Tuning Feature: Nissan RD28Ti Modified

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Nissan RD28Ti engine!"

We are frequently getting emails asking about the best RD28Ti upgrades. So let us look into Nissan RD28Ti mods and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some potential pitfalls along the way.

The Nissan RD28Ti really good project engines and with carefully chosen motorsport enhancements like a remap, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will greatly maximize your driving enjoyment.

This pages aim is provide a guide to RD28Ti tuning and summarise the best mods that work.

The optimum RD28Ti mods on an engine are usually the ones that give the best value for money.

We won't be swayed by popular RD28Ti mods, they need to be cost effective.

Altering your RD28Ti cam often will make a dramatic difference to your engines torque. Choosing a higher performance cam profile raises the torque accordingly

NB: Fast road camshafts tend to increase the performance over the rpm range, you could drop a little bottom end bhp but the higher rpm power will be higher.

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

For a daily driver one, ideally, need to optimize your engines power to your typical driving style.

You'll never have found a RD28Ti Motorsport cam is a pleasure to live with when driving around busy urban areas.

Each engine responds better to less aggressive cam durations so set your engine up on a rolling road.

The ecu map and fuel pump and injectors also will say much 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.

RD28Ti Tuning Stages

Stage 1 RD28Ti modifications: Fast road camshaft, Sports exhaust manifold, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Panel air filters, Intake headers.

Stage 2 RD28Ti modifications: Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Fast road cam, Ported and polished head, high flow fuel injectors, induction kit, fuel pump upgrades.

Stage 3 RD28Ti modifications: Engine balancing & blueprinting, Twin charging conversions, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Competition cam.

A remap allows a tuner to unlock the full potential of all the tuning mods you've done to your RD28Ti.

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 rely on the tuning mods you've carried out and the condition of your engine.

Pulling more air into the RD28Ti engine is the whole point to any engine upgrade project.

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

The bore size, shape and flow rate of the Air Intake manifolds can make a big effect on to fuel mixing and power on the RD28Ti.

We often see air intake manifolds are crying out for an upgrade, although some manufacturers provide decently flowing air intake manifolds.

Adding a RD28Ti larger valve kit, carrying out RD28Ti port enlargement and head flowing will also raise bhp, and as an added benefit will permit a greater bhp increase on other mods.

Turbo upgrades for the RD28Ti

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 RD28Ti

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 a car is turbo charged tuning mods are giving better power gains and you'll see that turbocharged engines are built using stronger components.

There are weak spots for every engine, with some being incredibly solid and some only able to handle stock power

It is important to find these limitations and install higher quality crank and pistons to utilize the power.

We see many guys spending a loads of money on turbo charger upgrades on the RD28Ti only to watch the whole thing go up in smoke soon after it's used on the roads.

Bigger upgraded turbos will usually suffer a bottom end lag, and smaller turbos spool up more quickly but won't have the top end engines power gains.

Thanks to progress the world of turbos is always increasing and we are seeing variable vane turbos, allowing the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp and torque.

Twin scroll turbos divert the exhaust flow into a couple of channels and feed these at differently angled vanes in the turbo charger. They also increase the scavenging effect of the engine.

It is common that there is a restriction in the air flow sensor (AFM/MAF/MAP) on the RD28Ti when considerably 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 was restricting bhp at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large bhp and torque gains, although more difficult to setup. We have this in depth look at twinchargers if you want to read more.

Uprating RD28Ti fuel injectors

Don't omit to raise the fuelling when you are increasing the performance - it makes the car more thirsty. Most tuners we speak with say to over specify your injector capacity.

As a rule of thumb add 20% capacity when specifying an injector, which takes into account injector deterioration and allows a bit of 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 RD28Ti performance exhausts

You may need to improve your exhaust if the existing exhaust is actually creating a restriction.

On most factory exhausts you'll see the exhaust flow rate is still 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 balance the flow of air through the engine.

But if your exhaust pipe is too large, ie: it's over 2.5 inches bore, you will lose a great deal of the exhaust flow rate and end up losing power and torque.

Usual exhaust restrictions come around the catalysts installed, so adding a better flowing sports alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Problems and issues to look out for on the RD28Ti

The RD28Ti 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 RD28Ti, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your RD28Ti engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our RD28Ti 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 RD28Ti 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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