550HP At The Wheel?

[ldusseau]

Driving in suburban Detroit last Saturday when another Stinger came up behind me on a freeway. We both got off at the same exit and ended up at the same light. I asked the guy if his car was stock and he said no, he's got a JB4 and... (this is where I didn't hear what else he had because we were talking across an empty lane between us) to get 550HP at the wheel. I asked who did the mods and he said "me", then the light turned green and that's all I got. The idea of 550HP is intriguing, however I know it's likely not possible. He also could be exaggerating. I'm just wondering what he might have added on top of the JB4? I'd LOVE to be able to keep up with (or beat) my wife's stock 2019 Vette.

I searched the forum and of course there's a lot of JB4 talk. It seems like a simple mod, what kind of HP gains could I get from that alone? Then what would be the next best thing on top of the JB4? I'm not looking to tinker a lot with it, I learned the hard way from my 2010 BMW that you can easily go off on too many tangents and not be happy with the overall results.

 

[Thomby]

BMS sells a "450whp" kit that consists of the JB4, spark plugs (considered mandatory when increasing boost), and intakes. That 450whp is probably the upper end of what you can expect running E30 on map 4/5, with upper 400s crank / lower 400s wheel hp more realistic.

After that you're looking at either charge pipe injection (7th injector so you can run higher ethanol mixes) or water/meth injection, which could get you that last 50-80 horsepower to max out the turbos and put you in the 550 crank hp range.

Happy to be corrected but I think to surpass 500hp at the wheels you're really looking at a true flash tune in addition to the power adders, because you'll run off the stock ECU maps. And you're really running out of the stock turbo efficiency range.

 

[ldusseau]

BMS sells a "450whp" kit that consists of the JB4, spark plugs (considered mandatory when increasing boost), and intakes. That 450whp is probably the upper end of what you can expect running E30 on map 4/5, with upper 400s crank / lower 400s wheel hp more realistic.

After that you're looking at either charge pipe injection (7th injector so you can run higher ethanol mixes) or water/meth injection, which could get you that last 50-80 horsepower to max out the turbos and put you in the 550 crank hp range.

Happy to be corrected but I think to surpass 500hp at the wheels you're really looking at a true flash tune in addition to the power adders, because you'll run off the stock ECU maps. And you're really running out of the stock turbo efficiency range.

90% of what you said goes over my head, but I get the gist. I'm not looking to make a ton of changes, even though a shop will be doing the work.

 

[ldusseau]

BMS sells a "450whp" kit that consists of the JB4, spark plugs (considered mandatory when increasing boost), and intakes. That 450whp is probably the upper end of what you can expect running E30 on map 4/5, with upper 400s crank / lower 400s wheel hp more realistic.

After that you're looking at either charge pipe injection (7th injector so you can run higher ethanol mixes) or water/meth injection, which could get you that last 50-80 horsepower to max out the turbos and put you in the 550 crank hp range.

Happy to be corrected but I think to surpass 500hp at the wheels you're really looking at a true flash tune in addition to the power adders, because you'll run off the stock ECU maps. And you're really running out of the stock turbo efficiency range.

BMS = Burger Tuning? I think I found the correct kit but it says "for competition only"

 

[Thomby]

90% of what you said goes over my head, but I get the gist. I'm not looking to make a ton of changes, even though a shop will be doing the work.

Probably the most accessible/established path would be to buy a JB4 or similar piggyback.
- do the plugs and intake yourself, which are fairly straightforward and will get you more familiar with the car
- run map 1 (on at least 91 octane) to get a taste of power, map 2 if you have 93 octane
- pull your logs and either post them on the JB4 forum or learn to read them yourself, confirm everything looks healthy
- if you have E85 available and want more fun, try E30 and map 3, 4, or 5, depending on how your logs look and your comfort level at that point

 

[Thomby]

BMS = Burger Tuning? I think I found the correct kit but it says "for competition only"

Of course. All of us do our fun driving offroad "in Mexico". Especially those from California where any sort of fun is strictly illegal.

