Tuning Feature: Nissan KR20DDET Modified

"Comprehensive guide to tuning and performance parts on the Nissan KR20DDET engine!"

We are regularly getting posts asking about the things we are recommending when it comes to KR20DDET upgrades. So let us look into Nissan KR20DDET tuning mods and outline the best mods that work on this great engine and point out some frequent tuning mistakes along the way.

The Nissan KR20DDET are good project engines and with the ultimate modified tuning mods like remaps, turbo improvements and camshafts you will noticeably increase your driving experience.

We shall review and look at KR20DDET tuning and point out the best mods that work.

When talking about the greatest parts for your KR20DDET engine, we are going to focus on the tuning mods 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 and exhaust durations will alter depending on the chosen cam profile, so large power band gains are on offer for cam upgrades.

NB: Fast road camshafts commonly bump the power through the rpm band, you could sacrifice a little low end bhp but your higher rpm power will be better.

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

On a car driven daily one, ideally, need to match your bhp range to your typical driving style.

You'll never have ever thought a KR20DDET Motorsport cam is a pleasure to live with when on the daily commute.

Different KR20DDET engines respond better to more aggressive camshaft durations so view each engine as unique.

The ECU mapping and injectors and fuel pump also have a large bearing on the bhp gains you'll get.

Extending exhaust or intake durations can alter the bhp 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.

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KR20DDET Tuning Stages

Stage 1 KR20DDET modifications: Sports exhaust manifold, Fast road camshaft, Panel air filters, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Intake headers.

Stage 2 KR20DDET modifications: Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, high flow fuel injectors, induction kit, Ported and polished head, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam.

Stage 3 KR20DDET modifications: Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Twin charging conversions, Competition cam, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Engine balancing & blueprinting.

Remaps helps unlock the full potential of all the tuning parts you've done to your KR20DDET.

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but your results will vary depending on the tuning parts you've applied and the condition of your engine.

It is the main goal to any tuning project to feed air into your KR20DDET

Headers take the air during the suck phase from the filter and allow it to be sucked into the engine cylinders.

The bore size, shape and rate of flow of the Intake manifold can make a large effect on to fuel atomisation and engine efficiency on the KR20DDET.

On popular production engines plenum chambers are in desperate need of an upgrade, although some makers provide decently flowing plenum chambers.

Fitting big valve kits, doing some port matching and head flowing will also improve power, and significantly will raise potential for increasing the power increase on other mods.

Turbo upgrades for the KR20DDET

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 KR20DDET

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

If your car is fitted with a turbo mods are going to make more power and you'll see that turbo charged engines are built with many forged and stronger components.

However most engines will have power limits

We recommend you find these limitations and install more solid crank and pistons to survive the power.

We see many tuners spending a a stack of money on turbocharger upgrades on the KR20DDET only to experience the engine go up in smoke just after it's been completed.

Large capacity turbo chargers commonly suffer low end lag, and smaller turbo chargers spool up really quickly but won't have the peak rpm engines power gains.

Thanks to progress the choice of turbos is always moving on and we are seeing variable vane turbos, allowing the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end torque.

Twin scroll turbos divert the exhaust gases into two channels and direct these at differently designed vanes in the turbocharger. They also improve the scavenging effect of the engine.

It is not unusual that there is a restriction in the air flow sensor MAF/MAP on the KR20DDET when considerably more air is being drawn into the engine.

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

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large torque gains, although more challenging to configure. We have this article on twincharging if you want to read more.

Uprating KR20DDET fuel injectors

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to look at the fuelling when you start going beyond 20% of a torque increase.We strongly recommend you to be generous with your injector capacity.

The accepted safe increase is to add 20% when buying an injector, this takes into account injector deterioration and affords 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 KR20DDET performance exhausts

You may need to uprate your exhaust if the existing exhaust is creating a restriction in flow.

On most factory exhausts you'll see the exhaust flow rate is good even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Sports exhausts generally help improve air flow through the engine but avoid an exhaust that is too large or you may end up reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2.5 inches for best results.

Common exhaust restrictions can be traced to the catalyst and filters installed, so adding a higher flowing race alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Problems and issues to look out for on the KR20DDET

The KR20DDET 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 KR20DDET, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your KR20DDET engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our KR20DDET 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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We really like hearing from our readers, and hearing about which parts were the most effective for them, it helps us improve our recommendations and articles to reflect current trends in modifications and ensures that our KR20DDET guides and tips are kept up to date.

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This article is flagged for an update, so please pass on specific tips below that I can include. All articles, and content was written by me, Waynne Smith TorqueCars founder. Some outlines are just too general so I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Nissan. You can leave a response below or join our forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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