Natural Aspration

[whitety]

Well I've been thinking about what I should do to the 3 and originally I was going to drop a speed3 motor in, but have recently decided to just go n/a(don't want to deal with a turbo). I want to do an engine overhaul pretty much. What are the n/a capabilities of the 2.3l engine? By overhaul I'm talking cai, full exhaust, management, forged internals, clutch/flywheel, cooling, tune, etc.

 

[whitety]

Can anyone answer me? I know it's going to be hard to get a lot of horses out of an n/a motor, but what can i be looking at with pretty much a full rebuild and tune? I don't want to deal with spray or forced induction but I might look into it more.

 

[xDJ DUBx]

Turbo is not bad if you know your stuff. It's a lot cheaper and easier to get more horses out of a turbo than all motor.

Forged internals are pointless on a N/A motor, I think compression numbers on the pistons is what you wanna look at.

 

[Gothkid]

ummm forged internals would be great on a n/a motor. get very high compression pistons, use an fi/c to tune for high compression. see what you can get. im thinking 225+ crank hp out of a n/a motor with a good tune. possible much more. no reason why you cant get at least 230. and if you set it up right, retard spark timing and run a 50-75 shot, you'll be just as fast as the boosted guys, its all in the $$$ really. n/a usually costs more unfortunately, but is more respectable. check protege garage, they have some nice high comp. pistons.

 

[ogsp5]

Here in Ft Lauderdale there is a Mazda3 using the folllowing
13:1 pistons
Jenvey Throttle bodies
Full standalone
Custom exhaust
Alum flywheel
The car is up to 280whp. But you are talking alot of money. So it depends on how deep your pockets are.

 

[whitety]

I was planning on doing high compression. Don't think I'll need 13:1 but I think 11:1 would be sufficient for me. Found a nice little package deal that will add about 21hp. http://srmotorsports.com/Mazda3_Performance_Packages.html
The GT2 Package would be nice with a short shifter, clutch, and aluminum flywheel. That's where I will probably start it out then go from there. This is going to be a long-term thing so I'm not in a hurry.