Other than headers and exhaust, what would you guys do to bump h.p. a bit. Going full euro spec I hear is very expensive. Anyone done a mild p&p to heads, mild street cam...etc..what kind of gains did you get?

Yeah I know save and get a s4. Well you can't get an s4 5spd for $6800...

Thanks in advance....someone has done something to a 2 valve car other than headers/exhaust, I know your out there!!

 

I do have a Euro spec car, but the same thing would apply to your car.
I had the block bored to 5 liter, ported the heads a tad and swapped the exhaust for a free lowing pipe.
If you are just looking for bolt on power without major machine work you should check into headers or getting the tubular manifolds from an 85/86S, replace your intake setup with an intake from a euro car ( I happen to have an extra set). Replace your cams with Euro cams (happens I have an extra pair of those laying around as well).

 

You could try going to 944 heads, I have seen people on here state the 944 head actually flows more than the euro spec 928 head. I have been considering trying this route out for my turbo buildup. I know if you were just to go through a place like Powerhaus you could buy their basic performance built head outright for $1450($950/each exchange for a core rebuildable 951 head). However I am told that a water passage does not like up on 1 bank and I hear that would cost upwards of $400 to re-weld and machine to how it needs to be. Of course there is always the used route which I am sure would be a lot cheaper than buying from a shop. Probably would want the euro spec intakes/TB though and possible euro cams.

 

Need to talk to Jim Nowak and John Veniger. They are working on hot rod 16V motors. They normally visit this site pretty regular. You could put those euro intakes on and maybe the cams but your valves are smaller and the compression is lower.
If you put just headers you will most likely loose some bottom end torque.
All this stuff is gonna cost you and if it is not a fully thought out design won't produce the power you want.
Wait till somebody sells a FULL EURO MOTOR. Snag it for a good price I have seen three of them this year go for 3500.00

 

Joe R,

I think that's good advice! You could also buy a used S4 motor computer, and harness for around $3000-$4000+ or - and transplant it to your car.

Jim Nowak

There are no cheap modifications that will make these cars go fast.

 

[quote]Originally posted by Jim Nowak:
<strong>Joe R,

There are no cheap modifications that will make these cars go fast.</strong><hr></blockquote>


This has to be the understatement of the new century!
<img src="graemlins/yltype.gif" border="0" alt="[typing]" />

 

I was wondering about mods as well besides headers and exhaust. Was thinking of some performance work on my heads. Huntly Racing website listed this work for early 2V heads. Was considering thier Stage 2 Heads for my car. I knew someone who has had this work done on a NA 944 and seemed to make quite a difference along with headers.
Does anyone have any experince with these or other performance heads and roughly what kind of HP gain we are talking about?

 

The euro motor bit dounds the way to go. What all do you need (wiring harness, ecu, etc) in addition to the raw motor. I think headers and borla exhaust would be the only thing I would do.
Thanks for the expert advise guys. I am picking up my black 84 5spd sat morning. New shark owner woooooooooohooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fletch

 

The few people I have talked to that switched to a Euro top end did not need a new wiring harness or ECU. I think some little modifications had to be done in the intake track to get it all working. Most of the ones that did the switch also switched to 5.0L shortblocks and with headers and 3" exhaust they made around 290rwhp.

 

Aaron,

Depends on which Euro top end you install. There are basically two versions - L-Jet, and LH Jet. That I have seen, the plenum, runners, and throttle body are the same in both L and LH Euro. However, measuring the air is a different story.

US cars had L-jet (flap door) until the 85MY. Euro cars (as usual) were ahead of the curve. They got LH-jet (hot wire) at least as early as MY84. Some probably got it in MY83.

If you install the L-Jet version (or just leave the "barn door" in place) you are looking at a straightforward swap. And probably less HP/TQ gain.

If, however, you have an L-Jet car, and try to install the LH-jet Euro stuff you would need to swap in a wiring harness and ECU to deal with the hotwire mass air of the LH-Jet.

HTH,

Greg

 

I know of one person that swaped to Euro top end(heads/cams/intake/tb) and a 5.0L bottom end from I believe an 85-86 US car and he kepted his mechanical fuel injection on that car. If I recall correctly he is making 292rwhp and has a full race exhause(headers/3" exhaust). Now the 79 obviously had a lot of work put into it, but he did not switch over the ECU/harness. That is a similar power output number as Mark Kilbert's late 84 US spec car that had the same basic motor setup and exhaust in it but I believe he had a mass air US car to begin with, I could be wrong on that part of his car though.

Since I have a euro I have never really looked into the conversion aspect of it all just into the going to a 5.0L shortblock.

 

Why buy a euro? 928 bros commonly have S4 motors. More power, newer, better low end. If you're going to buy the computer anyway it seems like the way to go. If I was going that far I would be looking at the cams. I believe there is some power to be had from a good set of custom cams (not junk). Next would be heads & intake. Quality port work would make it come to life. Half *** work in either area will probably cost power so know your sources.

 

I think if I were going to do up a S4 motor the first place I would be looking into would be head work. If one had a 16V euro car such as mine that came with the dual distributers it is not supposed to be all that hard of a task to put a S4 motor in there along with the factory computers from the donor car. But probably not the most efficient ways to be spending money.