so i just finished all the body work that needs to be done to my 92 rs and im wanting to beef up the HP in it, i've been looking through these threads to get an idea of whats best to do to my 3.1l v6 and i wanted your guys ideas as to what i should do. any help would be nice maybe some links to other discussions.

Well there have been lots of discussions about this exact topic. Since you looked through other threads about increasing HP why don't you start out by telling us what you're thinking about doing. Also, what's your budget on this build? There are basically 3 ways you can go to get more out of your engine:
(cheapest)
-N/A: Nitrous, Headers, P&P, etc.
-31XX top end swap
-turbo charge
(expensive)
You can do more than 1 of these things but those are the 3 basic directions people go. If your like me and most people on here your stuck in the N/A boat, but with some mechanical knowledge a top end swap can be done. But tell us what your thinking so far.

well i was thinking a supercharger but i'm not that great of a car guy so i cant find one for my engine i plugged in my engine to google and it didnt help, i think a new exhaust will help, i'm not worried about the price of anything cuz i will buy it bit by bit and save up for whatever i need to. the most important thing is to have a good daily driver. so a supercharger would be best because it only kick's in when i need it to.

Supercharger may be a little difficult for you since there are none that are made specificly for our cars. Well i think there might have been a few made but they are hard to find. Ive been strongly considering nitrous because of the fact that you only use it when you need it...

+1 for nitrous (for you, not me).

Its pretty cheap, a complete & safe system can be found on eBay or craigslist for easily under $500. It's only there when you need it, and otherwise your car is a stock daily driver. Do some cheap bolt ons too and it could be a fun car.

By the sounds of it you want more pep out of it on the street and every once in a while want to have even more fun. I would just do all the bolt on stuff first so you get used to the car...decide if you want to go through the whole top end swap then consider nitrous or a turbo set up

a 4:56 gear would be fun. thats cheap. =)

so what all boltons can you do? and what is a top end swap? my problem with nitrious is its bad for your pistons. at least thats what i've heard. are there discussions i should read that will teach me about it?

NO2 wont hurt your car if its used right, and your engine is in good condition.
Bolt on-ons available for these engines are headers, catback exhaust, Underdrive pulley (recomended), MSD coil, better intake tubing W/ K&N, Ford Injectors, probably more..
The top end swap is when you take the intake, heads, TB and other stuff off a 3100 V6 or 3400. You'll get alot better flow with this swap, thus more HP. It's really worth it if you have the time.

wow thats cool. thanks for the info. i got a lot to read about.

125 wet shot on a 3.1 L the fun you will have

Side question for bolt on. If you are going with an underdrive pulley whats a safe underdrive percentage while still keeping power steering and alternator working properly for street use?

I'm not sure what % mine is but it was quite a bit smaller, and the difference was noticable.. Mines the ASP one but I think the Jet and other brands are the same size. Wouldn't recomend using an alternator pulley with one on though.

Don't put the underdrive on the alternator it will cut the life of your battery and in some cases your have a problem keeping the car running under load like with the A/C on and the blower on high or with the rear defroster on with the heat.

so i talked to a guy he said that i could but a turbo on but id have to have custom headers made. any1 recommend some1 they prefer? or in the miami area.

I've never dealth with headers before, but I think the pacesetters will work if you wanna turbo.
BTW at the top of this thread you expressed an interest in getting a supercharger, well, there's one for sale on here right now for a really decent price. Getting that set-up would probably be cheaper than a turbo.. if you havnt seen it look at the thread "Forgot I had this lil ******".

just make some custom ones or go with the STS setup remote mounted turbos

STS setup remote mounted turbos? what are those?

http://www.ststurbo.com/

well you mount your whole turbo system in the back of the car where the muffler it's really clean and all you need is one pipe to the front for the intake.

Laaaaag. I'm not a fan of remote mount turbo stuff. You have to run oil lines and a pump in addition to whatever other piping you're trying to cram under there. Too much plumbing for a system that already has alot of plumbing to do.

Whoever mentioned 4.56 gears is right- it would be fun, but I don't think you want to turn over 2600 rpm on the highway. 3.73's or 4.10's would be better. You're going to have to put together your own headers for a turbo, or buy some from firstfirebird. You might ask him if he's still selling his turbo header kit. Here's a simple recipe for you- gears, headers, better induction then ecm swap & learning to tune.

well the video i seen there was little to no lag in some cases it was better then stuffing all the stuff under the hood

i hear there is a lot of lagg in them. im no expert but it seams that there would be because it goes so far from the engine. thanks for the info guys.

well im not am expert either it's just paper facts that just because it far form the engine isn't a bad thing and look at the money saved no intercooler needed, since the air is going so far its cooling as it gets there) or custom header which can cost a lot of money and time if you can't make them yourself.

