[scared2mosh]

Originally Posted by The Phantom Mullet

How many miles are on that car? And I'm assuming it has an automatic transmission....

A supercharger has the potential to make it quicker for a while.... and then stop moving altogether.

There are two ways to fix your power/weight equation. One involves more power.

88 Bonneville SE. 3.8L V6 w/ 4 speed automatic. 93k miles on both engine and trans.

[mulletman]

I'd be curious as to what sort of torque your factory torque converter was rated at.

[scared2mosh]

Originally Posted by The Phantom Mullet

I'd be curious as to what sort of torque your factory torque converter was rated at.

Engine was rated at 175hp and 210lb/ft torque when new. I'm sure the torque converter had a much higher rating... according to my dad he thinks they used the same trans/ torque converter in a caddy that was a V8.

[gtrdave]

In all honesty, unless you've got some $$$ and some decent fab and mod skills, that is not a car to try and extract more power from.
It's a daily driver, period.
Drive it, treat it nice, and replace and/or compliment it with something that is a better performance platform.

[scared2mosh]

Originally Posted by gtrdave

In all honesty, unless you've got some $$$ and some decent fab and mod skills, that is not a car to try and extract more power from.
It's a daily driver, period.
Drive it, treat it nice, and replace and/or compliment it with something that is a better performance platform.

That's kinda what I figured. I just thought if there was something simple I could do to get some decent gains it'd be worth it.

[gtrdave]

Originally Posted by scared2mosh

That's kinda what I figured. I just thought if there was something simple I could do to get some decent gains it'd be worth it.

You've got what's probably a decent core engine in the 3.8l, but you've also got what's now considered an antiquated fuel injection rig and engine management system that probably won't do you any favors if you try and mod it.
Other than a free-flowing muffler and a drop-in K&N filter...maybe an underdrive pulley if it was even made...I wouldn't do much else to it.

[jthomas1600]

One of the things I've been trying to learn is if there is any particular cars to stay away from because of technology issues. An engineer I used to work with has advised me that there were two types of fuel injection systems from that era...speed density and mass air. I don't really know what those are, but he told me to check what type before buying because mass air technology is still used today, but speed density has gone by the way side. Just something interesting that I've picked up so far.

Anybody else have any useful tips like that?

[gtrdave]

Originally Posted by jthomas1600

One of the things I've been trying to learn is if there is any particular cars to stay away from because of technology issues. An engineer I used to work with has advised me that there were two types of fuel injection systems from that era...speed density and mass air. I don't really know what those are, but he told me to check what type before buying because mass air technology is still used today, but speed density has gone by the way side. Just something interesting that I've picked up so far.

Anybody else have any useful tips like that?

I'd check your local and state laws regarding modifying vehicles if you intend to street drive the thing.
I know that some states (Cali?) required the engine to meet the smog requirements of the year and body style of the vehicle.
Meaning, if you drop a worked 1969 SBC into an '85 Monte, that engine had better meet 1985 Monte Carlo smog requirements, not 1969.

As far as what your engineer friend told you, here's a great article on the different systems:
Electronic Fuel Injection Mass Flow vs. Speed Density- Car Craft Magazine

[scared2mosh]

Originally Posted by gtrdave

You've got what's probably a decent core engine in the 3.8l, but you've also got what's now considered an antiquated fuel injection rig and engine management system that probably won't do you any favors if you try and mod it.
Other than a free-flowing muffler and a drop-in K&N filter...maybe an underdrive pulley if it was even made...I wouldn't do much else to it.

So at most putting in a highflow air filter/intake and maybe do something with the exhaust?

That wouldn't be too hard or expensive... the second option is way less likely to happen though.

[gtrdave]

Originally Posted by scared2mosh

So at most putting in a highflow air filter/intake and maybe do something with the exhaust?

That wouldn't be too hard or expensive... the second option is way less likely to happen though.

Whether or not you notice any gains from the mods is another story.
Many people equate "louder" with "faster", and that's just not the case many times as can be proven by so many Honda Civics w/ fart-tip mufflers that go absolutely nowhere, but are louder than a running herd of buffalo in Oklahoma.

[scared2mosh]

Originally Posted by gtrdave

Whether or not you notice any gains from the mods is another story.
Many people equate "louder" with "faster", and that's just not the case many times as can be proven by so many Honda Civics w/ fart-tip mufflers that go absolutely nowhere, but are louder than a running herd of buffalo in Oklahoma.

Haha...

[redbaron]

speed density hasn't gone by the wayside, but those are air metering methods, not fuel injection methods.

There are actually two versions of mass airflow as well, karman vortex & hotwire (GM's use a lot of these). For what it's worth a lot of hondas are speed density.

Fuel injection traditionally has two different implimentations, multi-port injection (the most common) and throttle body fuel injection (died out in the early 90's). Most of the TBI cars you'll see are things like escorts and such. Basically they took one larger injector and ran it over the throttlebody, essentially like a much more finely regulated carburetor. Multi port uses an injector per cylinder, fires it much closer to the intake valve, and a much finer spray pattern.

Newer stuff is going direct injection which has the injector, knock sensor, etc all integrated and runs at vastly higher pressures.

[gtrdave]

Originally Posted by redbaron

Newer stuff is going direct injection which has the injector, knock sensor, etc all integrated and runs at vastly higher pressures.

And is both more efficient and more powerful.