drove a full 3L swap....impressed but yet not?

[TRicker]

i drove a CEG'ers car with a 3L swap. i wont say whos it was unless he comes on and says. anyhow..... it is a full 3L with a spec clutch and LSD. it was fun to drive, definately had low end torque that is not there with my 2.5L. however, on the top, it felt flat compared to my 2.5. of course this 3L we are talking about had no bolt ons, where my 2.5 does. nonetheless, i believe my car would make more torque on the big end, or at least it feels that way. why is this?

dont get me wrong, the 3L rocks but i'm not overall impressed with it in comparison to the 2.5. the power is so low on the 3L it seemed to want to burn out, and it felt flat on top, where as my 2.5L has much less on the bottom but after secondaries open it is a whole different car. the power of my car is much more usable it seems. why does it feel that way?

[DyComet]

Well did he have the SVT cams or not. That makes a big difference in where the torque is at.

[TRicker]

it does, but the whole top end is 3L stuff. intake manifold, TB, etc.

[beyondloadedSE]

im assuming its an oval port?

[DyComet]

Well if the top end is all 3L stuff I'm going to assume it's oval port.

[SVT SNOB]

I have a full 3L swap and I would never go back to a 2.5L. The 3L is alot more fun to drive.

Aaron

[warmonger]

it does, but the whole top end is 3L stuff. intake manifold, TB, etc.

There is your answer. THe Oval manifold does NOT compliment the SVT cams at all. The oval manifold cannot flow what the split port manifold does and especially not a dual honed intake.

Not only that, what kind of tune used to dial it all in, what bout exhaust, etc.

Just corking the exhaust with a bigger motor can reduce the efficiency and it won't perform as well as an opened up 2.5L with better intake and exhaust.

You should drive a different 3L, it will be much better.
I've seen a lot of basic 3L swaps with much better low-end but not better high end. Like you say it is still "Fun" but could be much more.

[Blackcoog]

I'd bet he is untuned. With a tune the last few 3L SVT's I've built have been picking up upwards of 40whp. Without intake and exhaust mods he may be choking off the top end.

[111R]

i drove a full 3L w/ svt cams, intake, headers, catback, & hms trans/lsd... the car is MUCH faster then my 2.5 and had MUCH more torque and is MUCH more fun to drive imo then the 2.5. makes me wonder why in the heck the 2.5 was put in to begin with.

i mean when you have so much more tq, who really cares about top end grunt? for me at least, to drive a 3L svt was a special experience.

[SVT SNOB]

Well at 200km/h(120mph) the 3L still pulls much better than my 2.5L did! So I'm happy .

Aaron