May be of interest to many of you seeking more hp from your 348/ 355. ebay item 7964518213 Lists a complete intake and exhaust turbo assembly claiming 400 RW hp! Buy it now price is $1999.99. I have no idea regarding quality, completeness etc. Looked darn interesting though!
My gut feeling is this is a really bad idea. What's the comp. ratio of these cars? Too high for a turbo I bet. Then you'll be stressing parts in a way that they weren't designed for. Sounds like an expensive experiment.... Ken
I saw that earlyer on, the kit does not look complete. I have no probs in buying a complete kit. What i dont want to do is start searching for parts. And i think its more for the 348s.
Damn them for making this available on eBay just when I had settled on only trying to make more hp with a new set of cams. This is a very interesting kit at an interesting price. I am trying to find out how complete everything really is.
For big stuff, your going to need injectors and a motec M48 or M8, maybe $4k for that stuff. It looks like all the other big stuff is there....of couse an intercooler or 2 would be nice too.
Who would want that much horsepower? the ad says it was taken off to sell the car. I know some people who would rather buy it with that stuff on there. ????
He mentions that it is a Norwood product. It doesn't look like a Bob Norwood product. Maybe Bubba Norwood.
Bob on top, Bubba on the bottom. Compare. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Agree - something is missing from the story. Interesting that he kept the Motec system, although photos look like the Motronic box is still there.
read the first few pages of this : http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29754 it may change your mind about the "fragility" of these engines Warning : it drifts off after a few pages into stupidity
I am familiar with this setup. This was removed from the only other car done by Norwood that was still on the street in the US. There were three done for US customers, the other was totaled on the track, I have # three. There is a forth Norwood 348 Turbo in Spain, (last I heard). I've previously contacted this owner. He is an engineer who was laid off quite a while ago and had to sell the car for $$$ reasons. He guessed he'd get more for it he parted it out, (I'd agree). Perhaps this is why he sold the MOTEC separately. As far as I know, it is genuine Norwood. If you put it on your car, it'll be a kit, NOT a Norwood conversion. The two are not to be confused. As far as I know, he, (either Bob or James), used copper head gaskets, chemically coated the pistons and valves, changed the injectors, changed the fuel pressure, and tuned the engine to run properly, "pressurized". Probably some other mods as well. Not all Norwood cars were intercooled; it depends on how the customer ordered it. For lower boost levels, stock compression hasn't posed a problem. THIS is a Norowood car: Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here is a less cluttered post with pictures: http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42376 If you think that you will be able to run more than 5-6 psi off the stock ECU and fuel system, you would be wrong. Significant amounts of boost have massive fuel requirements and running upwards of 10-13psi will typically require injectors that are 110-150% larger than stock, depending on tune, engine, efficiency, altitude, etc. And I think the Norwood kit also replaced the pistons, but I am not sure.
I'm not sure if the Norwood "conversion", (I shy away from calling it a kit, that I think makes it sound like it is an "add-on"), changes the pistons in all of their cars. In my car, yes, the pistons were changd to a custom designed, JE racing piston. Also, it has matching JE rings.
Whatever. The guys at Norwood will have the final say. I've NEVER seen rubber elbows used even in low boost applications. My SAAB had alu elbows that were bolted together and still blew apart...even at low boost. But whatever.
That is James Patterson on Top who purchased Norwood Performance. Bob usually like to tinker with them on the dyno tuning them to perfection.
Hummm. sounds like the plumbing on your Saab was inadequate. It is common for pressurized plumbing to have "rubber elbows". Ever read "turbo magazine"? Norwood, (whom by the way, set multiple records at the Bonneville salt flats in turbo charged Ferraris). They have been using them on much higher boost engines than your SAAB. I don't intend to start an internet argument, but you might want to do some interesting reading: http://www.bobnorwood.com/Norwood%20Accomplishments.htm enjoy!