Postby smj999smj » Thu Apr 06, 2017 11:47 am
If you have an automatic transmission, you can pull the engine out without touching the front axle or idler arm, although unbolting the idler arm and pulling down on the steering linkage give you some access to the torque converter bolts and starter. If you have a manual trans, the engine needs to be pull forward to clear the transmission input shaft, so the front axle must be lowered down or removed to provide enough space. Or, you could pull the manual transmission and leave the front axle as is, but, removing the trans requires dealing with rusty exhaust and also removing the crossmember/torsion bars and having to do a wheel alignment afterwards. If you are rebuilding the engine, I would think it would be a lot easier to pull the engine.
Another option would be to install a VG33E from an R50 Pathfinder or D22 Frontier. There are some minor things you need to do, put you get more torque and horsepower and VG33E engines are pretty easy to find at a reasonable price and possibly cheaper than the cost of rebuilding your VG30. There's lots of info on the web; just Google it.