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Yeah, I should have framed my response a little differently. If the goals are lofty, it will be cheaper to go the route of a turbo OHC motor, despite the more complex upfront work. If a little more down to earth, certainly tweaking the OHV motor is simpler. And (although it's *best* to do it all in one carefully coordinated project) it can be done incrementally. You'll just run out of cost effective improvements at lower HP levels.
Of course, in the back of my mind I'm always bench racing various engine swaps in my head.
1) There is a company that sells adapters to bolt a RWD Toyota pickup transmission to the VW TDi motor. And the TDi motors can be tweaked up to some pretty decent HP figures, but the real story is the huge torque numbers. I figure a tweaked TDi in a light old Volvo would be pretty neat. fast *and* get 45 - 50 mpg. And run on used cooking oil from the local restaurants too!
1a) In a similar vein, the VW VR6 engine is a seriously nice motor, would be awesome in a smaller RWD car instead of stuffed into the nose of a heavy FWD car with lousy wiring.
2) The Honda S2000 drivetrain - 2.0L (early), 240 HP, 9000 rpm redline, 6 speed manual trans, already set up for RWD. It's pretty much what you'd build up as an all out racing engine, except it came from the factory like that. It would make an old Volvo really fly. Of course, if I got my hands on one, I'd probably then start scouring eBay and CL for a Spridget to put it into...
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'63 PV544 rat rod, '93 Classic #1141 245 +t
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