Tuning Feature: Nissan VG30DE Modified

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Nissan VG30DE engine!"

We are frequently getting posts inquiring about getting more power from the VG30DE and wanting to know what are the greatest VG30DE upgrades. So let us look into Nissan VG30DE parts and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some potential pitfalls along the way.

The Nissan VG30DE make awesome project engines and with the right sports enhancements like remapping, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will positively maximize your driving enjoyment.

TorqueCars will look at VG30DE tuning and outline the ultimate modifications for your car.

When talking about the optimum parts for your VG30DE engine, we are going to focus on the modifications that give the best power gain for you money.

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

NB: Fast road cams normally raise the bhp and torque throughout the rev range, you could sacrifice a little low down torque but higher rpm power will be higher.

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

On a car driven daily one, ideally, should ideally to optimize your power band to your driving style.

You will never have ever thought a VG30DE Motorsport and race cam is a pleasure to live with when on the daily commute.

Some VG30DE engines respond better to mild cam durations so set your engine up on a rolling road.

The engine timing and fuel pump and injectors also will make differences on the power gains you'll make.

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.

VG30DE Tuning Stages

Stage 1 VG30DE modifications: Panel air filters, Fast road camshaft, Intake headers, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Sports exhaust manifold.

Stage 2 VG30DE modifications: Fast road cam, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Ported and polished head, fuel pump upgrades, induction kit, high flow fuel injectors.

Stage 3 VG30DE modifications: Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Competition cam, Twin charging conversions, Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Engine balancing & blueprinting.

A remap helps to establish the full potential of all the parts you've done to your VG30DE.

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 will rely on the parts you've applied and the condition of your engine.

It is the aim to any engine modification task to force air into each cylinder

Headers flow the air from the intake filter and allow it to be fed into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

The shape and flow rate of the Intake headers can make a noticeable improvement to fuel engine efficiency on the VG30DE.

Commonly we find the headers are in desperate need of a performance upgrade, although a few makers provide fairly well optimized headers.

Increasing the VG30DE valve size, doing a bit of 3 or 5 angle valve jobs and porting and head flowing will also increase bhp, and more importantly will raise potential for an improved bhp increase on other tuning parts.

Turbo upgrades for the VG30DE

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 VG30DE

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

When your motor has a turbocharger upgrades are giving better power gains and you'll see that turbocharged engines are made with harder and stronger components.

However engines will have power limits

Discover these limits and fit more solid crank and pistons to handle the power.

We've seen drivers spending a loads of money on turbo upgrades on the VG30DE only to watch the whole thing explode soon after it's used in anger.

Big capacity turbo chargers will usually suffer low end lag, and smaller turbo chargers spool up much more quickly but do not have the peak end bhp gains.

We are pleased that the market of turbochargers is always increasing and we are seeing variable vane turbochargers, allowing the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp.

Twin scroll turbochargers divert the exhaust gases into two channels and feed these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo charger. They also boost the scavenging effect of the engine.

It is not unusual that there is a limit in the air flow sensor MAP/MAF/AFM on the VG30DE when a lot more air is being fed 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 power at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large bhp and torque gains, although harder to setup. We have this article on twincharging if you want to read more.

Uprating VG30DE fuel injectors

Don't miss you'll need to increase the fuel system when you are increasing the bhp - it makes the car more thirsty. It is important to over specify your injectors flow rate.

The rule of thumb is to add 20% capacity when specifying an injector, this takes into account injector deterioration and allows some 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 VG30DE performance exhausts

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

On most factory exhausts you'll find the exhaust 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.

Note that with the largest 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 located in the filters installed, so adding a higher flowing performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Problems and issues to look out for on the VG30DE

The VG30DE 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 VG30DE, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your VG30DE engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our VG30DE 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 VG30DE 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.