Where Infiniti has been a player in the upscale market for some time now, it was only recently that they’ve become a serious opponent to the Germans. The G37 paved the way for the modernly aggressive styling of the Q50, leading it to become more than just a thorn in the side of the 3-Series, C-Class, or the A4. The introduction of the 3.0T pushed that challenge even further.
The newest addition to the VR family of Nissan engines, derived from the beating heart of the GT-R, is teeming with technology and horsepower. It’s their way of blending performance with luxury. But these strides to raise the bar over the typical luxury cars means nothing if the engine is throttled by carbon buildup. What is all that sensational interior and flashy design good for if it can’t meet peak performance? Herein lies a compelling thought. Sometimes luxury is best defined by what’s happening under the hood.
These cutting-edge technologies still suffer from age-old flaws. The formula of the VR30DDTT powering the Q50, even if packed full of innovation, also turns out to be the perfect breeding ground for blow-by and carbon buildup. Coupling turbos together with a 10.3:1 compression ratio and direct injection is the perfect environment to clog up the electronically controlled valves with an oil and fuel mixture. Where BMW and Audi have started to incorporate air-oil separators in the PCV systems (which we found could still use some help), the Infiniti has allowed contaminated crankcase pressure to pass through uninhibited.
Even for the most advanced engines, catch cans are still a top solution to ensure the inner workings of the 3.0T stay as clean as the expertly sculpted body lines or lush interior. Our engineer, Dan, had his work cut out for him with this project though. Finding the space for mounting one of our catch cans and routing the lines are two separate obstacles. With the Q50, these two morphed into one since there is one quality about this model that is traditionally Nissan – the total lack of space under the hood.
Dan still found a viable mounting location for our can, nestled next to the driver’s side air-to-water intercooler. Given the already cramped engine bay, Dan did do something a little out of character, which was to design the bracket to mount to the engine itself. To ensure that our kit would stay in place with vibrations, Dan designed a beefier bracket that would no doubt stand up to excessive movement. On top of that, servicing this catch can would be a feat with given mounting location, but Dan already had that in the back of his mind.
After squeezing our prototype kit under the hood of our loaner Q50, we sent it back out on the road for our standard 1000-mile road test. This assessment is a two-pronged tool of the new kit. On one side, this will be a gauge of how much murky stuff there is to catch. On the other side, we’ll find out if there is a symbiotic relationship between our catch can and all of the Q50’s systems. Stay tuned to see how well our prototype kit performed.
THE LUXURY OF PERFORMANCE – DIRECT FIT CATCH CAN R&D, PART 2 – TESTING RESULTS
You do notice, however, in the past few months that it might stumble a bit on startup. It’s not returning the same fuel efficiency as it once did. The once mighty twin-turbo V6 in your Infiniti feels tired and not quite as peppy as it did the day you drove it off the dealer’s lot. This sort of takes the luxury part out of sports luxury sedan and makes you wish that you headed off the inherent issue of blow-by before it ended with carbon buildup.
The highly engineered and newest addition to the Nissan/Infiniti VR engine family might be among one of the heaviest hitting six-cylinders out there today, but as we covered in our stock review, it’s also the perfect breeding ground for carbon buildup—an issue that has plagued every internal combustion engine since the beginning of internal combustion engines. However, in our last post we gave you a preview of just how to keep blow-by from making it to the intake valves, keeping them gunk free. Since then, we’ve produced a full kit. Let’s take a look.
We always design our mounting brackets to be as strong as possible, since the catch can doesn’t do much good if it’s just hanging loose in the engine bay. In this case we took extra care with ensuring the bracket’s rigidity, seeing as the most viable mounting location was affixed to the engine. Our engineer designed this bracket with some additional thickness as well as a support gusset to help it withstand the pitch and yaw of the engine under any sort of driving.
Once the bracket and can are installed, our pre-molded lines then come into the mix. We don’t have to tell you that an air-to-water intercooling system to support the turbos adds a sort of organized chaos to the Q50 and Q60’s engine bay. It can seem like a daunting task to reroute the PCV system. Luckily, the stock line can be easily spotted and replaced without OEM-style, J30R7 spec lines while maintaining a clean install that looks like it was already there when it rolled off the assembly line.
Whether you just purchased one or it’s been a few years down the line, the Q50 and Q60 are meant to keep you draped in luxury from the quilted-leather cabin to the tech-packed powertrain. The most luxurious part is these models perform, and perform well, under all conditions. There’s no reason they shouldn’t be kept to that standard.
