Infiniti G20: Stop Gap

Sister Zero needs stop gap transportation due an unfortunate engine meltdown on her DD.

I picked up a cheap 96 G20 with 180K miles, an ugly driver seat pad, and running on 3 cylinders. I hope to turn this one around quick so she could have some decent, safe transportation.

The car displayed P0302 (Misfire cylinder 2) . The PO replaced a ton of ignition based parts in an attempt to resolve the issue and gave up. After dragging it home and flipping though the NICO and G20 forums, I visited Pull-A-Part and retrieved some injectors (VG30DE or VQ30DE). Even though the injector on cylinder 2 making the click, it was dead (resistance on the meter was infinity (pun intended)). While the upper manifold was off for the injector replacement, I cleaned out the EGR passages (another area of issue) and checked all the vacuum lines.

I was rewarded with a sewing machine SR20DE

There a few other niggles with "luxury" items that I won't address (front speakers are dead, air vent broken, etc). Next up is getting her on some jack stands to check suspension bushings and components, fluid leaks, and tires.

Nice score!  You will find that the mechanical bits are pretty robust, but the electrical parts definitely start to show their age.  You may want to pick up some spare relays, all Nissans used the same style relays throughout the 90's so those are the easy button for junkyard trips.  Junkyard fuel injectors are also superior to any of the ebay specials,  any VG/VQ30DE, KA24DE and SR20DE (low or highport) will interchange.  Most of these had the 4 speed auto, while it does sap some power, it is very robust and will hold up to lack of maintenance or severe punishment. Look out for sunroof seal and windshield seal leaks. For oil changes, stick with 10w30, i've had good luck with Rotella T5 in mine.  The only real downfall with these is parts are thin on the ground, most FLAPS won't have anything more than filters and brake pads in stock for these things.  They handle very well even with the comfort-oriented springs and tire selection, and if everything inside works they make a pretty good DD in spite of their age at this point.   

Virtually forgotten in the US this was the Primera everywhere else in the world and was a competitive touring car in the BTCC.

In reply to 06HHR :

I noticed that. The tach has lost its mind. I'm going to try the capacitor repair before I start looking for another cluster.

In reply to ddavidv :

Guilty!!

I'm trying not to drive it much. I quickly fall for good handling cars.

Be careful with stop gaps. They tend to stay....

The stepside was supposed to be temporary. A year and a full resto ago. The 98 rt im slapping together may be my daughter's car after its stopgap time is up.....

I instructed at the SR20 Convention at Roebling years ago and was amazed at how track capable these are, even in stock form.

In reply to Strike_Zero :

The tach in mine finally died for the last time a couple of weeks ago.  I have a spare somewhere, they are modular so they just plug in. They will interchange from any 1991-1996 cluster, but the font is different for the early models (91-92).  If you want to do a cluster swap, do not use the 91-93.5 cluster as those have the cable driven speedometer instead of the electronic one for the later clusters.  The cable is NLA, I converted mine to the 93.5 and up cluster with a speed sensor from a later car.

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

Ain't it the truth!! This will be a hand off and don't call us back.

Took "Cupcake" out for fuel and a new set of wipers. I put about 40 miles on her via city, interstate, and back roads. The some suspension components seems to be ok, but the bushings in the front lower control arms are trashed! The front brakes, while good, made some questionable noises. The tires aren't bad, but I'm replacing them anyway along with tie rods and steering rack bellows.

Lubed all the hinges and tried to clean some of gunk from the engine to track down the oil leak. I may head back out and look at the other suspension bits for a complete order via RockAuto.com.

Front LCA bushings take a beating in these.  My ball joints weren't too bad but I just went with new LCA's instead of trying to find bushings.  Relatively cheap and easy fix.  The good news is that tie rods, rack bellows and LCA's are relatively cheap and available online.  The upper control arms don't seem to get the abuse the lower ones do.  I have not looked too closely at the rear control arms, but i haven't had any issues with strange tire wear so i've just left them be.

Yea . . . I'm not looking to go through searching for bushings and labor to get them out when the entire arm is less than $35. I checked the RCA and they look ok.

I just made an order via RockAuto.com

• Valve Cover Gasket
• Brake Pads (rears were done!)
• Front LCAs
• Tie Rods and bellows
• Sway bar links
• Driver side half shaft

The driver side half shaft boot was torn and lacked grease. Since this a time is money build, a reman half shaft will do. I checked the tires. The fronts are 3-4 years old and rears are 6 years old. I guess tires with a 720 treadwear would age out before they wear. I hate mixing tire brands, so 4 Nankang SP-9 were ordered via Amazon.

• Car - $700
• Injector Repair - $15
• Fuel Filter - $12
• Wipers - $40
• Suspension and Brake refurb - $186
• 1000uF, 16v capacitor (tach repair) - $1
• Tires - $170

Total: $1124

The half-shaft installation procedure on the AT models is a bit quirky.  According to the FSM, you have to remove the passenger side half shaft first, then stick a long screwdriver inside the diff to drive the driver side half shaft out.  You may be able to get away with using a suitably sized pickle fork  between the transmission and the back of the inner CV joint of the driver side half-shaft, but i'm not 100% sure it will work.  

I was reading up on that last night. I'm betting the pickle fork may work. Hopefully, the rain stays away next week so I can get this done.

Found one of the oil leaks.

It appears to be from two places on the same part. The seal for the distributor and possibly the seal inside the distributor. The outer seal is easy and was ordered last night. The inner shaft seal is another story. Based on some short research, the distributor will need to be replaced . The same research, anecdotally, indicates the success rate of replacing the inner seal as low. When this problem occurred, the dealership just replaced the whole unit. The .475" Diameter Rotor Cam unit is fairly inexpensive at $76.00 for reman. The .526" Diameter Rotor Cam unit is an eye-watering $184 for reman.

I hope it is the smaller rotor cam version on Cupcake.

Cupcake has been delivered to Sister Zero.

Here's a run down:

I put about 90mi on it before making the 180mi trip yesterday. It runs VERY well (after the trans fluid is up to temp). at interstate speeds. Mrs. Zero didn't see anything weird going on while following me down yesterday.

Regarding the transmission flare, I topped up the fluid as specified in the FSM. The levels read exactly as it prescribes as well. My hope it is the generic, muti-vehicle synthetic (non-Nissan brand) transmission fluid is the culprit. It is all I had on the shelf and added it when I pulled the axle for replacement. It flares in 2-3 upshift during the first 5-7 minutes of starting; once it's up to temp, it no longer flares.

Other than that small hiccup, it's an awesome little car. Sister Zero opined that I might've fallen for it and kept it. Nah . . . it's auto. If it was manual . . . .

In reply to Strike_Zero :

Strike_Zero said:

I was reading up on that last night. I'm betting the pickle fork may work. Hopefully, the rain stays away next week so I can get this done.

Hey, the pickle fork trick works! (Guess you know that by now) Found out the hard way, looks like my Torque Converter Shaft Seal is toast.  Got transmission fluid pouring out the transmission bellhousing.  Get to pull the transmission tomorrow..

So . . . transmission solenoids in Cupcake took a dump. Sister Zero bought something else. Cupcake may make a return to Strike Zero Garage.

Stay tuned!!

Oh . . . and Dusterbd13-michael was right

Did i hear you're doing a manual transmission swap?  

LOL!

I'm not going to confirm nor deny since I haven't seen the  car since March 2019.