Thread: Handling 550 horsepower

Okay so im in the midst of planning my engine build, ive got about 10.5k planned for the motor for hopefully around 450 to 550 horsepower at the crank maby less maby more itll depend how much fuel and boost i run as well as how its tuned
Shorter dog bones
E3 Diamond Fire spark plugs
Red ZZP spark plug wires
Comp cams custom pushrods
Airaid Throttle body spacer
MSD Blaster coil packs
Comp Cams Hydraulic Lifters
High Velocity Throttle Body for the L36
Oversized Aluminum Radiator
Meziere Electric Water Pump
Comp GT1 Cam shaft
1.9 Ratio Aluminum roller rocker package with 105# springs/ retainers
JE forged pistons
ZZP Ported Heads
Cartuning Performance Intercooled Turbo Kit
Variable Boost Controller
Custom gauges, battery level gauge, boost gauge

Im not sure what transmission upgrades im gonna need or even if my little 4 speed will be able to handle it once its upgraded, So any and all comments would be helpful

You're going to need some SERIOUS head work to take the lift of that cam and 1.9 rockers. Also piston to valve clearance will be an issue

Originally Posted by Confusingboat

Question: why are you getting the Cartuning turbo kit? I've heard nothing but bad things about it in comparison to any of the ZZP kits. Also, I'd recommend adding E85 conversion to that list if you have it readily available to you.

Well ive had a few friends run the base kit and get a solid 300 hp to the front wheels on the stock engine, if you have more experience than me ill take your word on it, keep in mind this list of parts is preliminary, thats why i posted it though i expected a little more about the transmission lol, And E85 is great and all but im murdering my gas mileage as it is by running high boost and the E85 is alot less fuel efficient so i think ill stick with pump gas especially since i want it to seem like it could have been a factory option when im done with the whole car

Originally Posted by Confusingboat

Well as long as you don't murder the gas pedal every time you drive you should get pretty decent fuel economy.

And I just don't see many people on here using the Cartuning kit. I've often heard it called the Craptuning kit lol so if it were me I'd just go with the Z3 kit at least. I don't have any ACTUAL experience with turbos, but I've done quite a bit of looking into it and hearing peoples' experiences with them. I'd turbo my car, I just don't have the coin to drop on it.

To be honest ive been trying to decide between the two for quite a while
and if i see enough good reviews on the zzp which im sure i will and enough bad reviews on the cartuning ill probably go with it, but one thing i do like that zzp doesn't give is a set of directions and as handy as i am working on my dads cars and cars im going to fix and sell i still worry about messing somthing up on my own ride so the manual is a fairly big plus to give you an idea ive installed countless stereos but when it came time to install my own i just let best buy do it since i got a discount and i didnt wanna mess up any of the wiring since i had the bose system

With the GT1 cam and normal 1.6 rockers you're almost at the limit of lift allowed before the rocker pushes the valve so far open that the retainer contacts the valve guide. I know for example you need to use the viton valve seals in combo with an XP cam which doesnt have that much more lift than a gt1 in order to prevent contact of the retainer to the seal. At the very least you'll have to have the valve guides milled a good bit to handle the clearance. Also, with that combo I'm pretty sure you're going to exceed the binding point of the 105 springs

Originally Posted by gtpinsc

Im assuming the little long nose thing means liar least thats what my computer said, but no im not, i work at best buy so i get a considerable discount first of all, second ive installed maby not countless but more than i can probably remember, me, my father, and a friend run a small dealership where we buy, fix and sell cars, so ive installed stereos in a few muscle cars, novas and chevelles mostly, as well as quite a few imports, toyotas and hondas, This is often because 1 the stereo is broken, or two the stereo was stolen from the previous owner. The most recent stereo install however was in my best friends toyota celica, and that was 3 days ago. Next i have actually had the dash of my grand prix on and off multiple times to install an fm modulator for my ipod but that became troublesome since it didnt work well. My install however was with a HUmount flush mount install kit and into the bose amplified system. And since 1 i hadnt worked on a bose system andi wasnt sure if ide have to remove a metal bracket or cut somthing to make the stereo fit. and 2 after statements from multiple different audio shops on my bose system i wasnt sure whether i would need the gmos 1 or just a harness and i was told by another shop that if i didnt use the gmos it might break my amplifier, another said it couldnt be done and i knew that was wrong so i ended up taking my employee discount and having it done all the while i was in the shop with them removing my line output converter and running my RCA cables to the new stereo since it has RCAs

Sorry for the long explination but my biggest pet peeve is being called a liar, to me it is an absolute insult.

Originally Posted by deathjunior

Okay so im in the midst of planning my engine build, ive got about 10.5k planned for the motor for hopefully around 450 to 550 horsepower at the crank maby less maby more itll depend how much fuel and boost i run as well as how its tuned
Shorter dog bones

Only if you're lowered

E3 Diamond Fire spark plugs

Just no... You'll prolly end up running autolite 103's or colder plugs.

