Nissan VE30DE

Nissan's VE30DE — a 3.0 V6 that existed for one generation, in the J30 Maxima and the Infiniti J30.

⚑ It is not a VG and it is not a VQ, which is the whole difficulty: it sits between two enormously well-documented families and shares parts with neither. A search for a Maxima V6 returns VG30 and VQ30 material almost exclusively, and applying either is how the wrong part gets ordered.

It is the first Nissan V6 with four camshafts, developed with variable valve timing at a time when very little else had it — which is why it was replaced quickly by the cheaper and better VQ.

It is belt-driven and the belt is the item that decides whether a surviving car is worth keeping.

Parts are the constraint. Very few were built, the family ended with this engine, and nothing shares its castings.