supersilverdc2

Looking for some high HP DD'ers setups to see 3 things:

1. How long has the setup been running

2. What kind of maintenance (oil change within miles)

3. comfort of driving

specifically looking to hear from those from the 400-600 hp range.


I am currently doing a fully bult LSVTEC turbo. I am wondering what a comfortable horsepower would bee if I was to daily drive it. I usually change my oil ever 1k miles to 1500 miles anyways because of the turbo.

I know there is going to be those "depends on how you drive", scenarios, i get it. Just looking for some experienced feedback. Thanks!

wantboost

iTrader: (2)

You're just blowing money changing oil that soon.

supersilverdc2

I do it as a safe measure, since the EPA has taken a bunch of positive chemicals/additives out of our oil, I make sure that I keep mine fresh. I see alot of cams and top end stuff being ate up at the machine shops around here since the change... unfortunatley.

phaphon

I get my oil changes free :p to bad my car is mostly non op haha. But I was doing my oil changes every week and the oil was pretty dirty

wantboost

iTrader: (2)

3,000 miles is more than adequate...

I don't know what you consider DD mileage but if I changed my oil every 1,000-1,500 miles I'd have to change my oil every 5-10 days.

the EPA has only done that to oils sold commercially in public storefronts.

you can order oil from Mobil, Castrol, BradPenn, Royal Purple, Maxima, Amsoil, Torco, and many more brands that aren't subject to the EPA standards because it isn't publically sold or formulated and advertised for use on public roads on emission controlled vehicles.

Honestly you shouldn't be using any store bought **** on a high hp built motor IMO unless it's something like Rotella T6. THe turbo diesel oils are designed for high heat turbocharged motors and since diesels don't use conventional catalytic converters they can run as much of the ZDDP (zinc and phosphorus) additive as they want. 2 things turbocharged motors love.

The reason ZDDP is kept to minute, minimal levels in over the counter gasoline formulated oils is zinc and phosphorus poison the catalytic converter, reducing it's efficiency at converting combustion byproducts and can eventually lead to failure.

If you had a high hp ethanol or methanol fueled endurance race car with loose clearances and stupidly high dollar parts that was getting the snot kicked out of it for hours on end then I could warrant changing it as soon as possible... but on a street motor that 90% of the time is running under low load low rpm conditions there simply isn't enough merit. You couldn't physically degrade the oil in such a short amount of miles unless the car sits for 3 or more months while accumulating those miles. The only way you would ever need to change oil that quickly is if it becomes heavily contaminated from poor engine conditions....

things like ring seal, blow by, water vapor entering the crankcase, etc. however those issues would have to be so bad to contaminate and degrade oil in 1000-1500 miles that the car would be barely driveable.


do this. the next time you change your oil at 1,000-1,500 miles I want you to send an engine oil sample out for independent analysis and ask them if there's any reason to be changing the oil at the interval you are. I guarantee you they say absolutely not, assuming a healthy engine, and would say that you could run the oil 3,000-5,000 miles, maybe even more depending on driving characteristics and the range of operation the motor sees. Just once try a 3,000 mile change and also have that oil analyzed. I'll bet you beer money they say it's in perfect condition as far as viscosity and it's ability to lubricate and protect wear surfaces.

Hell we have a 630whp c6 z06 track car and we don't even change the oil that fast and we drive that car way harder than you could drive yours on the street. An adequate filtration system along with keeping the oil within it's stable operating range significantly improves its lifespan. We have the oil analyzed every time we drain it, typically every 6 weeks or so depending on the amount of time the car has spent on the track. Not once has any sample ever come back showing some sort of oil related issue (except the very last that was full of titanium from the rods touching due to a thrust bearing issue at which point we pulled the motor) and the lab says we could even put the old oil back in the motor and keep running it. Granted we don't run over the counter oil but that is beside the point.

