MENUNissan VQ30DE-K Tuning
"All you need to know about performance tuning the Nissan VQ30DE-K engine!"
The Nissan VQ30DE-K great bases for a tuning project and with carefully chosen tuning tuning mods like a remap, turbo improvements and camshafts you will positively maximise your driving opportunities.
VQ engines appeared from 1994 and has won awards pretty much every year since then.
The VQ platform is V6 and capacity ranged from 2.0 to 4.0 and engines were adopted by Renault and even formed the basis for Nissan's race engines - the VQ30DETT
Our aim here is to detail the best approach to VQ30DE-K tuning and show the greatest mods that work.
History, Power & Specs of the VQ30DE-K Engine
This is based on the VQ30DE and the suffixed -K denotes improvements and the VQ30DE-K has an innovative intake manifold (not on US models though) which gave better performance and the engine was more efficient overall.
- VQ30DEK produces 227 PS (167 kW; 224 hp).
Tuning the Nissan VQ30DE-K and best VQ30DE-K performance parts.
Best VQ30DE-K parts
Just because particular parts are popular with VQ30DE-K owners it doesn't mean you should fit it, we shall concentrate on the greatest parts that will give your VQ30DE-K the biggest power gain return for your cash.
Altering your VQ30DE-K cam will make a dramatic difference to the engine power band. Choosing a higher performance cam profile raises the power band accordingly.
Fast road cams usually raise the bhp and torque across the rpm range, you could drop a little low end bhp but top end will be better.
Motorsport cams, raise the top end band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.
A Motorsport and race camshaft makes it harder when driving around busy urban areas. This is because a competition cam causes a very lumpy idle, and makes the car more prone to stall or jerk along in stop start traffic, sadly though many ignore this and end up ruining a perfectly good car and having to revert back to a fast road, or OEM cam profile.
You should ideally match your power band to your preferences so for a car used daily stick with a fast road VQ30DE-K camshaft
Different VQ30DE-K engines respond better to less aggressive camshaft durations so set your engine up on a rolling road.
The ecu map and fuel pump and injectors also have a large bearing on the torque gains you'll get.
A longer valve duration 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.
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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 189cc/min 200hp
- 58 PSI 284cc/min 300hp
- 58 PSI 378cc/min 400hp
- 58 PSI 568cc/min 600hp
- 58 PSI 227cc/min 200hp
- 58 PSI 341cc/min 300hp
- 58 PSI 454cc/min 400hp
- 58 PSI 682cc/min 600hp
Typical stage 1 mods often include:
Panel air filters, Fast road camshaft, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Sports exhaust header/manifold, drilled & smoothed airbox, Intake manifolds.
Typical stage 2 mods often include:
Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Ported and polished head, high flow fuel injectors, induction kit, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam.
Typical stage 3 mods often include:
Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Engine balancing & blueprinting, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Twin charging conversions, Competition cam.
A remap should help to fully realize the full potential of all the parts you've done to your VQ30DE-K.
(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 your results usually rely on the parts you've fitted and the condition of your engine.
It is the whole point to any tuning project to get fuel and air into your VQ30DE-K
An intake manifold will channel the air from the air cleaner and allow it to be drawn into the engine and mixed with fuel.
The bore size, shape and flow rate of the Intake can make a big change to fuel atomisation on the VQ30DE-K.
It's not uncommon that intake manifold are needing a performance upgrade, although some car makers provide well optimised intake manifold.
Stock cranks on the 3.5 turbos are strong enough to handle power approaching 1000bhp so make a good option on other VQ engines.
The CVVTCS system keeps the valve durations shorter at lower engine speeds and can alter both lift and duration. When the RPM increases the valves open for longer durations.
Big valve conversions on the VQ30DE-K, doing some port work and head flowing will also boost bhp and torque, & importantly will allow you to get a better bhp and torque increase on other modifications.
VQ30DE-K 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 VQ30DE-K
The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes superb power gains.
When your motor has forced induction modifications are simpler to install and most turbo charged engines will have many forged and stronger components.
There are practical limits for every engine, with some being over specified and some only just able to handle stock powerResearch these limits and upgrade to better pistons and crank to utilize the power.
We see many guys spending a a stack of money on turbocharger upgrades on the VQ30DE-K only to experience the whole thing go up in smoke soon after it's used on the roads.
Big turbo chargers will usually experience no power at low rpm, and little turbo chargers spool up really quickly but do not have the high rpm torque gains.
In the last 10 years the selection of turbochargers is always increasing and we are seeing variable vane turbochargers, allowing the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp and torque.
Twin scroll turbochargers divert the exhaust gases into a couple of channels and direct these at differently profiled vanes in the turbocharger. They also improve the scavenging effect of the engine.
It is not unusual that there's a limitation in the air flow sensor MAF/MAP on the VQ30DE-K when loads more air is being pulled into the engine.
You'll see that 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 power gains, although harder to setup. We have this article on twincharging if you want to read more.
Fuelling
When you raise the bhp and torque you will need to uprate to the fuelling.
More bhp and torque needs more fuel. 
Most tuners we speak with say to be generous with your flow rate on the injectors.
As a rule of thumb add 20% when specifying an injector, this allows for injector deterioration and affords a little 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.
All the following flywheel power targets will assume an injector duty cycle of 80% and a base of 58psi of fuel pressure at idle.
6 Cylinder NA (naturally aspirated) engines
6 Cylinder turbocharged engines
VQ30DE-K Performance Exhausts
You only need to increase your exhaust if your exhaust is creating a restriction in flow.
On most factory exhausts you'll see the flow rate is good 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 will certainly help air flow from the engine but do not go too large or you might just stuff your flow rate and make things worse. So generally speaking, keep to a size of 1.5 to 2.5 inches for best results.
Usual exhaust restrictions can be located the catalyst and filters installed, so adding a better flowing race alternative such as a sports catalyst pretty much removes this restriction, thanks to it's larger size and surface area, and will effectively raise the performance to levels you would expect without having a catalyst installed, but keeps the car road legal.
Weak spots, Issues & problem areas on the VQ30DE-K
The VQ30DE-K 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 VQ30DE-K, 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 VQ30DE-K engine please join us in our car forums where you can discuss VQ30DE-K tuning options in more detail with our VQ30DE-K 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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