So my favorite color and shape of any sports car of all time happens to be the 3000GT VR4 in passion red.
However, I have not heard good things about the 6G72 engine, and if you've ever looked at a 3000 GT engine bay you know how cramped it is. So then I learned that you can stuff a 4G63 inside of it, which sounds not only cheaper to bhold for power, but also more room in the engine bay, as well as more after market performance parts, and... *maybe*... more reliable.
But then I look, and for the money you'll pay for a broke ass 3kGT, you can just buy an already awd, turbo DSM. So... give me the hive thoughts here.
4G63s are becoming quite thin on the ground these days. They've been out of production for a while and demand is only going up. Same thing is happening with SR20s in the Nissan world.
Were it me I would stick with the 6G72 and focus on simplifying the 3000GT. The 6G72 is a great, overbuilt engine. The problem is the rest of the E36 M3 they piled into the chassis. Active aero, active exhaust, four wheel steering, power everything, etc...I've seen pictures of a few 3KGTs that were approached with a "delete everything unnecessary" philosophy and they seem a heck of a lot easier to work on.
In reply to pointofdeparture :
Ok that thought was there too. I was thinking active aero could be push button operated. Lock the 4ws like third gen preludes. No one needs active exhaust, right? And then set out to make the engine bay more accessible, so things like single turbo, and front mount intercooler.
and I did not realize how scarce 4G63 engines were these days, so good call on saving the 6g72
If it were me, I'd remove everything that isn't an E36 with a turbocharged L33, and replace it with everything that *is*. Yes I know, totally not helpful. 
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
Well that would be cool. Especially since you never see this chassis doing any form of motorsports these days. Even just a drift missile would be cool
In reply to pointofdeparture :
It's not the engines, it's the AWD transmissions. Drag people want the autos, everyone else wants the manuals.
In reply to Junghole :
All the cool "tech" stuff on the 3000gt/vr4, plus the extra weight, would make me think that if the styling of at least one of the DSM variants is cool to you, go for that instead.
I will say though, owning both an NA Miata & DSM I remember it seemed like 25-years ago the DSM aftermarket was at least as strong as the Miata's. Today much of the DSM suspension stuff & even some things like aftermarket LSDs are much harder to find.
If you're dead-set on working on a heavy car with an engine bay that looks like it someone upended a tub of random parts, troweled it flat, and closed the hood...then why not a Jaguar XJ-S? I really feel like they killed it off too early, before they worked all the bugs out. 20 years just wasn't long enough.
Also, you get the internal combustion equivalent of sliced bread, the Jaguar V12. The last one I built made roughly three million newton-meters of torque at 7 RPM, and it weighed about the same as a Mazda 12a rotary. On a cost-per-horsepower basis, it really couldn't be beat...I think I had a total of eight bucks in mine. I later sold it to a shipping magnate who installed it in a supertanker and it's still chugging away today.
In reply to totallynotmguar :
The cost of some jag V12 powered vehicles does have me considering going into the coffee table making business.
In reply to totallynotmguar :
Lmao who this?
As a kid, I loved the shape and styling of the 3000gt/stealth. As I got older, I began to understand their weaknesses more. But last weekend, at the spectator drags before Cleetus' Danger Ranger 9000, a juiced up VR4 smoked everyone, including a C8, Mclaren, and several other big money cars. The awd launch let him get out in front each time.
In reply to Lof8 - Andy :
I used to autox with a guy who had a built one making around 700hp. He let me autox it once, the power was addictive & it handled way better than I expected. Replacing the trans was something he had to do every few weeks, but he'd got it down to under a 2-hour job.
Turbo Mitsubishi engine reliability is directly proportional to how well it's maintained and how it's treated. At this age, either engine- any 25 year old engine for that matter- would mostly need all of the wear items replaced to be reliable. The amount of work freshening up a 4G63 Vs. a 6G72 is not too different- refreshing the 6G72 should be less work than swapping a 4G63. Either way, replace every rubber bit and wear item at once, make sure the wiring is in good order, and you shouldn't need to touch it again for 60,000 miles.
If you want a nice street car, stick with the 6G72. It's a nice GT car, and relatively heavy. The extra 2 cylinders and 50% more displacement do a lot for drive ability when not screaming at the top end of the tach. Big power out of 4G63's often comes at the expense of low end torque, not a good recipe for a heavy GT car. The 6G72 can make good power without sacrificing as much on the bottom end. Both can easily make more power than an abused drivetrain can handle. If you are going to make it a stripped out track car, then the 4G63 makes sense, but then at that point leaving the 4G63 in a DSM makes even more sense. If you love the styling of the 3000GT, then I would go with it's strengths and make it a killer GT car. Think of it as a poor mans GTR, but arguably better looking with a manual transmission.
I sold an Evo VIII exhaust manifold/turbo combo to someone who was going to redrill an SR20DE head's exhaust pattern to bolt it in, for an autocross B13 SE-R.
He also had a 3000GT VR-4 that had a 4G63 swap in progress. You could practically hop into the engine bay and roam around, there was so much room. He was going to use that room, IIRC, for a very large turbo and a proper header, now that he had room to make something that could work instead of just fit.
Following for the awesomeness of this.
I test drove a vr4 in the early 00s, like the speed of it in a straight line, but the test drive was just a few flat straight roads.
Great looking car, heavy though
In reply to hybridmomentspass :
The advantage the 3000 GT had over the skyline was that the V6 was more compact over the front axle, instead of having the tendency to skyline under steer so much
In reply to Junghole :
Not sure how that works out. The 3000GT had almost the whole engine, transmission, and transfer case in front of the front axle. The GT-R had half the engine and the front diff.
My understanding is the early ATTESA sucked. 3000GT had three differentials, no electrons to screw up.
yupididit said:
In reply to totallynotmguar :
Lmao who this?
Did his frenchy account get banned?
In reply to OP, I think they look awesome. A friend had one in high school, only hers was an SL, the the more powerful V6, but not the Twin Turbo. They are insanely heavy, IIRC, the twin turbos are something like 3800 pounds for a 30-year old car.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
Perhaps that was it. I remember it understeering on gran turismo. And remember them saying the car did well due to not having a straight 6. But what do I know? I've never owned one!
In reply to Junghole :
I've driven them, gently and moderately, and decided that they were very wide and very heavy.
The irony is that I bought a very wide, very heavy car with similar specs, years later. At least it has headroom.
I usually stay out of VR4 conversations because everyone hates them but it was one of my favorite cars. This one was a 91 with the entire HKS catalog thrown at it that I bought in 99 for $1k because it munched an oil pump racing crotch rockets; I think a turbo caused that. Add insult to injury they tried to tow it home with a stinger. Think Maybe $4k total invested it was a complete screamer. It was heavy, it understeered, it was brutal. Amazing cruiser as well, had a 928 a little later and this way out paced it.
In reply to chandler :
I know someone that threw a 6g72tt with a th400 in a Starion with a MegaSquirt. It made crazy power with not much effort. Turbos, intercooler, intake, and some fuel with a tune.
