Heavy Dupree

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How long have these engines been out in the Q series and people tuning them?
Infinity introduced the VR30 late in 2015. The 300hp version first appeared in NA in the 2016 Infiniti Q50, which I owned. I remember it was several months later when I first read about the Burger JB4 piggyback tuner.


460-480 is that all?
Straight from the AMS website:

Red_alpha_stages_graphic_2020-1280x649.jpg
 

Loco38SUP

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Infinity introduced the VR30 late in 2015. The 300hp version first appeared in NA in the 2016 Infiniti Q50, which I owned. I remember it was several months later when I first read about the Burger JB4 piggyback tuner.




Straight from the AMS website:

Red_alpha_stages_graphic_2020-1280x649.jpg
Whats the price for each stage?

-RJM
 

RicerX

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How long have these engines been out in the Q series and people tuning them?
460-480 is that all?

Be a lot more fun than 382 whp for sure though
I haven't followed up with my buddy at AMS, but I've been in their shop Q60 before when it was pushing over 800 wheel. They're going for 1000 with it, but they've run into limits with the transmission. The unofficial word on the street was they were referred to Level10 Transmission to rectify in the early stages, and AMS engineers have basically found out that whatever Level10 does to the Jatco 7AT is pure snake oil. They invested a ton of money with L10 to get nowhere with what they were trying to do.

500-ish whp is the limit for stock turbos with e85/flex. The turbo/manifold design severely limited options for turbo swaps until right before the pandemic when options began appearing. Enter pandemic-era supply chains, and progress has slowed.

This engine has a ton of overhead, but until now, it's lacked a platform to generate the level of interest necessary to get many to engage at the more extreme levels of tuning and modification. (AMS has been the proponent at least partly due to its business partnership with Nissan, which was no doubt borne of their success tuning GT-Rs to 2000hp+ and six second 1/4mi times). Now they have it with the Z... I think we'll see another significant level in a year or two tops. Fast Intentions had the VQ37 cranked up into the 700s with a twin turbo kit but hasn't done as much with the Q cars. Let's see where companies like that end up with the new Z. The manual transmission can handle a lot with clutch upgrades.
 

takemorepills

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I haven't followed up with my buddy at AMS, but I've been in their shop Q60 before when it was pushing over 800 wheel. They're going for 1000 with it, but they've run into limits with the transmission. The unofficial word on the street was they were referred to Level10 Transmission to rectify in the early stages, and AMS engineers have basically found out that whatever Level10 does to the Jatco 7AT is pure snake oil. They invested a ton of money with L10 to get nowhere with what they were trying to do.

500-ish whp is the limit for stock turbos with e85/flex. The turbo/manifold design severely limited options for turbo swaps until right before the pandemic when options began appearing. Enter pandemic-era supply chains, and progress has slowed.

This engine has a ton of overhead, but until now, it's lacked a platform to generate the level of interest necessary to get many to engage at the more extreme levels of tuning and modification. (AMS has been the proponent at least partly due to its business partnership with Nissan, which was no doubt borne of their success tuning GT-Rs to 2000hp+ and six second 1/4mi times). Now they have it with the Z... I think we'll see another significant level in a year or two tops. Fast Intentions had the VQ37 cranked up into the 700s with a twin turbo kit but hasn't done as much with the Q cars. Let's see where companies like that end up with the new Z. The manual transmission can handle a lot with clutch upgrades.
I can't believe they fell for the Level Ten fallacy. L10 has been AIDS since the early 2000's.

I'm also surprised no one did junkyard digging to cobble something together.
The old Pathfinder had a VQ35 and could be spec'd with a manual transmission that was bolted up to an ATESSA AWD/4WD transfer case, meaning somewhere in the Nissan catalog there is a way to connect a VQ, MT and ATESSA, back in my Honda days we always found ways to mix/match.

I've never seen anybody even try to connect a Nissan MT to the current AWD transfer case used in the G/Q.

