Is my turbo and engine setup too big for road racing?

[Ludachris]

I'm thinking my next build will be a 2.3 stroker with an FP3052 and HKS 272's. Does that sound like a good setup for the road course? I'm coming from stock 2.0 with an FP Big28.

That was my plan actually Scott... FP swayed me to go with the ball bearing HTA76 instead of the older 3052.

 

[UofACATS]

4K RPM spool style turbos are great in road courses, preferbly linear power bands, I hate the turbos that hit like on/off switches that dont allow for throttle modulation around a corner.

A good trick for a small turbo without the instant torque hit (potentially upsetting) is an evo3 16g running wastegate pressure only. Heavy/modulated throttle at mid to corner exit gets you 10psi or there abouts, while by the time you straghten out it starts to boost creep up to 20psi.. more if ported "special." Personally I'm running a hot-piped E316G on E85. The adjustable actuator gets me ~25psi without a MBC. The overall dia of my RA-1s is 22.9" on 13lb wheels. The throttle's a little touchy. It's a double-edged sword but I like it, since I track now for fun first, laptimes second and sometimes not at all.. IMHO, a small 16G would be a good choice for the road course, in lieu of a big/evo3.. assuming a typical track/user.

I found this to be true only on really wide open tracks with a few long straights. Most tracks favor the better handling car over the bigger horsepower car.

Yes that's true, but in my example the better handling miatas were turning slower overall times. It's not a fair example (the better handling evos were crushing me ) and I wasn't suggesting power over handling, just trying to answer the original question as honestly as I know how to. It just depends on your home track, how to best build your own car. And if I had one piece of advice to all would-be road-course attendees, it would be stop worrying about the car. Make sure it stops, goes, and turns appropriately, get a helmet and get out there.

lower power = more enjoyment

Spot on.

You don't know how much time I've spent strapped-in trackside sitting, watching, cursing.

 

[evil tsi]

I'm thinking my next build will be a 2.3 stroker with an FP3052 and HKS 272's. Does that sound like a good setup for the road course? I'm coming from stock 2.0 with an FP Big28.

i have a 2.3l with a fp3065, you will want more cam than 272s, my turbo sees full boost in the 4300 to 4500rpm range, so i would personally opt towards a 280 because of the extra displacement taming the cams down. If the car will see a lot of street time stick with the 272's. plus you will only want to rev the motor out to 7500 or so due to the extra stress from rod ratios

 

[Scott McIntyre]

That was my plan actually Scott... FP swayed me to go with the ball bearing HTA76 instead of the older 3052.

Interesting. I was planning to ask FP for their advice when it comes time to make a decision. Good to know there's someone with a similar setup / usage I can probe for info. Expect a PM at a future date.

i have a 2.3l with a fp3065, you will want more cam than 272s, my turbo sees full boost in the 4300 to 4500rpm range, so i would personally opt towards a 280 because of the extra displacement taming the cams down. If the car will see a lot of street time stick with the 272's. plus you will only want to rev the motor out to 7500 or so due to the extra stress from rod ratios

I'll want to retain as much low-end torque as I can get away with; hence the 272's on the 2.3L. I figure it'd be comparable to keeping stock cams on my current 2.0L.

 

[Ludachris]

Interesting. I was planning to ask FP for their advice when it comes time to make a decision. Good to know there's someone with a similar setup / usage I can probe for info. Expect a PM at a future date.


I'll want to retain as much low-end torque as I can get away with; hence the 272's on the 2.3L. I figure it'd be comparable to keeping stock cams on my current 2.0L.

And that was my thinking... wanted to keep the torque lower on the curve, with more usable power in the 4500-7500 rpm range, since the 2.3L will not be revving so high. I'm hoping that this setup will get me that.

 

[D's GS-T]

I helped my buddy build a 2.3l with an FP3052, which is what convinced me to build a 2.3l car. He had HKS 272s and an Evo3 IM, it was a 96. I think It would be a fantastic set up and It's kind of what I built my car around since It initially was built to be a road race car. It had awsome low and mid range and pretty good top end as well. You'd definetly be fast enough on the bigger tracks on the straights as well. The car did run low 11's on basically medium boost on E85. Definetly gonna want some good ass tires, brakes , e.c.t. Unfortunelty after that he wanted 10's then mid 10's e.c.t, and it never saw a course. On the flip side though it gave me a pretty good Idea on what I wanted to do when I started building a car. Although now days I may use a newer tech turbo, but I'm not sure. I'm still in the novice stages with mine, so it's 14b/16G on low boost for now . I know at one point it had 25 psi by about a bit under 3800 RPMs and made over 400 ft/lbs before 4000 RPMs haha

 

[ceedawg]

Well Geoff at fullrace gave me some recommendations on some good BW turbos to use for road racing and I think I will make the purchase. One was a 300sx turbo with a billet wheel which just came out and the other was a 200 sx 80-70 turbo with a t4 footprint new also. Just have to follow up with him on the size turbine housing to use. I think choices are .83,1.01,1.22 twinscrolls all in t4. I think that the .83 will be like using a .48 single scroll so I will perhaps go with a 1.01 minimum. We will see. Don't wanna switch from t4 to t3 after spending all this money.