At least cheaply? Their low buy-in has me thinking on super cheap New Edge cars. Good torque feel, but not a low of power up top
At least cheaply? Their low buy-in has me thinking on super cheap New Edge cars. Good torque feel, but not a low of power up top
Even the supercharged ones seem to have 5k redlines, but these engines were all about low end torque. I don't think the heads flow enough to make any power up top.
sure. At least it will once.
bobzilla said:sure. At least it will once.
Dammit, I was coming her to say that.
NickD said:bobzilla said:sure. At least it will once.
Dammit, I was coming her to say that.
Me too!!
Stock? Not and give you any worthwhile power. Proper cam and valve springs, sure, although the heads may be the cork then.
Are there any performance parts available, or are you gonna have to build a cam out of Bavarian Racing Oak using a rasp?
BoostedBrandon said:NickD said:bobzilla said:sure. At least it will once.
Dammit, I was coming her to say that.
Me too!!
I mean, are we actually sure about this? I think you guys need to pick one up & try it, you know, for science. Or at least a good how-not-to story for the mag.
Pete Gossett said:BoostedBrandon said:NickD said:bobzilla said:sure. At least it will once.
Dammit, I was coming her to say that.
Me too!!
I mean, are we actually sure about this? I think you guys need to pick one up & try it, you know, for science. Or at least a good how-not-to story for the mag.
yay! Something a Korean car enthusiast doesn't get to say often: I was FIRST!
Seems like an uphill battle the entire way. Headers, having the intake and heads Extrude-honed, a custom cam etc etc would probably help these out a good amount but it doesn't make financial sense to do so.
I bet engine computer will shut it down before it's anywhere near 6k rpm
Pete Gossett said:BoostedBrandon said:NickD said:bobzilla said:sure. At least it will once.
Dammit, I was coming her to say that.
Me too!!
I mean, are we actually sure about this? I think you guys need to pick one up & try it, you know, for science. Or at least a good how-not-to story for the mag.
I'm pretty sure a nitrous system with no jets in it will make any engine hit about 12 grand before all of the rods leave the premises. At least it will with a Honda D15.
My Supercoupe (built 4.3 stroker) will rev to 6k, but power nosedives after 5500.
In reply to sergio :
Ford EEC-IV ECU's have been pretty well hacked. No way is stock programming going to work for this. 3rd party ECU would work as well.
The 3.8 power curve never bothered me. I prefer falling back into the power band on upshifts rather than falling out of it. A tall rear end helps. There's a build thread somewhere of an automatic V6 car that has performed well at autocross.
I think the 3.8 cars are really good value IF you don't modify them. One of the only RWD sport coupes unaffected by drift tax, and a comfortable daily.
Of note, Ford did race these when Busch Grand National was on a 4.5 liter V6 formula.
After the first season, the engine HEAVILY diverged from production parts in practically every dimension. The Buicks were pretty much based on stock block geometry but if you looked at a Ford Motorsport catalog from the early 90s, all parts for the 4.5l had disclaimers that they physically would not fit a production anything.
They were oddfire engines with evenly spaced crank throws with shared pins, as opposed to the "V8 missing two cylinders" oddfire of a pre-'77 Buick V6. I thought that was kind of neat. Gave a 90-150-90-150-90-150 firing interval.
As far as valvesprings...you could probably use 5.0l springs. I know its a mistaken belief the Essex v6 was a cut-down 5.0....but I am willing to bet that the valvesprings are useable...just a hunch though(pull out a caliper and find out)....it would certainly make finding aftermarket springs a breeze.
BoostedBrandon said:NickD said:bobzilla said:sure. At least it will once.
Dammit, I was coming her to say that.
Me too!!
But what does SHE say about it?
I've been wondering about that too. There aren't many cheap V6 or 4 cylinder engines that have manual transmissions readily available. The Ford V6 is everywhere at Pick n Pulls.
would make a great swap candidate but the 5500-6000 redline seems like it wouldn't be much fun to drive. I drove a 5.0 Fox body once and the engine was a real let down.
I suspect the GM V6 like the 3400-3800 might be similarly disappointing but I've never driven one.
In reply to amg_rx7 :
5.0s can rev quite high when built for it...but from the factory they are low-mid range torque-biased for sure. I have seen quite a few 7500RPM+ 289/302 screamers though....but as always, work is needed.
You want a cheap Ford or Chevy v6 that puts out good torque and can rev high? Go with a DOHC Ford 3.5/3.7L or the GM LFX v6...of course electronics are always fun for the new engines, and they are physically large...but there is a price to pay for any choice I guess.
In reply to amg_rx7 :
The 3400 and 3800 are actually pretty revvy.
It is not much work to turn a Series II into a 300hp engine. They're kind of baby LS motors that way. The 3400 is not as well supported because the cam height requires flat tappets if you want much lift. Not much room between the base circle and the deck. But the '00-up heads flow a lot, IIRC way more than the 3800s. The 3800 has a much better intake manifold though.
You can find lots of info about people hopping up the 3800s in their 4th-gens and W-bodies.
amg_rx7 said:
would make a great swap candidate but the 5500-6000 redline seems like it wouldn't be much fun to drive. I drove a 5.0 Fox
I got to race a bone stock 3.8 car a few years ago at Barber. Honestly the only letdown was the factory tall gearing. You don't notice the lack of revs because the gears last SO LONG but shifting between 2nd and 3rd all day gets old quickly.
In reply to Wicked93gs :
LS1 springs work with some modifications.
Yes you can build one. I would get valve springs from Alex's parts personally, and look into a custom cam. You can easily tune the computer with a Moates quarterhorse, but you will be in uncharted territory. You can download the code from your ECU, make tweaks and upload your changes. I'd also probably go with the better MAF meter, headers, etc. You can hand port your heads and intake and that may help too. I bet you could get a custom cam from Ed Curtis if you wanted to pay big bucks. At the end of the day you can do a 5.0 swap for less most likely.
I'm a pretty big fan of the 4.2. A little googling will find a lot of them going pretty dang quick in Mustangs and hard to find a turbo'd one under 400whp. The mention of a stock 5.0 is interesting to me because a 4.2 feels pretty dang similar imo stock for stock.
I have a 4.2 on my shop floor right now, but only because of human error. Someone let it sit with water in it and rust up the cylinders, then honed it at a nearly flat angle, possibly without taking the pistons out, and somehow put 3 serious dings in one of the cylinder walls. And there's FOD damage on the quench pads of the heads. It's been through the ringer!! 
The parts are out there, but horsepower per dollar isn't what you'll get out of a 5.0 or 4.6.
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