They are priced too high for what they have.

It would help to know what the metal noise is. Yours may be fixable with a few bottom-end parts and a gasket set......

You have to pull it to swap it anyway. Why not get it to a point where you can pull the pan and have a look. It may not be as bad as you think.

Yeah, but my engine has 191k. If I decided to keep mine, I would have to get it fully rebuilt, just for peace of mind.

Then it all adds up again. Rebuild kits, timing belt, water pump, having a machine shop redo the heads and fix whatever may be damaged.

I think it'll end up being barely less if I go that route, with a vg30 still.

I will definately pull the engine and check it out first. I also need to verify that my crank isnt damaged so I can use it in the swap.

Why do you need the crank?

If you are doing a VG33, you just swap the whole engine over. It bolts in, your existing engine controls will run it just fine. There is no need to convert to OBD-II.

I need to swap the crank for my accessories to work. The crank snout on the vg33 is bigger and wont work with the vg30 accessories. So I either need to swap to the vg30 crank, and then use the 60k timing belt, or I can do what chevyman57 did and have the vg33 crank machined down to fit the vg30 pulley and retain the 100k timing belt.

But it seems easier and less stressful to just swap in the vg30 crank.

I would have to go to obd-2 if I did the vg33er swap is what I was referring to. I will keep all my old injection and sensors just going to the vg33. Im also planning on swapping in the vg30 cams to get a little extra power.

I'm with datz510. Get a whole engine with all accessories?

Then you have to adapt all the accessories. Keep in mind with a plain 3.3, you don't need a computer, wiring, or anything. If you go with a sc3.3, now you need the comp, wiring, fuel pump, everything associated with it, plus have to run high octane gas.....no thanks. I may supercharge my vg33i, but it's still much easier than swapping in a stock sc3.3, and will build more power. Also keep in mind he's trying to keep this semi-reasonable. Your views are different than his.

Still debating. Any input welcome.

Here's what I got to say.

The cost no matter which way you go is going to be around $2500. Engine+ time extra parts you don't think of.

For the same price a 3.3 can pay to have your vg30 completely rebuilt. Throw in some performance cams out of a Z(bone yard). With some aggressive cams you should at least get 170-5 HP out of the vg30. The same as the vg33.

The total should be around the same the 3.3 would end up being.

Assuming your heads are still good...consider getting the long block vg30, meanwhile getcher old heads ported and polished and get a set of cams for Jim Wolf or Schneider, get the upgraded ECY from JWT, tuned to optimise the cams.

To be more gnarly you'll want to get hold of a VG33 upper intake, MAF sensor houseing and air box upper, then re route which ever vacuume lines need it and you'll have a real intake on that bad boy, the 3.3 MAF is way more open than the 3.0 ones.

$550 for the cams, another $500 for the ECU, and Im WAY over budget. Poor college student here.

I made a deal yesterday to buy a used shortblock for cheap. Kinda high mileage though. Just gotta pay shipping cross country. Shouldnt be too bad, its just a shortblock.

Im debating now whether I should rebuild that short block, or just throw it in, and rebuild the motor thats broken. Since its just a shortblock, Id have to use my heads and all my sensors and parts. So Id need to have the heads gone through. So I might as well just rebuild the new-to-me shortblock while Im at it.

Input?

If you're gonna rebuild a motor, why not just rebuild what you have?

Shipping's gonna kill ya too.

-Spike

Mine is higher mileage and has yet unknown damage. Im trying to balance that out. Im kinda in them iddle right now, thats why I asked for opinions.

Here's mine: Don't spend a dime on parts until you know what's wrong with yours. Yank it and take a look.
Yank the oil pan, yank the head if you don't find anything wrong underneath, etc.

-Spike

hi!
if anyone knows how to transport it-i´ve a quite good vg30i in my garage...i´d give it for a few bucks:bought it for 30,-euros...!

further,i´ve two unused/original packed schneider cams for the vg30...if someone is interested-shipping shouldnt be a problem for a pair of camshafts?
really a pitty yoú guys are that far away!