How many ponies do you think can be increased?

[betonthis1]

Just curious as to how many ponies can be pumped out of our Aurora without swapping the entire engine.

What I think I want to do is:

• Custom K & N Cold Air Intake
  
• Corsa Exhaust system
  
• 80mm Throttle Body
  

Do you think I can realistically pump more then 300hp from this? And what else can be done to get more?

[Custom88]

I'd guess you'd be near 275 with those mods. 300 horsepower though? Naw...

[BNICOV]

To hit 300 hp's under the hood, you'll need a lot more mods like reprogramming the PCM, cams (expensive if you can find them), headers, etc.... Do a few tricks as long as they don't lead to driveablility issues.

[BlackButy]

Nitrous... a custom turbo although there isnt much room for one. A valve job and port and polish everything along with exhaust, intake including throttle body, and custom chip. lighter rims and tires along with engine mounts will give you more response and better track times as well.

[luvmybravada]

You're going to drop some serious $$ to get to $300. I'd agree, custom 3 angle cut valve job, port and polish, throttle body, custom headers and exaust, new cams, plus the mods you mentioned would deffinitly get you into the 300hp range. But is it worth several thousand dollars ($4000 rough estimate) for 50 ponies?

Of course you could call Carrol Shelby and ask him how he did it and if he has any more superchargers lying around. (Shelby Series cars used Aurora engines)

[Aurora40]

Unless your custom intake involves centrifugal force, no way you'd be hitting 300hp. FYI on the cams and port job, you'd probably give up a decent amount of torque on the bottom to get it. On such a heavy car, I doubt you'd enjoy driving it like that.

[stevensolds]

I think a custom turbocharger setup would kick some serious ass. I dont know where you would put it.

But those 3 mods alone i dont even think will give you 275hp.

[Marc]

Back in 2001, at home1.gte.net/mpapich/planned_modifications.htm the author wrote:

"In stock form, the Oldsmobile Aurora V-8 puts out 250 hp at 5600 rpm and 260 ft. lbs of torque at 4400 rpm with 217 ft. lbs. of that torque available by only 1700 rpm. I have personally driven the Aurora luxury car and can vouch for its smoothness and torque. With mild head porting, intake and exhaust tuning, larger fuel injectors and a few other modifications, the engine can put out 350 street legal horsepower at 7000 rpm. With a few other mods and a willingness to give up some low end torque, the engine can easily surpass 400 hp."

I quoted this from the article that I had printed from the
site noted above, which is no longer on the net.

[bld]

stevensolds said:

I think a custom turbocharger setup would kick some serious ass. I dont know where you would put it.

Maybe under the rear seat...
;D

Well, t'ain't no room left under that hood.

[SupaStealth]

actually, i don't remember who did it(i know it's been posted on here before) but someone made a turbocharger that goes near the rear of the car, and sends the air all the way up to the intake. they've used it on trucks and firebirds and all that, they actually make some pretty big gains. if i find the site i'll post it up here, they're pretty expensive though, since its meant to turbocharge vehicles that dont have room for a turbocharger.

[betonthis1]

wow, imagine getting 400HP.

according to the RSM site the 80mm TB gives a gain of 14+ HP while the exhaust should be able to pump at least 10+ HP now add the intake it should make everything perfect almost since they will all work together right?

also, on the RSM site the Aurora SS Package says increases output to 280 HP. how is that possible with just the intake and exhaust?

also has anyone done these mods and if you have done at least one do you have any actual numbers to support some HP gains and how much?

[Genopsyde]

i've heard good things about the remote turbo as well...

www.ststurbo.com/

[SupaStealth]

genopsyde said:

i've heard good things about the remote turbo as well...

www.ststurbo.com/

yep, thats the one.

[stevensolds]

niiiice if only they had a caddy STS on there man

[SupaStealth]

well, i was thinking it's more or less the theory of the design. i have been thinking about doing this for a long time. the things that are stopping me are, not knowing the specs for a turbo for this car, not being entirely happy with how they locate the airfilter as i drive in snow.and the oiling system. i understand how they do the oiling system on theirs, but that is a totally custom addition to the oil filter that i couldn't get. but without a doubt, they make at least 300% profit on these systems.

[luvmybravada]

It's funny everyone thinks there isn't any room under the hood for a turbo system. I actually think the opposite. I've seen twin turbo systems finessed into tighter spaces like Corvettes and others. The Aurora seems to have some good room around the engine which a custom shop could create a nice setup. Of course that would take some good $$ to have it custom made. I don't think there's enough of a market for turbo's on our cars which is why we don't see them.

[covert420]

A 4.4L Northstar makes 446HP with a supercharger that puts out 12lbs of boost.

I would suspect our 250HP 4.0L Northstar would see 350-375HP with a small turbocharger that could put out 6lbs of boost.

As far as non-boosted performance goes. If you could redo your entire intake and exhaust, from headers to tips and from throttlebody to filter, then I dont think it is too far fetched that the 4.0L Northstar could reach figures of 290-300HP. This is a DOHC V8 for christ sakes (and a tuned down one at that). You let the puppy breath and it will breath like a DOHC V8. This isnt some cheap 4 banger that gets 25 HP with a complete intake/exhaust job.

[Letitroll98]

covert420 said:

A 4.4L Northstar makes 446HP with a supercharger that puts out 12lbs of boost.

I would suspect our 250HP 4.0L Northstar would see 350-375HP with a small turbocharger that could put out 6lbs of boost.

As far as non-boosted performance goes. If you could redo your entire intake and exhaust, from headers to tips and from throttlebody to filter, then I dont think it is too far fetched that the 4.0L Northstar could reach figures of 290-300HP. This is a DOHC V8 for christ sakes (and a tuned down one at that). You let the puppy breath and it will breath like a DOHC V8. This isnt some cheap 4 banger that gets 25 HP with a complete intake/exhaust job.

I agree completely 420, the figures seem about right in the ballpark. However the original poster stated he was including:
Custom K & N Cold Air Intake
Corsa Exhaust system
80mm Throttle Body
So I have seen documented about 7 hp from a simple K&N added to the stock box with no gains ever reported from the CAI snorkel thingy, up to 15 hp have been claimed for the 80mm TB, but lets say you'd add 1/2 that real world for another 7 hp, and the exhaust could tap another 5-7 hp on top of the other gains. So I think these mods could add conservatively 20-24hp under the hood, minus drivetrain loses giving you 16-20hp at the wheels additional, for something around .5 second 1/4 mile time improvement. Stoplight jackrabbits (your's truly) might get more torque band improvement as well. No big improvements but something you'd notice for sure.