Topic: Advice!

[nov316]

This is the laundry list of problems with my 00 Xterra, she had 181,000 miles on her. I was thinking maybe doing an engine swop. Anyone know the best shop in San Diego to do this, and best place to grab a new or rebuilt motor?

[GreenGoon]

Sorry to hear about the engine. I can't recommend a shop in San Diego. But, if you're going to do a swap or a rebuild, see if you could get cams from a VG30 put on your VG33 to get a little more power along with any boring out you decide to do.

[Toro]

It's not that bad. Head gasket and main seals are the biggies. Rebuilding the engine will only fix these 3 things. Everything else will carry over.
   I say shop around and fix the above 3.
   Then the rest little by little.

[Ghost65]

You could start at Terry's Automotive in San Marcos:

1339 Descanso Ave.
San Marcos, CA 92069
760-744-4084

They are Datsun/Nissan mechanics, and when I visited were very knowledgeable about Xterra's.

I would also reach out to Steven Lutz, @ Rugged Rocks.  He was very helpful in pointing me in the direction of an excellent Nissan transmission source.

[GreenGoon]

Toro's advice is the most reasonable (but least fun) 

Your VG33 is a very reliable engine. I've heard stories of them running over 400,000 miles. I have over 228,000 miles on mine and it's still running well. We're actually replacing some seals on my rig and I'm sure she has a lot more miles left after we give her some TLC. Like Toro said, the new engine will only fix some of the problems.

If you contact Steven at Rugged Rocks, he can give you some great advice on what to do for a reliable rebuild with extra power.

[Celt]

Toro's advice is the most reasonable (but least fun) 

Your VG33 is a very reliable engine. I've heard stories of them running over 400,000 miles. I have over 228,000 miles on mine and it's still running well. We're actually replacing some seals on my rig and I'm sure she has a lot more miles left after we give her some TLC. Like Toro said, the new engine will only fix some of the problems.

If you contact Steven at Rugged Rocks, he can give you some great advice on what to do for a reliable rebuild with extra power.

 Mo-power is Mo-Gooder!

[nov316]

Thanks everyone! I love my Terra and don't want to get rid of her! I'll hit up Steve at rugged rocks

[SteeevO]

The 3.3 is a great engine. it's almost identical to the 3.0 which I had about 350,000 mi. on before replacing in my pathfinder.
There are a few things you can do to wake up the 3.3 during a rebuild.

one of them being, putting larger cams in. When nissan went from the 3.0 to the 3.3 they also went to a smaller cam. When I rebuilt my engine I ended up putting a 3.3 in it with a 3.0 cam, but there are other more powerful cams available. I just had the 3.0 cams already.

Also, the exhaust on the 3.3 is WAY smaller than what came on the 3.0, having the exhaust reran with a larger diamerter tubing does help as well as putting headers on it if you can find some CA legal ones. (or if you don't need to worry about smog for some reason, get the Doug thorley Headers.

Also what sie tires are you running? a regear may be in order.