quote Originally posted by lou_dias: I'm just running Fiero Store sway bars...and for springs, I don't remember what I got with the original HELD kit. Handling is generally not my problem unless something has critically failed like a month and a half ago when my right rear wheel b I am limited to 100 tread wear on the tires. I'm running Nitto 275/40/17 555R's on the back and 255/40/16 BFG G-Force on the front. I may actually reverse those to get a smaller diameter wheel on the back again to get my rpms a little higher. My diameter is 25" when stock is around 23.7" so that is hurting me a little...

I've seen in your video where you go in too hot at the last corner and the back end goes around, typical of a mid-engine car behavior. I've done that many times at track days. That is because side to side weight transfer is not ideal.

The ideal set up will allow you to go into a turn as hot as possible and then just let off and let the car roll through the turn, then at the middle of the turn start to apply the power progressively. If you do go beyond the available grip, the ideal set up will allow you to recover without loosing to much time and you will have total control of the recovery.
To give you an idea, you are running about 220-250 sway bar rates. I'm running 546 front and 494 rear.

My car is set up that way, it does not matter how I throw it through a turn I can always recover and the result usually is an under control 4 wheel drift.

If you want to get that trophy, invest in a good set of sway bars, like the HHP sway bars. I made my own based on the same principle, Nextel Cup/Craftman Truck race swaybars. And let me tell you, it is by far the best performance add on to my car.
Not everything is power, and the fact that you did good laps one day and crappy laps other days it's not just because power.
Other parameters like track temp, air temp, humidity, drive's mood and much more stuff affect the way a car react.

[This message has been edited by La fiera (edited 07-19-2013).]

quote Originally posted by lou_dias: Excuse me? what work? I threw some money at a machinist. I did no work. You wanna see "work", look at the guy (masospaghetti) doing a full 3500 swap. NOW THAT'S WORK!

Yup... I follow his thread too...

quote Besides, wasn't it the ALUMINUM head camp who claimed superiority, where as all I've ever claimed is equality given the dynamics of displacement? (IE you don't have enough cubes to benefit from ported GEN3 heads...) Sorry, but it's me who is still laughing inside. Remember, I'm still not ideally tuned...though I doubt my peak will improve - I have a lot of bottom end power to recover...

That's why port work and a cam done on a 3500 can put down 275WHP with similar displacement (3387cc vs. 3498cc)... There is quite a bit more torque under the curve in this pic than yours, scaled properly or not... not enough 'cubes' indeed.

quote This looks like the cam for me: http://wot-tech.com/shop/gm...mshaft/prod_242.html ...but that won't be in the cards until next year...still debating a turbo for next year since picking up a mere 30-45 hp is not going to be enough to overcome the top 2 cars consistently.

Glad I could help find something you approve of... considering 82-T/A [At Work] pointed you in the same direction earlier and you claimed you couldn't tell if they were roller cams or not. The 3500 is a 200hp engine stock and that cam on an otherwise stock 3500 is worth about ~30hp alone.

Hee hee here's a blast from the past... circa 2000: 3.4 Dyno results

quote Originally posted by lou_dias: No you won't get 200hp unless you use the aluminum Gen ][ heads and a roller cam. Basically, you want to soup up the minvan engine. I've stated this many times. SFI and aluminum heads are the way to go with the 3.4. even all of today's V8's have aluminum heads...roller cams and higher compression and with SFI, you get better air fuel control. you'll get 20 horses more out of the aluminum head minivan 3.4 than the cast iron 3.4 camaro engine. Associated Auto sells a minivan kit for like $500... Don't get me wrong, the torque is great. But I'm souped up to the max and my little brother's STOCK LS1 made OVER DOUBLE (301hp)my HP with only 70% more cubic inches. His friend's stock RAM AIR made 324 hp on the dyno. Torque numbers matched up fairly even when comparing cubic inches to ft-lbs of torque on both engines.

Don't get me wrong, the torque is great. But...

Sigh... just build the engine Lou. Be happy with it for what it is and stop trying to make it something that it isn't. La Fiera has awesome work done on his 2.9, posted a 172whp dyno and a video of him having a blast at the track. Gets nothing but praise.

You seem revel in people telling you that you can't do something, perhaps that's what drives you. If that's the case, keep at it. Let's see what you got!