And as the plumbing goes two oil lines and charge pipe to the throttle body
you can get 3/4 metal transmission line for 6 dollar a yard , a hand pipe bender and a cutter that about 20 dollar and you have grade A oil lines and the pipping measure, cut, champ and repeat

now im not trying to push anything on you i just want you to keep your options open
and the line bending is easy once you get the hang of it i broke my trans line and fuel line so i had do fab that up.

well hope this helps a little

do u have one on ur car? what kind of performace did u get out of it?"

I wouldnt want to have to run air intake piping from my muffler tothe TB.
I'm probably less of an expert than 1992 but seems like you could get rid of the cat and put it there. Seems like it would reduce lag, put it real close to the oil filter, and plumbing would really be minimal. That's what would make sence to me but I could be wrong.
I'd still buy that SC for sale on here before spending $1000+ on this system.

i don't have one on my car but i helped put one on a
Silverado now yes it's a truck and it was a bolt-on but i helped run the lines it was wasn't any lag to say but this was a V8. But on a stock engine i would only do 5-8 pound after that you need to do some internal work. so about a 20-80 HP gain maybe

but think about if you clog you exhaust with a potato the pressure is going to build up and shoot it right out now with a turbo there it's doing the same thing in the case that its restricting the exhaust form flowing freely so with all that you gas, it's just the same as if the turbo was right off the headers.

Well k-slice your right putting it where the cat is, great idea i don't think the oil filter would be a problem but you never know to you try.

I saw and heard a STS turbo set up on a corvette (same style that was done on spike or speed tv, i forget which show it was)....it sounded amazing through the pipe but so does every turbo...as for lag, haha, can you say LAGGGGGG! If you've never had a turbo car you might think that is normal but seriously wow.............BUT when it does kick in it does work very well. Either way tho i would just the front mount way. Like said above tho i would start with all the bolt on stuff...do a suspension, gears and so on...get into tuning the car....THEN do a turbo.

What?

If ur mounting the turbo on the rear dont you need an extra oil pump for the oil drain ? i was thinking of this setup but since the turbo is lower than the oil pan i read that u need a secondary pump.. this is what made me turn away from it. The other thing i was scared of is it being too and rripping off haha... If it wasnt for the extra pump (im not really sure you even need it) it would be easy i think... ive seen some systems like this on youtube and they seem to worl pretty good, ill have to try it someday i guess!

would the 3100 or 3400 heads, intake and all that bolt right up to the 2.8L engine?

oohh man and when the motor starts chucking pistons and rods out the oil pan :P


i saw it posted here about removing the cat. The engines designed from about 85 and up need the backpressure from the cat to run efficiently. Not like those SBC's from the 70's that loved wide open pipes. Opening up a modern motor like that will just make it fall on its face. I have tried it. On the other hand, a clogged cat will do the same thing. Put on a new high flow cat and it will do it some good. There are headers made for our cars as well.

if u have a lag u did the setup wrong, i had a 1992 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX awd turbo and there was no lag what so ever, a good friend of mine had a 1987 turbo Toyota Supra and a 1994 Twin Turbo Toyota supra no lag, if u got a lag in your turbo it was done wrong. if u want a turbo put on i suggest having a pro put it on for you. I have a cousin in Florida that has a 1989 3.1 Camaro turbo charged and he prefers it over his old supercharger. so if u go with the turbo yes its going to be expensive cause you will need to have a pro put it on for you. turbo's look easy to install and they are but they are so easy to messy up when installing. another thing is, if you got lag in your turbo you might have to big of a turbo for the engine you might need to back down on the size of the turbo. i did that with my Eclipse i tried putting a aftermarket 3000 gt turbo on it and i had a lag till i decided to slam the gas in a race and got up to speed lil bit. just keep in mind when getting a turbo with is better than a supercharger cause there is no pull on the engine from a turbo like a supercharger does. that you need to get the correct sized turbo for it.

You can select the proper turbo by knowing a little math.
Its not that hard.

Check the stickies at the top of the forum.

A cat will always be excessive back pressure. Leaving your exhaust open where the cat was will kill the power, but removing it will help. I immediatley noticed a difference when I replaced mine with a glasspack, really helped the high end power that these engines lack.

Late to the game here, but ehhh. I saw someone mentioned replacing the intake setup with a better tube and a K&N. Hes already got the dual snorkel setup since hes got a camaro. Just put in some K&N air filters and maybe cut the bottoms off the air boxes. Dont make one of those "CAI" setups. youre already pulling cold air, relocating to underhood would only warm up the air youre pulling in.