How much power from an OHV

[fatboy0186]

I know this has topic been butchered before, and I appoligize for bringing it up again,it's just that I'm looking for more power and some HP numbers.

Anyways, I was reading through a recent issue of HotRod, and they built up Chevy V6 to 300HP. So naturally I was thinking how cool it would be to have a least 250 out my V6. I need a rebuild now, so I figure why not get more power while I build it.

I am planning on stronger pistons, connecting rods, refurbished crank, bearings, bigger cam, bigger valves, springs,rods, rocker arms, and ported and polished heads and intake with headers, BBK throttle body, and a bigger MAS.

How much power could I expect from a set up like this? When I researched cams, porting and polishing, bigger throttle bodies, all I found was "strong increase in power" or better throttle response. I'm asking if anyone has any dyno tests, or guesses as too how much power in HP/Tq numbers can be had out of my OHV. Thanks for any input,

John

 

[jimbo74]

alec has a supercharger and he pushes a good deal of ponies out his ohv.....
try vanir technologies for the parts....
if it was on a tv show or a magazine, you can bet that they werent paying for the 300 horse chevy v6 buildup....
those new chevy trailblazers produce 270 horse

 

[Alec]

I'm pushing around 300 hp with all sorts of bolt-ons and a supercharger. With bolt-ons and better internals from Vanir, you can probably get close to 220-230. Don't have any concrete numbers as to what you can expect though. With bolt-ons alone you can probably get to around 185 hp.

Every motor is different and minor tweaks can make a difference. If you need a rebuild anyway, it won't cost you much more for the Vanir stuff. So go for it

 

[fatboy0186]

Thanks for your input guys, I have a better understanding now of what kind of power I can get. Now it's time to decide which cam to get and if I can afford a blower...

 

[231Saleen]

I have a 4.0l ohv. vanir did all my internals. bbk fuel system and supercharger which is pushing 14 pounds. no way you can get a ohv to push even close to 300hp N/A. Using nitrous or a supercharger or even better both you can get close to or over 300hp. it matters how well your engine is set up.

 

[410Fortune]

Once again if you want to build up a OHV 4.0L right you need to get Sven's book. "How to build and modify Ford 60 degree V-6 engines" read it cover to cover several times. Then you will know exactly what to do to your longblock when you rebuild it...

There isnt an OHV 4.0L out there that makes more then 250 HP (naturally aspirated). 250 HP is no easy task either.

I plan to do a fullperformance rebuild on an OHV soon, unless I can figure out how to get the SOHC in my BII....

 

[410Fortune]

Oh and one more thing. I have a friend who Dyno's his truck before we yanked the OHV in favor of a 5.0L HO conversion. The numbers were scary.

This is a 93 Explorer with all the bolt ons:
Borla headers
Borla cat back
MAS and throttle body
Jet chip
KKM intake

I believe the HP at the flywheel was 130, with 180K miles on the truck.
Of course the 4.0L was od and tired and we live in Denver. Now that is from memory, I will check with him and see if the 130 was at the wheel or the flywheel, but I;m pretty sure it;s at the engine.......

 

[231Saleen]

thats sad. my stock dyno at wheels was 138hp. Now so much money later 310hp at wheels 380lbs of tourqe. still wish i had a 5.0l. No car or truck can beat the sound of a ford 5.0l.

 

[410Fortune]

WOW 354 and 410!

Thats pretty impressive even if it did cost you 4K to get there. Personally I think thats cool man, everbody's got a 5.0L, and sure they can make 500 HP, and sure it costs the same, but you my friend with your blown 4.0L are a true enthusiast. Especially after seeing what it really takes to convert a 4.0L Explorer over to a HO 5.0L. I have been involved in probably the cleanest 5.0L conversion ever done into an Explorer (Wont name names, no pictures until it's all done) let me tell you this truck should be in magazines, every single little detail was looked at, solved, and executed. The amount of time and money spent on the conversion (which if you ask me is the first one I have ever seen that was done "right") has made me realize I;m sticking with a 4.0L.

Now I'm the type of guy who is stupid enough to try and squeeze a SOHC 4.0L into my 88 BII, not just to be different, but because I want what I want, the same attitude got me a 4.0L in place of my old 2.9L. that conversion was a cake walk compared to what the 5.0L conversion takes and I was one of the first to do it, blind, not having ever done something like this, I had no idea what I was getting into and I relied completely on friends to get it done. Now I cant stop. We have done several of them, 2.9L to 4.0L, even helped with a 2.8L to 3.0L conversion.

So unless I can find a way to keep the SOHC exhaust manifolds from running right into my frame rails I will be rebuilding a OHV 4.0L for some good naturally aspirtated power. I havent seen a Supercharged OHV 4.0L setup in person yet, but I would sure like to with the numbers you guys are talking about it may very well be worth considering....

So pretend you didnt know you could have had a V-8 so to speak and tell me an honest evaluation of your SC 4.0L setup. Is it worth it (remember no V8 allowed)?

 

[231Saleen]

Its not worth it. Three-Thousand dollars for a supercharger. When i had it running stock 6punds of boost i only got 205 at the wheels. After i spent another Three-Thousand dollars on internals, Fuel System, Custom drive pulley, supercharger pulley, custom cpu, headers ya-da-ya-da keeps going blah blah. I got the extra 100hp. It takes 14pounds of boost. Try that on stock internals you will be looking at a nice rod sticking through the bottom of your oil pan. Or a melted piston.
The supercharger sounds awsome! But now i wish i just saved my money sold the 'X' and bought a fox body mustang.

 

[fatboy0186]

I don't know which way to go. I need a new motor soon, and a new motor and clutch installed is $3,500, and that is using my heads, intake, and exhaust. I figure that if I'm going to spend that much money for a long block, why not just get some quality parts and rebuild my motor. I really want a 302 or 347, but I don't think that I could make the car last another 100,000 miles. And a supercharged 4.0 dosen't sound like a 100k mile car, as most of the supercharged cars I have seen have blown up. I don;t know what to do, I just have a dream of owning a badass X.