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'80s Low HP <mini rant>

Seriously, what did Ford do in the early-mid '80s to get such low HP out of their engines (in particluar, the V6)? I mean, I know the small 2bbl carb and the automatic doesn't help any, but what else (besides fuel injection) could make the difference between those early 3.8s Vs. today's motors? Compression? The emissions crap and it's 15 miles of vacuum lines? Intake? Exhaust? Ignition? Better internals? Tighter tolerances? All of the above?

If they're now able to now get over 200 HP out of essentially the same

3.8L block, where in the world did they find it? And while I'm on the topic, when is Ford going to catch up with some of the imports? I mean, the VR6 in my dad's GLI makes about the same power as the modern 3.8L, but with a full liter less displacement. Argh! I still love my car, but I'm about ready to pull a Musttanguy! ;)
Reply to
Garth Almgren
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No, No, not that !!!!!!!!!

On second thought, how about we stick that V10 in there ? Got ya think'n now don't I :-}

TIM -aka- snipped-for-privacy@AOL.COM

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Reply to
Musttanguy

Jim Warman, you're cool. lol. had to say it. cya.

-Mike

Reply to
memsetpc

snipped-for-privacy@perlcoders.com opined in news:DP4Ua.338$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr24.news.prodigy.com:

Yeah.... I thought so too, and there's even MORE to it/

The same place they ALWAYS did.. heads, breathing and cam profiles....

BUT NOW, it's like you have your own little race tuner sittng there alla time adjusting mixture, timing and shift points to fit conditions.

I guess I cant relate... Sometimes the joy is in getting the MOST out of what you have.

Which is why I loved my SVO. Hell, the thing is to have fun... there's ALWAYS going to be something better and faster... more efficient.

But I'm comforted by the fact that I heard the same thing out of the diamond- star lovers in the late 80's.

Called the Mustang "Old Iron" Old tech... meanwhile almost ALL of them are rusted away or already 5th generation beer cans.

Think about the Audi's... remember how many you would see when they came out with a new model? If they were all that great, they'd still be around.

Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

Reply to
Michael Seeley

The Grand National was a 3.8 built to the limits of the engine with about 23lbs of boost, the GNX anyway. Unlikely Ford (or GM again, for that matter) will ever pull 400hp+ out of a six again.

-Rich

Reply to
rander3127

"built to the limits"? Don't tell that to the guys who took the high-13 second capable cars and got them to run in the 12's quite easily (and beyond).

I think the transmission was more of a limiting factor than the motors.

Steve

1999 Ranger 4x4
Reply to
A Guy Named Steve

Hardly. Stock'ish boost levels are in the 14lb range even for the GNX. The turbo received a ceramic impeller to help with spool up time. The intercooler was slightly improved, and the computer was tweaked to take advantage of this. Numbers are as such:

547 Produced 276 HP @ 4400 RPM 360 ft-lbs of torque at 3000 RPM

Numbers for the regular GN were as follows:

20,193 Produced 245 HP @ 4400 RPM 355 ft-lbs of torque at 2000 RPM

These are 1987 production numbers.

Just a little Buick trivia. :-)

Mike

Reply to
Mike

I'd guess that as with most factory turbos, this was an artificially low output limited by the popoff valve. A very little tweaking would unleash tons more boost and power.

Chris

Reply to
Chris1

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