People keep telling me how I cant get more power out of my G because it was highly tuned at the factory. However the specific output of 260hp/3.5L is less than 75 hp per liter. Its barely better than a 1999 ford taurus which gets 200hp out of a 3 liter duratech. I have a friend with a 2001 CL type S with 260hp in a 3.2L. A s2k can push 120hp per liter. I just wanted to know why people consider the VQ "highly tuned" when many older engines could give much more horsepower per liter than ours.

 

The reason many of us do is that the motor doesn't produce much more power by bolt on mods only. To truly gain more significant power on the VQ you have to go forced induction. For example on my 06 GTO just intake, exhaust and headers can produce gains of up to 70 hp or more depending on situation. On the VQ intakes provide little to no gain (some even lose power), most exhaust systems gain little, and headers can produce modest gains but they usually only show up after a tune. Add a tune to the Goat on top of the mods listed and oh boy.

HTH

 

Are the stock cams limiting power potential? Used to be a big issue with the late 70s smog motors. You could add headers, intake, 4 barrel carb, even better heads and more compression but the stock cams were so small it kept the bolt-ons from adding any real power. Cam changes to those motors added huge gains.