I have 01 MN6 with LT and CAI. I am thinking of doing Heads & Cam over the winter. Right now I am leaning towards Trick Flow heads and a cam in the area of 230 - 240 duration 600 - 610 lift. I am told that should put me around 450 - 470 RWHP.

How drivable will this combination be? The tuners / speed shops will tell you what they think you want to hear. I am looking for real world information.

I am sure that the fuel economy will change but I have heard that if driven gently it could actually go up.

Any input will be appreciated

 

Its gonna Be in the Tune ,The cam Which Btw i Have a 233/239 600/605 on a 112 @ 50 is gonna be hitting pretty Hard ,@ redlights its gonna want to rev up & down a little & your car will Shake ,As Far as Driving Conditions will be Fine ,some people have cars that Buck when Trying to reduce speed ,but its all in the tune ,Also The Fuel milage wont hurt u to Bad unless u keep Your foot in the Gas all the time ,Also The rwhp #s are a little Bloated , Imo I think the 6 speed cars will make a little more ,but Basically Your just trying to guess @ Rwhp #s, theres Lots Of variables ,such as any more go fast Parts ,Headers,Fast 90/90 or if which of these are u using ,Ls6 int ,smaller ud pulley , these will Affect the rwhp #s ,If these were thrown on the car as well ,i would think 430 to 450 would be realistic with a 6 speed car

 

Driveability, it seems, is a very personal thing. One man's driveable setup is another man's nightmare. I'm sort of picky; I really didn't want any lope, and I wanted stock-like driveability. I found, however, that to get the power and torque curve I wanted, I would have to settle for some lope and a little bit choppier of an idle. I settled on a 224/224 on a 112LSA, and it's about as big of a cam as I think I'd go with, in terms of overlap.

From everything I have learned, overlap has the biggest impact on driveability and lope. I would go with a bigger cam only if it had the same overlap (ie a 228/232 on a 115). Both that cam and mine have 0 degrees of overlap. I can't speak to the driveability of the bigger cams, but I will go out on a limb and say if you are picky about how you want the car to idle and pull from a very low rpm, you probably don't want to go with a cam with a whole lot more than 0 degrees of overlap. Anything you get in the 230-240 range that will have any low-end whatsoever is going to have a ton more overlap, and thus will probably be much more ill-mannered.

The bigger duration you go, the more overlap you'll wind up with if you work to get your IVC and EVO to occur where you want them to in order to keep your powerband in a reasonably low range (you probably don't want to have a torque curve putting out 300ft lbs until 4,500rpm, and then spring instantly up to 425). As you go bigger in duration while keeping your IVC and EVO in the same spot, your LSA goes down and your overlap goes up, and your driveability at lower rpm's will decrease.

All that said, I'd think a 230-240 duration cam with Trickflow heads should be able to hit 450 easily. That 228/232 on a 115 I mentioned (that's LG's G5X1-E cam) hits an easy 450 with AFR heads, and 470 with AFR's and a FAST intake. There are several guys running that combo. A bigger cam will most likely make even more power than that, so I'd say your goals for that sized cam are totally appropriate.

 

Thanks Guys

The car currently has LG street headers with no cats and Borla stingers, along with a blackwing CAI.

It's funny that you should mention the LG cams; I am considering something like the G5 X3. I don't mind the lope, but I would like to maintain some low end torque. I drive the car a lot.

I agree that the HP projections are bloated a bit, and that it's all in the tune. Is anyone out there running a similar combination that would be willing to share their experience ?

 

Cobra4B is running the G5X2 on his Z06 through stock LS6 heads. His numbers would obviously be a bit lower than they would be through Trick Flow heads, but the driveability should be the same. Ask him about his thoughts... Here's his idle clip...

 

Its all in the Tune, i run an MS3 on a 111 and while i dont DD mine, i easily could becouse my tuner rocks

 

I doing mine this weekend if all goes good i should have it tuned mid next week. My setup is G5x3 112lsa, Lg Pros, Powerbond pulley, and P&P LS6 heads w/PRC dual springs, and P&P stock TB. Hopeing to see 450rwhp, but i will report once it all done, and its going to be a DD so we will see.
All i hear is, Its all in the Tune, for streetability.

 

You can see my sig for my mods and it is my daily driver. And like others said, its all in the tune.

 

I have the Trick Flow heads milled to 60cc and my cam is 230/236 on 113+ and it idles a little rough but I love the driveability of the car. It is a lot more fun to drive now and with 390 gears it makes 440rwhp/400rwtq.

 

Did you do the install yourself? I have heard that the TF heads are a VERY tight fit near the Master Brake Cylinder & Power Steering pump. Any Problems? Manual or Automatic? Milage?

Thanks

 

See my sig for mods - A4 tranny, G5X3 w/ AFR 205 heads - daily driver putting down 400 RWHP

 

400 HP with that setup seems low?

 

I have a 238/242 .609/.615 on a 111lsa and the tsp prc ls6 stage 2.5 heads milled to 59cc, fast 90/90 and all the bolt ons. It does rock at stoplights, will not idle w/ the ac on(soon to be fixed). I don't know that I would want this in a DD, sitting in bumper to bumper traffic(the shaking and lunging would get old very quickly). Mine is not a DD. But, as others have said, it's all in the tune. Mine is going back in for a re-tune to fix the floating idle and the no idle w/ ac issue. Make sure that it's not just tuned for all out power on the dyno; have them do a tune while driving to fix all idle issues and surging/bucking issues. #'s were 462hp and 403tq.

 

Auto Tranny w/ SS3200 Stall converter and 3.73 gears rob some power, no doubt - thinking I'd be around 450 if it were a stick - just thinking though, no proof

 

Those numbers seem pretty low for that combo, even for an A4

 

agreed, was that converter locked or unlocked?

 

I've got the g5x3 cam and other stuff in my sig. The car is my wife's dd and she wouldn't put up with much loss of drivability.

She does some bucking (the car) in lower gears below 1500 rpm, but is fine above that and on the highway. I've got her idling at 900rpm.

There is no real loss of torque. I can even take off at idle if I ease out the clutch. MPG is about the same as before the swap.

I started with a LG mail order tune and took over myself from there with HPTuners and a wideband. SPent a lot of time to get her where she's at. She runs in closed loop.

Good luck

 

Depends on what dyno you were running on. Mustangs give lower numbers. What you are really looking for is the net difference in HP/TQ.

 

mine idles pretty good, but then my cam is not some huge monster. Tuning is very important part as far as drivablity. Good luck

 

I have a set-up similar to what you’re talking about... Trickflow heads milled to 61cc, 230/232 114+4, FAST 90, etc. I don't daily dive my car but I could if I chose to. As was said before it's all in the tune. It does use more fuel than stock putting around town or sitting in traffic but does better than stock on the freeway. Numbers are in my sig.