Tuning Feature: Nissan BR08DE Modified

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Nissan BR08DE engine!"

We are frequently seeing threads requesting information on the best tips on BR08DE modifications. So let us look into Nissan BR08DE parts and outline the best mods that work on this great engine and point out some frequent tuning mistakes along the way.

The Nissan BR08DE are popular engines and with a few sensible motorsport parts like ECU maps, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will really enhance your driving pleasure.

In this article we review and look at BR08DE tuning and provide tips on the best modifications.

When talking about the ultimate parts for your BR08DE engine, we are going to focus on the ones that give the best value for money.

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

NB: Fast road cams tend to push up the bhp throughout the rpm range, you could drop a little bottom end power but your higher rpm power will improve.

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

A Motorsport camshaft won't do well if driving in heavy traffic.

You should ideally optimize your torque band to your driving style so for a road car stick with a fast road BR08DE camshaft

Different BR08DE engines respond better to extreme camshaft durations so set your engine up on a rolling road.

The ecu map and fuelling also will make differences on the torque gains you'll achieve.

Longer valve durations 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.

BR08DE Tuning Stages

Stage 1 BR08DE modifications: Fast road camshaft, Panel air filters, Sports exhaust manifold, Intake headers, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Drilled & smoothed airbox.

Stage 2 BR08DE modifications: fuel pump upgrades, high flow fuel injectors, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Ported and polished head, induction kit, Fast road cam.

Stage 3 BR08DE modifications: Engine balancing & blueprinting, Twin charging conversions, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Competition cam, Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger).

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

ECU flashing helps to establish the full potential of all the parts you've done to your BR08DE.

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but the end result usually depend much on the parts you've carried out and the condition of your engine.

Forcing fuel and air into the BR08DE engine is vital to any engine upgrade task.

Air Intake manifolds transmit the air from the air filter and allow it to be sucked into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

The shape and flow characteristics of the Intake manifold can make a large effect on to fuel engine efficiency on the BR08DE.

It's not uncommon that headers are crying out for aftermarket parts, although some OEM provide reasonably good headers.

Fitting big valve kits, doing some port work and head flowing will also improve performance, the fantastic side effect is it will make space for a better performance increase on other tuning mods.

Turbo upgrades for the BR08DE

NASP engines need quite a lot of work when you add a turbo, so we have a separate guide to help you take into account the pros and cons of going this route on your BR08DE

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

If your motor has a turbo already fitted mods are going to net you a larger power gain and you will discover turbo charged engines are made using stronger components.

However most engines have limits

We recommend you find these limits and upgrade to better quality crank and pistons to survive the power.

We've seen people spending a loads on turbo charger upgrades on the BR08DE only to experience the whole thing catastrophically fail just after it's completed.

Larger upgraded turbochargers commonly suffer no power at low rpm, and smaller turbochargers spool up more quickly but won't have the high rpm torque gains.

Thanks to new tech the range of turbochargers is always moving on and we commonly find variable vane turbochargers, permitting the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end power.

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

It is common that there's a restriction in the air flow sensor AFM/MAF on the BR08DE when loads more air is being drawn into the engine.

Going up you'll find 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor limited torque at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large power gains, although more challenging to install. We have this guide to twinchargers if you want to read more.

Uprating BR08DE fuel injectors

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to pay attention to the fuelling when you start going beyond 20% of a torque increase.Don't forget to over specify your injectors flow rate.

The rule of thumb is to add 20% when fitting an injector, this allows for injector deterioration and gives you some spare capacity should the engine need more fuel.

We think this one is common sense, but you'll need to match your fuel injector to the type of fuel your car uses as well.

Best BR08DE performance exhausts

You should look to upgrade your exhaust if the existing exhaust is creating a flow problem.

On most factory exhausts you should find that the exhaust flow rate is still fine even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Please dont run with the widest exhaust you can find this will slow up the exhaust flow rate - the best exhausts for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.

Common exhaust restrictions can be traced to the catalysts installed, so adding a faster flowing performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Problems and issues to look out for on the BR08DE

The BR08DE engines, if regularly serviced and maintained, are generally very reliable and have few issues. {But if neglected they can cost a small fortune|When neglected they get very expensive to run|They can however be quite expensive if neglected| }

Regular oil changes are vital on the BR08DE, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your BR08DE engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our BR08DE owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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