Red ZZP spark plug wires

good

Comp cams custom pushrods

Sure?

Airaid Throttle body spacer

Plan on spray or meth injection?

MSD Blaster coil packs

Not worth it at all. stock coils are better

Comp Cams Hydraulic Lifters

Sure

High Velocity Throttle Body for the L36

Look into an LS1 TB, you'll want it at those power levels

Oversized Aluminum Radiator

good

Meziere Electric Water Pump

Comp GT1 Cam shaft

Why not get a S5 turbo cam or something nasty since this seems to be an all out build.

1.9 Ratio Aluminum roller rocker package with 105# springs/ retainers

See above, i could understand 1.6 RR's for a big build but again, bigger cam?

JE forged pistons

Sure

ZZP Ported Heads

Might as well go straight to aluminum heads or something crazy.

Cartuning Performance Intercooled Turbo Kit

Just no.... Get a ZZP kit. Get a good one as well.

Variable Boost Controller
Custom gauges, battery level gauge, boost gauge

Im not sure what transmission upgrades im gonna need or even if my little 4 speed will be able to handle it once its upgraded, So any and all comments would be helpful

As for the transmission, talk to dave at TEP or Kevin from Cartuning.

It WILL cost 3-5 grand though.

You'll want ZZP LCA's with upgraded swaybar links, Biggest swaybars you can find, STB's, and some DR's or something super sticky like michelin pilot sport PS2's.

LSD or a torsen diff would also be a VERY good idea.

Just so you know, you're supposed to build a car to handle the power before you give it the power.

Originally Posted by OH4CompG

With the GT1 cam and normal 1.6 rockers you're almost at the limit of lift allowed before the rocker pushes the valve so far open that the retainer contacts the valve guide. I know for example you need to use the viton valve seals in combo with an XP cam which doesnt have that much more lift than a gt1 in order to prevent contact of the retainer to the seal. At the very least you'll have to have the valve guides milled a good bit to handle the clearance. Also, with that combo I'm pretty sure you're going to exceed the binding point of the 105 springs

This is very helpful knowledge, thanks man, what would you suggest i do with it instead since im definetly gonna want a beefier cam and better rockers. This is my first time doing a turbo build on an engine and its also my first time working on a 3.8 short of swapping plugs and typical engine maintenance so im deffinetly happy with all the input. The engines ive worked on before this have all been either my sisters little 4 banger honda engine or one of the chevy v8's since the only muscle cars ive owned rather 350's or somthing similar so im new to this motor, but i really like it and i really wanna see what i can get out of it

Originally Posted by deathjunior

This is very helpful knowledge, thanks man, what would you suggest i do with it instead since im definetly gonna want a beefier cam and better rockers. This is my first time doing a turbo build on an engine and its also my first time working on a 3.8 short of swapping plugs and typical engine maintenance so im deffinetly happy with all the input. The engines ive worked on before this have all been either my sisters little 4 banger honda engine or one of the chevy v8's since the only muscle cars ive owned rather 350's or somthing similar so im new to this motor, but i really like it and i really wanna see what i can get out of it

You're getting vendor ported heads... they're all clearanced for .600 lift so you dont have to worry about this.

Originally Posted by matt5112

As for the transmission, talk to dave at TEP or Kevin from Cartuning.

It WILL cost 3-5 grand though.

You'll want ZZP LCA's with upgraded swaybar links, Biggest swaybars you can find, STB's, and some DR's or something super sticky like michelin pilot sport PS2's.

LSD or a torsen diff would also be a VERY good idea.

Just so you know, you're supposed to build a car to handle the power before you give it the power.

First, Im not stupid, ive got a 27K list of parts, it you'll look i said this is an engine build, i guess i shouldve mentioned everything else? so where do you think the other 17 grand is going, the trash can? of course im doing full suspension as well as the full zzp brake kit and alot of other mods

So ill answer you're list since you seem very experienced and so far what you've told me has been very helpful.

for the spark plugs ive heard nothing but good things about them but if they wont hold up then i cant use them so thats good to know

the throttle body plate is there just for some breathing room mostly i may plan to run meth later but as it is im not planning that now

for the coil packs yet again ive heard nothing but good things but if youve had experience than i really cant argue it

for the throttle body, yea ive been thinking of going LS1 on it but its not gonna be easy to pick one up

rockers im not sure about at all thats why ive been wondering, for my previous builds its always just been refurbishing chevy 350's for a chevelle or somthing like that so ive just cleaned em up, added a slightly higher lift cam, changed the air intake, swapped the plugs and refurbished the carb and distributer, checked everything else and let it go. This builds alot more intensive and its gonna take alot of time and work

as for the zzp kit im starting to tilt that way

The list just didn't pan out like you know how the parts work with one another in this application.

If I were you I'd get GXP brakes for less money.

MSD coil packs are great for other cars... just not these engines. The stock packs are better.

E3 plugs if you look at them are possibly the cheapest plugs I've seen.

If you want something different try the brisk silver plugs.