Tuning Feature: Nissan RD28T Modified

"Comprehensive guide to tuning and performance parts on the Nissan RD28T engine!"

We are regularly getting posts inquiring about getting more power from the RD28T and wanting to know what are the premier RD28T upgrades. So let us look into Nissan RD28T upgrades and outline the best upgrades on this great engine and point out some frequent tuning mistakes along the way.

Therefore we provide a guide to RD28T tuning and report on the best modifications. Nissan RD28T really good project engines and with the optimum motorsport tuning mods like ECU maps, turbo kits and camshafts you will really maximize the drivers experience of your car.

The greatest RD28T tuning mods on an engine are obviously the ones that give the biggest return for your cash.

We won't be swayed by popular RD28T tuning mods, they need to be cost effective.

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

NB: Fast road camshafts tend to boost the torque through the rev range, you could sacrifice a little bottom end torque but higher rpm power will be lifted.

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

A Race cam is not great driving around busy urban areas.

You should ideally optimize your engines power to your driving style so for a car driven daily stick with a shorter duration RD28T cam

Some RD28T engines respond better to more or less aggressive cam durations check your engine on a rolling road.

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

A longer valve duration 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.

RD28T Tuning Stages

Stage 1 RD28T modifications: Sports exhaust manifold, Intake headers, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Panel air filters, Fast road camshaft, Remaps/piggy back ECU.

Stage 2 RD28T modifications: Ported and polished head, high flow fuel injectors, induction kit, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Fast road cam, fuel pump upgrades.

Stage 3 RD28T modifications: Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Competition cam, Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Twin charging conversions.

Remaps allows a tuner to unlock the full potential of all the modifications you've done to your RD28T.

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

It is the aim to any performance tuning project to pull more air and fuel into the RD28T engine

The intake plenum transmit the air from the filter and allow it to be drawn into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

Design and flow characteristics of the Headers can make a noticeable difference to to fuel atomisation and engine efficiency on the RD28T.

It's not uncommon that air intake manifolds are in desperate need of aftermarket tuning parts, although a few manufacturers provide fairly well optimized air intake manifolds.

Larger RD28T valves, carrying out port matching and head flowing will also improve bhp and torque, this will afford you a better bhp and torque increase on other mods.

Turbo upgrades for the RD28T

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 RD28T

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

If an engine is fitted with a turbocharger parts are giving better power gains and most turbocharged engines are made with harder and stronger components.

There are weak spots for every engine, with some being very over engineered and some only just able to handle stock power

It is important to find these limits and fit higher quality components to survive the power.

We've seen guys spending a loads on turbo charger upgrades on the RD28T only to suffer the humiliation of seeing the whole thing throw a rod soon after it's finished.

Larger upgraded turbo chargers will usually suffer low end lag, and low capacity turbo chargers spool up quickly but do not have the peak end power band gains.

In the last 10 years the range of turbo chargers is always increasing and we commonly find variable vane turbo chargers, allowing the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp.

Twin scroll turbo chargers divert the exhaust gases into two channels and feed these at differently angled vanes in the turbo. They also increase the scavenging effect of the engine.

You'll commonly see there's a limitation in the air flow sensor MAP/MAF/AFM on the RD28T when a lot more air is being sucked into the engine.

We note 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 guide to twinchargers if you want to read more.

Uprating RD28T fuel injectors

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

As a rule of thumb add another 20% when specifying an injector, this accounts for injector deterioration and gives you 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.

Best RD28T performance exhausts

You only need to to upgrade your exhaust if the current exhaust is creating a restriction.

On most factory exhausts you should find that your flow rate is fine 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 will certainly help 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.

Typically exhaust restrictions come around the catalyst installed, so adding a freer flowing high performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Problems and issues to look out for on the RD28T

The RD28T 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 RD28T, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your RD28T engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our RD28T 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 tuning mods were the most effective for them, it helps us improve our recommendations and articles to reflect current trends in modifications and ensures that our RD28T 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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