Thread: What do you folks think about this VE?

I wondered what folks thought about this motor. It was the first motor I bought aftermarket. I used someone that everyone said was great because I was worried I might not know what issues to look for being my first VE.

I removed the plugs and valve cover, poured some Marvel Mystery oil over the cams and a bit into the cylinders and let it crawl up and around the motor for a few days. Then I drained all the oil and poured fresh oil all over the cams.

The motor burned a bit of oil from the start, and it never felt like the VVL was kicking in fully. After a few years now and about 70k miles, the cylinder bores look great but the valve seals finally gave up. I spent a couple years trying to get the VVL working right. Bought new VVL solenoids, ignition wires and dizzy and spent a lot of time making everything was working correctly. Never got the VVL working full-on.

Years later, the VE is sitting in pieces in my garage. The stock-ish motor in my '99 G20 feels smoother than the VE ever did in her.

I'm just so burnt out on the sr20 scene now. I feel like my joy was stolen. I want to use the years of knowledge I built up and just get one nice sr20 car built but that seems like a fantasy now. I just don't have anymore trust after all the bad parts I've been stuck with over the years.

It was rather difficult for me to only choose one sentence that makes me sad. As a member of this community for the past decade or so, to come down to this reason being one that really "chaps" my ass about folks leaving the scene.

It really does not seem like you want to leave it, but all the failures are making you give up. I want to say, when it gets tough, get tougher. But I have no grasp on the scope of your situation so I have to have empathy.

You are right Kyle, I don't want to give up. I was hoping to find a nice 240 for one of my extra sr20s. But the project car days are over for me.

My house was foreclosed on about a year and a half ago after my wife and I lost our jobs due to bad economical changes. A lay-off sounds better than fired, but the result was the same. While I had my home for about 6 years, my son came to live with me and I justified the extra expense of "improving" the B15 and g20 as a learning experience. Now my son is well on his way and got a job in a small engine repair shop while still in high school.

So I don't regret the time, even the hours spent in futility. I do wish the outcome had been better. I love driving but have never had a properly working driver's car.

I am currently nursing an old '99 AR2 g20, my second of the like, and don't have the money or much time anymore. Especially time to deal with what I have been. I bought this current g20 last October, it was completely stock but when the exhaust nearly fell off I decided to add a header and proper mandrel bent system. The mandrel bent system came with a muffler that didn't fit properly, the first (used) header had the woven metal flexpipe cover broken lose at one end internally, causing blockage and I had to go to a local exhaust shop 3 times before they managed to weld the slip fit exhaust joints correctly. At least it's working like a top now and pulls nice all the way to redline.

A few years ago I bought a P11 transmission from the same person that sold the VE to me. It came shipped in a cardboard box in a plastic bag with no packing materials. The bell housing had a light crack at the end. I had to have that welded and the seller never offered to cover the expense when I mentioned it. Then I had to wait to install it because it didn't come with sensors. The seller said they would find them for me, but never did. Eventually I found some and installed the tranny, only to find it had a damaged ring and its mating gear. The seller sent me a new gearstack and ring gear (after giving me crap about how so much time had transpired from the time I bought it), but again, never covered to costs of repairing the transmission.

I have the ability to wire up my g20 to start, unlock doors and much more from my iPhone or touch screen in the cabin. But I don't want to put all that effort into something that is going to be a nightmare to find good parts for, I'm beat down.

Oh yea, and I hat Napa's crap replacement parts. Many of which don't fit, work or last.

Side note: If Nissan cannot find or acquire the parts they need, they use NAPA. I never knew that until the most recent jaunt my Old Man has going on working with Nissan again. I confirmed that idea this past Saturday when I saw the latest bit of proof. I sighed a little on the inside when I saw struts being placed on a car, and they came out of a Monroe box with NAPA stickers all over it. I also see tons of NAPA parts books all over the parts counter.

The axle boots are a complete joke. Not only do thye make you buy a tool to put them on (OEMs do not) but they are too short and pop off. OEMs are cheap enough and fit perfect with no special tools needed.

And if you buy upper arm links for a g20, get the lifetime replacement ones. Because you'll be doing so every other year, at least.

My NAPA oem replacement radiator broke after 16 months, FWIW