Re: So Slow

["Gary G. Erickson" <erickson@teleport.com>]

In talking about power upgrades for the N/A 5cyl's, the honorable Fluhr
wrote:

> 2) Free-er flowing exhaust...but this may sacrifice a bit of your low-end
>    torque.

I may get flamed for this one, but I have to say that w/o other mods
you're not going to see a lot of increase on the 4kq's.  The GT's do
stand to benefit from this because they have the "lesser" EM and smaller
exhaust pipe.

> 5) Franco industries variable-cam-timing gear.  As I understand it, this
>    adjusts the camshaft timing as a function of rpms (some kind of inertia
>    mechanism?).  Having advanced my camshaft forward and back one tooth
>    and seeing how it affects the power band, this option appears very
>    attractive.  It is not inexpensive, however, and I have not heard of
>    any first-hand reports from those who have tried it.

The major issue here with the N/A I5 engines is that the distributor is
run off of the back of the cam shaft.  When you fiddle with the cam
timing, the ignition timing is going to change as well.

I have not ever played around with it to find out if the change would be
helpful or detrimental.

> 6) K&N air filter.  This one is debatable.  I have one in my Coupe GT,
>    and could not tell if it made any difference.  Perhaps at really high
>    rpms (5000+) it helps, but the engine doesn't make much power up there
>    anyway, so there isn't much use in going there.

Not a power upgrade, IMO, but a convenience issue.  (I'm referencing the
current thread about changing air filters here.)

> 8) Remove the A/C system.  Hey, that is 70lbs. worth of metal.  At one point,
>    the list was talking about 12lbs. == 1hp, so you have over 5hp right
>    there.  ;-) ;-) ;-)

BTDT.  I have to say that I didn't see as great a change in the
acceleration as I did in the turn-in response of the car.  Remember that
all of those 70 pounds are hanging WTF in front of the front axle.

> There are even crazier things to do, but I'll let others talk about that
> if they feel like it.  :-)

Considering some of the threads that are going on right now, I think
I'll stay out of this one!  <grin>

HTH!

Gary

-- 
Gary G. Erickson         Secretary -- NW Quattro Club
 503-618-1232                  erickson@teleport.com