Find out about "TB42S Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the Nissan TB42S

"Comprehensive guide to performance parts and tuning the Nissan TB42S engine!"

Our friends at TorqueCars often are getting emails asking how to improve the TB42S from people wanting to know what are the ultimate TB42S power upgrades. So let us look into Nissan TB42S mods and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some problems along the way.

The Nissan TB42S make a good tuning project and with the optimum uprated tuning mods like remapping, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will certainly enhance your driving pleasure.

Let us review TB42S tuning and report on the greatest modifications for your car.

Just because particular modifications are popular with TB42S owners it doesn't mean its worth having, instead we will focus on the ultimate modifications that will give your TB42S the best power gain for you spend.

Without us subscribing to the popular mentality of 'if it's shiny and makes more noise it must be good' you seem to get in many tuning magazines and on car forums'.

Improving air intake on the TB42S

You need air matched to fuel for an engine to work. If there is not enough fuel then it will run lean, if there is a lack of air it runs rich sapping power which risks damage to the TB42S. We'll pick up on fuelling later in this article but for now we shall look at air supply.

So Forcing more air and fuel into the TB42S engine is the main goal to any engine tuning job.

You'll commonly see there is a limitation in the air flow sensor MAP/MAF/AFM on the TB42S when considerably more air is being drawn into the engine.

We note 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor sapped bhp and torque at a much lower level.

Intake carry the on the suck phase from the filter and allow it to be fed into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

Shape and rate of flow of the air Intake manifold can make a substantial change to fuel atomisation and engine efficiency on the TB42S.

Many mass produced engine intake manifold are needing an upgrade, although some car makers provide well optimised intake manifold.

Adding a TB42S larger valve kit, carrying out port matching and head flowing will also raise power, the fantastic side effect is it will give you increasing the power increase on other parts.

TB42S performance cam tips.

Some TB42S engines respond better to less aggressive cam durations check your engine on a rolling road.

The ecu map and fuelling also will say much on the power gains you'll hit.

A longer valve duration can alter the power band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.

Altering your TB42S cam will make a dramatic difference to the engine power band. Choosing a higher performance cam profile raises the power band accordingly.

NB: Fast road camshafts usually increase the performance throughout the rev band, you may lose a little low down power but the top end will improve.

Competition camshafts, increase the top end band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

A Competition cam is not great on the daily commute.

You should ideally optimize your power band to your driving style so for a car driven daily stick with a mild fast road TB42S cam

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the TB42S

Before we break the best tuning upgrades down into stages of tune, let's list the most effective tuning upgrades for you.

1. Suspension Upgrades - always improve your cars handling
2. Brake Upgrades - Even before adding power improve those brakes
3. Intake - make sure the intake is not restricted, use filters and intake upgrades to improve this
4. Exhaust - as with 3 ensure there is not restriction in the exhaust, cats are the usual bottleneck
5. Tunes - remapping, piggyback ECU's and aftermarket ECU's can all make decent gains
6. Fuelling - when you've increased power you'll need to match this with more fuel
7. Turbo upgrades - Improving the intake with a large turbo and better flowing intercooler will be the biggest power gain you'll see (but one of the most complex).

This video guide to tuning cars is a great starting point to work from in your project.

Stage 1 TB42S parts:

Panel air filters, Intake headers, Fast road camshaft, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Sports exhaust manifold.

Stage 2 TB42S parts:

induction kit, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, fuel pump upgrades, high flow fuel injectors, Fast road cam, Ported and polished head.

Stage 3 TB42S parts:

Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Engine balancing & blueprinting, Competition cam, Twin charging conversions, Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves).

ECU mapping helps fully realize the full potential of all the modifications you've done to your TB42S.

You will typically expect to see gains of approximately 20-30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but the outcome usually differs on the modifications you've done and the condition of your engine.

Turbo modifications on the TB42S

To get a turbo working on a NASP engine there is a lot involved, from lowering compression ratio to improved fuel supply and mapping, so we have found a great guide to helpavoid the common pitfalls or end up with an unfinished project because you were not told what you were getting into by doing this on the TB42S.

The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes significant power gains.

If your motor has a turbocharger upgrades are going to make more power and most turbocharged engines are built using harder and stronger components.

However you will find an engines have limits

We recommend you find these restrictions and upgrade to better quality crank and pistons to handle the power.

We see many people spending a lots of money on turbo charger upgrades on the TB42S only to suffer the indignity of watching the car explode soon after it's completed.

Larger upgraded turbo chargers commonly experience low end lag, and small turbo chargers spool up much more quickly but won't have the peak end bhp gains.

In recent times the range of turbo chargers is always evolving and we now see variable vane turbo chargers, where the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp and torque.

Twin scroll turbo chargers divert the exhaust gases into two channels and feed these at differently angled vanes in the turbo charger. They also increase the scavenging effect of the engine.

Beefing up the air intake by adding a supercharger or additional turbo will help you achieve very large bhp and torque gains, although harder to setup. We have this feature on twinchargers if you want to read more.

Tips about fuel supply on the TB42S

When you increase the torque you will need to look at to the fuel delivery.

More torque needs more fuel. Most tuners we speak with say to be generous with your injector capacity.

The rule of thumb is to add 20% to the flow rate when fitting an injector, this takes into account injector deterioration and provides a little spare capacity should the engine require more fuel.

Don't forget that different fuel grades will usually require different settings, a high octane fuel will burn more efficiently than lower octane fuel for example. A car will trim fuel supply to keep within the ideal air fuel mix but at the extreme ends you may need to adjust your injector capacity, or the mapping or you'll get flat spots and potential lean or rich fuel issues..

Recommended TB42S performance exhaust upgrades

You only need to to uprate your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if your current exhaust is creating a restriction in flow.

On most factory exhausts you should find that your flow rate is good even on modest power gains, but on a serious tuning project with a big boost in power you will certainly need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Note that with the widest exhaust you can get you'll slow the exhaust rate - the best for power gains are usually between one and a half to two and half inches. Your exhaust design, the bend angles and construction are what have more effect on flow rates than your pipe width to a certain extent. So the exhaust design is a big factor.

Usual exhaust restrictions can be located the filters installed, so adding a higher flowing sports alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Decats (NB:catalysts reduce harmful engine emissions) is illegal in most countries and regions.

Faults issues and things to look out for on the TB42S

Like most engines an TB42S, should have few issues if it gets properly serviced and looked after.

We cannot stress enough the need for oil changes with the correct grade of oil on the TB42S, failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned TB42S this is more important than ever and close attention should be paid to your maintenance schedule.

If you are interested in learning more or getting impartial tuning advice for your TB42S why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about TB42S tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their TB42S.

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This entry was posted under Makes and Models. Tags: engine, nissan
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