What engine should have more aftermarket but doesn't?

GMs 3400 V60 AKA LA1

I will say this with potential flames...

LS1.

It has a TON of aftermarket support, but no marine support. Seriously. An aluminum block with cathedral ports in a boat? BRING IT.

Whatever 2.0l turbo motor in the kia optima. I test drove one a few years ago at the Cleveland Car show and that thing really hauled. I've since vowed to own one when the prices come down a bit. I looked up briefly for aftermarket and it was pretty slim pickings.

curtis73 wrote: I will say this with potential flames... LS1. It has a TON of aftermarket support, but no marine support. Seriously. An aluminum block with cathedral ports in a boat? BRING IT.

I doubt it would survive. Most marine engines do not wear out. they rot away from the inside out. Aluminum may seem like the wonder material, but get any kind of electrolysis going, and it quickly pits, holes, and disappears. You would have to stay up on the zincs and make sure they are properly sized at all times, and even that is no guarantee that it will protect the engine.

There are a lot of French aluminum sailboats out there. The horror stories I hear of them pitting in quarter sized bits of damage due to electrolysis while at the marine is eye opening. All you need is one boat with a bad electrical system and they all suffer

chevy 4.3's, i think but there really needs to be a good aftermarket efi solutions to that dumb spider injections, cuz right now its either:

a) marine intake which is ok but not real high performance

b)syclone/typhoon intake, good luck finding one for a decent price

c)carb intake with injectors holes drilled and a set of 350 fuel rails cut down and welded

also i feel like the northstars had great potential to be a power house but with the common head gasket issues it kinda killed any popularity it could of had

Autolex wrote: VQ40DE (Frontier/Pathfinder/xTerra motor), came with 6 speed and 2 or 4wd options, should drop in just about anything that a VQ30/VG30/VG33/VQ35 should (deck height is a little taller) and they're DIRT cheap.

Isn't all VQ stuff cross-compatable? Can't you put a VQ35 hot cam on a VQ40?

KyAllroad wrote: VWs 3.6 VR6 motor. Their older VR6s have lots of support in the aftermarket but not so much for the big one. And it's in Passats, QX7s, Porsche Cayenne's, and I'm sure a few others. I know one off custom stuff has been done but dropping 15-20 grand on a twin turbo setup is a bit out of my range. I did read a blurb maybe a year ago about some guy who stuffed a TT VR6 and its attendant AWD system into a Miata shell. The article claimed 1000hp (!) Probably went pretty good :-)

A while back I was considering buying a 3.2 Audi TT and doing a mild NA built (bolt ons + cams) and all the research I did said that this wasn't worth it. Nobody makes a really hot cam for them because you can't put a really hot cam on them, the valves really can't open much further than stock. At least that's what i've been told. This is part of why I think this is one of the most overrated, by VW fans, engine of all time. It's useless.

Mr_Clutch42 wrote: The BMW M42,M44,M50,M52, and M54 engines should have a bigger aftermarket. When these cars got to about 5-7 years old and were purchased by their 2nd and 3rd owners, their should have been more demand for supercharger systems for all of these engines and there should have been someone willing to make performance cylinder heads for the straight six engines. A little later, there should have been demand for turbocharger systems too.

How about the engine that's in the 128i and 328i. No performance parts are made for those AT ALL. Even Dinan doesn't make cams for htem. I kind of wanted to buy a 128i back in the day and do a mild NA build (see above) but nobody made E36 M3 for them.

Jim Pettengill wrote: The Toyota 4A-GE. I get so jealous looking at all the great bolt-on stuff for Miatas. What I'd give for a well-engineered bolt-on turbo kit for my Mk. 1 MR2.

This is one of the most supported engines ever. Go talk to Matrix Garage and buy the MR2 turbo exhaust manifold them them. Have an exhaust made. Get Megasquirt PNP. Done. They make two manifolds, one for Mitsubishi fitment one for T28.

You have unlimited choices for it. Probably would be like #3 on a "most supported engines ever" list.

You have no excuse for not building a AW11 turbo. It's easymode and inexpensive.

chief8one wrote: Whatever 2.0l turbo motor in the kia optima. I test drove one a few years ago at the Cleveland Car show and that thing really hauled. I've since vowed to own one when the prices come down a bit. I looked up briefly for aftermarket and it was pretty slim pickings.

Hyundai needs to build a manual version of those cars first. Time is coming thouogh, they seem to have a lot of interest in performance cars and they race Optimas. I'm betting they will put that engine into a hot hatch soon enough.

Is it the same engine as in the Genesis turbo? If so support is steadily growing for it. I think EVO X engine internals fit it too. They have the same design origin

The engine that had so much potential appears to be receding into the dustbin of history: GM's Atlas engines - especially the I6. I know a guy who took that 4.2, had custom cams ground, added a header and a Megasquirt and was making 335 at the wheels. Would have loved it if the General made that the base engine for the Camaro - just like the old days!

mad_machine wrote:

curtis73 wrote: I will say this with potential flames... LS1. It has a TON of aftermarket support, but no marine support. Seriously. An aluminum block with cathedral ports in a boat? BRING IT.

