Originally Posted by phunk

I was comfortable with the DE at 450tq personally. I ran it that way for a long time and when I tore it down to do the build, the internals and bearings looked perfect! So good in fact, that 10 years later I still have them saved here to look at as a testament.

The VHR not only has slightly beefier parts, but it makes less torque than the DE generally. I am assuming it has something to do with the valve timing / cam profile that is hurting the boosted torque. But it definitely has some to do with the intake manifold... the VHR intake manifold has much shorter runners than the DE... somewhere between 1.5 - 2" shorter.

Between the lower torque, and beefier parts, I think the VHR gives us a far more flexible platform to work with. This is probably why there are VERY few engine builds around here. With the 350z DE... within the second year EVERYONE was building their engines.

We also have a higher redline, giving us more room to take advantage of RPM. I really think 600whp is a pretty safe area if the tune is well done. If I were a better tuner I would have pushed mine further by now. I think I will go a little higher boost in a couple weeks though to see what happens.