V6 Project car in need of some advice
 

Greetings to you all, Im Anuel. I was kinda new to this site. This is my first post, so bear with me lol. I got a 2000 Chevy camaro 3.8 V6. Ive been doing body work to my car & almost about ready to put some mods to the engine. I already got some tips from the previous post about what headers U should get. Now I wanna know what would be the best exhaust system & turbo kit for my v6 that will give me the best overall performance & power?? Help a brotha out anyone

As per gains, most exhaust systems are the same. High flow cat (or delete) if your looking for overall power, i'd go with a K&N FIPK CAI. As per the turbo, this is where it gets tricky. I cant give too much advice on that subject because I have yet to turbo mine. All the info I really have is about supercharging one.

But in general when it comes to boosting a 3800 series II, you take what you can get. There are so few kits out there, and your going to spend $4k non installed no matter what you do.

As of now nobody makes an off-the-shelf turbo kit for the 3.8 F body. The only people who have turbos on them have had them custom made and fabricated and as Phate said, they run about $4k brand new and range from $2k-$3k used, plus install.

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it. So the turbo kits run $4, right. I found out they have a RKSport/Powerdyne supercharger for v6 camaro/firebirds. A friend of mines told me if I just buy the core, than have a performance shop customize the pipping, it would be cheaper. All I really want to do is get my v6 camaro to at least 400HP. I just want this to be my street fighter so i can put supras, 350z, & all other jap cars in their place lol. In the future I want to get a real power house like a vette or a viper.

I like your ambition for the v6, but be warned you are in for a hell of a money pit of a project to beat those cars. 400hp and chasing Supras and 350z's is not cheap nor easy and wont be accomplished in one weekend of modding your car.

You will end up spending around $8k in the motor alone cuz it'll need to be fully built to handle the power. Plus a $hit load of tuning, lots of weight reduction, a built tranny, lots of suspension mods and a built rearend. Could be a lot cheaper if you build a nitrous motor instead of a turbo/sc motor thoug. I am basing this on the fact you are interested in a forced induction car. You will end up somewhere in the $13k range when its said and done.

Remember, racing isnt all about horsepower. You'll need to rebuild the whole drive train and suspesion to put the power to the ground.

Well said Shodown. One thing I cannot mention enough though, if you intend to do those major of mods, cam, heads, supercharger, etc, make sure you watch your damn tranny or get a new one. The stock t-5 tranny is rated at a max of 220tq, i've got 260ish on it and I dont think shes liking it lol. Im going to be upgrading my own tranny soon.

If you built up a 3.8, get ready to have a pretty much brand new car. Not much would be left original.

Wow, thats gonna be alot of work. I had no idea that it would cost that much to modify a v6 to the fullest. But of course its gonna be a process overtime. Like Phate says, there will be nothing original left but a brand new beast, ready to cause war on the streets. Im glad to have pros like you guys, I never know about these stuff. Thanks alot man. Right now Im about done doing body work. I want the outside to look so fresh & so clean, & my engine to be a monster. AMERICAN MUSCLE 4 LIFE!!! LOL

400 hp out of a v6 is tough. People hear 400 hp and think it's easy, but really there are not that many real 400 hp street cars out there (yes there are some including factory ones, but it's not as common as people want you to think)

I have one Arch..:D

And yes, he's right. People hear and think 400hp is a nice number for a street car. Let me tell you- having that much power on the street takes responsibility. If you don't respect the car you will have it wrapped around a telephone phone the first corner you go into and punch it comin out.

I don't even punch my car comin down on-ramps, even when I'm already going 50-55 mph since the car has the power to twist sideways even at that speed. Like was said above- it takes a bunch of money to get 400hp, even in a V8, let alone a V6. You are fighting with a lot fewer cubes so everything needs to work that much harder.

I think if you want 400hp, you might consider a V8 swap- for the 4k, you could make your 400 hp but also have 400+ tq. at a much lower and reliable levels of tuning.

yeah i had to DD my DR's because i can't keep my foot out of the turbo

since so many people have the 3.8 over 400 now its not easy buts its not tril and error anymore......

but you still need cash

my car is not hard to DD at all never had a problem with it....... dont see what the big deal is really...... that the best part about turbos you dont have to run cams that can lift the elivator in the iffle tower

yours doesn't count since it's now cubic dollars instead of cubic inches:lolsign:

So its not that easy to get 400hp out of my v6. I knew it was going to be alot of work, but didnt think it required so much time & dedication. I think the 3800 series is a very good made engine. I like it alot. But like you said, getting a V8 swap would be much easier for the $4k. I always kept that in mind. I just wanted to look at my options first to see which route I should go & that would be the least expensive. & Base on my studies & you guys expert knowledge, I already see that hooking up a V8 would be much cheaper in the long run.

knowing what i do now i bet i could get a 3.8 to dyno 400 with $5000 i mean it would brake if you tried to tack it but it would dyno that amount :p :p :p

Hey Viper, how did you run your turbo setup? and what type of turbo? Cause if I do it in the near future, it will definately be a turbo and not a s/c.

Thats what im talking about Viper. So basically its possible to push my 3.8 v6 to 400HP for under $6000? If that is the case, I would keep the v6. Like I said, Im not trying to hook up my camaro to the max. I just wanna have at least 400HP & im done, lol. Its just going to be a streetfighter. I love my 3.8 camaro. I plan to get a more wicked beast in the future which will exceed 400HP.