The Pursuit of the Perfect Engine: Uncovering the Balance of Nissan's LS1

When it comes to engines that can deliver power and reliability without breaking the bank, few options come close to the Nissan VQ. With its iconic 6-cylinder design and reputation for smooth performance, this engine has become a favorite among car enthusiasts. In this article, we'll delve into the world of the Nissan VQ and explore what makes it such an exceptional choice.

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The Nissan VQ is not just any engine; it's a powerhouse that can deliver impressive results without sacrificing performance or reliability. For those looking for an affordable and powerful engine, the VQ offers an attractive solution. Whether you're building a custom car or upgrading an existing one, the VQ is an excellent choice.

A Balanced Engine

So what sets the Nissan VQ apart from other engines on the market? The answer lies in its ability to balance vibration, rigidity, and power delivery. By carefully engineering these key aspects, the VQ can deliver a smooth and seamless driving experience that's hard to match. This is no easy feat; it requires a deep understanding of engine dynamics and a commitment to excellence.

Vibration Control

One of the most critical factors in achieving a balanced engine is vibration control. The Nissan VQ features a range of innovations designed to minimize vibrations and ensure smooth operation. These include advanced balancer systems, optimized crankshaft design, and carefully tuned camshaft profiles. By controlling vibration, the VQ can deliver a more refined driving experience.

Bolstered Rigidity

Another key aspect of the Nissan VQ is its rigidity. A stiff engine block and head, combined with precision-crafted internal components, help to minimize flexing and ensure that power is delivered smoothly. This attention to detail ensures that the VQ can produce impressive torque and horsepower without compromising performance.

Smooth Power Delivery

So what does it take for the Nissan VQ to deliver smooth power delivery? According to the engineers who designed this engine, it all comes down to careful tuning and calibration. By fine-tuning the ignition timing, fuel injection, and exhaust system, the VQ can produce a thrilling driving experience that's hard to match.

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The Nissan VQ: A Versatile Engine

The Nissan VQ is more than just an engine; it's a versatile powerplant that has been used in a range of models, including SUVs. With its ability to produce impressive torque and horsepower, the VQ is well-suited for a variety of applications. Whether you're building a custom car or upgrading an existing one, the Nissan VQ is definitely worth considering.

The VQ35HR: A High-Revving Engine

Within the world of the Nissan VQ, there's one engine that stands out above the rest: the VQ35HR. This high-revving engine features an updated version of the VQ35DE design and boasts improved performance and reliability. With its aluminum block and head, this engine is not only lighter but also more efficient.

A Secret Advantage

So what makes the Nissan VQ35HR so special? According to our experts, it's a little-known fact that this engine is actually lighter than its inline iron block cousins. This is due to its 60-degree V6 design, which allows for a shorter crankshaft and smaller engine bay. By saving weight and space, the VQ35HR can deliver impressive performance without sacrificing refinement.

Torque Production

One of the key strengths of the Nissan VQ is its ability to produce torque. With around 260 pound feet of twist, this engine is well-suited for a range of applications, from street cars to SUVs. By delivering a broad and flat torque curve, the VQ can provide smooth acceleration and effortless driving.

Powerful Performance

So what kind of performance can you expect from an engine like the Nissan VQ35HR? With stock versions ranging from 297 to 360 horsepower, this engine is more than capable of producing impressive results. Whether you're cruising down the highway or carving up twisty roads, the VQ35HR delivers a thrilling driving experience.

Exhaust System Tuning

For those looking to maximize their Nissan VQ's performance potential, exhaust system tuning is an essential consideration. By carefully optimizing the exhaust system, drivers can unlock significant gains in power and torque delivery. This is no easy feat; it requires a deep understanding of engine dynamics and a commitment to excellence.

