Infiniti Q40 Tuning

"Thanks for reading this Infiniti Q40 tuning guide."

A site visitor asked for more information on the Q40 and how to tune it up and modify it, so this how to guide has been assembled to go over what we feel are the primary areas we rate and are the best upgrades you can do to this engine.

The Q40 is a good project car to try. With the right mods your Q40 can be transformed into an awesome motor. Don't waste money, do your homework and follow our unbiased guides to each performance upgrade to avoid wasting money.

Handling/Suspension upgrades

Handling modifications are high on the agenda for the Q40.

If you set the toe out to 0.9 to 1.5 degrees on the front, and add some negative camber then cornering will usually improve.

Drop the car optimally somewhere in the region of 25mm - 42 mm. and fit motorsport grade stiffer dampers, bigger drops will need other modifications in most instances.

Fitting bigger discs and better high friction brake pads can make for radically enhanced braking.

Note that motorsport friction pads can be noisier and will have to be hot before they bit.

On your regular commute to work the brakes are only applied now and then, therefore will not stop you as well so select brake pads which don't need to be really hot.

Turning our attention to the Q40's engine we need to get a bit more power out of the top end.

To be completely frank and honest, on the more modest engine sizes you are wasting your time spending money on modifications, so if this applies to you get yourself an engine swap then apply the following mods.

Tuning modifications.

Typically these modified parts are usually carried out by our members, decide how far you want to go before you get started.

Getting the correct grade of modified upgrade kits for your planned usage of the car is essential. Stage 3 competition upgrades just won't work well on the road difficult in stop start traffic.

Please watch our video which covers the 5 principles of tuning your car. Be sure to keep up with our latest YouTube content and subscribe.

Best Engine Mods for your car

1. Engine Tunes - engine tuning/remapping provides the most advantage in terms of cost savings,  aftermarket ECUs, and piggyback ECUs are all alternatives.
2. Fast road cams are one of the most significant mechanical changes, but they must be installed by someone who knows what they're doing and they are not always easy to source but you might find a local firm to regrind a stock camshaft.
3. Intake and Exhaust - Note that on their own these mods will NOT ADD POWER in most cases, but they can help enhance power after other mods by removing the restriction.
4. Upgrades to turbochargers and superchargers - forced induction is the most efficient approach to increase air supply, allowing you to burn more fuel and make more power. It is one of the most costly upgrades but provides the best gains.
5. Head work - The goals of porting and flowing the head are to get air flowing into the engine while removing flow restrictions and turbulence.

Typical stage 1 mods often include: Panel air filter, Suspension upgrade (drop 25mm - 42 mm.), Alloy wheels, Engine Tunes/Remapping, Lighter flywheel, Sports exhaust.

Typical stage 2 mods often include: fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, high flow fuel injector, Ported and polished head, Power/Sport clutch.

Typical stage 3 mods often include: Engine balancing, Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Competition cam, Sports gearbox, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger).

Your aim when tuning the engine should be a wide torque output. You don't want all the torque to be at the top end unless you are creating a motor sport car.

In this article we shall give a limited introduction to the best upgrades for your car, but we'd encourage you to spend some time on the site looking into the details of each type of performance upgrade.Fast road cams offer one of the biggest performance gains for your money as far as a bolt on performance upgrades goes on a NA (naturally aspirated) engine.

It improves the intake and exhaust flow and increases the power if done right. Ideally you'd add other mods and finish up with a remap. We'd also caution you not to go with a competition cam as this affects the engines idling and general town driving characteristics.

When pushing up the power you will need to uprate to the fuelling. More power needs more fuel.

If you find you experience flat spots and surges after your uprated parts you should check the fuelling and try a higher octane fuel as well. To get sufficient fuel you may need to upgrade the injectors on your engine.

If have increased your fuelling with bigger injectors you will also need to get a bigger fuel pump to supply it.

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust.  Contrary to popular belief there is usually very little if any power gain to be had by fitting an induction kit, they only work well and are recommended after you raise the engines power to the point where the standard air intake box cannot cope!

Induction kits can work well on turbo engines and larger engines (if supplied with a suitable cold air feed or air box), generally though we'd just recommend for Q40 engines you should settle for a sports panel air filter preferably made from cotton.

Sports exhausts balance the flow of air through the engine. But if your exhaust pipe is too big, ie: over 2.5 inches bore, you will lose much of the flow rate and end up losing power and torque.

Getting a professionally flowed (ported and polished) head with larger valves can fully release the engines power. Your clutch can lose you loads of power as you increase the power if it starts to fail and the standard clutches are only ever good for power gains of up to 43%. Fit a power clutch to avoid power losses through the transmission. The best mods we recommend for your Q40 are fast road camshaft, remap, induction and exhaust, suspension.

Remaps offer big power gains on all turbo charged cars. On NA (naturally aspirated) engines the benefits are doubtful. However a flashed ecu on a NA (naturally aspirated) engine will help unleash the potential if you have done a lot of mods.

We've also come across some owners playing with twincharging conversions and making some very high power gains.

Despite the large cost involved adding forced induction to a NA (naturally aspirated) engine will give large power gains. Turbos are often harder to add than a supercharger. With a turbo the power curve is related exponentially to the engine speed making it difficult to map fuelling with.

It is more straightforward to map a supercharger because the boost is directly proportional to engine speed on a linear curve. Adding forced induction will usually require a lower compression ratio or water injection.

Alloy wheel upgrades.

Alloy wheels can help the brakes cool down and are generally less heavy than the steel ones. If you are serious about performance then you will need to carefully choose your tires - ideally with a directional tread pattern tire. Large Q40 alloys can decrease performance. If you get big alloys you will be changing your final drive ratio.

Although some people have fitted larger wheels we would stick to a 16 inch rim size as the maximum.

For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss Q40 options in more detail with our Q40 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Infiniti tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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