Anyone driven a 3.8L?
Anyone driven a 3.8L?
04-18-2002, 08:54 AM
#3
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Doug and Steve:
I hesitated answering this post because I only have about 2-3 hours experience with my 3.8l. As Steve says, I did add a Porsche OEM powerkit to my ’96 993. Just for clarity sake, the kit includes pistons, cylinders, heads, cams, larger Varioram down tubes and all the stuff you need to put it together. The DME that comes with the kit will not work on US cars. If you were to buy the 993 powerkit, you would need to have someone like Steve W. modify your DME or order the one that works from Europe. It is one number different than the one that comes with the kit. I have this info if anyone is interested.
Sorry for all of the background. My car was a dedicated racecar. We installed the kit with no other modifications to the motor. It was a straight RS spec 3.8. The car had some handling problems that weekend that we eventually got sorted, but we were 1 second slower than the year before. I had such high expectations of the new motor – especially after spending $15,000-$20,000 to build it. It didn’t seem any more powerful than my old 3.6 at all. More caveats: The engine was still being broken in and we were being careful with it for the first hour. The car did seem to pull a little harder going up some of the hills at Road Atlanta. Perhaps the 3.8 has such a similar torque curve to the 3.6 that you just can’t feel it in a race car.
I posted in another post this week that I would never do this modification again for the purpose of making more power. I would, however, make this mod again if I was building another 3.8 RS and, I am. I do plan on purchasing another powerkit in the near future, but this time my expectations will be significantly lower. I would ask that you use my experience as just another data point. It is not authoritative in any way. The amount of time I spent with the car/motor was to short to get things sorted. Realistically, it only bumped the HP from 282 to 300. Perhaps, in a race suit, you just can’t feel 18 HP. Even after this experience, I am still looking forward to building another one.
Hank
I hesitated answering this post because I only have about 2-3 hours experience with my 3.8l. As Steve says, I did add a Porsche OEM powerkit to my ’96 993. Just for clarity sake, the kit includes pistons, cylinders, heads, cams, larger Varioram down tubes and all the stuff you need to put it together. The DME that comes with the kit will not work on US cars. If you were to buy the 993 powerkit, you would need to have someone like Steve W. modify your DME or order the one that works from Europe. It is one number different than the one that comes with the kit. I have this info if anyone is interested.
Sorry for all of the background. My car was a dedicated racecar. We installed the kit with no other modifications to the motor. It was a straight RS spec 3.8. The car had some handling problems that weekend that we eventually got sorted, but we were 1 second slower than the year before. I had such high expectations of the new motor – especially after spending $15,000-$20,000 to build it. It didn’t seem any more powerful than my old 3.6 at all. More caveats: The engine was still being broken in and we were being careful with it for the first hour. The car did seem to pull a little harder going up some of the hills at Road Atlanta. Perhaps the 3.8 has such a similar torque curve to the 3.6 that you just can’t feel it in a race car.
I posted in another post this week that I would never do this modification again for the purpose of making more power. I would, however, make this mod again if I was building another 3.8 RS and, I am. I do plan on purchasing another powerkit in the near future, but this time my expectations will be significantly lower. I would ask that you use my experience as just another data point. It is not authoritative in any way. The amount of time I spent with the car/motor was to short to get things sorted. Realistically, it only bumped the HP from 282 to 300. Perhaps, in a race suit, you just can’t feel 18 HP. Even after this experience, I am still looking forward to building another one.
Hank
04-18-2002, 12:18 PM
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Hank and Doug
A friend of mine has a RHD RS 993 and he reckons that despite Porsche's claims, he'd be amazed if he was producing 300bhp. He previously owned a Subaru with 320 bhp and reckons the difference between that and the RS was very noticeable. However, as far as pulling is concerned we were both at a Trackday at Brands Hatch a while ago and he would just pull away from me on the straight(I have a standard 993 C2 Varioram). Round the bends with the PSS9 set up was a lot closer.
A friend of mine has a RHD RS 993 and he reckons that despite Porsche's claims, he'd be amazed if he was producing 300bhp. He previously owned a Subaru with 320 bhp and reckons the difference between that and the RS was very noticeable. However, as far as pulling is concerned we were both at a Trackday at Brands Hatch a while ago and he would just pull away from me on the straight(I have a standard 993 C2 Varioram). Round the bends with the PSS9 set up was a lot closer.
04-18-2002, 12:58 PM
#6
RL Technical Advisor
I would just chime in here quickly and say that simply installing a bunch of expensive parts is no guarantee of optimum results.
There are many things to be done here besides swap componentry, if one wants to see best results from such an investment. Like anything, something is only as successful as the people who install and set it up.
This applies to ANYTHING,....
There are many things to be done here besides swap componentry, if one wants to see best results from such an investment. Like anything, something is only as successful as the people who install and set it up.
This applies to ANYTHING,....
04-18-2002, 01:42 PM
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Bill:
A real RS weighs just a little over 2800 lbs.
Steve:
I know you could get a lot more out of the 993 Powerkit than I got, but our goal was to be perfectly legal for PCA club racing, which, with your help and that of Autometrics Motorsports we accomplisthed beautifully.
All I really meant to say was that going from 282 HP to 300 HP is not like driving a 993 Twin Turbo. I realize there is a lot more to get than we got, but we achieved our stated goal.
Hank Cohn
A real RS weighs just a little over 2800 lbs.
Steve:
I know you could get a lot more out of the 993 Powerkit than I got, but our goal was to be perfectly legal for PCA club racing, which, with your help and that of Autometrics Motorsports we accomplisthed beautifully.
All I really meant to say was that going from 282 HP to 300 HP is not like driving a 993 Twin Turbo. I realize there is a lot more to get than we got, but we achieved our stated goal.
Hank Cohn
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04-18-2002, 10:11 PM
#8
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Hank,
You never seemed to mention why you had so little time with the 3.8l. Is this the car you were in the accident with? What a bummer.... <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" />
You never seemed to mention why you had so little time with the 3.8l. Is this the car you were in the accident with? What a bummer.... <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" />