Tuning Feature: Nissan VK56DE Modified

"Comprehensive guide to performance tuning the Nissan VK56DE engine!"

We are regularly getting messages asking about the ultimate VK56DE mods that work. So let us look into Nissan VK56DE upgrades and outline the best mods that work on this great engine and point out some common pitfalls along the way.

The Nissan VK56DE have loads of potential and with the right motorsport mods like a remap, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will noticeably enhance your driving experience.

Let us review and look at VK56DE tuning and provide tips on the greatest modifications.

When talking about the top parts for your VK56DE engine, we are going to focus on the mods that give the biggest return for your cash.

Altering your VK56DE cam will usually make a dramatic difference to your engines engines power. Choosing a higher performance cam profile raises the engines power especially at the top end.

NB: Fast road camshafts normally push up the performance over the rev range, you may sacrifice a little low end torque but your high end rpm power will be better.

Motorsport camshafts, push up the high end 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, need to optimize your torque band to your preferences.

I would be surprised if you have found a VK56DE Motorsport and race cam is a pleasure to live with when driving in heavy traffic.

Some VK56DE engines respond better to more aggressive camshaft durations check your engine on a rolling road.

The ECU mapping and fuel pump and injectors also will make differences on the torque gains you'll make.

Extending exhaust or intake durations 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.

VK56DE Tuning Stages

Stage 1 VK56DE modifications: Fast road camshaft, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Sports exhaust manifold, Panel air filters, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Intake headers.

Stage 2 VK56DE modifications: fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, induction kit, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, high flow fuel injectors, Ported and polished head.

Stage 3 VK56DE modifications: Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Twin charging conversions, Competition cam, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Engine balancing & blueprinting.

The VK56DE engines are great to work on and we're pleased to see that there are plenty of modifications and performance parts about.

ECU mapping helps fully realize the full potential of all the upgrades you've done to your VK56DE.

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

Pulling air and fuel into your VK56DE is vital to any car tuning task.

Air Intake manifolds flow the air from the filter and allow it to be pulled into the engine and mixed with fuel.

The shape and flow rate of the Headers can make a large improvement to fuel engine efficiency on the VK56DE.

It's not uncommon that intake are in desperate need of motorsport parts, although some OEM provide fairly well optimized intake.

Increasing the VK56DE valve size, carrying out VK56DE port enlargement and head flowing will also improve torque, and importantly will give you increasing the torque increase on other tuning parts.

Turbo upgrades for the VK56DE

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 VK56DE

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.

If the engine has forced induction mods are going to make more power and we find turbo charged engines are built using better components.

However most engines will need better parts at higher power limits

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

There are many tuners spending a lot of money on turbo upgrades on the VK56DE only to experience the car explode soon after it's used in anger.

Bigger turbo units tend to experience no power at low rpm, and smaller turbo units spool up really quickly but won't have the peak end bhp gains.

Thanks to progress the selection of turbos is always evolving and we now see variable vane turbos, where the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp and torque.

Twin scroll turbos divert the exhaust flow into 2 channels and feed these at differently profiled vanes in the turbocharger. They also boost the scavenging effect of the engine.

You'll commonly see there's a limit in the air flow sensor AFM/MAF on the VK56DE 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 bhp and torque gains, although more difficult to setup. We have this guide to twinchargers if you want to read more.

Uprating VK56DE fuel injectors

Don't overlook the need to improve the fuel delivery when you are increasing the performance - it makes the car more thirsty. We would recommend you to be generous with your injector capacity.

The accepted safe increase is to add 20% when buying 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 VK56DE performance exhausts

Only look to uprate your exhaust if the current exhaust is actually creating a restriction.

On most factory exhausts you should find that the exhaust flow rate is still 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 can help 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 lacking power and torque.

Usual exhaust restrictions come around the catalyst installed, so adding a better flowing sports alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Problems and issues to look out for on the VK56DE

The VK56DE 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 VK56DE, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your VK56DE engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our VK56DE 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 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 VK56DE guides and tips are kept up to date.

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