[This message has been edited by carbon (edited 07-16-2013).]

quote Originally posted by lou_dias: No you won't get 200hp unless you use the aluminum Gen ][ heads and a roller cam. Basically, you want to soup up the minvan engine. I've stated this many times. SFI and aluminum heads are the way to go with the 3.4. even all of today's V8's have aluminum heads...roller cams and higher compression and with SFI, you get better air fuel control. you'll get 20 horses more out of the aluminum head minivan 3.4 than the cast iron 3.4 camaro engine. Associated Auto sells a minivan kit for like $500... Don't get me wrong, the torque is great. But I'm souped up to the max and my little brother's STOCK LS1 made OVER DOUBLE (301hp)my HP with only 70% more cubic inches. His friend's stock RAM AIR made 324 hp on the dyno. Torque numbers matched up fairly even when comparing cubic inches to ft-lbs of torque on both engines. All I know is that today's aluminum heads produce more power than yesterday's iron heads. That's what the Fiero heads are: yesterday's technology. I think the only way we'll know the answer to which is really better is by having a set of iron heads identical to the aluminum heads and testing them in real world applications. Don't forget. The aluminum heads have the heart-shaped combusition chambers and splayed valves to improved fuel combustion. One point about the heat. An aluminum engine can be kept cooler. That means you can probably fill it with more air+fuel. What happens in the combustion chambers happens so fast that I don't think it matters much there what the material is and wasted heat being transferred into the heads is going to be negligable. The alminum heads would have a bigger explosion due to having more air in there anyway. That's just my 2 cents. Also, I've driven a Cavalier 3.1 with the getrag 5 speed...it has aluminum heads and it felt stronger than my 3.4 GT all day long. It was an '89 so I think the axle gear was the same since our speeds in each gear matched up to our RPM... Real world is what counts, not just they physics of one aspect of the process.

what happend to ya LOU?!

[This message has been edited by sleevePAPA (edited 07-16-2013).]

quote Originally posted by sleevePAPA: what happend to ya LOU?!

I learned the truth rather than listening to word of mouth.
I used to believe that until Orief built 2 pushrod 3.4's that made over 200 hp.

If you bothered to read the whole thread, I also mapped out how much power I would/cold make with my next engine. When I posted dynos of 172 and 187 RWHP from THIS engine (aka the next engine mentioned in that thread) - I proved myself right.

[This message has been edited by lou_dias (edited 07-16-2013).]

quote Originally posted by carbon: Don't get me wrong, the torque is great. But... Sigh... just build the engine Lou. Be happy with it for what it is and stop trying to make it something that it isn't. La Fiera has awesome work done on his 2.9, posted a 172whp dyno and a video of him having a blast at the track. Gets nothing but praise. You seem revel in people telling you that you can't do something, perhaps that's what drives you. If that's the case, keep at it. Let's see what you got!

If that's what you want me to do then why do you keep trolling a thread about MY engine trying to ram useless information about HEADS NOT ON MY ENGINE?

Perhaps when TROLLS like you stop interjecting into MY thread with OT talk...then I can get praise for TAKING 2nd PLACE 1.5 months ago...eh?

Since you like reposting USELESS information, why don't I repost me holding my trophy along with the girl who painted the Slayer emblem on my car:



and here it is in my house:



What's your motor/car done for you with those SUPER DUPER AL heads? Actually, don't bother answering that as I really don't care...

[This message has been edited by lou_dias (edited 07-16-2013).]

quote Originally posted by carbon: You brought up heads that will never go on your engine... you maxed out some iron heads and say you reached the bottom of the aluminum head range... good luck with your tuning. Have fun with your build.

Nice excuse.

Here's GM's 'dyno':


I am running the exact same cam and peaked at the exact same point. This means my ported heads are not a limitation when compared to GEN3 LA1 engine. Obviously dyno scales vary from dyno to dyno. If my peaks match at the advertised RPM, then I'm not restricted on exhaust or intake. Even my peak torque was at 4000 RPM. The CAM is my current restriction, not heads like you wish it to be. My torque below 3200 rpm should return with the reprogramming I did tonight. What I took from that bogus dyno was my a/f ratio and the shape of the curves- it completely explains my bogged launches. That's what's important. I will do another dyno run at a Dynojet shop soon to see how the curve changes. The dyno operator of this most recent dyno claims that the Dynojet down the road should report 13% higher #'s. If he's correct, I should post a dyno with a top hp of ~168 rwhp. We'll see what actually happens...

It's kind of funny. When you remove the intake neck restriction starting at 4100 rpm and extend my 187/249 dyno to peak at 5200 rpm, my HP works out to ~220...must be another co-incidence...

[This message has been edited by lou_dias (edited 07-16-2013).]