I think it's extremely rare to find those who retrofitted the 6MT into the Q VR RWD cars....
 

TaroBaapG35

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I can't believe they fell for the Level Ten fallacy. L10 has been AIDS since the early 2000's.

I'm also surprised no one did junkyard digging to cobble something together.
The old Pathfinder had a VQ35 and could be spec'd with a manual transmission that was bolted up to an ATESSA AWD/4WD transfer case, meaning somewhere in the Nissan catalog there is a way to connect a VQ, MT and ATESSA, back in my Honda days we always found ways to mix/match.

I've never seen anybody even try to connect a Nissan MT to the current AWD transfer case used in the G/Q.

I think it's extremely rare to find those who retrofitted the 6MT into the Q VR RWD cars....

Concept Z Performance retrofitted the 370z MT into Q60 VR a couple years ago...
 

2017370ZBlack

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460-480whp is excellent, if on pump and just a DP. "Is that all?" a disappointment?

I mean, for the average tunable vehicle, that's decent, remember, as great as the Supra is, technically new ones currently need an expensive ECU crack, so that's a demerit of a few thousand dollars.

Unfortunately, for the older FM chassis this new Z is on, 480whp will be a handful. The BMW will handle that kind of power better due to a more sophisticated chassis
Yeah, the BMW has a strut front end while the Z has double wishbone. More sophisticated how? All the Z needs is coilovers and adjustable arms and perhaps stiffer sways.
 

RicerX

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I can't believe they fell for the Level Ten fallacy. L10 has been AIDS since the early 2000's.

I'm also surprised no one did junkyard digging to cobble something together.
The old Pathfinder had a VQ35 and could be spec'd with a manual transmission that was bolted up to an ATESSA AWD/4WD transfer case, meaning somewhere in the Nissan catalog there is a way to connect a VQ, MT and ATESSA, back in my Honda days we always found ways to mix/match.

I've never seen anybody even try to connect a Nissan MT to the current AWD transfer case used in the G/Q.

I think it's extremely rare to find those who retrofitted the 6MT into the Q VR RWD cars....
Concept Z Performance retrofitted the 370z MT into Q60 VR a couple years ago...
Concept Z Performance did it with a RWD Q60. And what they did was relatively simple - the 370Z manual trans bolts right up to the VR30, and the ECU in the Q60 cars actually had a bit flag in its configuration for a manual transmission. There were some other bottle necks with electronics they encountered, but they were able to do it with mostly OEM parts, including the interior, as the European market had a Q50 in diesel form with a manual transmission. All of the interior parts for CZP's manual trans were OEM.

I haven't seen anyone try with an AWD. Would be very interesting to see it done. You might finally have a spiritual successor to the R34 Skyline that way.
 

takemorepills

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Concept Z Performance did it with a RWD Q60. And what they did was relatively simple - the 370Z manual trans bolts right up to the VR30, and the ECU in the Q60 cars actually had a bit flag in its configuration for a manual transmission. There were some other bottle necks with electronics they encountered, but they were able to do it with mostly OEM parts, including the interior, as the European market had a Q50 in diesel form with a manual transmission. All of the interior parts for CZP's manual trans were OEM.

I haven't seen anyone try with an AWD. Would be very interesting to see it done. You might finally have a spiritual successor to the R34 Skyline that way.
Another thing that helped is the Q50 was a transitional car that bridged very minor chassis changes from the G to Q, it was initially available as a VQ before the VR was dropped in. The previous 6MT iterations were not that far back, and Nissan/Infiniti may have wanted to leave that on the table had those cars taken off and the demand was there. As it were, these cars seemed to appeal more as lease vehicles, not popular enough to possibly give us another 6MT.
 

RicerX

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I remember vividly buying my Q50 exactly two months before the VR motor and Red Sport trim were announced. I was downtrodden. lol
 
 





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