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HP range for a Daily driver?

HP range for a daily driver(40 miles or so)?


  • Total voters
    19

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Pharmorjawn

Probationary Member
1
1
Mar 7, 2019
Menifee, California
What would you recommend as comfortable but fun horsepower range for a daily driver?

i am currently trying to do a 4g63t 6 bolt swap into my 94 Mighty Max and i am having a hard time deciding on a transmission. HP has a lot to do with it so i was hoping to get some insight on what you folks think about how much is too much or too little? i will be daily driving this truck about 40 miles a day with occasional long trips of about 200+ miles. Gas mileage is something i want to keep up but not a deal breaker if i cant. Any thought and opinions would be greatly appreciated.
 
Theres no difference between a 200hp and 400hp dsm in terms of gas mileage if you dont get on it.. keep your foot light and plan for longer acceleration distances and you can even beat lots of new cars out.
Just dont daily a dogbox LOL
My vote is for big power and responsible driving to reap returns at the pump.
 
The bigger considerations are the heavy clutch needed to put down bigger power, the solid motor mounts that vibrate the cabin and the parts to make it reliable so that it doesn't leave you hanging. If you stay out of the throttle, you might see better MPG from a bigger turbo since it won't go into boost as easily.

Pick a horsepower number that you want and build around it accordingly.
 
It depends on what you consider "daily". Assuming you want to keep a smoothish factory idle I recomend against removing the balancing shafts and caming it. If you want to keep stock internals about 300 give or take is a good ballpark. If idle is no issue and your going to rebuild anyway go to town bro and get 450 or more out of it. I personally want as close to a stock feel as I can stay around town and on the highway.
 
Well, this site is full of power fiends, which is great, but I would think 250 is certainly plenty for a usable streeted truck. As far as I could tell, these weighed from 2,600 to 3,600 lb depending in features. The weight of yours, and mostly rwd (even if it is shiftable 4wd), basically mean you would need extensive upgrades to many systems (axles, suspension, mounts, cooling, exhaust, etc.) to use more than 250. Milage is perhaps less a concern than streetability. 250hp is a mild to moderate build-up from stock 200, both of which will be very entertaining increase from the, what, I’m guessing 140hp stock or so? The swap with just a stock mill will take the magic three ingredients as it is, time, money, and skill. Unless you have these in abundance, be a little conservative and it will go much better.
 
I used to daily my awd spider at a 500who range. I was doable but got to be less fun than when I was still on a single disc clutch in 450-475 range. I was still on a stock 7 bolt. Being in a slight light 2wd truck would probably be a fun handful at that level. I was also seeing about 16-18mpg on e85 at that time too while mostly cruising with the occasional spirited pull.

What will the truck be used for? If it’s just a fun cruiser with an occasional small load in the bed, I’d suggest maybe a 16g or 20g setup. Good for 350-400 and relatively cheap.
 
to get better MPG don't wind the engine out, stay out of boost, don't rev it much beyond 2000-2500 rpms and if you have dsmlink you can tune the afrs closer to 16 at idle and cruise, another good option is ditch some of the dead weight on the car, I know you want to keep it a daily, but you could swap to carbon body panels hood, fenders, doors, hatch, etc, and still retain some drive ability if you don't mind poly mounts you could swap out the engine subframe for a tubular one along with the rear mustache bar, there are many options and ways to cut weight out but you got to make the call as to what you don't mind losing as a result.
 
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