Adding HP to I-6?

[Fairmont79]

Well I'm 18 and tight on money And my straight 6 79 fairmont would be a lot cooler with some
Extra hp. Ideas?

[grabbergreen84]

A better exhaust might yield some gains.

[82GTforME]

You know I had an 81 Mustang Coupe for a first car around your age. The first thing I did was put in a stereo! I was rolling, that was all that mattered!

I know on the 2.8 V6 my son and I are planning on rebuilding soon, one of the simpler suggestions were to add dual exhaust even, just to get a little extra! Of course doesn't apply for you in the dual sense, but that or something else may be out there. I say make sure you maintain it good, keep the fluids up and changed and you will see a lot of life out of that I-6! Quite a few have added V-8's to their non-Mustang foxes as well. Saving for something better may be a good goal versus trying too hard with this one.

Welcome to FEP btw! Good luck!

[xctasy]

If your in Collardo or Cali, you'll be unable to mke these changes unless you follow a very important selection of changes.

The problem with 85 hp and 155 lb-ft and 20 second quarter mile from a 3.3 in America when it produced 110 hp and 173 lb-ft and 18.8 second quarter miles when in a heavier car in Australia wasn't just the
1.too small 1-bbl carb size, but
2.head flow and
3.compression ratio and
4.cam retard and
5.CAFE Moon shoot gearing.

So head flow increase via a better 2-bbl carb with a bolt on, not the milled in direct mount spacer, compression rise to 8.9:1 from 8.4:1 via a moderate head plane, cam duration increase from 256 to 264 degrees by Clay Smith (it needs 289 or 302 valve soprings and 4.0 or 260 Ford keepers and a little head work when its fitted) with a special Classic Inlines timing chain without the factory cam retard, and an AOD 4 stage auto with 2350 stall converter or Explorer Ranger pre 2001 5R55 5 speed, or Borg Warner T5 5 speed gearbox, with a nice 3.73 or 3.45 7.5" diff and some good tires. Headers can be made, they are worth 18% morepowerand13% more fuel economy if done right.

Take a look at brwsaver's 24Hrs at Lemons racer, and do everything he did. The gearbox swap is optional, its easy to hook the later gearboxes to the earlier engines, the factory C3 fits to the 5r55 bellhousing with a small oilway change, and the AOD fits if you use a gray low mount block or a transmission adaptor I make.

150 hp, and 16.5 second quarter miles with good economy can be found with ease...its a very resonsive engine. The Cologne V6 had all these five things better set up, and it honked with 104 to 109 hp. The 200 cubic inch 3.3 engine just held the door open for the hotter Ford engines, it was never an engine Ford ever did anything with in the USA. Elseware, we raced the living dylights out of it and its bigger 221 and 250 cubic inch forgien cousins, and its only now that people in the US are having low expense play arounds with this little gem.

[brianj]

A lot depends on where you live, and emissions laws near you. Honestly, as much as a L6 build interests me, a 302 is cheaper and sounds a lot better. When I say cheaper, I mean 200 HP is a low output cheap 302, or a built up expensive L6.

[xctasy]

Yeah, the 5.0 is a fairly perfect item, but even the smaller 3.3 six can make the 200 on a budget if you are strategic. Any of the log head Ford sixes is an off idle traction engine, even when cammed, carbed and gas flowed up to 200 plus hp.

And 205 hp is a good 200 with all these mods. We've got guys with triple carbed 3.3's getting Tri-Power 147hp/185tq at the wheels, which is 186 flywheel hp, and 234 lb-ft on just 264 Clay Smith cams, and with 250's, over 220 hp on triple carbs and a Crane Solid Cam .460int, .480exh. Best Et was 14.55 @ 90.97in a 65 Mustang. Its all 1960 Holman Moody to 1981 Ak Miller technology.

The later E0 and E1 log heads are a much better proposition than the earlier logs as they have more space for a 2-bbl. The welded and braised or JB Welded head is a problem to keep sealed, and the chance is that it will crack.



Ford USA did no favours to anyone with the log heads, and the only glimmer of hope was the changes made to make it like


^the 107 hp ME 188 3.1 liter with Weber Solex 34 2-bl,



^or the 166 hp SP 221,

^or the 170 HP 2V 250,
and now,

^the Classic Inlines head.


