Will this get me over 400 hp?

90lxcoupe said:

Dont get me wrong here, but i think that you are looking at this one dimensionally, yea the eaton makes excellent tq, i loved myne in my lightning, it was awesome. But a properly sized turbo motor like 92greengt's is unbeatable from 3000 up, a properly sized turbo will make more average tq and peak power than any power adder at equal boost levels.

His car is a perfect example of a properly sized turbo with minimal lag and a TON of tq. 600 ft lbs at 3900, thats awesome. Just imagine putting the car into 3rd or 4th and slowly feeding it throttle, you would barely feel the lag and the motor would be pulling like a jet

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I don't get you wrong at all. I as much as stated that the PD blown cars were at their best in the low and mid ranges. And I don't argue that through the mid to upper ranges all the way to red line that a turbo rules the roost. And yes, I’ll also agree that the Turbo set up will more than likely produce the most average torque and horsepower.....but only because they produce so much more in the mid and upper ranges as stated. Average horsepower looks impressive on a dyno graph side by side comparison, but It doesn’t exactly tell the whole story.

Even comparing your Lightning to his car really doesn’t do it justice, when you counsider your lightning easily outweighs a fox body Mustang by 1,000-1,300lbs and has a good 25% drive train loss to contend with. It’s an even more apples and oranges comparison than my Cougar is.

And as bitching as 92GreenGT's set up sounds....I'm willing to bet there's a lot more to it than boost through a stock or near stock engine.

I really don't like trying to compare power levels between my car and his, because it’s obvious that they aren't even in the same league build and horsepower capability wise...but the very fact that my engine with an obvious displacement advantage and considerably smaller power adder and conservative components and tune is able to churn out that much power in the low and mid ranges (handily besting his much more powerful combination in those areas) should speak volumes for the potential and capability of this type of power adder in the ranges I suggested.

I mean...a larger more capable engine like a 347 stroker, with a proper set of aftermarket heads and intake will only magnify these results even further. And if my car performs as well as it does at nearly 4,200lbs (with driver) can you imagine how well his Fox will perform not having to lug around the additional 600-800lbs weight?

NikwoaC said:

Gearbanger, you make PD blowers sound so appealing! I only wish there were as many different options in PD blowers for pushrod cars as there are for mod motors. I keep waiting to see a PD blower retrofit kit for some of these new PD 'chargers to bolt onto a pushrod.

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Yes, I'll agree....pushrod selection is limited. But for what he's after, the Kenne Bell set up will do the job with ease.

What good is having a 600-1000hp capable turbo set up on the car when his goals are only somewhere in the 450hp range? Sure, I suppose he could size the set up with a smaller turbo (which would enable the power to come on sooner), but then he gives up power and torque all the way across the board by doing so....not just at the top end.

I just don't have the patience for finicky power adders and unpredictable power production. By far, the best thing about the Positive Displacement set up (besides the copious amounts of torque it produce in the lower ranges) is the fact that you don't even notice that it’s there.

A PD blown small block feels like a big block. Right from idle to red line it changes the characteristics of the engine completely. Turbo and centrifugal cars no matter how well thought out, or how attention to detail they are, always still feel like a small block with a power adder.

Don't get me wrong...there are times where I'd love to feel that sudden "rush" of violent power in the mid and upper ranges when the strait always hit, but for all intensive purposes....power bands like that aren't used very often. Where your car spend more time accelerating from a stop and lugging around in the lower ranges than any other and where IMO the additional power is most welcome.

Now if we're talking racing at the track...then that's a whole other ball game altogether. But the perspective I'm speaking from is that of a street car.