If a dedicated track car can go further without an oil change there's absolutely no reason for a street car to have it's oil changed that soon

ohsnapzafingcu

iTrader: (2)

i changed my oil every 3500-5000 miles on my k20a2. bone stock motor.. it made 560 and i beat it to hell.. not sure what caused the failure of my 3rd oil pump but i decided to pull the motor after this oil pump stopped producing the pressure it was supposed to.

it had the same set of plugs for about 10k miles of which the car was turbo'd.. umm what else do you want to know?

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

Oil being visually darker coming out than it was going in does not mean it's "dirty", and oil changes every thousand miles? If you really want to throw money away, feel free to write me a check - I'll put it to better use than the oil companies will, just sayin'. Send your oil off to Blackstone. See what they say. Dollars to donuts they'll tell you to double, if not triple your mileage between changes.

supersilverdc2

How comfortable was 560 on the street , was it like putting in work, or was it comfortable, especially in traffic.

wantboost

iTrader: (2)

If he was on street tires with no boost by gear and traction controlI imagine it was a handful. Especially sinceit probably want making boost/power till somewhere between 5,000-6,000.

ohsnapzafingcu

iTrader: (2)

pretty comfy to drive... for the most part the car had a CC stage 4 or 5, 6-puck clutch. pedal was great, car was easy to drive.. last couple thousand miles i had a CC twin disk and the pedal wasn't much harder. shifting was alot smoother.. any other questions just ask!

Aradin

Anything with stockish cams won't be that bad to DD. I've been in the 350-400+whp range for a couple years now and I drive my car every day.

1.) I've been boosted since 2011. Mostly stock block F series motors. I had a built one making over 400 that cracked a sleeve.

2.)I usually change my oil around 2500-3k miles. I will be switching to Royal Purple next oil change and extending that to 5k at least. I also have to regularly fill up my water/meth tank if you want to include that in maintenance. Other than that it's just basic stuff that regular cars get; tire rotations, etc.

3.)As stated, stockish cams will go a long way for daily driveability. I have a stage 5 4 puck clutch that some people would complain about but I'm used to it so I don't even pay attention to it anymore. I had to remove AC to accommodate the turbo setup so I show up sweating everywhere I go in the summer. It sucks. I also removed powersteering but it's much like the clutch in that I don't even notice it anymore.

v

I got my car running around new years 2004, but didn't start driving it until the summer because I live where there's snow. 83mm GSR motor with T3/T67, made about 450 on pump and 630 on race gas. Drove it 80% of the time on the low boost pump gas setting. Put about 60,000 miles on it from 2004 through the end of summer 2013 when I tore it down because I was having some leakdown issues and the motor was just getting tired.

As for maintenance, nothing out of the ordinary but definitely higher than your average car. I changed the oil every 3,000 miles, as well as at the end of summer before putting it away and in the spring before starting to drive it again. Then over the years I made some changes like updating to Hondata S300, injector dynamics injectors, refreshed the turbo in 2008 or 2009, etc.

As for daily driving comfort... It's a 20 year old rattley economy car with no air conditioning. What comfort? When I put the car together I was a dumb 17 year old who wanted a hardcore car with no amenities to drive every day to prove how badass I was. As I got older I started driving it less and less every day, because you definitely start to grow out of that. The last summer it was together I drove it to work maybe once every 2 weeks on a casual Friday, because there's something ridiculous about a 27 year old with grey hair in a suit and a loud civic. There wasn't anything specific about the horsepower that made it a bad daily driver, other than the noise and the clutch being a little heavy.

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

There's something ridiculous about a 27 year old with gray hair to begin with.

v

Well, can't fight genetics I guess. I'd much rather have my full, thick head of salt and pepper hair than a thinning head of black hair!

LightningTeg

An engine built for power (like 500+) is not really meant for daily driving. The piston to wall clearances, cold start in the winter etc. will take their toll. Then the clutch needs to be sufficient to hold the power meaning it wont be really friendly in stop and go, if its running any exotic fuels, etc.

There are sacrifices and more woes. Dedicated dailies ftw.