Tuning Feature: Nissan RB30E Modified

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Nissan RB30E engine!"

We are regularly seeing threads asking about the things we are recommending when it comes to RB30E modifications. So let us look into Nissan RB30E tuning mods and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some common pitfalls along the way.

Now we will look into RB30E tuning and outline the best mods that work. Nissan RB30E really good project engines and with a few sensible tuning upgrades like remapping, turbo kits and camshafts you will definitely enhance the drivers pleasure of your car.

When talking about the ultimate parts for your RB30E engine, we are going to focus on the modifications that give the best power gain for you spend.

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

NB: Fast road cams commonly push up the torque over the rev range, you may lose a little low end power but the top end will be lifted.

Motorsport cams, push up the top end band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

A Race cam is not great on the daily commute.

You should ideally match your bhp range to your driving style so for a car used daily stick with a shorter duration RB30E cam

Each engine responds better to mild cam durations than others.

The map and fuel pump and injectors also will make differences 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.

RB30E Tuning Stages

Stage 1 RB30E modifications: Remaps/piggy back ECU, Intake headers, Panel air filters, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Fast road camshaft, Sports exhaust manifold.

Stage 2 RB30E modifications: fuel pump upgrades, high flow fuel injectors, Ported and polished head, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, induction kit, Fast road cam.

Stage 3 RB30E modifications: Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Twin charging conversions, Competition cam, Engine balancing & blueprinting.

ECU flashing should help to release the full potential of all the parts you've done to your RB30E.

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but the end result usually depend much on the parts you've fitted and the condition of your engine.

It is the aim to any engine modification project to pull more air and fuel into the RB30E engine

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

Shape and flow characteristics of the Air Intake manifolds can make a substantial improvement to fuel engine efficiency on the RB30E.

On popular production engines air intake manifolds are begging for a performance upgrade, although some manufacturers provide fairly well optimized air intake manifolds.

Larger RB30E valves, doing some RB30E port enlargement and head flowing will also lift torque, and importantly will give you raising the torque increase on other tuning mods.

Turbo upgrades for the RB30E

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 RB30E

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

When the engine has a turbo already fitted tuning mods are giving better power gains and turbo charged engines are built with uprated components.

However engines will need better parts at higher power limits

See where you'll find these limitations and install better quality crank and pistons to handle the power.

We see many drivers spending a loads of money on turbo upgrades on the RB30E only to watch the RB30E go up in smoke on it's first outing after it's finished.

Big capacity turbo chargers will usually suffer no power at low rpm, and small turbo chargers spool up more quickly but do not have the top end bhp gains.

Thankfully the selection of turbochargers is always developing and we now see variable vane turbochargers, permitting the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end torque.

Twin scroll turbochargers divert the exhaust flow into two channels and direct these at differently angled vanes in the turbo. They also improve the scavenging effect of the engine.

It is common that there is a restriction in the air flow sensor AFM/MAP on the RB30E when loads 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 bhp at a much lower level.

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

Uprating RB30E fuel injectors

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will have to ramp up the fuelling when you start extending past 20% of a bhp increase.It is important to over specify your flow rate on the injectors.

The accepted safe increase is to add 20% capacity when specifying an injector, this takes into account injector deterioration and affords 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 RB30E performance exhausts

You only need to to replace your exhaust if the existing exhaust is actually creating a restriction in flow.

On most factory exhausts you'll find the 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.

Don't go with the widest exhaust you can find this will 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.

Common exhaust restrictions are 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 RB30E

The RB30E 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 RB30E, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your RB30E engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our RB30E 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 RB30E 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.