UPDATE: 2,000-plus Horsepower Pro Mod Six-Cylinder VQ35 Engine

VQ-3

Back in February, EngineLabs posted a news item on New Zealand racers Keith and Reece McGregor and their insane 3.5L Nissan VQ35 six-cylinder engine developed for the family’s Nissan 350Z Pro Mod machine. At the time, the engine was pumping out 1,804.6 horsepower at 9,500 rpm thanks to the efforts of Keith McGregor on the build.

mcgregorTuner Shane Tecklenburg is responsible for the engine’s calibration using MoTec‘s M800 engine management system and a host of other tools that are at his disposal. One of the wonders of 21st-century tuning is that it can be done off-site, and Tecklenburg assists the team in their development efforts from afar.

Recently the McGregor team put the engine back on the dyno after some new development efforts, and twisted the numbers up to 2,084.1 horsepower and 1,269.0 lb-ft of torque  –  a staggering 279.5 horsepower and 224.8 lb-ft increase from the previous best.

“Nothing has changed engine-wise, we’ve just leaned on the boost a bit harder from when Shane was here,” says Reece McGregor.

The engine is based around a steel-sleeved factory VQ35 engine block and factory cylinder heads, stuffed with a Nismo forged crankshaft, aluminum connecting rods, and forged JE pistons.

Peterson Fluid Systems helps to control the oiling through a custom dry sump oiling system, while twelve Injector Dynamics ID2000 fuel injectors (two per cylinder) handle the fueling requirements. The big power comes from a pair of Precision Turbo‘s 82/85 turbochargers making 35-plus pounds of boost pressure, controlled by TiAL 60mm wastegates to regulate the boost.

Currently the engine is out of fuel pump, according to McGregor, and they are working on a proper replacement to support the new power levels at this time.

“It was dropping fuel pressure at high RPM, so we’ll need to do an upgrade and then run it a bit further out. It’s currently making 48 pounds of boost, so hopefully we can go a bit higher,” says McGregor.

48 psi boost pressure means incredible performance numbers from a diminutive powerplant, and we can’t wait to see what they do with it once the fuel pump is upgraded and they get it on the track. McGregor assures us that will be soon as they seek to compete in the Pro Mod division across the pond.

Check out video of the previous dyno run!

About the author

Jason Reiss

Jason draws on over 15 years of experience in the automotive publishing industry, and collaborates with many of the industry's movers and shakers to create compelling technical articles and high-quality race coverage.
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