Discover "TB45E Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the Nissan TB45E

"Comprehensive guide to performance parts and tuning the Nissan TB45E engine!"

TorqueCars are regularly seeing threads asking about how to improve the TB45E from people wanting to know what are the optimum TB45E power upgrades. So let us look into Nissan TB45E parts and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some potential pitfalls along the way.

The Nissan TB45E are popular tuning projects and with a few sensible modified upgrades like ECU maps, turbo improvements and camshafts you will positively improve your driving fun.

In this article we review TB45E tuning and report on the optimum modifications.

The greatest TB45E tuning parts on an engine are sensibly the ones that give the best power gain for your hard earned cash.

We won't be swayed by popular TB45E tuning parts, they need to be cost effective.

Improving air intake on the TB45E

You need air and fuel for an engine to work. If there is too little fuel then it will run lean, if there is insufficient air it runs rich sapping power and potentially damaging the engine. We'll pick up on fuelling later in this article but for now we shall look at air supply.

So Forcing air into the TB45E engine is the aim to any performance tuning task.

It is common that there is a limit in the air flow sensor (AFM/MAF/MAP) on the TB45E when loads more air is being pulled into the engine.

We see 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor was restricting power at a much lower level.

The intake plenum carry the air during the suck phase from the filter and allow it to be pulled into the engine cylinders.

Design and flow rate of the air Intake manifold can make a big change to fuel atomisation and engine efficiency on the TB45E.

Commonly we find the headers are improved through aftermarket parts, although a few car makers provide reasonably good headers.

Fitting big valve kits, getting 3 or 5 angle valve jobs and porting and head flowing will also improve performance, this will allow you to get an improved performance increase on other tuning mods.

TB45E performance cam tips.

Each engine responds better to more or less aggressive camshaft durations so view each engine as unique.

The engine timing and injectors and fuel pump also have a large bearing on the power gains you'll achieve.

Longer valve durations 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.

The camshaft profile plays a big part in the engines power output so camshaft upgrades make quite a large difference. The intake & exhaust durations will alter depending on the chosen camshaft profile, so large power band gains are on offer for camshaft upgrades.

NB: Fast road camshafts normally boost the performance through the rpm band, you might lose a little low down power but top end will be lifted.

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

A Motorsport camshaft makes it harder when driving in heavy traffic.

You should ideally optimize your bhp range to your driving style so for a car driven daily stick with a mild fast road TB45E camshaft

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the TB45E

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 TB45E parts:

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

Stage 2 TB45E parts:

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

Stage 3 TB45E parts:

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

ECU mapping will help fully realize the full potential of all the tuning mods you've done to your TB45E.

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 will differs on the tuning mods you've applied and the condition of your engine.

Turbo modifications on the TB45E

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 TB45E.

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

When a car is turbo charged upgrades are going to net you a larger power gain and you'll see that turbocharged engines are made with harder and stronger components.

However you will find an engines have weakspots

It is important to find these limitations and upgrade to better quality crank and pistons to utilize the power.

It's not unheard of people spending a loads of money on turbocharger upgrades on the TB45E only to suffer the humiliation of seeing the car throw a rod when it's been completed.

Large upgraded turbochargers tend to experience low end lag, and low capacity turbochargers spool up more quickly but don't have the high rpm torque gains.

Thanks to new tech the choice of turbochargers is always evolving and we now see variable vane turbochargers, where the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end torque.

Twin scroll turbochargers divert the exhaust gases into a couple of channels and flow these at differently designed vanes in the turbocharger. 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 power gains, although harder to install. We have this article covering twinchargers if you want to read more.

Tips about fuel supply on the TB45E

Don't omit to raise the fuel system when you are increasing the bhp and torque - it makes the car more thirsty. We strongly recommend you to over specify your flow rate on the injectors.

As a rule of thumb add 15% to the flow rate when fitting an injector, this accounts for injector deterioration and affords you some spare capacity should the engine need 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 TB45E performance exhaust upgrades

The only time you should look to upgrade your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if your current exhaust is actually causing a flow problem.

On most factory exhausts you should find that the flow rate is fine 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.

Sports exhausts equal out the flow of air through the engine.

But if your exhaust is too big, ie: it's over two and a half inches diameter, you will lose a great deal of the exhaust flow rate and end up lacking power and torque.

Usual exhaust restrictions are in the catalyst installed, so adding a better flowing sports alternative will help avoid this restriction.

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

Faults issues and things to look out for on the TB45E

Like most engines an TB45E, 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 TB45E, failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned TB45E 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 TB45E why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about TB45E tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their TB45E.

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