Why is my car so slow?

[Beetus]

hey everyone i just joined,
ive got a question, i just bought a 94 ed falcon with the 302 windsor efi, ive looked them up and they 165kw, and the 0-100 is roundabout 8 seconds, but my car is no where near that, i put a k&n filter on it and that made a little difference. But i find the 3.8 commodores pullin away from me a bit, but i come back eventually, why is it so slugish, is the car really restricted by the standard exhaust system?
Help me i need to be in the 8 sec 0-100, im getting extractors soon and the muffler replaced, what sortof power gain am i lookin out to get with the exhaust system and filter, cheers everyone.
Rosco

[rag top]

How many kms on it?
When was the last major service done?

Oh, and welcome to AFF!

[svo347]

might need a tune etc.
oxy sensors needing changing or maf needing a clean.

[Beetus]

188 thousand, i serviced it myself, oil coolant air filter so on,

[galaxy xr8]

A good exhaust, CAI, and possibly a chip and a good tune should liv'in her up a little, I take it, it is an auto to, they seem very slugish.

[Beetus]

Yeh, i want to get into the 15's on the quarter, is that a realistic goal, for pacemaker extractors, hi flow cats, super cat muffler, k&n filter and a tune? any other cheap things i can do it? oh yeh i just bought superlow king springs

[greenmk2]

my ИИИ has 94 ed fairmont station wagon 302.He put a manual in it.he took me for a run 0 to 100 in 8sec. has extractors big exhaust cold air intake. he had lead drama's that slowed him down a bit

[Sylox]

They are restriced a fair bit by the factory headers/exhaust/heads (E7)/intake (HO).

Still if 15's are all your after a good tune and exhaust should see you there.

[Beetus]

cool, seems realistic then, any other input from neone else would be great

[WILDTRAKPX2]

What's your budget?

[Beetus]

400 monthly ill be spending on it

[WILDTRAKPX2]

Save up enough to do full sports exhaust/extractors all done at the same time, then good tune and service. Down the track do cold air.

[M14A-Mclaren]

What about spark plus and HT leads?

[svo347]

try http://www.apcenhancements.com.au/

[Beetus]

truthfully i want to beat my dads ba falcon ute

[LUXO_8]

ok, to do that , you'll need to change the heads and intake, and add a sports exhaust and extractors...at a minimum
get some GT40P heads and explorer intake manifold (upper and lower manifold) from an AU XR8, some pacemaker extractors and a sports system.

should get the heads for under a grand, intake should be about 500 odd, then fitting...
then, extractors for about 700 - 800 fitted

[Beetus]

this is the ba 6 cylinder right?

[LUXO_8]

you "might" be able to just take out the ba 6 cyl with only an exhaust, but you'd be pushing it... you'd need to ace the launch while the ba would need to get a crap launch...

to beat the ba convincingly, you need the mods i mentioned... the standard heads and intake on the EB - EL V8's are crap.....

[Beetus]

so pace maker extractors, 2 highflow cats, 3" pipe to a supercat muffler, where in the rev range would that mainly help

[rag top]

What about upgrading the diff ratio to get more punch off the line?

How many kms are you getting out of a tank at the moment??

[Beetus]

yeh bout 450- 500, yeh but i dont know what sorta price that wood be, wouldnt mind a limmy or a lock diff

[nb_351]

going on what you said in your first post, it is a stock gli or similar, so it would be just the standard single spinner... go and get a minispool... hehe, or just an lsd from a ghia... would prob go the spool, as you could choose something better for acceleration, eg 3.7s or 4.11s... would hook up a lot better... get some decent heads, decent exhaust, tune, clean your maf sensor and throttle clean, or even a better throttle...
dream would be a stroker kit, twin turbos, and about 800hp, eg someones blue mustang... cant think of his name right now...

[Beetus]

umm yeah plans for this year, whole exhaust system, injectors, cams,

[UNR8D]

sounds like a good plan, roller rockers first if u wanted i guess would be cheeper than a cam.

[Samantha]

As above, exhaust and/or intake manifold should be first. Not huge $$ and probably best bang for buck. A good tune would be good, fresh leads, plugs etc. If your car has done 188,000kms on the original oxy sensors then they must be replaced. How's your timing?

[RSgerry]

i would suggest speaking to a mechanic and asking them to install a pinto :-)

works well in my car :-)

[SSBUB]

Originally Posted by RSgerry

i would suggest speaking to a mechanic and asking them to install a pinto :-)

works well in my car :-)

as the same with most cars

you want to breathe so:
exhaust, headers also if they are restrictive (most are) and get your cats opened up (which costs about $40 - cats on the gen 3 flow as good as high flow cats when they are opened up - im not sure about the falcons, but it is worth asking because it will save alot of $$$)...and then air induction of some kind.

a set of diff gears, 3.73's will get you off the line very quickly and lastly an edit/chip to wrap all this package together.

Dont be despondant if you actually lose power with exhaust mods - its a common occurance but once you get the edit/chip, the exhaust will come into its own and provide you with more power than what the stock zorst would have....the edit/chip really ties up the whole package...that should get you running into the 15's easily i would have thought - happy to be proven wrong though

[XRated]

I think you'll find the auto and diff is holding you back a fair bit.

[pandaman]

Originally Posted by XRated

I think you'll find the auto and diff is holding you back a fair bit.

True, first gear in the BTR 4 speed is a rediculous 2.39:1. But to fix that would likely be quite expensive (diff gears are an idea but if ya go overboard can lead to driveability issues and fuel economy goes right to the ИИИИter).
Just my humble opinion Beetus, but first it might be a good idea to get the donk sorted a bit better, as a lot of people have mentioned, the intake manifold and stock exhaust are very restrictive, extractors and a decent exhaust shouldn't be too expensive and not only yield the benefit of better performance but also that sweet sweet V8 howl. A cold air intake will also help a bit with up top performance and will help take advantage of that high flowing filter you've just installed, apparently AU XR8 snorkels are a popular and fairly affordable option. The last of the fairly affordable engine mods I can think of have already been mentioned as well, a decent set of higher ratio roller rockers, they'll give you a bit more top end. If ya still think it's slow after all that then.......

You mentioned the idea of a cam, well once ya start messing around with that it's gonna get expensive anyway, so ya might as well ditch the standard intake manifold, and heads and start getting serious with the alloy heads and the performance chip, the manual conversion, diff gears etc. It really is neverending, start searching for power now and you'll probably still be looking for more in five years time. Be a heck of a lot of fun though. Take a look around the windsor tech area, see if ya can find a few pointers there, good luck man!

Neil

[mcflux]

Originally Posted by pandaman

True, first gear in the BTR 4 speed is a rediculous 2.39:1. But to fix that would likely be quite expensive (diff gears are an idea but if ya go overboard can lead to driveability issues and fuel economy goes right to the ИИИИter).

Not really Ive got 4.11s and my recent trip to south oz with MADNC_8 wasn't too costly. 110-ish most of the way too.

Diff gears such as mine will improve your off-the-line acceleration, but you'll lose some when it comes to overtaking at highway speeds.

-Dave-