The Lowdown on "VG30DET Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the Nissan VG30DET

"Comprehensive guide to performance tuning the Nissan VG30DET engine!"

Sites like TorqueCars are regularly getting emails asking how to improve the VG30DET from people wanting to know what are the best VG30DET mods that work. So let us look into Nissan VG30DET parts and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some frequent tuning mistakes along the way.

Now we shall review VG30DET tuning and report on the best mods that work. Nissan VG30DET great bases for a tuning project and with the best performance parts like remaps, turbo improvements and camshafts you will positively maximize your driving experience.

When talking about the top parts for your VG30DET engine, we are going to focus on the tuning parts that give the best power gain for you spend.

Improving air intake on the VG30DET

You need air matched to 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 the primary aim to any tuning project to pull more air into the VG30DET engine but this has a knock on effect with the air flow sensor.

It is common that there is a limitation in the air flow sensor AFM/MAF on the VG30DET when a lot more air is being drawn into the engine.

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

The intake plenum take the air during the suck phase from the air filter and allow it to be fed into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

Shape and flow rate of the Intake headers can make a large effect on to fuel atomisation and engine efficiency on the VG30DET.

We often see intake headers are improved through an upgrade, although a few car makers provide fairly well optimized intake headers.

Increasing the VG30DET valve size, getting 3 or 5 angle valve jobs and porting and head flowing will also lift bhp and torque, and as an added benefit will afford you an improved bhp and torque increase on other parts.

VG30DET performance cam tips.

Some VG30DET engines respond better to mild cam durations so set your engine up on a rolling road.

The ecu map and fuelling also have a large bearing on the torque gains you'll make.

A longer valve duration can alter the torque 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 VG30DET can be made from cam upgrades. Changing the cam profile alters the intake and exhaust durations on the engine and can dramatically change the torque and power output.

NB: Fast road cams usually bump the power across the rpm range, you might lose a little bottom end torque but your high end rpm power will be better.

Competition cams, bump the high end rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

On a typical daily driver you should ideally to match your bhp range to your driving style.

I'd be gobsmaked if you find a VG30DET Competition cam is a pleasure to live with when driving in heavy traffic.

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the VG30DET

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 VG30DET parts:

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

Stage 2 VG30DET parts:

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

Stage 3 VG30DET parts:

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

Remaps will help unlock the full potential of all the modifications you've done to your VG30DET.

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 VG30DET

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 VG30DET.

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.

When your car is fitted with a turbocharger tuning mods are simpler to install and you will discover turbo charged engines already contain harder and stronger components.

However most engines have limits

Research these limits and upgrade to more solid crank and pistons to handle the power.

There are many drivers spending a a stack of money on turbo charger upgrades on the VG30DET only to experience the engine block catastrophically fail when it's been completed.

Large capacity turbo chargers will usually suffer low end lag, and smaller turbo chargers spool up much more quickly but do not have the peak rpm power band gains.

Thankfully the world of turbos is always evolving and we are seeing variable vane turbos, allowing the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end power.

Twin scroll turbos divert the exhaust gases into a couple of channels and push these at differently angled vanes in the turbo charger. They also improve 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 more difficult to get working. We have this article on twincharging if you want to read more.

Tips about fuel supply on the VG30DET

When you raise the bhp and torque you will need to look at to the fuelling.

More bhp and torque needs more fuel. Don't forget to over specify your injector capacity.

The rule of thumb is to add 20% to the flow rate when specifying an injector, this takes into account injector deterioration and provides 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 VG30DET performance exhaust upgrades

You should look to uprate your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if your current exhaust is actually creating a flow problem.

On most factory exhausts you'll find your flow rate is still 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 can help increase the flow of air through the engine.

But if the exhaust is too large, ie: over two and a half inches diameter, you will lose a lot of the flow rate and end up sapping power and torque.

Typically exhaust restrictions are traced to the catalyst and filters installed, so adding a better flowing sports alternative will help avoid this restriction.

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

Faults issues and things to look out for on the VG30DET

Like most engines an VG30DET, 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 VG30DET, failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned VG30DET 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 VG30DET why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about VG30DET tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their VG30DET.

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