Originally Posted by
Aronis
It's 15 years old. The parts of the whole which allow the car to be able to produce 450 hp in stock form are WORN and not functioning at peak performance. Thus "rebuild the engine to make 450 hp first......" If you just add new components to a weak, elderly base engine, it will die! So in your quest for more power from this old platform ( as opposed to the early modified cars such as the MTM monster done with cars a couple years old with few miles on them) you must consider this also.
For example, my wire harness had to practically bare wires running to the secondary air pump. A wisp of insulation between them stood between function and fire!
Mechanical parts subject to friction and heat, for example the cam tensioner pads wear out and can have catastrophic effects, the repair takes several hours of labor and close to $1700 in parts. About 15 hours from a sitting car, but less than three if the engine is out.
Engine seals, which are difficult to get at without an engine pull, a transmission separation and many hours of labor, leak! - rear main seal flange for example.
The electrical gremlins I speak of are out there lurking for all of us with this old car to soon experience. Mark my words. I happened to be the first to see the failed DRC and predicted that every DRC would fail. Search the thread I posted 12 years ago. And now I am the first to see this issue with the odd short at fuse 15. Not much out there on it. DAM IT. (it goes to instrument panel and A/C some how, bentley manual is not complete in this). Other things just wear out, ignition switch, microswitches in doors, etc.
So if your goal is to take a 15 year old engine and maximize it's output at the crank, you have to make sure that its in the shape you need it to be to start! IE. "Rebuild it to 450 hp first."
Mike