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vr motor into vn

rusty02

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hi all my ute was stolen and recovered with a blown motor i have a vr motor sitting in the shed is there any thing i will have to alter to fit it IE harmonic balancer, sensor
 

VPRob

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I had the same experience with my VP sedan. Recovered car with a hole in the side of the block. I put a 2nd hand VR motor in using the VP ECU and wiring loom. It runs fine. Don't know about with a VN but I reckon it will be a goer. Someone here will know for sure. I discovered my gearbox was shot too -- after I had put it all back together. That was a bummer!
Good luck with it
 

Beav

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They both run Buick 3800 motors. Will fit
 

VPRob

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but you will be able to hook the VR motor up to the VN tranny ( keep the analogue kickdown cable) and the new motor wii probably run happily enuff on the VN ECU. That's the part I'm not 100% on. I know the VP ECU will run a VR donk just fine but I have no exp with the VN ECU
 

PUSHIN

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i can't verify that either, but if you're correct, i still think it would be worth rechecking if it were an s1 vn, as theres a few differences between the s1 and s2 engines/transmissions etc. as far as i recall, when i was looking around for a t5 manual, i'm pretty sure i found that being that it was a s1 vn, i need a t5 out of an s1 vn, because if it were out of an s2 i'd need to buy/make/have made some form of adaptor plate, i beleive the cost was around $500 odd. i'd think that this could pose a problem even with an auto. and glad to hear you got your car back, brothers car got stolen a year or so ago, got rolled and whatnot. turned out it was his neighbour. scummiest bloody thing a person can do, pathetic crap. sorry to hear about your loss mate! sucks that you have to go and change your engine just cause some idiot thought he was good. good luck mate!!
 

wraith

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VR has a different computer as said, gearbox as said. Also a crank sensor was added from memory.
 

Teletran1

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I have a VR V6 and T5 in my series one VN. Use your existing series one wiring loom, only have to lengthen a couple of wires to back of manifold (just peel back tape, is enough length in loom so no cutting needed). Need a series 2 VN or later radiator with pressure cap, heater tap and hoses. Ignore cam angle sensor on VR motor, is not needed with VN ecu and cable kickdown trans. Use VN auto, may have to reuse VN throttle body or swap throttle plate if no provision for kickdown cable on VR motor. I done this entire conversion start to finish in a day on my driveway with standard tools, no stress at all. Get a memcal written when done to make the most of conversion, car will run fine on VN chip, will be a lot smoother and economical with rewritten memcal to suit though.
 

VPRob

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VR has a different computer as said, gearbox as said. Also a crank sensor was added from memory.
Not quite right. The VR added a CAM angle sensor. They ALL have a Crank angle sensor--that's where the spark comes from (I think). The cam angle sensor is just sitting and has nothing plugged into it on my car. No codes show and the VR donk runs fine on the VP ECU(except that I would like to get more ks per tank of fuel-- but that's another story). I am interested in the rewritten memcal mentioned in Teletran1's post tho.
My understanding is that it would be really complicated (if possible at all) to use the VR ECU with the VP transmission. If I wanted to use the VR ECU I would be better off to change to a VR (electronic) tranny.
If your ute is S2 VN I reckon it will be a straight swap using the existing ECU and loom. Might be a different story if it's a S1 but that;s outside my level of experience.
Good luck with it bro. Changing the motor over is fun. A chain lift and a gantry makes it easy and I lifted the motor and tranny out together, bolted the bits together outside the car and lifted them back in together. Would probably do it the same way again (if I had to).
 
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