Originally Posted By: hansj3
I know it varies, but how much is too much?
my friend has a Hyundai Tiburon that he just has the need to modify. the community says to start with intake, headers, and exhaust and he's following that but he also seems to have grandiose thoughts of rebuilding the engine for a boatload of boost.
My thought is to shoot for an attainable power level, and enjoy what you have done instead of shooting for the moon. My thought is cars that are too light with too much power are not as much fun as a moderately modded car. Its going to be a daily driver.
(I've asked why and he just seems to have to do it)
The car is kinda like a civic, how much power is too much in one of those? And why
I can answer this with reasonably experienced authority.
As I've been driving high HP cars, and building turbo cars since the late 1970's.
All of the below are without any traction control. This is common among highly modified cars with aftermarket ECU's.
First, my 2375 pound turbo Miata made 385 uncorrected RWHP on a 93 degree day (obviously far more on a cool day) . Even with a torsen limited slip, and the stickiest street legal fat rubber, 3/4 throttle in 3rd gear would spin both tires starting at 65MPH. In other words, I could drive down I-95 at the speed limit, put it in 3rd and ease on the gas. They'd spin, even with a pax. And it was difficult to control. Call it boost onrush, or whatever, that car was a handful.
A recent 700HP C6 aftermarket supercharged 'vette did the same thing. Wild tire spin at high speeds as high as 80. Simply unsafe, and honestly, not much fun.
My current turbocharged 2800 pound, 407 true HP, Honda S2000 (taller gearing here) won't spin the tires in 3rd, no matter what. In other words, it has enough weight to get traction at higher speeds. This makes it considerably easier to drive. It also makes less real-world HP than my miata did. MUCH BETTER. I do not need more. In fact, what I'd like is less top end and more midrange.
The bottom line is, (with good tires) 600HP is a rough practical limit for a 3300-3400 pound car. 400HP is about the practical limit for a 2400 pound car. 450HP is about the practical limit for a 2800 pound car. More than that results in highway speed wheelspin, which becomes problematic, as loss of control results in very high speed crashes.
Edit: cars in this power to weight range are solidly 11 second cars. Fast enough to be an absolute blast. With enough traction to be able to use it at practical speeds.
