Browse › Engines ›Other engine swaps

vg swap

Started by love2drift · around Apr 2005 · 8postsvBulletin 2004–05

This thread was saved without dates. "Around Apr 2005" is estimated from neighbouring threads.

love2driftdate not saved · #1

has anyone done a vg swap into a ca20 car, if so how hard of a swap is it and what do I need?

hengedate not saved · #2

well probably the best way to go about this would be.. take your CA S12.. Sell it, and buy a VG S12 instead :lick:

really i dont believe there is anyone on this forum who has swapped a VG into a CA car (as far as i know of anyways)

the best way to go about it would probably get to get a VG parts car and just swap everything over.. shouldnt really be too hard

now if you try and take the vg out of a 300zx or something you might have to custom do some stuff.. b/c i'm not sure if the motor mounts and everything are exactly the same..

love2driftdate not saved · #3

well thats the thing I have a 200sx v6 parts car, only problem its an automatic. but everthing else should swap over I'm just wondering if I'll need a manual ecu. plus I like my coupe better

Dan0mytedate not saved · #4

You may be able to swtich over the engine, but keep in mind that Nissan engineers didn't just drop the engine into the SE model and be done with it. They also went and revised all the spring rates of the car and the shock damping rates to effectively deal with the extra 200 pounds the car has to lug around. Plus, thicker antiroll bars were installed to keep those tires planted under all that cornering weight. Not to forget, the braking system was upgraded with thicker calipers and slightly larger rotors so that the car would be able to stop in a reasonable fashion as well. And lastly, the rear end ratio was changed to a 3.90:1 ratio in order to better match the torque points of the VG30 engine and give a nice smooth ride on the highway.

Like I said, you may be able to drop a VG30 into your CA20 car, but expect it to handle like crap, take forever to brake and rev sky high on the highway. If you have an SE parts car there, you are going to have to swap over everything out of it into your coupe. Not just the engine.

love2driftdate not saved · #5

my car already has
-z32 front brakes and ss lines all around
-tokico illuminas in the rear and ST spring
-tien HA front coilovers
and I bought the addco rear sway bar which I might add don't do its only 25mm and non- adjustable
so I think my car can handle the vg swap and considering I have the whole parts car I can swap over the rear end. which I would do any way for the r200

Joel07date not saved · #6

Well I agree with swapping the suspension, which would be a good thing to do whether you swap motors or not. But I don't think that going from a 3.90:1 gear to a 4.10:1 gear is gonna make it rev sky-high on the highway. It will at most make a 150 rpm difference. Not enough to even worry about.

But with that point aside, I would still swap the diff in since your CA20 car came with the R180, and the VG car has an R200.

I think it would be a great swap if you can find a manual tranny. And you can use the Auto ECU with no problems, you just can't use a manual ECU with an auto tranny. You'll just have a couple extra wires running around.

Go ahead and get the turbo setup off a 300ZX while you're at it... :laugh:

Alex Frostdate not saved · #7

The biggest thing (based upon what you have already done) is the engine cross member...and make sure for sure to put in the bigger rad...Your Ca tranny should bolt to the VG no problems, and as far as the R180 goes, I would weld it up...if it breaks, you can always put the 3.9 R200 in it...8)

vg30e_x2_200sxdate not saved · #8

The CA radiator is different. I replaced my VG rad this summer. The CA is different enough to cause problems. The vg is thicker I believe also to cool the extra heat of the larger engine.