cheap power?

Post by **jamie_stafford** » 23 Jun 2008 03:07 pm

i have a 1985 350glt 2.0i and was wondering what is the cheapest way to more power? when i get more money comeing in in do a 2.3 turbo swap,

Post by **jtbo** » 23 Jun 2008 03:37 pm

Loosing weight is perhaps best, then engine management, better cam, exhaust manifold, but quite quickly you will face price of turbo kit and even quicker price of 2.3 unit.

My route was Megasquirt + K-Cam, but even it does give nice boost of power there could always be more, price was not too high, but of course it did require some amount of work, can't say that it would been difficult at all, even I did not had previous experience in engine management systems, fuel injection or electronics and soldering

Post by **SteveP** » 23 Jun 2008 03:47 pm

Yeah, MS and K cam is probably the most effective means of improving an N/A 360. When you go turbo you have the programmable management for it too for future upgrades

Post by **jtbo** » 23 Jun 2008 04:28 pm

SteveP wrote:Yeah, MS and K cam is probably the most effective means of improving an N/A 360. When you go turbo you have the programmable management for it too for future upgrades

Almost forgot James version from subject, twin carb setup, it has some good and some bad points again, one have to estimate if that would be good for his use.
Problems are adjustment (need re-jetting for 2.3 lump, only expert can really do it), maybe availability, turbo route very difficult.

Post by **jamie_stafford** » 15 Jul 2008 02:31 pm

ive looked in the carb routeand found the best way for me would be r1 bike carbs because you can pick them up for under £100, i spoke to a bit of a bike expert and he said all i would have to do is get sum bigger jets witch are about £3 eatch, where and how much would i be looking at for a performance exaust manifold?

Post by **Jason B** » 15 Jul 2008 06:09 pm

lol, if you have a couple hundred to play about with then stick a turbo engine in it! - They can be found very cheaply if you look hard enough.

Concerning carbs, I wouldn't recommend them if you are going to put a turbo engine in later, as they need retuning any time you change anything which will be a major pita if you don't have free access to a rolling road.

Post by **foggyjames** » 20 Jul 2008 02:43 pm

Sticking in a 2.3 NA lump would be a nice easy upgrade. Running that on bike carbs would be good. An exhaust is a good idea, but I'd not get too wound up about a manifold. It'd help, but there's nothing off the shelf for RHD 360s, and custom is expensive for what it does. 2.3 NA isn't too bad on insurance, either, if you're young.

2.3 Turbo is nice, but there's no 'easy' route for engine management. It can be done of course, but you'd need to decide between retro-fitting a system from a turbo car (LH-Jetronic 2.4 from a 940, for example), or aftermarket, like Megasquirt.

I wouldn't spend money on the 2.0 NA lump...it's not powerful enough for a car of this size, really. I happened to pick up a rare-as-hell 'factory' kit for a 2.0, but otherwise I wouldn't have bothered.

cheers

James

Post by **Jason B** » 20 Jul 2008 02:54 pm

stick a b234 in

- I'm not expecting shabby numbers out of an NA 2.3 but sadly nowhere near turbo torquezzzz

Post by **jamie_stafford** » 23 Jul 2008 01:04 pm

i think i mite just wait untill i can get a 2.3 turbo and go for around 200-250 bhp, will that be possable useing a LH-Jetronic sistem or something similar? i want to use the sort of parts you can find in a scrap yard as much as possable because i want it to cost as little as possable lol.

Post by **Jason B** » 23 Jul 2008 01:23 pm

you can make over 200bhp easily with scrap yard parts

Post by **SteveP** » 23 Jul 2008 02:21 pm

If you want easyness, find a 740/760 TIC with Motronic, the fuel system is pretty basic and iirc has a seperate fuel injection wiring loom. The engine also has a decent head and cam as standard as well. It's a little antiquated compared to LH-Jet but from a wiring point of view would be much less headache!

Post by **foggyjames** » 23 Jul 2008 08:32 pm

I'm not so sure Steve...Motronic is pretty well bedded in there too...plus you're very limited for upgrades with it. I think a 940 with LH is a better idea, even if extracting the wiring is a little painful.

cheers

James

Post by **Jason B** » 23 Jul 2008 11:06 pm

agreed on the 940 with LH2.4, more straightforward and very widely supported.

Post by **SteveP** » 23 Jul 2008 11:14 pm

foggyjames wrote:I'm not so sure Steve...Motronic is pretty well bedded in there too...

Yeah? I though it was far more seperated than LH is... oh well, ignore that then...

I'm just going from the ballache of attempting the removal of an LH loom, it's not fun - not one bit!

Post by **foggyjames** » 23 Jul 2008 11:32 pm

I guess it depends if you're hardcore or not

cheers

James