Modding upgrading and tuning the Nissan VG30S engine!

Tuning guide "VG30S Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the Nissan VG30S

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Nissan VG30S engine!"

Popular tuning sites like TorqueCars are regularly getting emails about how to improve the VG30S from people wanting to know what are the best tips for VG30S upgrades. So let us look into Nissan VG30S tuning mods and outline the best mods that work on this great engine and point out some problems along the way.

Car Tuning Tips will review VG30S tuning and point out the greatest modifications for your car. Nissan VG30S make awesome project engines and with the optimum uprated parts like a remap, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will dramatically enhance your driving opportunities.

When talking about the top parts for your VG30S engine, we are going to focus on the modifications that give the best value for money.

VG30S induction kits

Improving air intake on the VG30S

You need air and fuel for an engine to work. If there is insufficient fuel then it will run lean, if there is not enough air it runs rich resulting in lost power . We'll pick up on fuelling later in this article but for now we shall look at air supply.

So it's important to any engine tuning job to force more air and fuel into each cylinder but this has a knock on effect with the air flow sensor.

It is common that there is a restriction in the air flow sensor (AFM/MAF/MAP) on the VG30S when considerably more air is being sucked into the engine.

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

Engine intake manifolds flow the on the suck phase from the air filter and allow it to be pulled into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

The size of bore and shape and flow characteristics of the air Intake manifold can make a large effect on to fuel atomisation and engine efficiency on the VG30S.

I usually find air intake manifolds are crying out for an upgrade, although some makers provide decently flowing air intake manifolds.

Big valve conversions on the VG30S, doing some port work and head flowing will also increase power, and more importantly will permit increasing the power increase on other upgrades.

VG30S performance cam tips.

Each engine responds better to mild cam durations so view each engine as unique.

The ECU mapping and fuelling also have an effect on the power gains you'll make.

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.

Significant air intake, and exhaust improvements on the VG30S can be made from camshaft upgrades. Changing the camshaft profile alters the intake and exhaust durations on the engine and can dramatically change the power band and power output.

NB: Fast road cams commonly push up the power across the rpm range, you could sacrifice a little bottom end torque but your top end will be better.

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

For a car used daily you should ideally to optimize your torque band to your cars usage.

You'll never have ever thought a VG30S Competition cam is a pleasure to live with when driving around busy urban areas.

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the VG30S

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 VG30S parts:

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

Tuning tips and articles Engine tuning Transmission tuning Care care Intake & exhaust mods Improve handling Forums

Stage 2 VG30S parts:

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

Stage 3 VG30S parts:

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

Review your options and then buy your parts and set yourself a power target to avoid costly mistakes.

Remapping allows a tuner to unlock the full potential of all the parts you've done to your VG30S.

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 may vary depending on the parts you've fitted and the condition of your engine.

Turbo modifications on the VG30S

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 VG30S.

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 the engine has forced induction parts are more reliable and you'll see that turbo engines are made with stronger components.

However every engines will have power limits

Research these limits and fit forged components to utilize the power.

There are many mechanics spending a lot of money on turbo upgrades on the VG30S only to have the VG30S throw a rod just after it's finished.

Larger turbo units tend to suffer no power at low rpm, and smaller turbo units spool up quickly but don't have the peak rpm engines power gains.

Thankfully the market of turbochargers is always moving on and we are seeing variable vane turbochargers, allowing the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end performance.

Twin scroll turbochargers divert the exhaust gases into 2 channels and direct these at differently angled vanes in the turbo. They also boost the scavenging effect of the engine.

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

Tips about fuel supply on the VG30S

When you lift the bhp you will need to look at to the fuel delivery.

More bhp needs more fuel. Most tuners we speak with say to over specify your injectors flow rate.

The rule of thumb is to add another 20% when buying an injector, this accounts for injector deterioration and affords a bit of 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 VG30S performance exhaust upgrades

Only look to increase your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if the current exhaust is actually causing a restriction in flow.

On most factory exhausts you'll find the 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.

Sports exhausts will certainly help air flow from the engine but do not go too wide or you could will reduce the flow rate. Stick to one and a half to two and half inches for best results.

The usual suspects causing problems in your exhaust flow rate are in the catalyst installed, so adding a higher 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 VG30S

Like most engines an VG30S, 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 VG30S, failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned VG30S 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 VG30S why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about VG30S tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their VG30S.

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