Tuning Feature: Nissan VG33E Modified

"Comprehensive guide to tuning and performance parts on the Nissan VG33E engine!"

We are frequently getting posts asking about the optimum VG33E mods that work. So let us look into Nissan VG33E modifications and outline the best mods that work on this great engine and point out some problems along the way.

Let us review VG33E tuning and summarise the best upgrades. Nissan VG33E provide a fun base for your project and with carefully chosen modified enhancements like remaps, turbo kits and camshafts you will noticeably maximize the drivers enjoyment of your car.

When talking about the top parts for your VG33E engine, we are going to focus on the mods that give the biggest return for your cash.

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 camshafts tend to bump the bhp and torque across the rev band, you could drop a little low end torque but your higher rpm power will be better.

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

In a typical daily driver one, ideally, must carefully try to optimize your engines power to your driving style.

You will never have found a VG33E Competition camshaft is a pleasure to live with when in heavy traffic.

Different VG33E engines respond better to more or less aggressive camshaft durations so view each engine as unique.

The ecu map and fuelling also have a large bearing on the bhp gains you'll make.

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.

VG33E Tuning Stages

Stage 1 VG33E modifications: Sports exhaust manifold, Panel air filters, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Intake headers, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Fast road camshaft.

Stage 2 VG33E modifications: Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Fast road cam, fuel pump upgrades, high flow fuel injectors, Ported and polished head, induction kit.

Stage 3 VG33E modifications: Engine balancing & blueprinting, Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Twin charging conversions, Competition cam.

A remap will help to establish the full potential of all the tuning parts you've done to your VG33E.

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 may vary depending on the tuning parts you've fitted and the condition of your engine.

It is the main goal to any car tuning project to get air and fuel into the VG33E engine

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

Design and flow rate of the Intake manifold can make a substantial difference to to fuel delivery on the VG33E.

Many mass produced engine headers are begging for aftermarket tuning parts, although a few makers provide reasonably well designed headers.

Larger VG33E valves, getting VG33E port enlargement and head flowing will also raise performance, & importantly will raise potential for a better performance increase on other modifications.

Turbo upgrades for the VG33E

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 VG33E

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 your motor is fitted with a turbocharger upgrades are simpler to install and we find turbocharged engines are built with harder and stronger components.

However you will find an engines will need better parts at higher power limits

See where you'll find these restrictions and fit higher quality crank and pistons to survive the power.

It's not unheard of mechanics spending a lot of money on turbo charger upgrades on the VG33E only to suffer the indignity of watching the whole thing go up in smoke just after it's first rolling road session.

Larger turbochargers often suffer a bottom end lag, and small turbochargers spool up more quickly but don't have the peak end bhp gains.

Over the last 20 years the selection of turbochargers is always evolving and we now see variable vane turbochargers, where the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end power.

Twin scroll turbochargers divert the exhaust flow into 2 channels and direct these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo charger. They also help the scavenging effect of the engine.

You'll commonly see there's a limitation in the air flow sensor AFM/MAP on the VG33E 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 sapped bhp and torque at a much lower level.

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

Uprating VG33E 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 performance increase.Don't forget to over specify your injector capacity.

The accepted safe increase is to add 20% capacity when buying an injector, this accounts for injector deterioration and allows 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 VG33E performance exhausts

You may need to upgrade your exhaust if the current exhaust is actually causing a flow problem.

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

Don't go with the widest exhaust you can source you'll reduce 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.

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

Problems and issues to look out for on the VG33E

The VG33E 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 VG33E, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your VG33E engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our VG33E owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

We need your help to complete and improve this page, so do give us your feedback in the comments box below.

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 VG33E guides and tips are kept up to date.

Please Check out my YouTube channel, we're regularly adding new content...

Click to accept YouTube Cookies & Play.

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.

If you liked this page please share it with your friends, drop a link to it in your favourite forum or use the bookmarking options to save it to your social media profile.