Any guesses why it left me stranded?

victorofhavoc

Yeah, I really hope nissan helps you out with a lot of that. I honestly expected more than 15k from them considering I've seen a blown up diagram of the vq37vhr (no pun intended) with a price list that summed close to 30k$ 🤪.

On the other end, I saw a used engine + tranny for 4k$ with only 40k miles the other day, so they're out there. Catch is, it was a 6spd.

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Had a 2010 WRX- boy was it quick in a straight line, got a 2014 Z- man is she grippy in the corners-- then left the Z and later got a GTI, now back in an 09 racecar Z!

abm89

Sheesh 15K? Like rusty said, I can get a built motor installed for less than that. Good luck!

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Complete Parts List:
https://github.com/abm89/ztouge-build

Tractionless

Gotta be able to do a LS1 swap for $15k!! So ridiculous for OE replacement.

Car-part.com find a local used engine in the $2k range and probably about the same amount for install.

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Toys Not Tots

Spooler

Ask JCHammond. I don't think that 15k would even touch it.

victorofhavoc

Yea, despite what the interwebz says, I have yet to see an LS swap that didn't go past 20k$ once the nuts and bolts are actually counted . Last rx7 i saw with an LS the owner said it was 30k in all for the swap.

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Had a 2010 WRX- boy was it quick in a straight line, got a 2014 Z- man is she grippy in the corners-- then left the Z and later got a GTI, now back in an 09 racecar Z!

BrianInSoCal

Official word from Nissan Consumer Affairs - no assistance will be provided. Can't say i'm surprised.

So, I'm going to dump the Z and get whatever i can for it. I don't want the hassle of finding a used motor and finding a reputable shop and dealing with it. Just want to put the whole nightmare behind me. 42k miles, meticulously maintained, never driven hard, never overheated (or even ran hot) and a blown engine.

Guys - advice on how i go about selling a Z that looks brand new inside and out but has a dead motor and possibly torque converter?

Thanks ...

Quicksilvers

To be honest your best option is to find a used engine for sale or just purchase a new engine for your Z and install it yourself or have someone install it for you. It is very possible to sell your Z with a blown engine and/or torque converter but be prepared to take a unfortunate loss on the price of the sale of your Z and show the possible buyer documentation of the diagnosis of why the vehicle does not run. If you do decide to sell your Z I wish you the best of luck with the sale. First I recommend trying www.ebaymotors.com and www.craigslist.org with the sale.

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Mr. Clean

victorofhavoc

Racing junk, you can try and sell the shell, but you won't get much for it.

Honestly, you'd probably get more by trying to part out certain things, but that would take a lot of time and effort.

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Had a 2010 WRX- boy was it quick in a straight line, got a 2014 Z- man is she grippy in the corners-- then left the Z and later got a GTI, now back in an 09 racecar Z!

bpchaos

Man that sucks. Such a low mile motor - you really don't hear these things popping all too often.

If you have the time/storage, parting out will net you the most money.

victorofhavoc

Honestly as long as the replacement engine and trans (they're cheaper as a set) run fine, then the swap is very straight forward for any competent mechanic. Look up race shops in your areas and ones sponsored by clubs like NASA, PCA, BMWCCA, etc are usually the better bet on who to contact.

I'm nowhere near you, but my local shop is Porsche specific and I've seen my mechanic drop a newer 911 engine in the morning and be done with it back in by 2pm, including replacing coilovers on one of my cars in the meantime. He's an IMSA crew chief too, and I found him through NASA.

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Had a 2010 WRX- boy was it quick in a straight line, got a 2014 Z- man is she grippy in the corners-- then left the Z and later got a GTI, now back in an 09 racecar Z!

abm89

Yeah, mechanics/engineers at race shops tend to be decent. I lent my car to a race team for a day for testing because they couldn't source a replacement shift linkage part. They had my trans out in like 5 minutes. i was like wtf.

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Complete Parts List:
https://github.com/abm89/ztouge-build

Fuzzzy

Ugh! Sorry to hear.

Good luck going forward with whatever you decide.

BrianInSoCal

Found a shop i'm very comfortable with ... may not be the cheapest, but I may sleep better at night. Looking like we're going to put a used VQ37 with 69k in my Z. Total not to exceed price is $5k. 1 yr parts and labor warranty. He's got it on the rack just to make sure it won't need anything else.

Interesting that he said he had a very similar customer with a Q37 a couple months ago. Did the same work.

Appreciate the suggestions on modding. My mod $ go to my Jeep Wrangler, and based on the financial hit i just took on the Z, no more mods planned for the Jeep.

Asus_

I'm glad you found someone your comfortable with, and yeah with work like this, you dont want cheapest. Your paying for someone whos experienced.. and while anything can happen, you did dramatically lower your chances of dealing with stupid problems lol. I've seen people cheap out on things too many times only to find the work was done half assed with allot of stupid rookie and avoidable mistakes. You eventually pay double to do it right elsewhere lol.

abm89

That seems like a fair price. You should be up and running.

But I'm still going to suggest getting the gallery gasket replaced before that engine goes in.

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Complete Parts List:
https://github.com/abm89/ztouge-build