After a bit of research on the Nissan’s VVL system and reading about the Mazworx Drag S15 with a SR20VE head conversion I was very intrigued.

For those who don’t know the VVL system it’s a variable valve lift and timing system, much like Honda’s VTEC system. The full name of Nissan’s system is “Nissan Ecology Oriented Variable Valve Lift and Timing” or just NEO VLL. The main difference from the VTEC system is that NEO VVL engages the change of intake and exhaust cams independently. You can read all about the different VVL-engines here. And you’ll find a description of how the VVL system works in the first post here.

What are the advantages compared to a SR20DET head then? Reliability, more airflow (larger ports) and the possibility for some really high rpm’s.

I started a discussion with JapTuning (Swedish tuner, specialized in Japanese cars) about the VE head conversion and it ended up with JapTuning being the main engine partner for this build. JapTuning will be responsible for a complete longblock build of the engine while some of the custom jobs of the sump/flywheel/manifolds/etc will be done elsewhere.

So the plan now is to do a head conversion, putting a SR20VE head on a SR20DET block. (And an engine management system that can control the solenoids for the VVL engagement, which all of the “high-end” engine management systems are capable of.) With new sleeves, 90.0mm pistons, new valvetrain, dry sump and much more, the engine will then be a JapTuning built “SR22VET”.

It will be fun to try something new and hopefully this will be a good engine setup for the Nissan GT500 in the end. And it still is a SR20 engine which is important to me – a flirt with the cars origin.

Ps. Check out this YouTube video of the Mazworx Drag S15, revving up to 11 000 rpm! Ds.