Ignition Timing Calibration

Another critical aspect of the Nissan VQ's performance is ignition timing calibration. By fine-tuning the ignition timing, fuel injection, and exhaust system, drivers can unlock significant gains in power and torque delivery. This is a complex process that requires careful attention to detail; however, with the right expertise, it's possible to achieve impressive results.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Nissan VQ is an exceptional engine that offers a unique combination of performance, reliability, and versatility. With its ability to balance vibration, rigidity, and power delivery, this engine delivers a smooth and seamless driving experience. Whether you're building a custom car or upgrading an existing one, the Nissan VQ is definitely worth considering.

CarGurus: Your Partner in Car Buying

For those looking for a hassle-free car buying experience, CarGurus is an excellent resource. With its Good Deal Rating program, you can rest assured that you're getting the best price possible. Whether you're shopping online or at a dealership, CarGurus provides valuable insights and tools to help you navigate the car-buying process.

By understanding the key aspects of the Nissan VQ and using the right resources, drivers can unlock impressive performance gains and deliver an exceptional driving experience. With its versatility, reliability, and smooth operation, this engine is sure to remain a favorite among car enthusiasts for years to come.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- A portion of today's videois sponsored by CarGurus.Hey you, yeah, you.Do you want a cheap,powerful and reliable enginethat can pretty much do it all.One that rips,but doesn't rip into your pocket book.No, I'm not talking about GM's LS1,I'm talking about Nissan's LS1.a B6 with an iconic grout,the VQ engine.Today, we're gonna talk about what makesthis engine so balanced,so smooth, so q-biquitous.And we're gonna do that,by focusing on how theengineers cut vibration,bolstered rigidity andsend all that smooth powerinto a smooth close-ratio transmission.We bout to get fricking smooth in here.(upbeat music)Thanks to CarGurusfor sponsoring thisportion of today's video.Now are looking for a car,but might be a little nervousthat you're not getting the best deal.Well with CarGurus,they give every car a deal rating.That way you'll know ifyou're getting the best price.I bought a truck last summerand I overpaid like an idiot,and it still keeps me up at night.So don't burden yourselfwith having the constant reminderthat you got screwed.Don't be me.You see CarGurus is selective,only one out of five carsgetting their Good Deal Rating.So when they say it's a good deal,it actually is one.CarGurus also gives you thecomplete vehicle historyand other unique info,like how long the car hasbeen sitting on the lot.That way you can negotiatean even better price,when you get to the dealership.CarGurus knows that for some people,purchasing a car just can't wait.So they have partneredwith dealerships across the countryto provide contactless shopping optionsso you can safely find, test driveand purchase a car duringthe COVID-19 outbreak.Click the link in the descriptionto go find your next car today,or visit CarGurus.com.And thanks to CarGurusfor sponsoring this portion of the video,just like the Chevy LS1,the Nissan VQ is the cheap, reliable wayto make a bunch of power.This engine is also extremely versatile,which is why it's found,in a bunch of different Nissan models.It's one of the reasons,we bought two identical 350Zs awhile ago,and you know what you guys should do,hit that bell and notificationbecause we got HiLow seasontwo coming out this week.So you wanna know when that drops,hit the little bellhit the subscribe that helps us out.You can tune them,you can hone themand you can boon them, boy.Now there are various VQ models,but we're gonna focuson one in particular,the VQ35HR or High Rev,'cause it's the crème de la crème of VQ.Now this updated version of the VQ35DE,is almost completely redesignedwith 80% of the internalsbeing strengthenedand reconfigured tohandle a higher rev range.Now, other iconic engines likethe 2JZ or the RB26,might be able to handle morepower and more compression,but the VQ35HR, it holdsa little baby secret.Come here, it's lighter than all of them.Now all that is thanksto an aluminum block in head,now compared to itsinline iron block cousinsthe RB and the 2J,the 60-Degree V6 saves weight and spacebecause it's shorter than an inline stickbecause it has a smaller