In case you're interested...
Clark Steppler of Jim Wolf Technology flowed the VE injectors and found them to be 314cc. The compression is 11.0 to 1 and according to John Martin of JUN, is reached through the use of convex pistons. The oil filter part # that came on my VE was 15208-65F01. I still have it and it has holes on the inner sleeve that are larger in diameter and more numerous than the ones in the 15208-65F00 inner sleeve. I checked with Clark at JWT and he looked on a new parts CD from Nissan and the correct filter reported by Nissan for the SR20VE is the F00. Your local Nissan dealer will tell you that the number 15208-65F01 is not valid. The F00 does fit and I'm currently using it.
A couple things about this motor....
The SR20VE is in many ways Nissan's answer to Honda's VTEC, and though it employs a similar technology, it is a VERY different engine. It is not a peaky motor by any means. The torque curve is as flat as a pancake. The stock performance numbers for the VE were reached through a higher compression ratio, a better intake and exhaust design and of course variable valve lift and timing. Yeah yeah yeah, I know all that. What's your point? The point is that most of the moderate gains that were relatively easy with bolt-ons with the DE are a little more complex with the VE.
Here is one example...
The DE stock exhaust manifold next to the VE stock manifold. You can see the obvious differences. In case you can't make it out, the design is 3 over 1 and with a 4 into 2 configuration. My Stillen aftermarket DE header is a 2 over 2 with a 4 into 2 config.
The other side...
I did some rough measurements of the VE manifold runners. They look like they range from 12 to 13 inches in length. The VE manifold ports are a couple of mm wider than the DE manifold ports and the VE manifold also has longer runners. So an aftermarket VE header with only these features would probably give very little if any pony gain over stock. It may actually sap hp.
There are still a couple of pluses to installing a DE aftermarket header. Some aftermarket headers have equal length runners, some have thermal coatings and most are lighter than the stock VE cast manifold. I am still unsure if my DE aftermarket header is giving me a gain or a loss over the stock VE header. I don't really care so much as I plan to sell or toss it within the next 6 months anyway. The bolt pattern for the exhaust manifold is the same, so my aftermarket DE header bolted right up and the downpipe and muffler obviously piggybacked on the header. The header's two EGR bypass ports have plugs in them now as they were not utilized by the VE. A neat project would be to extrude hone the OE VE exhaust manifold and test it back to back with an aftermarket header. That would be interesting but not something in my future either. I also won't be trying the 4 into 1 config. It would also be a neat experiment but I have heard from JUN that this will yield negative results. 4 into 2 into 1 is supposed to be the best for the VE (this again from JUN).
The ECU is a great place to get more power from your SR20VE. Not only can you change the fuel mapping etc., but now you can vary when the aggressive lobes come on line and even when they overlap and don't. My ECU currently brings the aggressive lobes on line simultaneously. The stock program staggers the aggressive lobes by about 500rpm. Nissan advertises the asynchronous lobe-switch as a tool for flattening the power delivery. I believe this may also be done to enhance performance. Just as the retention of a cat on your exhaust is beneficial for low end grunt on a normally aspirated DE, switching to the ALs on the intake cam and keeping the exhaust cam on the non-aggressive lobes may be advantageous for a short period at lower rpm. My current ECU has a synchronous lobe switch and this creates no seat-of-the-pants power interruption or surge. Granted, I have not driven an SR20VE with the stock program, but the power onset of this engine is smoother than it was with my DE. Having said that, I still believe that an asynchronous switch would yield a couple more hp.
Here is my reprogrammed ECU that was meant for a DE.
You can see the
familiar JWT daughterboard. What's that spaghetti
comin' out of it? Those
lines (red and blue) go out to the oil pressure
solenoids that control the
lobe switch. If you look real close, you can see VVL
on the daughterboard.
And these are those solenoids...
In this shot the solenoids are on the right (orange and green).
The typical POP charger will probably yield gains similar to those seen in the DE. JWT has a POP adapter that will join a cone to the VE MAFS. I learned from Clark that the VE MAFS is identical to the one found in the Nissan Frontier (A truck - not sure which year - probably 1998 and up). This could be a unique alternative to a bored/polished DE MAFS. Since JWT has the flow "in their books", they could probably have a chip in your hands pretty quickly. I would guess that this particular hop-up for the DE would gain very little, but it would be interesting. You may need to do some wire soldering though.
Ok, so hp gains from dome or larger flat pistons and headers are pretty much built into this motor, what about a turbo? This engine may be a little trickier than the DE to turbocharge. Since convex pistons are employed to get the 11 to 1 compression, you might want (read have to) to install some DE pistons to get down to 9.5 (or use JWT's to get even lower) or throw on a monster copper head gasket. The stock squirters are 314cc on the VE (the DEs are 259) so you might get away without changing them for very modest amounts of boost.
Right now Clark of JWT is helping me to lean out the AF mix and get the most out of the NA setup. The performance right now is less than a well modified SR20DE. We think think the culprit is a rich WOT AF ratio which is about 11.5 to 1. After we nail it, I'll start to accumulate parts for the next stage...