MENUNissan VQ30DE Tuning
"All you need to know about tuning the Nissan VQ30DE engine!"
The Nissan VQ30DE have loads of potential and with the right performance tuning mods like a remap, turbo kits and camshafts you will definitely enhance your driving experience.
Here we detail the best approach to VQ30DE tuning and summarise the greatest mods that work. The VQ engines are in a V6 configuration with cc from 2.0 to 4.0. This was adopted by Renault and an inspirational fact is that it even formed the basis for Nissan's race engines - the VQ30DETT
History, Power & Specs of the VQ30DE Engine
VQ30DE
193 PS (142 kW; 190 hp) to 227 PS (167 kW; 224 hp) at 6400 rpm 205 to 217 lbft (278 to 294 Nm) at 4400 rpm
VQ30DETT - Race series engine
480 PS (353 kW; 473 hp).
It was utilized in the following vehicles:
'02–'03 Skyline GT-R JGTC race cars
'04 Fairlady Z JGTC race cars
'05–'06 Fairlady Z Super GT race cars
Tuning the Nissan VQ30DE and best VQ30DE performance parts.
Best VQ30DE mods
The best VQ30DE mods on an engine are usually the ones that give the best value for money.
We won't be swayed by popular VQ30DE mods, they need to be cost effective.
Altering your VQ30DE camshaft will make a dramatic difference to the engine engines power. Choosing a higher performance camshaft profile raises the engines power accordingly.
Fast road cams tend to boost the power over the rev band, you might lose a little bottom end torque but high end rpm power will be lifted.
Motorsport and race cams, boost 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 road car you need to match your power band to your typical driving style.
I'd be completely gobsmacked if you have ever thought or claimed that a VQ30DE Motorsport and race camshaft is a pleasure to live with when on the daily commute, because the lumpy idle will make the car prone to stall and smooth driving at low rpm becomes impossible. If you are developing a track car this doesn't matter as you are in the high end of your RPM range anyway and that is where you want the power to be.
Each engine responds better to different camshaft durations check your engine on a rolling road.
The map and fuel pump and injectors also have a large bearing 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.
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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.
Typical stage 1 mods often include:
Panel air filters, Fast road camshaft, Intake manifolds, drilled & smoothed airbox, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Sports exhaust header/manifold.
Typical stage 2 mods often include:
high flow fuel injectors, induction kit, fuel pump upgrades, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Fast road cam, Ported and polished head.
Typical stage 3 mods often include:
Engine balancing & blueprinting, Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Competition cam, Twin charging conversions.
A remap will help to establish the full potential of all the tuning mods you've done to your VQ30DE.
(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 power output will vary depending on the tuning mods you've done and the condition of your engine.
It is the main goal to any performance tuning job to pull more air into your VQ30DE
Intake take the air during the suck phase from the air filter and allow it to be fed into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.
The shape and flow rate of the Plenum can make a large difference to fuel engine efficiency on the VQ30DE.
Most intake manifolds are begging for an upgrade, although some OEM provide decently flowing intake manifolds.
Increasing the VQ30DE valve size, doing some port work and head flowing will also increase performance, this will permit an improved performance increase on other tuning mods.
VQ30DE 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
The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes significant power gains.
When the engine is fitted with a turbo upgrades are more reliable and you'll see that turbo engines will have stronger components.
There are practical limits for every engine, with some being over specified and some only able to handle stock powerDiscover these limitations and fit forged components to cope with the power.
There are many drivers spending a a stack of money on turbo charger upgrades on the VQ30DE only to experience the whole thing catastrophically fail soon after it's been enthusiastically driven.
Larger capacity turbo chargers often experience no power at low rpm, and little turbo chargers spool up much more quickly but do not have the peak end power band gains.
In recent times the world of turbo chargers is always developing and we commonly find variable vane turbo chargers, allowing the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end performance.
Twin scroll turbo chargers divert the exhaust gases into two channels and direct these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo. They also increase the scavenging effect of the engine.
It is common that there is a limit in the air flow sensor (AFM/MAF/MAP) on the VQ30DE when considerably more air is being sucked into the engine.
We note 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 performance gains, although more difficult to setup. We have this guide to twinchargers if you want to read more.
Fuelling
Don't dismiss the need raise the fuelling when you are increasing the torque - it makes the car more thirsty. 
We would recommend you to over specify your injectors flow rate.
The accepted safe increase is to add 20% capacity when specifying an injector, helps cope with injector deterioration and provides you some 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.
VQ30DE Performance Exhausts
You may need to boost your exhaust if the current exhaust is actually causing a restriction.
On most factory exhausts you should find that the exhaust flow rate is still 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 out of the engine but avoid an exhaust that is too big 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.
Usual exhaust restrictions come around the catalyst and filters installed, so adding a freer 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
The VQ30DE 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.
High oil consumption and a rough idle have been noted on the VQ30DE but the engine is generally very reliable.
Regular oil changes are vital on the VQ30DE, 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 engine please join us in our car forums where you can discuss VQ30DE tuning options in more detail with our VQ30DE 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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