shooting for 275 hp with cam and porting

[BlwnCamaro]

Here is the 3.8 i just got done building for a customer. I do mostly ls1 and sbc but have attracted some 3.8 projects along the way and am kinda surprised and excited with little motor. I'll be putting it back into a 97 camaro very soon will keep you guys updated. I'm also adding 3 inch exaust, cold air intake and i'm building 3.73 rear with lsd is going together right now. Its auto and will be getting shift kit and stall soon therafter. After break in customer is considering 75-100 wet shot perhaps! than it might make a few v8 a little nervous! I've heard this cam though and it has a sick lope to it, people will have to do the double take to hear its just a six with a big lope!
It features:

1.0 mm overbore
new pistons, rings bearings seals fully rebuilt
Comp 210/220 .512 .512 Custom Ground Roller Cam from Abbott racing
comp 915 beehive springs #105 and ls1 retainers good for .600 lift
teflon valve seals
felpro head gaskets
comp hardened reusable rocker bolts
Pacecetter mid length headers and 3 inch y pipe
fully ported and matched upper and lower intake cuccaro motorsports
ported throttle body
custom tsp computer tune
Fully rebuilt cylinder heads nonported with valve guides machined down for clearance
let me know what you guys think
heres some pics
http://www.msnusers.com/CuccaroMotor...oto&PhotoID=17
http://www.msnusers.com/CuccaroMotor...ox.msnw?Page=1
http://www.msnusers.com/CuccaroMotor...hoto&PhotoID=3
http://www.msnusers.com/CuccaroMotor...hoto&PhotoID=9
http://www.msnusers.com/CuccaroMotor...oto&PhotoID=16
http://www.msnusers.com/CuccaroMotor...oto&PhotoID=14
http://www.msnusers.com/CuccaroMotor...hoto&PhotoID=5
http://www.msnusers.com/CuccaroMotor...hoto&PhotoID=2

[KennethS]

Can you really gain 55 hp by just port matching and camming that engine? I noticed no head work was done. Raise the rev limiter and see if you got HP up there, those new springs should help you get there.

[BlwnCamaro]

Can you really gain 55 hp by just port matching and camming that engine? I noticed no head work was done. Raise the rev limiter and see if you got HP up there, those new springs should help you get there.

This is the first one that i've done, so well see. Also have headers and ported tb, and have tsp tune to raise limiter and recalibrate a/f and timing. Ol boy from abbot put down 276 ish to the wheels with same combo but with ported heads. My combo should be down from that about 35 hp without heads which could put me in the 240 rwhp area which would equate to about 275 at flywheel. Wanted to do head porting also but kid couldnt afford it but i'm gona do my firebird all out. I dont know if kid is gona have it dynoed but if he does i'll post numbers. I have the engine all together about to drop in car, ill post some more pics up.

[BlwnCamaro]

here it is running in car with open pacecetters, has great idle lope, i was pleasantly surprised.

[plumpkibbles]

how do you raise the rev limiter?

[BlwnCamaro]

as far as I know you have to have either tuning software yourself or pay someone to tune. I have texas speed do all my tunes until I can afford software cause they give me and my customers a great deal thats hard to beat for a really good tune.

[plumpkibbles]

hmm.. i believe the only place where i live only does dodge and ford trucks/cars. i'd probably have to go somewhere far away for my car. i live in a really small town where everyone that "races" has a mustang

[BlwnCamaro]

yea no where here either I actually send my computers to tsp for mail order tune based off cam that I have.

[Forced_Firebird]

I just finished camming a car with what sounds like the same cam, headers were already installed. You can expaect about 250whp without head porting.

[BlwnCamaro]

awesome thats bout what I was figuring! Good job on those v6 motors you guys did.

[plumpkibbles]

i don't really even know how to do computer stuff in cars. i'm a PC technician; i'm sure it's way different haha but sounds like you're in a small town like i am, right?

[BlwnCamaro]

yes out here in las cruces new mexico small city about an hour north of el paso texas. Good thing is though im the only one specializing in ls1 and 3.8 in the area so its kinda nice!
Soon I will be able to afford to have my own multi liscense software as I stated tsp has done several mail order cammed ls1 tunes for me with great results. Tuning takes time equipment the right approach and knowledge of cars and computers.
A dyno is great but you can tune on the street or track also with laptop and wide band o2 system which can actually be even more accurate because of real world conditions vs simulated conditions. Dont get me wrong dyno is amazing but realistically speaking out of budget range of many shops. Even some guys with large budget prefer to tune on track with wideband as this is considered fairly accurate. Thats actually what the all out pros do except they have much more sophisticated data logging equipment on many parameters to analyze engine tuning drivetrain and chassis information. Dyno tune is considered baseline for these guys and then final tweaks and tuning done in real life track conditions.

[stangslayer98]

those 3.8 v6 are ideal for boost applications think back to the grand national's they had a 3.8 liter v6 too

[BlwnCamaro]

yes those gn's and t types are sick. The gen 1 3.8 is a totally different design than gen II and III 3.8 like in late cars. Boost is sick on these engines too alot of the supercharged grand prix guys are running very fast and with gen II 3.8's now seeing 8's in the quarter on a turbo. However the cammed and ported n/a power out of these little motors is pretty impressive to me though. N/A power levels are higher than some older v8's!
My customer is considering a power adder next for this project after break probably in the form of a 75 shot first and maybe turbo later down the road. In that case i would want to change to the turbo cam with a little tighter lsa to build good boost. It's all time work and money right! I'll post up my 6.0 project in my Z28 soon so you guys could check it out.

[3.8maro]

I just recently bought a 3.8 camaro and i need some tips on cheap-er ways to add horse and run better its already quicker than i expected i just want some tips if you guys have any

[BlwnCamaro]

I just recently bought a 3.8 camaro and i need some tips on cheap-er ways to add horse and run better its already quicker than i expected i just want some tips if you guys have any

basic tune up with good plugs wires
Cold air or open element filter
descreen maf/throttle body
hand port and polish throttle body
hand port and polish and match upper and lower intake
pacecetter headers
3 inch exaust
eliminate cat (if you can get away with)
weight reductions
gears
tsp mail computer tune
cam ( kinda more expensive mod)

no real way to go fast for really cheap but basic bolt ons help and porting is almost free if you can do it yourself. Not as many freemods on these as ls1 but there are a few.

[3.8maro]

thanks for the help but where can i geta tune up except like a chevy dealer

[BlwnCamaro]

thanks for the help but where can i geta tune up except like a chevy dealer

ask around word of mouth in your area and see if there is a cool private shop that has the knowledge to work on your car. Dont go to dealer no matter what they are a rip off. If you dont hear anything word of mouth call in the phone book and go meet some guys in person then get a feel of them and see if they know your car. A couple of the spark plugs and wires have to be accessed from the bottom thats what makes it hardest to tune up but not a big deal.

[3.8maro]

the chevy dealers a Aholes they wanted to charge me 40 bucks to program a keyless entry remote and i told them i would come in the next week i looked up on another forum and found out how to do it my self took 10 secs and they told me it would take half an hour

[3.8maro]

Do you know anyone that has a 3.8 supercharger for sale?