OUCH!
Good luck with Nissan!

Yeah, I really hope nissan helps you out with a lot of that. I honestly expected more than 15k from them considering I've seen a blown up diagram of the vq37vhr (no pun intended) with a price list that summed close to 30k$ 🤪.

On the other end, I saw a used engine + tranny for 4k$ with only 40k miles the other day, so they're out there. Catch is, it was a 6spd.

Sheesh 15K? Like rusty said, I can get a built motor installed for less than that. Good luck!

Gotta be able to do a LS1 swap for $15k!! So ridiculous for OE replacement.

Car-part.com find a local used engine in the $2k range and probably about the same amount for install.

Ask JCHammond. I don't think that 15k would even touch it.

Yea, despite what the interwebz says, I have yet to see an LS swap that didn't go past 20k$ once the nuts and bolts are actually counted :). Last rx7 i saw with an LS the owner said it was 30k in all for the swap.

Official word from Nissan Consumer Affairs - no assistance will be provided. Can't say i'm surprised.

So, I'm going to dump the Z and get whatever i can for it. I don't want the hassle of finding a used motor and finding a reputable shop and dealing with it. Just want to put the whole nightmare behind me. 42k miles, meticulously maintained, never driven hard, never overheated (or even ran hot) and a blown engine.

Guys - advice on how i go about selling a Z that looks brand new inside and out but has a dead motor and possibly torque converter?

Thanks ...

Racing junk, you can try and sell the shell, but you won't get much for it.

Honestly, you'd probably get more by trying to part out certain things, but that would take a lot of time and effort.

To be honest your best option is to find a used engine for sale or just purchase a new engine for your Z and install it yourself or have someone install it for you. It is very possible to sell your Z with a blown engine and/or torque converter but be prepared to take a unfortunate loss on the price of the sale of your Z and show the possible buyer documentation of the diagnosis of why the vehicle does not run. If you do decide to sell your Z I wish you the best of luck with the sale. First I recommend trying www.ebaymotors.com and www.craigslist.org with the sale.

Man that sucks. Such a low mile motor - you really don't hear these things popping all too often.

If you have the time/storage, parting out will net you the most money.

Unless you plan to just buy a shitbox for the money you get from selling the z, i really feel that you'll spend less overall by just getting a used engine. But i can also understand feeling screwed by Nissan and wanting to be done with the car entirely regardless of cost hit.

I have a 2nd car that i do most of my driving. I'm not totally opposed to a used engine, but have heard horror stories of installs going bad, or shops hitting a wall and keeping the deposit and asking the owner to tow back their car.

If anyone knows of a reputable, trusted and experienced shop in the San Diego area that can handle the project, please let me know.

Honestly as long as the replacement engine and trans (they're cheaper as a set) run fine, then the swap is very straight forward for any competent mechanic. Look up race shops in your areas and ones sponsored by clubs like NASA, PCA, BMWCCA, etc are usually the better bet on who to contact.

I'm nowhere near you, but my local shop is Porsche specific and I've seen my mechanic drop a newer 911 engine in the morning and be done with it back in by 2pm, including replacing coilovers on one of my cars in the meantime. He's an IMSA crew chief too, and I found him through NASA.

Yeah, mechanics/engineers at race shops tend to be decent. I lent my car to a race team for a day for testing because they couldn't source a replacement shift linkage part. They had my trans out in like 5 minutes. i was like wtf.

Specialty Z.... They are in Cali. Not sure where they are compared to you.