300+ HP in a weekend?

[jjrally85]

My main question is this: is it possible, and what parts would be required, to drop my car off at a shop on Friday and drive away on Sunday with 300-325hp at the crank (forgetting about awhp for now)? I know this may be a big financial investment, but I'm curious what is really needed for upgrades.

I have a 2010 RA with an Ultimate Racing full TBE, Cobb 3-port boost controller, and a Cobb accessport stage III tune. Other than that the car is stock. It looks like the next logical step is to upgrade to the Evo X intercooler and piping, or an aftermarket intercooler, and swap to the Evo X turbo to make this kind of power. What are your suggestions? Can you make 325 on an Evo X turbo swap and a good tune? Or CBRD lite?

I also want to upgrade my brakes and suspension but that's a whole other topic lol

[Drew]

Originally Posted by jjrally85

My main question is this: is it possible, and what parts would be required, to drop my car off at a shop on Friday and drive away on Sunday with 300-325hp at the crank (forgetting about awhp for now)? I know this may be a big financial investment, but I'm curious what is really needed for upgrades.

I have a 2010 RA with an Ultimate Racing full TBE, Cobb 3-port boost controller, and a Cobb accessport stage III tune. Other than that the car is stock. It looks like the next logical step is to upgrade to the Evo X intercooler and piping, or an aftermarket intercooler, and swap to the Evo X turbo to make this kind of power. What are your suggestions? Can you make 325 on an Evo X turbo swap and a good tune? Or CBRD lite?

I also want to upgrade my brakes and suspension but that's a whole other topic lol

I'm not sure how aggressive the Cobb tunes are, but if you are only talking 300 at the crank, you can have that NOW with a tactrix flash and the mods you have, I would imagine. If not, all you would need is the X intercooler. I have seen stock RAs put down 190whp stock, then 240whp on the GST tune with boost pill. Considering driveline losses, 240whp is about 300 crank. Let me know if you need bigger brakes!

[jjrally85]

Ok that makes sense. My car has never been on a dyno so I'm not sure what kind of numbers it's currently doing. There's a nearby shop that will "e-tune" my car using the accessport, so I send them logs and they'll refine the tune until it's just right. This saves me from leaving my car at the shop or sending them the ECU, but I wonder if it's worth the $$ (about $400) for the whole service.

So let's say I want closer to 300whp, which sounds like the neighborhood of 350hp at the crank, how would I achieve that kind of power? Also, from what I've read we start to risk the longevity of the SST when we start pushing more than 300 ft/lbs of torque, is that right?

[Chaz17]

300 at the crank is easy on the stock turbo. It's probably capable of close to ~350 crank hp assuming a ~20% drivetrain loss.

I'm at 285whp/310wtq on just bolt ons and a tune by Hollywood.

Intercooler, pipes, intake, test pipe, catback, and 3-port.

[Drew]

Originally Posted by jjrally85

Ok that makes sense. My car has never been on a dyno so I'm not sure what kind of numbers it's currently doing. There's a nearby shop that will "e-tune" my car using the accessport, so I send them logs and they'll refine the tune until it's just right. This saves me from leaving my car at the shop or sending them the ECU, but I wonder if it's worth the $$ (about $400) for the whole service.

So let's say I want closer to 300whp, which sounds like the neighborhood of 350hp at the crank, how would I achieve that kind of power? Also, from what I've read we start to risk the longevity of the SST when we start pushing more than 300 ft/lbs of torque, is that right?

300whp might be doable, but you get in to the really difficult region with the stock turbo. But it really does depend on the dyno, as they almost all read different. It's hard to actually use "XXXwhp" as a target. What you should be looking more towards is GAIN. If person A has an RA on dyno A that puts down 180whp stock, and 250whp after mods, and person B has an RA that puts down 210whp stock on dyno B, and 260whp after mods, then person A will definitely have more real horsepower, when comparing apples to apples. It just means that one dyno reads higher than the other. What is important is person A gained 70whp, and person B only 50whp.

In general, unless the dyno is very generous, you will need an X turbo to hit 300whp.

[jjrally85]

Ok so it sounds like I could get much more out of a custom tune vs. my existing tune (stage 3 Accessport) which is an off-the-shelf map, plus upgrading to a larger intercooler and piping.

At what point do you start upgrading the engine internals and fuel system (injectors, etc.)? In other words once we start making over 350hp, will the stock internals hold up under extended periods driving with this kind of power? And at what point can the stock fuel delivery system no longer keep up?

Before I go down this road of reaching into my wallet I want to know how deep it goes!!

[jjrally85]

Originally Posted by Drew

300whp might be doable, but you get in to the really difficult region with the stock turbo. But it really does depend on the dyno, as they almost all read different. It's hard to actually use "XXXwhp" as a target. What you should be looking more towards is GAIN. If person A has an RA on dyno A that puts down 180whp stock, and 250whp after mods, and person B has an RA that puts down 210whp stock on dyno B, and 260whp after mods, then person A will definitely have more real horsepower, when comparing apples to apples. It just means that one dyno reads higher than the other. What is important is person A gained 70whp, and person B only 50whp.

In general, unless the dyno is very generous, you will need an X turbo to hit 300whp.

Really great point about gains. It's so true, every dyno chart I've seen is different- even when the same car is put on two different dynos there can be a 30+hp difference.

[Drew]

Originally Posted by jjrally85

Ok so it sounds like I could get much more out of a custom tune vs. my existing tune (stage 3 Accessport) which is an off-the-shelf map, plus upgrading to a larger intercooler and piping.

At what point do you start upgrading the engine internals and fuel system (injectors, etc.)? In other words once we start making over 350hp, will the stock internals hold up under extended periods driving with this kind of power? And at what point can the stock fuel delivery system no longer keep up?

Before I go down this road of reaching into my wallet I want to know how deep it goes!!

In short, long after you have to upgrade the clutch packs in the transmission to hold the extra power, which means you have already dug quite deep in your pockets.

[Mario_Winter]

If all you are concerned about is getting to 300whp, you don't need a X swap for that. I have the RAD FULL and I'm at 315 whp/300tq without maxing it out. If 300 is all you want, you don't have to get the X swap, but if you think you will want more power later on, go for the X swap, because the RAD FULL is basically the limit of the stock RA turbo.The beauty of the X swap is that there are many options once you do the swap and you can get a X turbo for relatively cheap, just need to supporting mods which aren't very hard to come by either. In the end, it's up to you.

[jjrally85]

What other upgrades do you have to make that kind of power? TBE?

Have you had any issues with the transmission?