I bought a 1985 n/a 300zx, the car has 200k miles on it. The body is solid but the engine started knocking after about four month of driving. The plan was always to swap out the engine however I've never done an engine swap before. I'm looking for something I can add power to later and I heard the vg33e is good, however I'm looking for something I can realistically do, other than that I'm just fixing the little problems I can find. Also I've never used a form before so if I'm in the wrong place sorry.

 

Welcome to the site. The concept of what you can do to your car "realistically" all depends on your particular skill set.. The 3.3 is literally one of the most straightforward swaps you can do on one of these. If that's too unrealistic then just rebuild your 3.0, or if that's too much for you to handle then replace it with a known good vg30. Power is the last thing to worry about if your new to these cars. Do your research and learn from others mistakes, and you'll be golden.

 

As TCF said, "realistically," any engine can be made to fit. You can even squeeze a 455 Oldsmobile big block under the hood without any modifications other than engine and transmission mounts. But it's all in how much time and money you want to spend. Time is money, but the more skill you have, the less time you'll spend. Take into account that it's only spring now, and you'll be down a cruiser the whole time it's in pieces. Take into account that most projects get sold because someone started an engine swap and didn't / wasn't capable of finishing.

 

You may want to check into the legal aspects
insurance, allowed state wise , fed wise its a no no pretty sure , in cal you can swap a engine but not a trans ,