[Tom Meyer]

My sons and I have raced dirt track IMCA with a eco powered cavilers since 2012 and have done a lot of wheel dyno work. We must run stock exhaust manifold so I am sure a good header would make more power. With this being a VVT engine it should make more power than non VVT engine than we run. We also did a lot of testing on the air intake system and a open TB makes about 4.5 hp more than a cold air system. The intake manifold is the biggest restrictions on these motors, early on till outlawed you could just bolt on a later model 2.4 intake and pickup over 25 hp. Baseline hp at the wheel was 135 hp with limited mods, tuned stock ecm, stock cams, injectors stock exhaust manifold with a bigger pipe with some other small mods brought the power to around 150 at the wheel. Camshaft lift is 419 a the valve. Changing the valve angle helped flow on the flow bench but did not do any back to back dyno testing. I am sure a good stocker valve job would help. Eliminating the balance shafts with a kit gets rid of rotating weight. We run manual trans so never did much with the autos. Saturn VUES run the same basic set up but are geared lower because of the heaver vehicle. With the stick It goes from a 3.94 final chevy to a 4.45 Saturn, HHRs have 4.19. Checking out these cars with an auto could find something. The stock valve train will turn 7000 all day long, stronger valve springs would collapse the lifters and lose lift in long lap races. The rear of the cam gear can be ground to change cam timing or aftermarket adjustable gears are available. If you could find someone to regrind the cams mite help also. I always thought someday this would be a fun combo to do but, hell I cain't even get my SS car going. Tom.