geometry,it can be squeezed into asmaller engine bay saving space,which then saves weight.That's good,but it's not just weightor lack of weight I should saythat makes this engine great.It's the versatility as well.The VQ is able to make a bunch of torquearound 260 pound feet of it,which is why they put thisengine in SUVs as well.The VQ35HR can be foundin the Infiniti FX35,in the EX35and stock versions can be anywherefrom 297 to 360 horsepower,when it's paired with an electric motor,like in the Hybrid Infinity M35h,the h means horse hybrid.You didn't know that.And if you didn't put ittogether from the engine code,this thing revs high,all the way up to 7,600 RPM,but you might be saying,"Okay, revs are high,but Jer, you can get muchmore powerful with 2J.You can get much more torque from an LS.You can get much moreattention from an RV."And all that is true,but that's not what makes theVQ an all time great engine.Okay sure, the abilityto tune this engine is a great feature,but it's something else thatmakes the VQ35HR, truly great.(upbeat music)So to understand whythis engine is so good,we have to look at all theforces it's able to handleand how the engineer'sbalance those forces.Now, V12, inline-six's, V6, inline-four's,they all have different forces actingduring their combustion cycle,which creates some enginesbeing inherently morebalanced than others.But what does that even mean?What does having a balanced engine mean?Well, there's two types of balance.There's primary and there's secondaryand primary engine balance has to dowith the force exertedfrom the pistons going upand down in the cylinderand perfect primarybalance is the end goalfor any engine manufacturer.That's what you want,its Holy Grail.And an engine is balancedin different ways.One of them being with reciprocating mass,if all the pistons wentup and down together,that engine wouldn't be balanced at alland there would be a ton of vibration.The engine would probablyshake itself apart,(babbling) you know, like that.So those forces need to be balancedin order to cut down on vibrationand make power delivery more uniform.And when the piston is going up,another piston is going downand one piston is at top dead center.And the reciprocating pistonis at bottom dead center.That's the top of the cylinder.That's at the bottom of the cylinder.Now, if you look at it on the graph,with the Y axis being piston position,and the X axis being time,the movement of the pistonmakes a sinusoidal curve.And that's just a fancyword that I can barely saythat describes the way a shape makes.It's like this.It's like a snake, just think of a snake.So you see how thatsecond piston is oppositeof that first piston,this counterbalance is crucial,but it's also not the only thing,keeping these forces in line.Now another way to fight theseforces is with counterweightsand counterweights are weighted piecesthat sit at the base of thepiston at the connecting rod,and they counteract theforce of the piston,going up and down in the cylinder,in the same reciprocating waythat the pistons do.And by adding these weights,they can help furtheralleviate engine vibration,but they also introduceda bit of lateral forceto the engine,which can be detrimental.Any energy that's not goingdirectly into the crank,is lost energy.So even if the pistonsare exerting equal forcesagainst each other,there still might beunbalanced forces of foot.And that's where secondaryengine balance comes into play.Now, secondary engine balanceis a little more complicated.And in basic terms,it's caused by the piston traveling fastertowards the top of the cylinderthan it does towards thebottom of the cylinder.Now that might be a little confusing,but we're gonna figure it out, watch.So to understand this,we're gonna have a look atthe different phases of one rotationof the crank shaft.Now let's assume bottom deadcenter is at zero degrees.And top dead center is at 180 degrees.So you have 90 degreesand 270 degrees in between them.Now when the piston is traveling,between the 90 degree positionand the 270 degree position,the distance it has to travel is furtherthan the distance it travels,when the piston is movingfrom 270 degrees to zero,and then back to 90 degrees againNow, because this distance is further,the piston has to move fasterin the same amount of time.And that's becausethe shape of the crankisn't perfectly symmetrical.Does that make sense?Great, if it does, you'renow a certified B2b Engineer.We should actually have a school.We should have the Donut Institution.B2b can be like your engineering course,Money Pit that's