400+ hp daily driven? Options

[Arturio55]

Has anyone here daily driven a 3sgte swapped celi with an s54 tranny that was 400hp or more?
Swapping very soon and im gonna build it up next year...this is my only car so just want to know my limits.
Personal experiences only, not "well I read on alltrac.net ......"
although direct links to other websites about this topic will be acceptable.
im gonna have stock internals, MAYBE the street brawler turbo kit from KO in the future, if i cant reach my goal with the ct20b

[Box]

Try starting out with the stock 250hp or so, then go up from there in small increments so that way you find out your limits and minimize the risk of something happening.

This post has been edited by Box: Nov 13, 2014 - 1:26 PM

[jordisonjr]

Daily driving any vehicle with that much power will probably give you problems at one point or another, You just have to be prepared to be out a car for a short period of time.

[richee3]

Azncelica has 433 whp. I don't know if it's daily driven but he abused it and the trans held up until his most recent track day.

[Arturio55]

Try starting out with the stock 250hp or so, then go up from there in small increments so that way you find out your limits and minimize the risk of something happening.

Dont wanna keep adjusting things and hitting a dyno over and over again. I want to build it, and just boost off into the sunset at 400 hp. I want to scare the hell out my passengers

Daily driving any vehicle with that much power will probably give you problems at one point or another, You just have to be prepared to be out a car for a short period of time.

Driving any car, with power or not, will give you problems sooner or later. But cars are meant to be driven. I mean, really whats the difference between 250 and 400. I should be fine

Azncelica has 433 whp. I don't know if it's daily driven but he abused it and the trans held up until his most recent track day.

Gonna check out his profile. I wont be abusing it at all, other than the occasional 3rd gear highway pulls. I do want to be able to go from a roll to 30mph damn near instantly tho, so that city driving is fun

[Box]

You have to learn how to walk before you can learn to run Paul Walker.

This post has been edited by Box: Nov 13, 2014 - 8:02 PM

[Arturio55]

You have to learn how to walk before you can learn to run Paul Walker.

Lol well ill be driving it stock for at least 6 months. Maybe wire the IC pump to run constantly then over time ill turn the boost up until it stops making power.

[malpaso]

400HP at FWD without any electronic? I believe you really should try stock 3SGTE power first. Not to test driving skills but behavior of the car under several conditions (rain, snow, dry tarmac, dirty road... Etc). Especially when you want it as daily drive = you need lot of take offs and cornering from time to time .

[Arturio55]

400HP at FWD without any electronic? I believe you really should try stock 3SGTE power first. Not to test driving skills but behavior of the car under several conditions (rain, snow, dry tarmac, dirty road... Etc). Especially when you want it as daily drive = you need lot of take offs and cornering from time to time .

Lol ill get plenty of practice while I save up for a hydra nemesis.. I might do the swap next month or january depending on weather. Praying for a 60F degree day to do the swap, which seems to be practical given the weird winters we've had in new jersey the past couple years. Ill be driving the 3s from january through like april, MAYBE May, depends on if I get other mods before the hydra. And dont worry I put like 3000 miles on my car each month, sometimes a lot more (I have girls all over the east coast lol). Plenty of time to adapt to the power and learn how to control it. Im a pretty great driver to begin with.

I just want to make sure the stock internals can handle 400hp for a couple years. Eventually ill get a quaife LSD installed in my s54, maybe a whole trans rebuild while its open.

This post has been edited by Arturio55: Nov 14, 2014 - 9:35 AM

[bsamps4]

I wouldn't recommend stock internals for 400hp...And the headache of removing a stock 3SGTE that you just put in to add forged internals seems a bit of a waste. I'd forge from the start. The s54 isn't much good over 330-350 at the wheels. For your power goals an e-153 and forged internals are the best advice I can give.

[Arturio55]

I wouldn't recommend stock internals for 400hp...And the headache of removing a stock 3SGTE that you just put in to add forged internals seems a bit of a waste. I'd forge from the start. The s54 isn't much good over 330-350 at the wheels. For your power goals an e-153 and forged internals are the best advice I can give.

