Cheap HP upgrades?

[Reaper]

Thanks for all the input guys, I do like the idea of a Stroker kit, will have to look in the the $$$$$s that will cost but it sounds like killing two bird with one stone

Lol - you are way out of the league of "cheap HP upgrades" now. But if you are going that way - pavtek do some crate motor strokers. I don't know how good/bad they are however I've never heard of one let go.

Reaper

 

[GRPABT1]

Lol - you are way out of the league of "cheap HP upgrades" now. But if you are going that way - pavtek do some crate motor strokers. I don't know how good/bad they are however I've never heard of one let go
Reaper

Re: pavtek crate motors, in a word fantastic. Best value for money 355 on the market and haven't had a single drama with mine in almost 2 years of abuse

 

[PeteFXDB]

I think at 6k for the cheap one I will drive the one I have now in to the ground
Dont mind spending some coin but seeing as I only paid 5k for the VS a new motor can wait

 

[383 hatch]

I went thru this with Greenfoam years ago both doing the development in tandem. For an unopened motor the stock cast manifolds work surprisingly well. There were no gains with extractors and a stock motor will go backwards if you put on 1 3/4" primaries. Check to be sure your cat isn't blocked and a 2 1/2" single system is pretty much all you need. Check base timing, do all the stuff you posted near the top of this thread and give it a tune. I fitted an OTR style intake which didn't gain any speed overall but did help keep intake air temps down which is a real problem with injected 5 litres.

Without doubt the biggest gains are found here: http://forums.justcommodores.com.au...ion/178716-cheap-hp-upgrades.html#post1992801. A stock ignition system in top order works fine. Don't forget the coil - they are a pain to get to and thus many are as old as the car, well past their used by dates.

Reaper

I totally agree. I pulled the Pacemakers of my VN and fitted the stock tubular style headers back on and i actually think it goes harder now, especially down low. For this reason, i also left the stock VN headers on the motor i put in my ute (also, i wasn't prepared to fork out $700 odd for conversion extractors that would make no difference).

5 litres are a low compression, relatively low cube engine, they won't gain from extractors on a stocker. A 2.5" off the shelf system is all they need.

I feel that people who fork out money for extractors on a stocker are simply throwing money down the drain.

 

[Reaper]

I think at 6k for the cheap one I will drive the one I have now in to the ground
Dont mind spending some coin but seeing as I only paid 5k for the VS a new motor can wait

I'd be very suspicious of any new stroker for less.

Reaper

 

[micsnaffled]

I agree, even 6k is a little too cheap. I'd like to see what parts they use!!
I don't like performance shops for engine builds because they subcontract the machine process to a machine place, I'm going strait to the machine shop, they take apart the whole deal from start to finish in house, then put together again.
My vs ss had 245k on the clock. I've had it 5 years, love it, looks awesome. It didn't blow smoke but all these mods made other parts weaker, so replacing I did. It took me a while to save because I was spending cash on mods, now I need a different cam for my 355, bugger there went $1,000 not that long ago!! Damn need a tune for that cam... $900, now I need a different tune $900 again!!
Like I said save ya coin.
Don't spend squat, change oils, filters, plug, leads etc no more.
You will not look back!!
With a rebuild as well it doesn't have to have turbos or any of that stuff, I bet if you did a nice rebuild, you would smoke it because the turbo (whatever) wouldn't have any traction.

 

[ari666]

For an unopened motor the stock cast manifolds work surprisingly well.

yeah that wouldnt surprise me at all. i was reading an article on cast vs alloy heads, and the author touched apon the laws of thermal dynamics. put simply the cast heads were able to deliver a better burn, better exhaust extraction and a stronger power delivery simply due to the fact that it was able to reflect more of the heat (rather than absorb/dissapate) all the way out to the exhaust collector. the less shrinking the heat was subjected to via cooling, the less velocity it would lose.

it stands to reason that a cast manifold would assist that heat reflection for a little bit longer thus assisting power delivery.

but yeah ok. i was wrong about the tune :s still learning about efi TBH. soz OP

 

[GRPABT1]

I agree, even 6k is a little too cheap. I'd like to see what parts they use!!
I don't like performance shops for engine builds because they subcontract the machine process to a machine place, I'm going strait to the machine shop, they take apart the whole deal from start to finish in house, then put together again.
My vs ss had 245k on the clock. I've had it 5 years, love it, looks awesome. It didn't blow smoke but all these mods made other parts weaker, so replacing I did. It took me a while to save because I was spending cash on mods, now I need a different cam for my 355, bugger there went $1,000 not that long ago!! Damn need a tune for that cam... $900, now I need a different tune $900 again!!
Like I said save ya coin.
Don't spend squat, change oils, filters, plug, leads etc no more.
You will not look back!!
With a rebuild as well it doesn't have to have turbos or any of that stuff, I bet if you did a nice rebuild, you would smoke it because the turbo (whatever) wouldn't have any traction.

Only reason Pavtek can do these things so cheap is because they have all the machining equipment in house including engine dyno and they do alot of them so the parts can be bought in bulk and the process is all methodical and down pat so you don't get charged for noobs to be fart arseing around. They use good quality parts I assure you, they spanner for last years top fuel champion Phil Lamattina (sp). Getting a motor built locally just doesn't make sense these days unless you are swinging the spanners yourself.