The engine combination with a proper 2-bbl with a log head can still make 205 hp, though. See Crosley's direct mount Falcon modifications. Just a D7 head, some basic milling, and a nice radical 274 cam, which isn't even lumpy on a cast iron intake Ford, they still idle like an old Model T.http://fordsix.com/forum/viewtopic.p...440076#p440076. Can't do 15 sec ET's at 88mph unless you've got 205 hp.

[JACook]

I can personally attest to all of the above.

My first Mustang was a '67 notch, with the 200 (3.3L) I6 and a 3-speed stick. That car was actually
fun once I replaced the old transverse muffler system with a full 2" exhaust and super turbo muffler,
and after having .025" taken off the head, it woke up even more. I ended up putting 3.25" gears in
the rear, and a top-loader 4-speed replaced the old "3.03" 3-speed. (Today I would do a T5 swap of
course.

Later, I fabbed up a 2V carburetor pad and welded it to a 250 head that had a larger log. I ran a 2100
2V carb sideways, with the stock throttle linkage modified to operate the carb off the choke end of the
shaft. This was back around 1977/78. Our Kiwi friend is right on about the cracks, but it was still a fun
engine. That car would show it's taillights to the lesser 2V 289 Mustangs back in the day.

What I wouldn't have given for one of those separate-intake Aussie heads...

One other mod that isn't mentioned here, I installed a vacuum-operated switch in the field circuit to
the alternator, as a sort of WOT alternator cutout. When you're working with a lower power engine,
you want to keep in mind that saving horsepower is often easier than making more.

[Bullet306]

A rear gear ratio change can also help tremendously. I used to play around with a 70 Torino with a stock 250ci I-6. With the factory 2.79:1 rear gear ratio, it ran 18.30's. When I swapped to a shorter set of rear tires to get the effective gear ratio to a 3.15, it went 17.99 with no other changes.

[mleega2]

There is an aftermarket alum. head with a removable intake.

[Jax Rhapsody]

I still want to build an inlin6 but the more I think about it, the more I'd rather find one with a crossflow head which means import, like a 1 or 2Jz or an sr20dett. the main weakpoint in domestic i6's is the lack of crossflow heads. Cause if there was a crossflow head for the 3.3, I'd build it with a sequencial turbo setup and megasquirt. I love Inline 6's

[xctasy]

Down here you can get a cross flow head for 25 bucks that will flow 200 hp, every 3.3 and 4.1 from 1980 to 1992 had one. Our F100's, Cortinas, Falcons, Fairmonts, Fairlanes and even LTD's got them in various strengths from 114 hp to 164. Stock, they could be as slow as 18.8 seconds or as fast as 16.3 seconds over a quarter mile.


Cross flow is just a marketing ploy, the real i6 engines which make power were non cross flow engines with high ported heads like the detachable intake heads for racing Torana 3.3 liter XU1's and 250/292 Chevy and GMC truck engined speedway cars. You make more power with high ported non cross flows than with cross flow heads, absolute fact. The Phil Irving, Duggan, and Raymond Mays high port heads for L6's and some rare non cross flow high ports for V8's still flow off the chart cfm readings and make exceptional power, and are hunted down by smart Americans who study them, and make there own.





The good thing is that when Americans do make aftermarket alloy non cross flow heads, they don't make them with porosity problems and leaks which result in them being scrapped like Aussies and Limey's do. Sad fact, but also true.

Best advice is to do only what you can afford, and buy new stuff when situation allows. Your knowledge base will go up, so its okay to do virtually nothing for a year while getting a handle on costs and keeping your aspirations in check. Having said that, a 5.0 is the next reactional step for most people, but it comes with a few problems of its own.

But when there are kits around since the infancy of this engine, like this Aussie Blattman kit, you realise that the little I6 is a very missunderstood a$$






Your heart would say this ^ is where you want to go, a head which makes in excess of 235 flywheel hp with the most basic Holley or Motorcraft/Autolite carbuartion on a 3.3 liter 200 cube engine. But head flow at 0.510" is 218cfm@28"H2O which, according to the usual calculators, that is 336hp potential with ease.

