. 5 lug just lets you run different wheels and might make some brake upgrade swaps a little easier but I am not very sure on that to say the least. Hopefully someone that knows more about the s12 brake department can chime in on that. I know the SE brakes were a little bigger to accommodate the heavier vg in the front but from what I have seen the increase is pretty minimal. For street use your stock brakes on the notch should be fine. As for the spring rates and rear end durability I am not to sure on the rate differences between the SE and the notch but I think the SE rates were a little stiffer because of the heavier front end. Your stock r180 rear end in the notch is fine. You can upgrade to the r200 rear if you want but it is definitely not necessary.

OK, so I found a VG30e thats from a 1990 maxima for $150. I'm doing some more research but I plan on picking it up within a week as my 300zx appears to be sold. I was bummed when my ca20 went tits up but now I'm stoked to have 60 more horse power.

My big question now is if its a significant advantage to steal the 5-lug suspension from the SE as well. I can't imagine that having an extra lug does much other that change your wheel options but the real question is what the difference is in the front spring rate and rear end durability....

Any thoughts?

i'm lost on why ur spendung 150 on a fwd vg.  I guess I missed it.  Whats wrong with the VG in the parts SE?  Gonna have to steal a bunch of stuff off it anyway may as well just use the whole thing.  S12 vg is worth rebuilding too.

The VG from the SE is a mystery engine as it hasn't ran in at least two years and the injector harness is toast along with at least one injector. It also sat outside for a while when the last owner pulled it which make me nervous. Basicly I want to use the block and heads from the maxima for reliablity now and slowly rebuild the VG block and heads from the SE as I have time/money.

I'm open to suggestions but understand that I'm super fucking poor right now (I'm getting married in a week and it isnt cheap). I'm also down to one running car right now which is a huge pain in the ass so I don't want to drop an engine in that will give me any problems.

Thoughts? Questions? Suggestions?

ohhhh that makes sense now.  totally understandable after it sat outside.  good idea maxima longblock and use all the s12 bits and pieces.  gl

I just wonder though if he would be better off getting a vg from a z31 since it is rwd. I am not to sure how different everything is in the fwd vg.

I checked out the maxima engine and there is no difference that I can find other than the exaust, and intake. I'm getting the engine and full harness for $75 so its a good deal either way. I'll use what I need to from my VG and save the rest for a build later. I'm going to be selling my 1985 Supra and my 1988 300zx to fund the project.

Jordan
I'm going to be selling my 1985 Supra and my 1988 300zx to fund the project.

I'm sad about the supra...Keep it and put the VG30E into it =P

Put the 6m in the S12 and the VG in the supra.

I've thought about putting the 6M in the notch but I have no idea what kind of electrical nightmare that would be. My buddy wants the engine, trans, and harness from the Z31. If that happens I'll steal the suspension if I can afford it. I like the supra as well, its damn fast and is fun as hell but I need money. The only bad thing I can say about the Z31 and the Supra is they are alot heavier than the notch.

I'm going to start removing the CA20 from the notch tonight. I'll be snapping photos for the part out thread in the for sale section. I have a T25G laying in my shop right now.... It would be perfect for the supra since a straight six is so easy to turbo... but if that sells then I might just have to make a VG30ET....humm...

Yay!

The VG is delivered and sitting in my shop. I have enough parts for a second VG as well. There are some differences between the Maxima VG and the 200SX VG but they seem to be minor. I'll post pictures as soon as I get another digital camera....mine died.

New pictures. The Supra is still in the shop(Still not cranking).


Heres the Maxima VG. It has the wrong intake, exaust, and some other small differences but it looks like its pretty simple.

Back in town and have my sisters camera to snap some better photos of the project. My Supra is still dead with an electrical issue. I'm not even getting power to the dash now and haven't found the reason yet.

Your Supra has the 80's tastic louvers haha. Thats great.

The CA20 is out of my notch, I havent't taken the block apart yet but it looks like I busted a rod instead of siezing the engine like I initially thought. I'm kicking myself for selling my VG rear end but I found out that the 84-86 300ZX's have a 3.7 ratio which would be great since the VG is going to have no problem moving the light notch.
I'm still trying to decide between 4-lug or 5-lug.....

Oh, and the Supra is fixed. It was just a bad starter.

Jordan
The CA20 is out of my notch, I havent't taken the block apart yet but it looks like I busted a rod instead of siezing the engine like I initially thought. I'm kicking myself for selling my VG rear end but I found out that the 84-86 300ZX's have a 3.7 ratio which would be great since the VG is going to have no problem moving the light notch.
I'm still trying to decide between 4-lug or 5-lug.....

Oh, and the Supra is fixed. It was just a bad starter.

Jordan
The CA20 is out of my notch, I havent't taken the block apart yet but it looks like I busted a rod instead of siezing the engine like I initially thought. I'm kicking myself for selling my VG rear end but I found out that the 84-86 300ZX's have a 3.7 ratio which would be great since the VG is going to have no problem moving the light notch.
I'm still trying to decide between 4-lug or 5-lug.....

Oh, and the Supra is fixed. It was just a bad starter.

Jordan
Oh, and the Supra is fixed. It was just a bad starter.

I got a lot done today. The notch finially has has the 5-lug suspension in the rear. I installed my solid subframe bushings. The front swap is half done.

I got alot of help from my friend Jason. I would have been a rough thing to do by myself.

Maxpow,

Don't worry dude, I decided do get a 3.7 rearend from a 300zx. The VG will have penty of power.

Also:

This may or may not be on the forums, I haven't checked. But if you want to upgrade your R180 rearend to a R200(long)you cant just change the diff, you also have to change your halfshafts.

In my case I swaped the whole rear subframe so I just have to find any 80's 300zx diff to complete my rear end build... for now. My buddy thinks the Toyota Supra rearend might be compatible with the 200sx, since I have both cars I might check to see if its possible.

Jordan
There are two S12's at the parts yard here in Spokane. They were pretty picked over but I did get a tail light I needed. I started pulling a pathfinder intake and distributor for my VG but I ran out of light. I have to go back and finish befor it snows.

One of the cars at the yard was a silver notch, someone droped a VG in it and welded frame in the trunk. The swap looks a little rough but the crossmember has been modified to bolt up to the VG. The car is still 4-lug.

There are two S12's at the parts yard here in Spokane. They were pretty picked over but I did get a tail light I needed. I started pulling a pathfinder intake and distributor for my VG but I ran out of light. I have to go back and finish befor it snows.

One of the cars at the yard was a silver notch, someone droped a VG in it and welded frame in the trunk. The swap looks a little rough but the crossmember has been modified to bolt up to the VG. The car is still 4-lug.

Jordan
I scored a nice exaust from the parts yard. It came off the notch with the VG

Jordan
I'm having a hard time finding cheep 5-lug wheels for my new suspension. I hate the stock SE wheels.... oh well.

Ju_S12_Turbo
Wait, wat?

JordanYup, there was a notch with a VG at the parts yard here in Spokane. I posted more info about it on page 2.

Hey Jordan I hear it should be good to run carbed VG I think you should do it lol

Got your parts and installed thanks!

ford crown vicky wheels work also and look hawt!

sam31183ford crown vicky wheels work also and look hawt!

SE suspension is bolted up. Time to start pulling the harness so I can swap in the SE harness.

I cant wait to drive this beast.









By the way... if you ever wondered what a CA20 tranny looks like next to a S12's VG tranny... here it is

Almost have the CA20 harness out... I wont miss this piece of shit engine.

btw, thats a CA20E - B trans.

The CA20E C trans looks the same as the VG trans, just slightly smaller.