Pull the heads and get a good port & polish job done on them, a 3 angle valve job, while they are at it get the intake runners ported and matched too. Don't waste your money on Tubi headers. Take you car and have a custom set of headers made for it. You spend the same money and get a better product. I would go with a tri-y setup for the headers. You get more mid range, and only loose a couple of ponies in the upper rmp range. Or if you want more top end power you can go for a 4 into 1 setup. In either case make sure that you have a really good collector. I would start with the headers and then work your way back finishing with the 355 gear box.
I would also tune the engine instead of a swap to the 355 engine. I think titan conrods are not the point to start on that engine. You should first go to ~45mm butterfly valves on each cylinder. Regrind the cams to a more aggressiv profile. Head porting. Bigger Valves. Better berylium valve seats, bronce valve guides, valve springs with the right spring rate for the cams and desired rpm range. Add some CR by grinding the head. Install bigger headers. Remap the motronics on a dyno to the new enviroment. Install lighter flywheel. Maybe you need bigger injectors too. Have fun with 400+ hp. If thats not enough you need titan rods, dom pistons, 48+mm butterflyvalves. Even more aggressiv cam proviles. Even bigger headers. More rpm. Bigger fuel injectors. Bigger MAFs. Big Airbox/Plenum. I think for hte money a used 355 engine costs you get more hp out of your engine and additional your engine is then fresh with new made head, gasket, maybe even new pistons wich would bring the engine to something like new.
Where does one get a lighter flywheel for a 348 (other than machining it down)? Also, how about the clutch, do higher performance units exist? How about ones with a lighter clutch pedal to boot (similar to that provided by a Centerforce Dual Friction)? Sonny
I milled one my own. with a double plate AP Racing Sintermetalic 7,25" Clutch. That reduces the total mass of the flywheel and the inertia of the flywheel alot.
NICE Samy! So did you make yours out of aluminum? I'm guessing there is no grease right? And how about a picture of this master piece? Sounds like something I would like to have made for my 348.
The centerpiece where the clutch is mounted at is made of steel. The starter ring is mounted on a aluminium ring. Its a solid flywheel without grease. The only two parts of the stock flywheel remaining are the starterring and the spline flange with its bearing where the shaft fits into. http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/1797/schwung1800ay2.jpg http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/9271/schwung2800gg4.jpg http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/3131/schwung4800rz7.jpg
How is the pedal pressure on that bad boy? Also, I'm guessing that is a custom unit, and not something the average Joe can buy over the counter? Sonny
The clutch spring is for high torque(1050nm) because of the turbo engine so you need some strength to press it. But i've driven cars with high pressure clutches even without a hydraulic befor so i'm used to that. I wouldn't say it's a problem.