But a propane 250 cube 4. 1 liter engine, whic would be legal in California, made 240hp@5200rpm at the flywheel with 280 lb/ft flat around 3500rpm with this set up, and 11.2:1 compression and a
custom hydraulic cam 285/292 with 230/237@0.050 and 0.510/0.530 lift, 112LSA

the LPG manifold 73GreenMachine has made is perfect for an F150 4.9 EFI throttle body, eliminating the hood clearance issues.

http://fordsix.com/forum/viewtopic.p...504490#p504490





And on a turbo charged 250's, like Georges old Crossflow, his F150 4.9 EFI twin bore throttle body got him into the 10's.



But the Budget says just rework what is there. A 1985 1-bbl F150 feedback carb with TFI igtion mods would make 130 to 135 flywheel hp legally if done right, and its a direct bolt on for the 3.3. The 4.9 six had a pretty good cam, and a 264 cam for the 3.3 fits, is cheap and would be ideal and get you the power you desire. The later foot ball exhast header also makes a good power upgrade. Back in the sixtees, they'd get a stock looking emission engine doing 100 at the bags when it was only 65 hp previously, a 54% boost. You can do the same today without headers that Ak Miller used in this 1967 article, but a beeter Clay Smith cam and timing gear set. A head plane from 59 cc to about 48 cc would help, allowing you to use the common, cheap composite head gasket they sell these days.

http://www.classicinlines.com/HA1.asp

Cross flow heads are no better than the Classic Inlines head and require massive block and head mods and an Australian cam, header, intake and they are not emmission compliant in some states.



http://www.classicinlines.com/XFheadswap.asp

The emissions compliance is the issue with I6 3.3's and is why no-one touches them is because the car won't pass visual inspection or IM test with any of the above mods except Propane, which is always legal if done right and the 1-bbl F150 feedback carb and ignition, which would be missed by most inspectors because the T and B and X code 3.3 engines changed often, sometimes between states and years.

The 5.0 will get away with an inspection if its done right, as its a factory V8, and many, many aftermarket mods have EO and CARB authorisation. Long term, I'll bet the Classic Inlines will be forced to get certification for something like this when someone hooks the F150 4.9 efi unit up to it, but its still years off. The reason is that the market for I6 Foxes was pretty huge in percentage terms from 1978 to 1983...it dropped like a fly in the frost in the last years when the 4.2 got axed and the 3.8 and 5.0 GT spec engines came out, but it is still the worlds cheepest engine to rebuild. l

But dollar for dollar, with a 52 pound lighter Classic Inlines head, a 264 or 274 Clay Smith cam and just an Autolite 2-bbl or 4-bbl with headers, a modified i6's off idle to 2800 rpm torque will eat a low tier 5.0 V8 for breakfast, even with just 3.3 liters. Its a lesson hard learned in the 70's, when Australaisian Fords best 351 engines were eaten up by smaller, 3.3 and 4.3 liter engines in sedan racers, because of the way a little six gets off its butt in and out of corners. They are a huge amount of fun. That an ancient piece of cast iron i6 from October 1959 can make a power curve biased to low speed power, is due to I6's not having an engine with such a big cam with bigger ports like the V8. So they can romp out of corners hard without incinerating tires like V8's often do, and going into corners, they miss having an extra 100 pounds over the front end, and, if tuned right, use less fuel than a bigger engine.

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles...rd_inline_six/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLJjN_uDrUQ

http://www.robaldo.com/ProjectAluminum

[Jax Rhapsody]

I still prefer my intake and exhaust on the opposite sides, that said; lack of that won't stop me from squeezing out as much as I can out of a 3.3, MOPAR Slant, or JEEP/Jag 4.0. Work with what you got. I still think of a 3.3 swap...with three 2bbl carbs and a 6-2 header and a manual trans.

[xctasy]

There is lots you can do with a few stollen hot rod mods.

The best diff ratios are certainly 3.45, with tall tires, 3.73, or perhaps 3.27 or 3.23's as our Aussie 5 speed 3.3's , like this Gold Falcon beside my Exploder, had.




