Tuning Feature: Nissan RB24DET Modified

"Comprehensive guide to performance tuning the Nissan RB24DET engine!"

We are frequently seeing threads inquiring about getting more power from the RB24DET and wanting to know what are the optimum RB24DET power upgrades. So let us look into Nissan RB24DET tuning mods and outline the best mods that work on this great engine and point out some common pitfalls along the way.

In this article we review RB24DET tuning and outline the greatest modifications for your car. Nissan RB24DET are popular engines and with the ultimate uprated upgrades like remaps, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will positively maximize the drivers fun of your car.

When talking about the optimum parts for your RB24DET engine, we are going to concentrate on the tuning mods that give the best power gain for you spend.

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

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

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.

For a car driven daily one, ideally, must carefully try to optimize your bhp range to your driving style.

You will never have found a RB24DET Motorsport and race camshaft is a pleasure to live with when driving around busy urban areas.

Each engine responds better to more aggressive camshaft durations so view each engine as unique.

The engine timing and fuelling also will make differences 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.

RB24DET Tuning Stages

Stage 1 RB24DET modifications: Panel air filters, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Fast road camshaft, Intake headers, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Sports exhaust manifold.

Stage 2 RB24DET modifications: induction kit, Fast road cam, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, fuel pump upgrades, high flow fuel injectors, Ported and polished head.

Stage 3 RB24DET modifications: Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Competition cam, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Twin charging conversions, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves).

A remap will help unlock the full potential of all the upgrades you've done to your RB24DET.

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 often differs on the upgrades you've applied and the condition of your engine.

It is the main goal to any engine tuning project to shove more air and fuel into each cylinder

The intake plenum carry the air from the filter and allow it to be fed into the engine cylinders.

Structure and flow characteristics of the Intake can make a noticeable effect on to fuel engine efficiency on the RB24DET.

Many mass produced engine intake headers are crying out for aftermarket tuning parts, although some makers provide fairly well optimized intake headers.

Larger RB24DET valves, getting 3 or 5 angle valve jobs and porting and head flowing will also lift bhp, & importantly will give you an improved bhp increase on other parts.

Turbo upgrades for the RB24DET

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 RB24DET

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 has forced induction parts are more reliable and you'll see that turbo charged engines use better components.

However you will find an engines have weakspots

Research these limits and install more solid crank and pistons to handle the power.

We've seen guys spending a fortune on turbo upgrades on the RB24DET only to suffer the humiliation of seeing the engine literally blow up just after it's used on the roads.

Big turbos commonly experience low end lag, and small turbos spool up quickly but don't have the top end torque gains.

Thankfully the world of turbo chargers is always evolving and we commonly find variable vane turbo chargers, permitting the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end power.

Twin scroll turbo chargers divert the exhaust gases into a couple of channels and feed these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo. They also help the scavenging effect of the engine.

It is common that there's a limitation in the air flow sensor MAF/MAP on the RB24DET when loads more air is being pulled into the engine.

Going up you'll find 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor limited performance at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large power gains, although more challenging to install. We have this in depth look at twinchargers if you want to read more.

Uprating RB24DET fuel injectors

Don't miss you'll need to uprate the fuel system when you are increasing the bhp and torque - it makes the car more thirsty. It makes sense to be generous with your flow rate on the injectors.

The rule of thumb is to add 20% to the flow rate when specifying an injector, helps cope with 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 RB24DET performance exhausts

You may need to upgrade your exhaust if your current exhaust is actually causing a restriction.

On most factory exhausts you'll find the flow rate is still ok 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 can help increase the flow of gases through the engine.

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

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

Problems and issues to look out for on the RB24DET

The RB24DET 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 RB24DET, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your RB24DET engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our RB24DET 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 RB24DET 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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