Tuning the Nissan RB20

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Nissan RB20 engine!"

The Nissan RB20 great bases for a tuning project and with the right motorsport upgrades like remapping, turbo kits and camshafts you will positively maximize your driving fun.

Let us look into RB20 tuning and provide tips on the greatest mods that work.

Just because particular parts are popular with RB20 owners it doesn't mean it is good, so we'll optimum parts that will give your RB20 the best power gain for you 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 engines power gains are on offer for cam upgrades.

NB: Fast road cams usually boost the bhp across the rpm band, you may sacrifice a little bottom end bhp but your higher rpm power will improve.

Motorsport and race cams, boost 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 will just annoy you whilst driving in heavy traffic.

You should ideally optimize your bhp range to your typical driving style so for a typical daily driver stick with a fast road RB20 camshaft

Different RB20 engines respond better to extreme camshaft durations check your engine on a rolling road.

The ECU mapping and fuelling also will make differences 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.

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

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

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

Plan your options and then buy your modifications and set yourself a power target to avoid disappointment.

A remap helps to establish the full potential of all the upgrades you've fitted to your RB20.

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but figures achieved usually differs on the upgrades you've fitted and the condition of your engine.

It is the aim to any car tuning project to feed more air into your RB20

Intake take the air from the air cleaner and allow it to be sucked into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

The shape and flow rate of the Headers can make a substantial effect on to fuel engine efficiency on the RB20.

We often see plenum chambers are begging for aftermarket tuning parts, although a few makers provide well optimised plenum chambers.

Adding a RB20 larger valve kit, getting 3 or 5 angle valve jobs and porting and head flowing will also raise bhp, and as an added benefit will permit a better bhp increase on other tuning mods.

Turbo upgrades

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 RB20

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

If an engine has a turbocharger parts are simpler to install and turbo engines already contain harder and stronger components.

There are weak spots for every engine, with some being over specified and some just sufficiently able to handle stock power

Discover these limits and install better quality components to utilize the power.

We've seen car owners spending a lot of money on turbo upgrades on the RB20 only to suffer the humiliation of seeing the car literally blow up soon after it's been finished.

Larger turbo units commonly experience no power at low rpm, and smaller turbo units spool up quickly but don't have the high rpm power band gains.

Thanks to new tech the world of turbos is always evolving and we now see variable vane turbos, allowing the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end power.

Twin scroll turbos divert the exhaust flow into two channels and push these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo charger. They also improve the scavenging effect of the engine.

It is not unusual that there's a limit in the air flow sensor (AFM/MAF/MAP) on the RB20 when loads more air is being drawn into the engine.

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

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large bhp and torque gains, although more complex to configure. We have this feature on twinchargers if you want to read more.

Fuelling upgrades and mods

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so should uprate the fuelling when you start exceeding 20% of a bhp increase.Don't forget to be generous with your flow rate on the injectors.

The rule of thumb is to add 20% capacity when buying an injector, which takes into account injector deterioration and allows some spare capacity should the engine require 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.

Exhaust upgrades and mods

You may need to increase your exhaust if the current exhaust is actually creating a flow problem.

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 out of the engine but avoid an exhaust that is too wide or you may end up will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2.5 inches as a rule of thumb.

Typically exhaust restrictions can be located the catalysts installed, so adding a faster flowing race alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Weak spots, Issues & common problem areas on the RB20

The engines, if regularly serviced and maintained, are generally very reliable and have few issues.

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

The stock engine can handle around 350 bhp but you'll need to have added at least a turbo from the RB25 to get there.

Increasing the fuelling and turbo will see around 400-420bhp still on stock internals but the mapping must be spot on .

History of the RB20 Engine

There were a variety of 2.0 L RB20 engines produced:

  • RB20E
    single-cam NASP
    Power: 129 to 148 hp @5600 rpm  133 lbft @4400 rpm
  • RB20ET
    single-cam, turbocharged
    Power: 168 hp @6000 rpm 152 lbft @3200 rpm
  • RB20DE
    twin-cam NASP
    Power: 148 to 153 hp @6400 rpm 133 to 137 lbft @5600 rpm
  • RB20DET
    twin-cam, turbocharged
    Power: 212 hpat 6400 rpm 195 lbft at 3200 rpm
  • RB20P
    single-cam, NASP 12 valves, autogas LPG
    Power: 93 hp at 5600 rpm 105 lbft  at 2400 rpm
  • RB20DET-R
    twin-cam, turbocharged
    Power:  207 hp at 6400 rpm 181 lbft at 4800 rpm
  • RB20DE NEO
    twin-cam NASP
    Power: 153 hp @6400rpm 138 lbft@5600rpm

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

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