like shop class.Up to speed, that's history.Yeah, wheelhouse is like biology.You're always learning stuff.It's right there in front of your face,but you never really knew about it.And that's what Nolan does with cars.He has the ability totell you all this stuff,that's right there in your facethat you didn't know.And then when you do know,you're like, cool.I love my biology teachers.Now this slight difference in distance,results in a slight arrhythmia,which causes more vibration.Now, since it's happening twiceper rotation of the crank,it's double the frequencyof the fundamentalfrequency of the engine.Now, the more harmonious the engine isthe smoother it will runand vibrations will be minimized.Now, inline-six's are some ofthe most inherently balanced engines.It's V6, bro broThey need a little bit of help.It's kinda like Tony Starkand his Iron Man suit, okay.He needs a little bit of engineering helpto be the master that he is.So what little bits ofengineering help do V6's need?Well, stay with me.We're gonna talk about it.(upbeat music)When I say inherentlybalanced, what does that mean?Well, it means that italmost has perfect primaryand secondary balances.It doesn't need some ofthat Tony Stark engineering,to help with its balance.And that's because there are three setsof reciprocating masses.That's the pistons,there's three sets of two.And if you look at the firingorder of an inline-six,the pistons are exactly mirrored.The pistons on the end,pitsons one and six theyfire at the same time,same with pistons two and five.And same with pistons three and four.Well that's great forinline engines, Jerry Berry,but we're talking aboutV-shaped engines here,so what's the deal?Why are they slightly less balanced?Well, in a firing order,the pistons have of a V6 are,one, two, three, four, five, six,pretty simple to remember.Additionally, the cylinderbanks are at a different anglethan an inline.So the pistons shoot indifferent directions,instead of just up and down.So the HR needs someadditional components.It needs some Tony Stark engineeringto counteract those unbalanced forces.Now a lot of that is taken care ofwith a harmonic balanceror damper as some people call it.Now the power that issent to the crank shaftfrom the pistons,can cause something calledtorsional vibration,which is when the crank shaftshifts around in its housing.So the harmonic balancer is connected tothe free end of the crankand it absorbs some ofthose torsional vibrationssince the crank shaft andinline engines are longerthan their V-shaped counterparts,torsional vibration is a bigger concernwith those enginesbecause they have muchmore of an opportunityto flex and contort.think about it, you got longer bars,you can twist a little biteasier when it's short,it's really hard to do that.Now, in order to makethe new VQ more rigidand less prone to vibration,Nissan engineers devised a ladder frame,called a main cap girdleto the bottom of theirengine, it's girdle.It's just like how grandmas wear a girdle,so they remain rigidwhen they're standing up,you know what a girdle is,go into your mom's closet.She's gonna be like,"What are you doing here?"and be like, I'm learning science mom.If that grandma line doesn't work for you,just go ask your mom what a girdle isand she's gonna say, "Zip it Chad,just eat your corn pops okay."Best case scenario,your mom whips out a girdle.(laughs)Now either way, this new girdle helpedto stiffen up the engine quite a bit.And not only that,it prevents crank walkand crank walk is whenthe crankshaft ships toomuch in the crankcase.Now this girdle also preventsother parts of the enginefrom twisting and moving into forming,which is pretty typical in ahigh power high torque engine.But the block isn't the only thingthat needed to be beefed up.Now with high powered engine,all those little bits and bops and bupsand stuff are under a lot of stressand the internal components in the VQDE,wouldn't have been ableto handle that stresswithout being bolstered.So the connecting rods on the pistonand the DE are eight millimeters thickand nine millimeters thick in the HR.Now, one millimetermight not be that much.That's 12 and a half percent thicker.Think about if you were 12and a half percent thicker.And although it's onlyone millimeter difference,the connecting rods inthe HR are 25% strongerin the main cap.So the pieces that holdthe crank shaft in place,now they have four boltsinstead of the normal two,which provides a sturdier structurein which the crank shaft sitsand adds to the overallrigidity of the engine.You're just having more and more waysto make this engine more rigidand prevent a bunch of vibrations.Now, the reduce vibrationsand the increased rigidity in the VQ,allow for a smooth power delivery.That's only part of the equation.And this is where we're gonnatalk about the transmission.