I doubt it would survive. Most marine engines do not wear out. they rot away from the inside out. Aluminum may seem like the wonder material, but get any kind of electrolysis going, and it quickly pits, holes, and disappears. You would have to stay up on the zincs and make sure they are properly sized at all times, and even that is no guarantee that it will protect the engine. There are a lot of French aluminum sailboats out there. The horror stories I hear of them pitting in quarter sized bits of damage due to electrolysis while at the marine is eye opening. All you need is one boat with a bad electrical system and they all suffer

It will require two things.

1. Closed circuit cooling
2. Isolated electrical system with redundant grounds and no exposed wiring.

1 is easy, 2 is hard. Stern drives and outboards are made of aluminum, They internally coat them with a corrosion inhibitor. The big issue is the electrical systems onboard boats are not well maintained. As soon as they get an exposed wire in common water, it is all over. I have seen out drives rot the lower unit off because of an exposed battery cable laying in bilge water, in 3 months!

So get your electrical system high and dry and in ship shape and put a heat exchanger for the cooler and you are good.

If you don't believe me, new marinized engines have aluminum heads and closed circuit cooling. Cost is a bigger reason that they aren't used. And the LSA is used straight off the assembly line with nothing more than heat ex-changers and exhaust manifolds added.

Hmmm - never heard of Matrix Garage before - checked their website and they are only about 100 miles from me, guess I'll have to take a run up there sometime. I know all about the high-dollar Atlantic-type builds that aren't really very streetable, and a turbo looks like the best setup since I have a great running NA engine (7-rib)with only 130K miles. I hate to go tearing into it when it works so well, so for my interest, low to moderate boost would work just fine. 160 - 180 bhp would suit the chassis really well.

Jim Pettengill wrote: Hmmm - never heard of Matrix Garage before - checked their website and they are only about 100 miles from me, guess I'll have to take a run up there sometime. I know all about the high-dollar Atlantic-type builds that aren't really very streetable, and a turbo looks like the best setup since I have a great running NA engine (7-rib)with only 130K miles. I hate to go tearing into it when it works so well, so for my interest, low to moderate boost would work just fine. 160 - 180 bhp would suit the chassis really well.

Same problem I found. It's all great if you want to spend $5K-10K on a full race build, not much in between unless you want to turbo it… But then, most say just get a supercharged motor and work from there.

kreb wrote: The engine that had so much potential appears to be receding into the dustbin of history: GM's Atlas engines - especially the I6. I know a guy who took that 4.2, had custom cams ground, added a header and a Megasquirt and was making 335 at the wheels. Would have loved it if the General made that the base engine for the Camaro - just like the old days!

i forgot about the 4.2's! they are no slouch at 270hp from the factory. with boost it seems like they have potential.

3rd gen camaro with turbo 4.2

edizzle89 wrote:

kreb wrote: The engine that had so much potential appears to be receding into the dustbin of history: GM's Atlas engines - especially the I6. I know a guy who took that 4.2, had custom cams ground, added a header and a Megasquirt and was making 335 at the wheels. Would have loved it if the General made that the base engine for the Camaro - just like the old days!

i forgot about the 4.2's! they are no slouch at 270hp from the factory. with boost it seems like they have potential. 3rd gen camaro with turbo 4.2

I've always wanted one of these, too. To be frank, though, I think you can make a lot out of them with not much needed off-the-shelf.

SpeedAddict502 wrote: Im going to say the IS-F. No one will hardly touch that engine and it is oh so glorious. But no tuning!

Yes, it is a glorious, glorious motor.

But you can thank Denso locking that ECU down like Fort Knox, coupled with the fact that there are roughly 8,000 examples in the U.S. total. Meanwhile, BMW makes 8,300 M3s every year...

Jim Pettengill wrote: Hmmm - never heard of Matrix Garage before - checked their website and they are only about 100 miles from me, guess I'll have to take a run up there sometime. I know all about the high-dollar Atlantic-type builds that aren't really very streetable, and a turbo looks like the best setup since I have a great running NA engine (7-rib)with only 130K miles. I hate to go tearing into it when it works so well, so for my interest, low to moderate boost would work just fine. 160 - 180 bhp would suit the chassis really well.

You don't need boost to make the power you are speaking about..... (although being fair... its easier with boost)

I'm at 140+ whp, or about 160-170 @ the crank... all n/a. I'm running a smallport head and block, an early crank, rods, Toyota euro pistons(10 to 1, instead of 9.4), a moderate cam, and aftermarket management. Its Oregon emissions compliant, and has delivered over 30mpg

btw... the 4AGE IS pretty well supported for an import engine. As one responder noted it might be the 3rd best supported engine.... not sure of that... but I would say it is one of the top 5 supported imported engines