Originally Posted by
Reaper1
I saw your later reply where you are working with the 3.0 V6.
First question, what transmission? That's going to determine where you need to start, honestly. If you have the A604 4-speed auto, then at this moment in time, the best move is to swap it for a 3-speed A670 if you want to stay auto, or time to start searching for the A543 manual 5-speed. It is unique to the 3.0 because of the bellhousing. The internals are the same as the A523 of the same year. There is incremental movement on cracking the A604's computer code so that it can be reprogrammed to be more performance oriented, however it's not ready. The transmission itself is good for the most part...it's the electronics that fail it. The A670 can be upgraded just like the A413.
The 5-speed is a TON of fun and really wakes the car up. They are pretty robust as well and the Neon OBX torque biasing diff (Quaife knock off) can fit and aren't expensive comparatively.
Before we start talking mods to meet your 11-10 second goal, is the car going to be a street car, or are you going "pseudo street"/pure race? Why do I ask? Weight.
The bottom end of the engine is actually pretty strong. Stock parts can handle quite a bit out of the box. One thing that is HIGHLY suggested is that the ring gaps be opened up if you intend to use anything but N/A. However, even with that...once you get to around 300whp, depending on tuning capability, you are going to want to probably start thinking about forged pistons as extra insurance. The rods and rod bolts will be next, but you gotta make much more power to start worrying about that.
Once under forced induction, these engines will pull all the way to redline. Where they actually start dropping off, I don't think that's known on stock cams.
If you are planning forced induction, the rest of the build will follow. Yes, the engine has places it can be improved with porting, etc., however boost makes up for a lot of that.
For engine control...basically what are you comfortable with? One thing that MS seems to not like is the optical pickup under the distributor, but using a 36-1 wheel and cam sensor can solve that issue. It's just nice to be able to use stock equipment when you can.
Check out the 3.0 section of these forums. I've been around the 3.0 for a long time. It has never gotten the support base behind it that the 2.2/2.5 or even the Mitsu DOHC versions have gotten, so you will usually be in the "gotta fab it" department for parts and such.
I know...not much of a help, but you are just starting, so it's best if you can nail down what you are after first.