Re: engine rebuild...want ideas from people that have done it (jhiza)
quote:[HR][/HR]i'd like a good overall setup, cornering, speed, etc.][HR][/HR]
Where to begin. . . hmm. . . I've got a few spare minutes, so here goes: (Disclaimer - the following is *all* just my opinion, nothing more, nothing less.)
If you are after "a good overall setup," then you've got a lot of ground to cover. It is almost easier to build a car for a specific task (autocross in a certain class, 1/4 mile, etc etc.) than to build a "good overall" street car.
If you really want overall good performance, then the first place to start, IMHO, is the tires. Make sure you've got tires that will suit your driving - if you don't take her out in the snow or rain, then you're in a good position, cause you won't need to comprimise dry grip at all. Spend some time playing with different tire pressures and alignment settings, too. Something like 5 lbs of tire pressure can make a noticeable difference.
After tires, I'd do suspension. If you race at all, it might pay to get coilovers, so you can dial in your exact settings - you can do stuff like corner balancing. Otherwise, if you've just got a street car, and you sometimes see rough driving and broken pavement, then sport springs and maybe adjustable shocks would work well. Unless you really think you need the adjustability, coilovers are a waste of money, IMHO.
Here's another point where you've got to make a decision. If you're gonna be racing, doing track days or autocross and stuff, you'll want to do some brake work next. IMHO, for a street car, doing braided steel lines and good brake pads is enough brake work.
The time to do engine work, if you're really looking for good all-around performance, is after the suspension is done. Take two stock, identical cars, and give one guy $1,000 for suspension only, and the other guy $1,000 for engine work only, and in most cases (autocross, track days) the suspension guy is who I'd bet on.
The first thing to do to an engine (especially in a car as old as a g60 Corrado) is to make sure it runs *dead* on. You don't wanna throw money at an engine if the timing's off a few degrees and there's some cracked vacuum lines and worn out spark plugs. Since you've mentioned that you are rebuilding your engine, youre gonna have a nice, solid base to start from. Engine building is one of those things that is gonna cost you exactly the amount of money you want it to. You can throw $500 into a g60 engine build, or $5,000. I've never been inside a g60 engine, so I'll let someone else tell you what to do.
After you've got a solid, well-running engine, the standard procedure is to put a stage IV kit on it. That will give you a chip, pulley, cam, and ISV reroute. After that, you'll have several typical things to choose from - the intercooler stuff I already mentioned, porting work, etc. Porting the head is a good next step, the heads on these cars are known for thier really piss poor flow. Porting other stuff (intake manifold, throttle body, etc) doesn't really make sense, since the head is the bottleneck anyways.
One general note - if you are thinking about autocrossing, or doing any other form of racing, be VERY CAREFUL with what modifications you make. Things that seem simple can bump you into classes where you'll be really wishing you hadn't added that certain modification.
Another thought - the g60 charger itself. I'm sure you've seen this said on here before, but you *really* need to rebuild those things (or, at the very least, have it inspected by one of the rebuilders) *before* it shows signs of failure. If you've got money to spend, get it all hogged out and ported when it is being rebuilt. And then, every oil change, spend 5 minutes checking out the charger. Look at the little timing belt on the side of it. Look in the boost tubes for oil or apex strips. etc. Proper charger maintenance is probably the most important thing if you own a g60 car, wether or not you've modified it.
A stage IV kit is a great thing for a g60 motor, but for those that desire more, and have the loot to spend, I think there are lots of potential paths, some that have and some that have not been explored. The best thing to do is to just go at it. Try something different. Then tell everyone how it all worked out.
-Nate