(upbeat music)And yeah, I know, okay.Its technically not a VQ engine,the transmission isdifferent than the engine,but the right transmission,can dictate how your car performs.And it's a great transmissionand we want to talk about it,So we're gonna do it.So in this section,we're gonna focus one of the transmissionsfrom the 350Zs,specifically the JK41B, 6speed manual transmissionNow this gearbox is smoothfor a number of reasons.One of them being that itutilizes close-ratio gears.Now somehow we've never explained,close-ratio gears here on B2b.So this is gonna be fun.We're all gonna learn, it's great.Now the most basic terms,a close-ratio transmission has gearsthat are close in ratios.It's the same thing ashaving a 10-speed bikeand a 20-speed bike,say you're riding a10-speed bike and you pedal.The workload puts on your legsbecomes less and less, right?And when it comes time toshift to a higher gear,there's a bit of a jolt,when your legs get used tohaving to do the extra workof this new gear,legs are like, "Hey, what the heck?Why you shifted gears on me?"And you're like, "Shut up legs.I'm trying to go faster."They were just moving so fastand now they have to adjust.They're like, "Oh, this is harder to do.I can't go as fast."But in a 20-speed bike,likes say Flippa, Flippais got 20-speed bike.You're shifting twice as much.And that makes the ride a lot smoother.It's not such a jolt to your legsas with a 10-speed bikebecause there gears that arecloser together in ratio.And the same principle can beapplied to the transmission,found in the Z,now close-ratio gearing wouldn't be smoothwithout the unique synchronizerthat Nissan employees intheir 6 speed transmission.You don't know what a synchro is?Don't worry, you're in good hands.You're in my hand.Now the synchronizer synchronizesthe speed of the inputand the output shaftsand the transmission.In this case, the crank shaftand the drive shaft,and it aligns the gearswhile you're shifting.It makes the whole process of shiftingand engaging gears a lotsmoother and quicker.And if you didn't have a synchro,the gears would grind against each other.Fun little fact,we did an episode on Peterbilta couple of weeks back,and they use transmissionsthat don't have synchronizers.So if you ever wondered like,"Hey, why is that big rig soundlike it's grinding gears?"Well, it's becausethe drivers have to manually synchronizethe engine RPM so they canshift from one gear to the next.Now synchros are shared by adjacent gears,for instance, first gear and second gear,they share synchroand the same with gearsthree, four, five and six.And that's because theylive between those gears.Now reverse gear doesn't need a synchrobecause the car needsto be at a dead stop,for it to engage.And that's because the input shaftand the output shaft already synchronized,'cause they're not moving,but what sets smooth transmissions apartfrom really smooth transmission,is the amount of frictionrings per synchro.Now, in the case ofthe JK41B transmission,the first, second and third gears,all have triple-cone syncrosand fourth gear has a double cone.And I know that's a lot,but stick with me.Now, if you have one friction ring,taking on all that frictionand slowing down the shafts,it's going to be rougherand slower than having multiplerings doing the same job,but with multiple ringsduring the same job,they're working togetherto handle that accelerationmuch quicker and smoother,which makes it easier on the driverand all that helps to makethe driving experiencethat much better whenyou're in one of these cars,the engineers of thisengine on this transmission,when they put it in 350Z,they did a great job.And you know what we did,we bought two, 350Zsand we try to engineer them better.We recorded the whole series,it's called HiLow,and actually season twois dropping this week.So go back, watch season one,if you didn't,we took two cars that were the same,we put expensive parts one,we put cheaper parts on the other.We pitted them against themselvesThat fireworks still going off.I don't know if you can hear it,but it's fireworks season in LA.Okay now,thanks so much guys for watching.Follow me on Instagram @JeremiahBurton.Got a cool car you wanna see on the showor cool bit of engineering hit me up.Let me know what you wanna see.Follow us on donut @donutmedia.Bye for now.