Tuning Feature: Nissan VG33ER Modified

"Comprehensive guide to tuning and performance parts on the Nissan VG33ER engine!"

We often are getting posts requesting information on the things we are recommending when it comes to VG33ER upgrades. So let us look into Nissan VG33ER modifications and outline the best mods that work on this great engine and point out some frequent tuning mistakes along the way.

The Nissan VG33ER great bases for a tuning project and with the optimum motorsport enhancements like remapping, turbo improvements and camshafts you will noticeably enhance your driving enjoyment.

In this article we examine VG33ER tuning and summarise the premier mods that work.

When talking about the optimum parts for your VG33ER engine, we are going to concentrate on the ones that give the best value for money.

Altering your VG33ER camshaft often will make a dramatic difference to your engines bhp. Choosing a higher performance camshaft profile raises the bhp accordingly

NB: Fast road cams usually bump the bhp across the rev band, you may lose a little low end bhp but high end rpm power will be lifted.

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

A Motorsport and race camshaft is not great in heavy traffic.

You should ideally optimize your bhp range to your driving style so for a daily driver stick with a mild fast road VG33ER camshaft

Some VG33ER engines respond better to more or less aggressive camshaft durations so set your engine up on a rolling road.

The ecu map and fuelling also have an effect on the power gains you'll get.

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.

VG33ER Tuning Stages

Stage 1 VG33ER modifications: Panel air filters, Intake headers, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Fast road camshaft, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Sports exhaust manifold.

Stage 2 VG33ER modifications: Ported and polished head, high flow fuel injectors, induction kit, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust.

Stage 3 VG33ER modifications: Twin charging conversions, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Competition cam, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves).

The VG33ER engine blocks respond well to mods and thanks to their popularity there are plenty of modifications and performance parts out there.

Mapping allows a tuner to fully realize the full potential of all the tuning parts you've done to your VG33ER.

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

It is the whole point to any engine modification task to force fuel and air into the VG33ER engine

Air Intake manifolds flow the air from the intake filter and allow it to be drawn into the engine cylinders.

The shape and flow rate of the Headers can make a noticeable difference to to fuel atomisation on the VG33ER.

It's not uncommon that intake headers are improved through motorsport parts, although a few makers provide fairly well optimized intake headers.

Increasing the VG33ER valve size, getting port matching and head flowing will also improve bhp and torque, & more importantly will afford you a greater bhp and torque increase on other tuning mods.

Turbo upgrades for the VG33ER

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 VG33ER

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.

When a car is turbo charged parts are simpler to install and turbocharged engines use uprated components.

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

Discover these limits and fit better quality crank and pistons to utilize the power.

There are many people spending a loads on turbocharger upgrades on the VG33ER only to experience the motor throw a rod when it's used on the roads.

Larger capacity turbochargers tend to suffer low end lag, and low capacity turbochargers spool up more quickly but don't have the peak end torque gains.

In the last 10 years the choice of turbo chargers is always evolving and we are seeing variable vane turbo chargers, allowing the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end torque.

Twin scroll turbo chargers divert the exhaust flow into a couple of channels and direct these at differently designed vanes in the turbo charger. They also help the scavenging effect of the engine.

It is common that there's a restriction in the air flow sensor AFM/MAF on the VG33ER when a lot 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 limited torque at a much lower level.

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

Uprating VG33ER fuel injectors

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so must look at the fuelling when you start going beyond 20% of a bhp increase.Don't forget to over specify your injector capacity.

The rule of thumb is to add another 20% when specifying an injector, this takes into account injector deterioration and provides a little 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 VG33ER performance exhausts

Only look to increase your exhaust if your current exhaust is creating a flow problem.

On most factory exhausts you'll see 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 increase the flow of air through the engine.

But if the exhaust is too big, ie: it's over 2.5 inches bore, you will lose much of the exhaust flow rate and end up losing power and torque.

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

Problems and issues to look out for on the VG33ER

The VG33ER 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 VG33ER, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your VG33ER engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our VG33ER 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 VG33ER guides and tips are kept up to date.

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