We ran tall tires of about 185SR 78 14 size. With 121 hp and 177 lb-ft of torque, and 2910 pounds, it would do 17.9 seconds and used a close ratio 3.22/1.94/1.26/1.00/0.79 single rail five speed to good effect. 112 mph, and 22 us mpg average with one 34/34 adm weber 2-bbl carb.

If you can find an old T9 gearbox from a Merkur XR4Ti it'll be similar and do the same job.

I like the weld on triple carb set up, how goods ya welding?



There's enough meat in the iron head to do three deuces, and the 32/36DGVA or 38DGAS or 320/350/500/650 Holley 2-bbl are possible. Or you can use the 90 degree adaptor from the Mercury 2.6/2.8 Capri v6

. It bolts down onto the later head, and allows space to fit the linkages.

Opel went down the track of a triple carb version of the Opel GT twin carb engine. Solex carbs were always a little tempramental, but the US Ford option Weber, Holley Weber and Holley aftermarket carbs can be fitted in like manner, and the GM idle air sollenoid can be hooked up to balance all three without linkage balance issues.


Triple carbs aren't a disaster waiting to happen if done right.



Or a stock 5200 Holley Weber, which can be routed out to 29 and 31 mm venturis and still work, as well as flow 336 cfm at 3" Hg like this one by Mercury Marc (an Aussie told him how to do it!)



Ther's nitrous oxide kit on this backwards facing 350 Holley with headers, and that took this 1963 Super Pursuit powered Falcon XM to 13.6 seconds on the quarter



The exhast on the 81 to 83's is very easy to divide into a twin cat dual exhast if your car comes with only one cat. Adding an extra shouldn't fail an emissions inspection, and you can run it under the sump 3sgte or 4AGE or 4AFE Toyota front drive twin cam style with a flexiable join. Not all the later football header 81 to 83 I6 Ford 3.3's ran twin cat exhasts, so the option of splitting the exhast into two down pipes, one left under the engine and back like a v8 and one right..it exists and works wounders for performance






The smaller chamber head from an early 170 or 200 can flow a lot better, especially with the right carbs. The intake runner size is irrelvent to power with a good carb adaptor, and egr can be fited up, along with all the stock AIR and vac fittings

[xctasy]

See this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjQJ8...ature=youtu.be

Do it yourself, and copy it! If you know where your headed, you can do this very cheaply and have a huge amount of fun on the way without too much stress.

Its easy to make 205 hp at 5200 with the stock 3.3 set up when you know how

I'll chime in. After all, I've been following this for the last 9 years.


He's got the great Clay Smith 274 hydraulic cam, early adjustable rocker gear with FSP pushrods, worked E0 head with very special handmade alloy plate direct mount 500 cfm 4412 2-bbl, 25 off the block, 50 off the head, stock 5.5 cc cast pistons, cast iron rods, 1978 Fairmont Fox engine, his own special manualised C4 trans, 3.55:1 gears after 4.62:1, then 4.11:1's. Electric water pump. Ignition DS II, with just a few mods. Fairmont accelerator cable with wide open throttle gas pedal positive stop.

2680 pounds, and 25.15" tires. Great header with special handmade collectors.

yur darn close & complete: :wink: Duraspark dizzy triggers an Accel 300+ Digital ignition box & coil. Built in REV limiter set at 6250

Ford power steering pully on the OE alternator from the 1978 Fairmont that slows down the alternator RPM. Pulley only needed some minor trimming for belt alignment. It was one of those things that almost fell onto the car, the pulley swap was so simple.

I have a rollerized gear train for the C4 trans, not installed yet. All thrust washers removed, I machined locations for torrington bearings between the planetarys & ring gears. A lightened sun shell (holes drilled in it).

I also extended the pickup tube in the fuel tank so it sits near the rear of the fuel tank, so the lectric fuel pump can get fuel easily and I can keep the fuel level low (lighter)

[fairmont city]

I own the most underpowered 84 ltd wagon my only mod is a 8.8 with 3.73 gears That made a world of difference.

[IDMooseMan]

Welcome to FEP. Check the "Other Early Fox Tech" section, too. I'm sure the Fairmont gang over there can help you spend your money wisely.