Not to sound like an a** but I know that already. My question is if anyone here has done it. If they did, I want to know their results and opinion. Don't need advice, I've done 2 years of research and I plan on forging eventually....but I would rather have as much fun as I can before I absolutely need to blow money and install forged rods and pistons. The car will be tuned so it may not be completely necessary

[richee3]

Get in touch with Tao for sure. He has a great deal of experience with getting his car to the 400 hp point. He's pretty active on Facebook, if you are on there. DEATH here on the forum has a lot of experience with the subject as well but he's not very active so you may have to wait on his reply.

[Box]

One thing you haven't mentioned, how many miles are on the 3S-GTE?

[Arturio55]

Get in touch with Tao for sure. He has a great deal of experience with getting his car to the 400 hp point. He's pretty active on Facebook, if you are on there. DEATH here on the forum has a lot of experience with the subject as well but he's not very active so you may have to wait on his reply.

Can someone get me a link for this Tao guys facebook?

[Arturio55]

One thing you haven't mentioned, how many miles are on the 3S-GTE?

Havent even picked it up yet, i plan on going to JDM engine depot in new jersey on december 8 or 9. Ill get the best pick of the litter.

I do already have a spec clutch kit, gt4 intercooler pump and heat exchanger, map sensor, new water pump, and various other things ill need for the swap

[mkernz22]

You'll be pushing your luck with the ct20b. I know around 19-20psi is it's limit. However, that's not something you should run at constantly with that turbo.
I believe around 19psi on ct26 would put down around 325hp-ish

[Arturio55]

You'll be pushing your luck with the ct20b. I know around 19-20psi is it's limit. However, that's not something you should run at constantly with that turbo.
I believe around 19psi on ct26 would put down around 325hp-ish

Which is when I get that street brawler turbo kit I mentioned in the original post....

[cardshark525]

From a roll to 30 almost instantly is a curious statement. You'll get there... on the speedometer... lol

First and second gear (and I have an E153 not S54 so I have much longer gears), anything over 4,500 rpm WOT and I have tire spin. In 2nd that is now 5,000 rpm since I got new tires (about 200 miles on em, 225 wide General AS-03's love them).

You really can't "blast off" until you're in 3rd gear, and with the S54 you still might spin, especially with 400 WHP.


That being said I know you will enjoy it, whether roasting tires or not.

[Arturio55]

From a roll to 30 almost instantly is a curious statement. You'll get there... on the speedometer... lol

First and second gear (and I have an E153 not S54 so I have much longer gears), anything over 4,500 rpm WOT and I have tire spin. In 2nd that is now 5,000 rpm since I got new tires (about 200 miles on em, 225 wide General AS-03's love them).

You really can't "blast off" until you're in 3rd gear, and with the S54 you still might spin, especially with 400 WHP.


That being said I know you will enjoy it, whether roasting tires or not.

Lmao @ the first sentence. Yea I know wheel spin is bad, will only be MUCH worse at 400.. but from a roll it might be eliminated if I install an LSD and poly bushings all over the suspension parts (I already have coilovers, stiffer than a **insert punchline here**)

[cardshark525]

From a roll to 30 almost instantly is a curious statement. You'll get there... on the speedometer... lol

First and second gear (and I have an E153 not S54 so I have much longer gears), anything over 4,500 rpm WOT and I have tire spin. In 2nd that is now 5,000 rpm since I got new tires (about 200 miles on em, 225 wide General AS-03's love them).

You really can't "blast off" until you're in 3rd gear, and with the S54 you still might spin, especially with 400 WHP.


That being said I know you will enjoy it, whether roasting tires or not.

Lmao @ the first sentence. Yea I know wheel spin is bad, will only be MUCH worse at 400.. but from a roll it might be eliminated if I install an LSD and poly bushings all over the suspension parts (I already have coilovers, stiffer than a **insert punchline here**)

I've got coilovers, E153, LSD, running 13 PSI on aftermarket turbo... it's still bad lol.

From a roll or not, at low speed the torque will win over anything you could throw at it unless you're ganna rip apart your wheel wells and throw like 255's or wider summer/track/drag tires up front.

Maybe if your EMS can, set it up to run less boost at certain speeds if possible?

This post has been edited by cardshark525: Nov 15, 2014 - 2:13 AM