From what I have seen the SVT cams are pretty kick ass to start with. The car has a factory idle, and it runs all the way to 7000RPM with no problem. My theroy is that the intake port flows so well at low valve lifts that the camshaft profile isn't the problem. The huge gains in the exhaust from headers backs up my theroy. If the cams were the limiting factor in this motor it still wouldn't breathe the way it does at high rpm after the exhaust and intake mods. I agree with the first statement that hotter cams and more compression will make the motor stronger, but I don't think the cams are going to be as helpful as you might think. Compression bumps I am 100% behind. The SVT head works well at higher compression ratios. I belive that 11:1 is no problem at all. The 3.0L conversion with the 2.5L heads bumps compression to near 11.3 or 11.5:1!! I have NEVER NEVER heard a ping out of the 3.0L in my car with this compression. I always use 92 octane gas. I'm not using octane booster or anything special. The one problem is the labor involved in removing the rear cylinder head. Is it going to be worth the 10 to 15 horses you MAY get from the compression mods? And will you be able to take advantage of it without headers? The stock manifolds suck. THe extra efficency you are going to gain from the higher compression is going to increase the amount of air going in and coming out. you may just end up pressurising the manifold before the cat. THen you have exhaust fighting to get back into the cylinder. I doubt that will be much of a problem. The specific output of the SVT motor is pretty good for an engine it's size. I belive that right now the limit of power to the wheels is around 185 or so with headers and all the boltons. You are going to be near 90BHP per liter if you figure a 15% driveline loss.. I don't know of many motors the same size as the 2.5L that have that kind of specific output. Just remember that is is a SMALL V6 in a BIG car. I am sure you could easily make 100 or even 110 HP per liter if you were willing to sacrafice alot of drivability. The best thing to do may just be what the Honda crowd does, Swap to a bigger motor, or put in some BOOST!!!! Now we're talking!! Maybe I can open up the chambers in my 2.5L heads to bring down the compression and put a Vortech on to the 3.0L......... Wishful thinking.
Roger
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98 SVT E0, Black
97 GTI VR6, Green
88 Mazda 323 GT Turbo, Faded
