Quote:
Originally Posted by car-nut
I make it simple: PLEASE READ AND ANSWER ONLY TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
1. What have you done to boost your 3.2 hp?
2. What was the cost and what was the hp gained?
If I wanted to seek your advice on what else to drive, I would have asked so. My daily driver (2008 Cayman S) offers the hp I need; however, that was not my question!
Thank to those who can hopefully read ENGLISH!
|
Watch the attitude.
On the topic of mazda 3s, my wife daily drives a "speed3" and it is a track beast is stock form. I put on some super sports and hawk HP+ brakes and it devoured the (intermediate experienced class) competition at our local BMW school. By the end of my first school I could catch a 997 carrera c2, and c2s (pushing hard). 997 turbo still had my number. Second school there were no 997's but the upgrade between my ears had me going far faster than before. I bet I could given the 997 turbo a good run (unless that driver upgraded between his ears faster than i did). President joked that he might need to start banning Asian cars. Hard on front tires however. 280lbs/ft torque at 2k rpm is hard to beat. Real giant killer.
To answer the questions:
1. What have you done to boost your 3.2 hp?
- verified correct throttle linkage settings
- verify health of engine (leak-down and compression).
- test pipe, free flowing exhaust, steve wong chip
- non-hp upgrades were bridgestone RE-11a's, Toyo RA1's, pagid orange brake pads, lowered stiffened and corner balanced suspension, strut brace, harness bar.
2. What was the cost and what was the hp gained?
- it cost me the price of the car (someone else did the work)
- do not know hp gained (no dyno pre and post mods) but data from steve wong would estimate up to 240hp (33 hp from stock 207hp), but given engine condition I would estimate 5+hp less.
Other options:
1. rebuild engine. Price depends - 5-10K+ for a stock refresh (top end). Making it fresh again can give you back a lot of the possible stock hp lost with age. Spend $$$ and consider adding the following...
- euro compression pistons
- cams
- intake bore and hone
- race carbs
- balance/blueprint engine, increase rpm limit
- lightweight flywheel/clutch assembly (faster acceleration, not more power)
- race headers/exhaust dyno tuned by someone like steve wong
- chip tune to run 93+ octane
- 3.4 or 3.5 conversion (will need twin plug conversion)
- key is to get chip dyno tuned to your new engine parameters, otherwise your efforts will be for naught.
2. Boost:
- Turbo
- supercharger
Talk to a reputable engine builder. I am sure there are people who will bolt them on cheap, but doing it properly to get max benefit/reliability out of it would be an art. Can get quite expensive especially since investment is best spent if you also rebuild the engine at the same time. No use going half way. Estimate 20k if you want it done right with a fresh engine. Ho much power? How much streetablity/reliability/money to you want to sacrifice?
Power, reliability, cheap. Pick any two.
3. New engine
- 3.6 conversion kits avail. Key is to get a solid engine that does not need a rebuild. If you can score one cheap, a number banged around in the NS region is a 20k+ cost for the basic conversion. That guy got a good engine at a steal however. Experts say this is a cheaper option than option 1 above and generally gets a engine with more power and reliability than a race built 3.2. 310hp is doable in this setup. Combine that with weight loss and it is possible to get modern 911 turbo crushing power to weight ratios in the right (skilled) hands assuming the suspension/tires are up to snuff.
Alternative methods:
- loose weight. can be the cheapest option, and stripping out things like the interior is free DIY but will devalue your car fast if you are not careful. A well done backdate with fiberglass bumpers and spoiler can make a huge difference in weight, and might add value to a select market. 2400lbs is doable and worth the weight in gold for power to weight gains.
- tires: in my mind the best bang for buck upgrade in overall performance (lap times). More cornering speed=more straight away speed. But to take advantage of this you need...
- driver: The most valuable part of any car to upgrade as the upgrade carries over to every car you buy. I passed a modern Stingray in a 40 year old 135hp car because I had more upgrades between my ears than the vette driver (and R888 tires helped too).
- new car: for 13k I got a mazda speed 3 for my wife used. 911 3.6 conversions can go for 30K+ for a finished car. Cheaper than doing it yourself after you factor in the price of the car. Remember, cheaper to buy if someone else flips the bill for the work.
buy and read the "911 performance handbook." You can order it on this site. great book that covers all of the above.
My rules of cheap power as related to cost:
(Cheapest) buy a different faster car / buy a car like yours that someone made fast / make your slow car faster (most expensive)