My car is going to be strictly for autocross and roadracing. As far as under the hood goes, I figure I am going to need something with alot of low and midrange torque. High end power is not a necessity but still somewhat important. So with this goal in mind i feel that a 383 single turbo with a quick spooling turbo (t76)? not sure what A/R ratio.
At autocross and road race events how much POWER do you really need? is 650-700 too much or a waste?
All input is appreciated, -Tony

 

Well, how much the power will help all depends on the length and type of course.... on a lot of road courses it would probably help, assuming you could put it down.. on long straightaways it could be very fast........ on an autocross or shorttrack it might hurt you though.. such a hard hitting turbo might have a tendency to suddenly break loose your rear tires when powering out of turns, right when you dont want it to... and in most autocrosses, I doubt you'd have the chance to use so much power to any kind of advantage.

 

If you haven't tracked your car before, that kind of horsepower will be a complete waste of money. A reasonably experienced driver in a stock f-body will beat you around the track, either autocross or roadcourse. You'd have to have a hugely well handling car, and lots of skill to manage that kind of horsepower.

If I've mis-interpreted your background, my apologies.

Dave

 

I'm with LPEdave on this one.

I'm at about 320rwhp/3500lbs now, Koni's, coilovers, etc... and at a track, a civic si with intake/springs/shocks kept damn close to me at most times, mostly on behalf of the driver having much bigger cajones than I was willing to exercise.

Take that money and invest it in tires and as much track time as possible. If you wanna go that big, that means you have a decent budget, so I'd definitely spend it on Bragg-Smith/Derek Daly school instead.

I'm not busting your ***** here, more like keeping you alive. Power is a problem, not a solution, and speed is a byproduct of knowledge and smoothness. Sounds weird, but take your car to a track, and in 10 mins you will fully understand.

 

I'd also suggest you get the rule books for the groups you intend to run with, pick a class, and build to the rules....

For autox I'd say the horsepower isn't necessary - put the money in the suspension and the time in the driver...

 

Thanks for all the replies guys. I think what I'll do is get a decent set of heads and mild cam and build the bottom end to around 9.5:1 compressin for under the hood and IF more power is required then I will consider a turbo. Right now I have bmr lowering springs, bilistein hd shocks, stb, adj panhard rod, CCW 17x11 in back and 18x10 in the front with 295 tires. Soon to come: kenny SFC, bmr sway bars, bmr traction arm, lca's, baer Pro Plus front brake system, LOTS of weight reduction. Hopefully this will all work together. Ideas?

 

I think you are on the wrong track, no pun intended.

First, all the motor in the world isn't much help if the car is a pig to drive. Looking at your idea list, I see a few things I'm concerned about. 1. I believe the front swaybar you are looking at is too small. 2. I believe that you should run the same wheel/tire combo at both ends, not only for the ability to rotate them, but more so you don't have smaller ones on the heavy end of the car which is the plan you have. 3. The Bilstein HD's are ideally suited for the lowering springs, and a lack of damping will cause you some issues that are hard to figure out (dead or weak shocks can be very hard to find).

 

do you have any good suggestions for a sway bar? I'm willing to shell out a little extra dough for a really stiff/reliable sway bar. thanks

 

You should probably get the 35mm solid or the 36 mm hollow that Sam sells.

 

Also don't go with BMR rear control arms unless you are going with rod end or poly/rod end bars, dual poly bars cause bind in the rear end. Also most experienced RR and Autox guys tend to stay away from BMR due to the poor quality of the parts. Some of their suspension parts have been known to break under RR/Autox use.