Well, engines are engines - it is not a guessing game. Block in both 3.6L or 3.8L engines is fine and can handle a lot. Issue is with what is on top of it plus pistons/rods/crankshaft. There are plenty of info on rebuilding those engines and making they more lightweight and durable, look here for an example.
http://www.rennsportsystems.com/2f.html

Starting with TT is somewhat logical approach but would require more initial investments of course. I am not sure what will be cheaper in the end if goal is to build a proper racecar what can safely stay at redline for pretty long time with no issues to drivetrain.

 

I read somewhere that the 3.8L motor has forged pistons and a steel crank but not positive...DAMN....
I know I did email LN engineering as well......maybe that is where I got the info from
Hate it when I can't remember all of this stuff!

FWI...every car stock or modified can break.......I could take a fatal fall walking down the stairs,doesn't mean I won't walk stairs....

There are a lot of cars out there that DO have FI with ZERO problems.

You seem to enjoy tracking your car....to me THAT is risky and could cause major wear on your car BUT that is what you like to do!
For me it was all about the FI..........
We choose the things that bring us enjoyment,even IF it may bring some risk to the plate!

If you live your life afraid of everything that may bring enjoyment,may as well crawl back into the closet....(not intended for you).

Stacy

 

Heh. What is the point to go after ultimate HP if you are not going to wreck your car in the end?

I understand that Porsche used to have forged crank in 993 or pre-993 cars and still uses that in GT3 and turbo engines but all bottom level cars are not forged anymore. There is a huge deal about rebuilding engines for cup cars and people spend huge money of that and all that gets done for a reason unfortunately. It is not as simple as just attaching a blower to it... Rods, bolts, pistons and valvetrain all has to be dealt with. It is a long process but doable if goal is to keep motor at sustained 7K+ rpm.

Again, it is questionable of course if all that has any sense. I just see it as art for the sake of art thing. Gotta spend time on something one way or another anyway and as a hobby it is not worse than anything else.

 

Guys, I just did a dyno this weekend. My car has full AWE exhaust and BMC drop-in filter. The max hp seen at the wheels was: 327.5 whp!

What exactly is the number to multiply to convert whp to crank hp in our cars? 1.15 or 1.16?

 

I use the 1.16....


Stacy

 

That seems about what others have said. About 25 hp at the crank.

sin911, what does your butt dyno say? Is it noticable?

 

Good numbers congrats...I feel that is about right. I did feel a difference with my exhaust. What is night and day no..but you do feel its chomping at the bit more.

DAve

 

Thanks guys. I will sum up what my butt dyno says like this:

I don't feel like I have a car that has a Turbo power in a NA car... But it feels so much different than the stock! Is it like a new car? I would probably say yes. 997.1 C2S is no slouch, but it feels more powerful and responsive. I can definitely feel the extra juice above 3,500 RPMs. It pulls much harder to the redline.

It is a much more exciting car now to be honest, but I have a lot of stuff on my car aside from the exhaust as well...

 

I think with age most folks loose that urge to compete with somebody else and a certain sense of self-indulgent fulfillment takes a place instead, so, like if your primary competition is yourself now then all what makes sense is to have things in most comfortable way you yourself want them to be. It applies to mods urge in full - who cares if any of those changes make any difference or not? It all is getting done to indulge yourself anyway. None of them probably makes car way better than it would be without them but who cares? It is fun process and process itself is worth of doing it.

 

Very well put!
I think that is why I do half the crap I do........for the challenge of getting it done!
Perfect example was the FI I did on my car...I didn't need,heck I never drive my car......BUT boy was it fun to do the install!

Stacy

PS Rep point for that post utkinpol

 

Did you have baseline numbers prior to the mods?

 

You're right, but I love spending time with my car and driving it around. Not to include the track time I do

Since I drive my car everyday, I wanted to make it more exciting than stock.

 

No, this was my first dyno ever (excluding the butt dyno which is working all the time )

 

This correlates well with the results achieved on my car that has the exact same mods. Absolute figure on the dyno was 330WHP but all dynos read different. It was approx 25WHP up on stock.

One point I would make is that you really CAN feel the improvements from a full AWE exhaust/BMC-F1. There is a really solid kick through the midrange that you just don't get with the stock parts and once you're over the 5000rpm 'torque hole' these motors have, it really attacks the red line in a way the stock setup doesn't. These differences aren't subtle!

The differences were even easier to feel when I had to revert the car to stock (a long time ago now) for a warranty job. You notice a reduction in performance more easily than an increase and the difference going back to stock was huge - the car felt really gutless.

I've also noticed these bolt-on mods work better when you use very good quality gas. To get the full effect, I always run 99-RON Shell V-Power (equivalent to 94-rated gas in the US I think)? The differences are much smaller if you use lower-octane gas.

I'm going to pull the trigger on a Softronic remap soon, so will be interesting to see if this adds any more to the party.

 

The car certainly has a kick over 3,500 RPMs, it feels like a monster above that! For an exhaust mod it made a lot of difference... I never thought it would change the behavior of the car this much before experiencing it first hand.