MENUNissan QR25DER Tuning
"All you need to know about tuning the Nissan QR25DER engine!"
The Nissan QR25DER great bases for a tuning project and with the ultimate modified modifications like remaps, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will really maximise your driving opportunities.
Here we provide a guide to QR25DER tuning and provide tips on the optimum modifications.
History, Power & Specs of the QR25DER Engine
- QR25DER supercharged & 20hp electric motor 250 hp at 5600 rpm and 243 lbft at 3600 rpm
Tuning the Nissan QR25DER and best QR25DER performance parts.
Best QR25DER parts
The top QR25DER parts on an engine are usually the ones that give the biggest return for your cash.
We won't be swayed by popular QR25DER parts, they need to be cost effective.
Altering your QR25DER camshaft will make a dramatic difference to the engine bhp. Choosing a higher performance camshaft profile raises the bhp accordingly.
Fast road camshafts commonly boost the power across the rev band, you may lose a little low end bhp but the top end will be higher.
- QR25 cam specs Stock 244 intake 232 exhaust
- Stage 1 cams (fast road): 262-264 intake 242-256 exhaust
- Race cams 264-272 intake 257-264 exhaust
Motorsport camshafts, boost the top end band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.
In a daily driver you should ideally to match your torque band to your preferences.
You'll never think that a QR25DER Competition camshaft is a pleasure to live with when in heavy traffic because low end power will be very lumpy. Competition cams are designed for maximum power at the top end of the RPM range, a place that most daily commutes will not permit!
Different QR25DER engines respond better to extreme cam durations so view each engine as unique.
The ECU mapping and fuelling also have an effect on the power gains you'll achieve.
Altering 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.
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Best Engine Mods for your car
- Engine Tunes - engine tuning/remapping provides the most advantage in terms of cost savings, aftermarket ECUs, and piggyback ECUs are all alternatives.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Head work - The goals of porting and flowing the head are to get air flowing into the engine while removing flow restrictions and turbulence.
- 58 PSI 340cc/min 200hp
- 58 PSI 511cc/min 300hp
- 58 PSI 682cc/min 400hp
- 58 PSI 285cc/min 200hp
- 58 PSI 426cc/min 300hp
- 58 PSI 312cc/min 200hp
- 58 PSI 468cc/min 300hp
- 58 PSI 625cc/min 400hp
Typical stage 1 mods often include:
Sports exhaust header/manifold, Panel air filters, drilled & smoothed airbox, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Fast road camshaft, Intake manifolds.
Typical stage 2 mods often include:
fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, induction kit, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, high flow fuel injectors, Ported and polished head.
Typical stage 3 mods often include:
Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Twin charging conversions, Competition cam, Engine balancing & blueprinting.
ECU flashing will help to establish the full potential of all the modifications you've done to your QR25DER.
(In some cases, as the factory ECU is locked flashing is not an option, so an aftermarket ECU is the route to take, and many of these will outperform factory ECU's but make sure it has knock protection and that you get it setup properly.)
It will usually give you around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NA (naturally aspirated) engines, but the outcome usually depend much on the modifications you've fitted and the condition of your engine.
It is the main goal to any engine performance tuning task to pull air into the QR25DER engine
The intake plenum take the air from the filter and allow it to be fed into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.
The bore size, shape and flow rate of the Air Intake manifolds can make a big change to fuel delivery on the QR25DER.
On popular production engines plenum chambers are crying out for motorsport parts, although some manufacturers provide reasonably well designed plenum chambers.
Increasing the QR25DER valve size, doing some port matching and head flowing will also raise torque, & importantly will make space for a better torque increase on other parts.
QR25DER Turbo upgrades
NA (naturally aspirated) 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 QR25DER. On the supercharged QR25DER you could add an underdrive pulley for a quick and easy power gain although this may affect the aircon compressor range as well.
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 car is fitted with a turbocharger parts are giving better power gains and most turbo engines are built with more solid components.
There are weak spots for every engine, with some being very over engineered and some only just able to handle stock powerResearch these limitations and upgrade to stronger pistons, crank and engine components to utilize the power.
There are many people spending a a stack of money on turbo charger upgrades on the QR25DER only to suffer the humiliation of seeing the whole thing explode when it's used on the roads.
Larger turbo chargers tend to suffer low end lag, and smaller turbo chargers spool up really quickly but don't have the top end engines power gains.
In recent times the world of turbo units is always developing and we now see variable vane turbo units, where the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp and torque.
Twin scroll turbo units divert the exhaust gases into 2 channels and push these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo. They also help the scavenging effect of the engine.
It is common that there is a limitation in the air flow sensor (AFM/MAF/MAP) on the QR25DER when a lot more air is being drawn into the engine.
We see 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor was restricting bhp and torque at a much lower level.
Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large bhp gains, although more complex to configure. We have this in depth look at twinchargers if you want to read more.
Fuelling
Don't overlook the need to ramp up the fuelling when you are increasing the torque - it makes the car more thirsty. 
Don't forget to over specify your injector capacity.
The accepted safe increase is to add another 20% when specifying an injector, this takes into account injector deterioration and allows a little 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.
All the following flywheel power targets will assume an injector duty cycle of 80% and a base of 58psi of fuel pressure at idle.
4 Cylinder turbocharged engines
4 Cylinder NA (naturally aspirated) engines
4 Cylinder supercharged engines
QR25DER Performance Exhausts
You only need to replace your exhaust if the current exhaust is creating a flow problem.
On most factory exhausts you'll find your 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.
Sports exhausts can usually air flow through the engine but do not go too large or you could very well end up with a reduced flow rate. So generally speaking, keep to 1.5 to 2.5 inches as a rule of thumb.
Typically exhaust restrictions are in the catalyst and filters installed, so adding a better flowing high performance aftermarket one will improve air flow, and rather than doing an illegal decat, will keep the car road legal.
Weak spots, Issues & problem areas on the QR25DER
The QR25DER engines are generally reliable and solid units, as long as you follow the manufacturers service schedules, and use a good quality oil to ensure longevity. Few problems should happen as long as they are regularly serviced and maintained.
Carbon build up in the head, particularly around the valves which will sap power or create flat spots, this is a larger issue on direct injection engines but should be looked out for on all engines. We have tips on removing carbon build up.
Some of our members have had issues with flat spots or glitches after applying mods and upgrades or tuning, this is not usually related to this engines design, so instead see our article on diagnosing flat spots and problems after tuning which should help you get the bottom of this issue.
Regular oil changes are vital on the QR25DER, especially when tuned and will help extend the life and reliability of the engine.
If you would like to know more, or just get some friendly advice on Tuning your QR25DER engine please join us in our car forums where you can discuss QR25DER tuning options in more detail with our QR25DER owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Nissan tuning articles to get insights into each modification and how effective they will be for your car.
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