I know the following questions have been asked/answered before, but I can't seem to find anything that answers them.

1. What shorty headers provide the best hp gain? How do MAC's and Edlebrocks compare?
2. Without tearing into the engine, what mods will put me at or above 330hp to the flywheel?
3. Is there a performance gain by upgrading to a 52mm TB or 58mm TB?

Thats all I have to ask for now, thanks in advance for your help.

 

Fly wheel is easy for 330-340 hp.

My buddy Ronnie has a 93 T/A A4 with 85K miles on it. He just recently had it dyno'ed and I wish i scaned it, cus id post but thats ok ill have to do it later.

But he Got 289 RWHP and 324 RWTQ that roughly equated to 340ish fly hp.

For bolt ons he had

Dynomax NON-coated shorty headers
Gutted CAT (prob hurt hp rather than help due to turbulance)
2 1/2" Exhuast cut out (dyno proved 5-6 RWHP gain!)
CSI Electric waterpump
Brand new opti, fuel pump, plugs, wires, filters (complete tune up)
K&N Cold air intake
Holley Air foil
MSD blaster coil
Spark plug shaving (4-5 hp gain)

For minimal bolt on mods and a good tuning, stock PCM, he belted that peak power, he only let the car cool 20 mins before the first run, then hot lapped it 10 mins between the other 2. 2/3 were with cut out, and the last was with out. The one witht he cut out closed made the leas power, like 274 RWHP.

So fo 330-340 FWHP you can do this and nail that.

Next my frined will be getting PCMforless tuning chip, 1.6RR and LS1 Drive shaft. Tuning alone will put him 300RWHP but ever little bit helps!

Also for your questions:

1. MAC are great headers and have excellent plug access, look into their mid lengths!

2. Answered above

3. Your stocker is fine, your not pushin any real hp or cubic inchs. I ran stocker on my hotcam and heads and it was more than fine. Im running 52 on my 383 combo. For 58 you need to enlarge the TB opening....... so put the mods somewhere else

 

I dynoed 287 rwhp with CAI, catback, and hypertech.

 

Headers, CAI, Cat back exhaust and you should be right there.


WTF is "Spark plug shaving (4-5 hp gain)" Never heard of that?????

 

Ditto, I can't wait to hear this one!

 

i have no clue what my RWHP was-
but my only power adders were long tubes & catback-
I also had gears and tuning for them.

13.2@106 on a 1.9/2.0 60 ft

thats gotta be close, especailly in an auto

 

I also hit 287/321 at the wheels with CAI, cat-back, Borla y-pipe and off-road pipe only. It makes for close to 340 at the crank considering driveline losses.

- Brent

 

ttt for this because i have to know what spark plug shaving is.

this is going to good.

 

come on, what is it? im thinking they mean plug indexing, where you aim the electrode of the plug at the intake valve by drawing a line on it and adding little shims so it tightens up at the right spot. i have heard of this but always laughed even though some say it helps. i could be completely wrong though

 

yeah, what the hell is plug shaving all about?

 

I don't know if this is what he was talking about or not, but I have heard that if you file the spark plug electrode that hangs out over the tip so that it is not directly over the center anymore you can pick up a few hp. Due to the fact that it is a real PITA to change plugs on these cars I have yet to try it.

 

Here is what he told me..

Hey my buddy ronnie was looking though tons of car mags and came across a chevy engine builder one. They had like top 10 tips for making hp easy or something like that.

Well one of those were a spark plug mod. As you look at the metal HOOK that drapes over the electrode. Well as you notice it over shoots the tip of the elemet where the spark originates. As you know as spark come from the wires to the plugs, as it reachs the electrode at the end of the plug, it has to JUMP the gap to create a spark and combust the air and fuel.

Well the smaller the gap the easier it is to create this spark with out fear of if getting snuffed out due to not enough volts fromt he igintion or too much compression. Problem is if you have too little spark your not combusting completely and your not making optimal power.

Well back to the point a easy and cheap way to make power is to shave the metal tip that over hangs, to where the end is directly above the electrode. This creat a larger gap, that gets into the posistion to combust almost all fuel and air. Its cheap and easy.

Get a hand grinder or bench one, and grind the metal tip to where its sorta above the electrode where spark originates, then use a file a small one and smooth off the burrs and sharp edges. Be forwarned that this does reduce spark plug life, but is said to be good for 5hp. Just your time, and paitence of pulling spark plugs.

 

Just buy bosch +4's or +2's they are already done!

 

otherwise known as gapping the spark plug
if you SHAVE it, there is less metal and less to attract the electricity anyway

how can an MSD and a stronger coil not add power but incorrectly gapping the plug will add power.
right when your done, go descreen your MAF and add a TB spacer or an air foil


shaving the tip of a spark plug to gap it ranks right up there with baseboard heating in the bahamas and a dry beach in cancun

 

many people expirence trouble with these,
Just go AC delco platinuim or NGK copper with FI