c'mon guys, why is it claimed that this will not be a streetable motor at 250 whp on an N/A A20? In fact, I'm going out on a limb to say that this is very possible.
Phillie, I admire your thoughts on wanting to stick with the A20.
So a few things to bare in mind:
Will it be cheaper to do this on a B16/B18 setup? Yes. Why? Much more aftermarket support, and the bottom line is as Joay said. They have a greater cfm flow in their heads, so they can gobble up more air, and thus more fuel. The slightly smaller displacement is offset by how much better it breathes.
but....
An n/a A20 250whp is very possible. What's the biggest factor in shooting the power way up there? Compression. Look at the vdubs out there making stupid numbers on their 4-bangers. A nasty set of pistons, some crazy wizardry with the headwork, valves, etc, and a keen eye on the details can get this where you want it.
Will it be reliable? Yep. With a cast iron, closed deck block, warpage and/or cylinder bore distortion is not an issue as with the cast aluminum B's. The 12-Valve, SOHC is a limiting factor, but the heads can flow surprisingly well with some very careful porting, valve sizing, etc.
You just can't expect this to spin like a B, so don't spin it to 9K. You can't do it on crap 87 octane either. You'll need the cleaner burn of a 93 or better. But what are you wearing out just by having higher compression? Not a hell of a lot. You're just looking at much lower tolerances/clearances, so the margin for error or 'close enough' is not there. Build it right, treat it right, and it's very possible with N/A even without being bottle-fed.
Hopefully next year I'll be working on this very task, except I'm not settling for anything less than 300whp. I don't expect the reliability I'm claiming you can get with a 250 street, but I also don't expect it to last only 300 miles either. That said, it will only be able to run Cam2 or better for fuel due to it's diesel-territory compression ratios.
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Originally Posted by markmdz89hatch
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