 

[lil_lurking_stinger]

Getting to ~550HP on this platform isn’t that hard and is certainly possible like others have shown.

Main issue is reliability as you start seeing higher part failure once you get to that point. Not to mention the transmission/torque converter is only rated for ~500lbs of torque for what I’ve heard and seen.

450 is the perfect spot to stay at while being fairly reliable. It’s also not as much work as you think. It’s all bolt-ons.

Not a lot of reason to go any higher with this platform imo. A lot of better options (and more importantly lighter and compact platforms) for doing 600+ HP pulls.

 

[ldusseau]

Getting to ~550HP on this platform isn’t that hard and is certainly possible like others have shown.

Main issue is reliability as you start seeing higher part failure once you get to that point. Not to mention the transmission/torque converter is only rated for ~500lbs of torque for what I’ve heard and seen.

450 is the perfect spot to stay at while being fairly reliable. It’s also not as much work as you think. It’s all bolt-ons.

Not a lot of reason to go any higher with this platform imo. A lot of better options (and more importantly lighter and compact platforms) for doing 600+ HP pulls.

Totally understand your point. Thank you. 450hp should be enough for me. The *idea* of 550 sounded intriguing, however thinking about all the other components of the engine that aren't designed for that amount of torque/pressure, I agree it's too much. I mean, if I want to keep up with my wife's Vette, all I have to do is drive it! It's not like we race each other either...well maybe every now and then.

 

[Gearshead]

I would love to see a mod list with 550whp.

 

[billy_vk]

I just had my car on a Mustang dyno. Apparently they read low compared to a lot of other brands. There were maybe 20 other cars there running that day and probably a hundred people watching. They were very surprised at what my car did. My car made 421whp and 506ft/lb tq. The dyno showed 506.39 crank hp and 617ft/ lb tq. So probably 440-460 whp. To get there I did hks plugs, JB4 Map 4 on E-30, MBRP catback exhaust and Injen intakes. The car runs 12.41 quarters consistently on heavy 20" wheels with Eibach springs and sway bars to help. Never any issues from the car and shocks the hell out of any V8 American car owner when they ride in it or line up next to it. K8 stinger store sells the tuner, plugs, intakes, catch cans and exhaust as a package deal... I would say best bang for the buck to get up where you seem to be looking.

 

[Terry@BMS]

Stock turbos tend to max out around 500-525whp but we've had larger turbo customers make 600whp+.

 

[billy_vk]

I just had my car on a Mustang dyno. Apparently they read low compared to a lot of other brands. There were maybe 20 other cars there running that day and probably a hundred people watching. They were very surprised at what my car did. My car made 421whp and 506ft/lb tq. The dyno showed 506.39 crank hp and 617ft/ lb tq. So probably 440-460 whp. To get there I did hks plugs, JB4 Map 4 on E-30, MBRP catback exhaust and Injen intakes. The car runs 12.41 quarters consistently on heavy 20" wheels with Eibach springs and sway bars to help. Never any issues from the car and shocks the hell out of any V8 American car owner when they ride in it or line up next to it. K8 stinger store sells the tuner, plugs, intakes, catch cans and exhaust as a package deal... I would say best bang for the buck to get up where you seem to be looking.

An update to this.... intercooler and charge pipes added. Car ran 11.91 most recently at IRP in Indianapolis. A bit of the problem was between the headrest and the steering wheel. Once I learned how to launch the car it got much quicker.

 

[seeyainakia]

An update to this.... intercooler and charge pipes added. Car ran 11.91 most recently at IRP in Indianapolis. A bit of the problem was between the headrest and the steering wheel. Once I learned how to launch the car it got much quicker.

Awesome! good for you and thanks for sharing. Anything quantitative that that new charge pipes made a difference?

 

[billy_vk]

Awesome! good for you and thanks for sharing. Anything quantitative that that new charge pipes made a difference?

Don't know why i didn't respond to this. I don't think they made a difference really.