Anyone who has owned does own or driven an LS1 or similar power.
IM asking if this is too much power ?
Is traction too hard to acquire ?
I dont really want a burnout queen, if ya know what i mean

It depends on how the chassis is setup. Don't expect to drop an LS1 into a stock 914 and expect it to handle well.

Mike,
How many engines have you installed in your teener? I know of the last one, a rotary and your current, an Audi.

Dave

Too much power?
Depends on how the car is set up and what you're trying to do with it.

Click to view attachment

As the late Mark Donahue stated, "only if you can spin the tires in top gear at the end of the straight".

There's no such thing as too much power. No one says you have to use every horse that's back there, so as long as it's you pressing the gas pedal you always get exactly what you need, as long as it's there. Never too much, just some extra you maybe aren't using. Now on the other hand it's really easy to have NOT ENOUGH power, when you're pressing your foot through the damned floor but nothing more is happening. That's much worse, not having enough when you need it, because there's nothing you can do about it. You're not catching that guy, you're stuck and you're gonna lose.

Just be aware that the car will need to be upgraded so the chassis and all the other systems are equal to any new power you put back there. That's a different question.

350 hp/tq LS1?

I would say its just right. Its also EXTREMELY linear, you can always back off of the throttle a little bit in 2nd and 3rd (You wont use first) until you get traction.

You would need decent tires and decent suspension/brakes to make it feel right.

Where your going to light the tires up is under ~ 40mph. Since it has a perfectly flat torque band it will light the tires up (Depending on compound and width) if you simply mash on the gas. However if you learn to roll on it, it'll be just fine.


You could always just put a stop behind the gas pedal so you only use as much power as you want.. say 75% of it..

Too much power? Depends on the driver. There's this thing called a throttle. If you use it wisely, there's never enough. Yeah, dump the clutch off the starting line, vs passing someone on a track at 100mph. I guess if you have to ask, then yes, it's too much.

There's a gas pedal to modulate the power, so it comes down to how you drive it. At 340HP, or so, it's not over-powered, in my opinion. Gobs of torque; yes....Fast; yes. I took my LS1 car to The Streets of Willow Springs for the sole purpose of adjusting and characterizing the chassis handling. I had no misconceptions of what I was looking for; a street car with predictable handling at its limits, and not a race car. It's a compromise, of course, but I like how surprisingly smooth the car rides after my suspension's final setup. I can, however, feel the increased rear CG, which does tend to upset the handling a bit.

All that said, it's not "too much power," but then it depends on what you're used to along with the understanding of how not to get yourself into trouble because of it.

Andys.

Power to go forward is one thing...power to STOP reasonably is almost more important.

Don't put an LS1 in, and expect the stock brakes to be able to take you from 100 to 0 in reasonable distance. The car will be quite a bit heavier and have a different center of gravity.

Why not employ a parachute while you drive or deploy an anchor, like I am going to do?

I am using a higher/ R/P in my 915 trans, so I can use all 5 speeds without always frying the tires! BUT, I like the block behind the throttle!

AndyS, put it exactly!

Heck, sometimes a stock four-banger is too much power for me!!!

--DD

C'mon, you cant churn butter with a toothpick!

I have driven an LS1 in Jerry Mahoney's beautiful 914. While the clutch was slipping for the 3 hour trip. It kept me very tame as if I gave it much gas it would slip. Having said that that motor is absolutely sweet. Even milking the throttle it was still fast. I bring this up because while it has a lot of power when you want it. It can drive extremely tame if you like. It is so smooth it is a joy to drive. You can still get mid 20's mpg gallon very easily. I would recommend a Boxtser S 6 speed tranny though rather than a 901. I did drive it with a 901 & it was fine. It is tough to beat a nice new transmission with cable shift though. I would have zero reservations about putting an LS1 in my car. I happen to really love the suby setups though. So I am not looking to do an LS1 At least not today

Hey since we are on the topic with LS motors, my winter project is retrofiting a LS4 into my 914. I will build a engine cradle that will bolt to the original engine mounts. I was planning on using 2" square tubing, would I be okay with using 1/8" square tubing or would it be better with 1/4" tubing?

when the chassis is being torn apart then you have too much power.

everything up to that is almost enough.

I just don't get the guys who ask about power. The throttle isn't an on/off switch. Learn how to use it. I guess the answer is, if you have to ask, then it's too much.

yea... you just don't get the too much power thing... throttle aside there is a point where there isn't any more use for more power, think 1/4 throttle and boiling tires.

I totally do. Factor in speed. Boil the tires at 10mph, or pass a string of cars at 110mph. Yes you can have too much power if you don't know how to use it. But at some point you are going fast enough that it doesn't boil tires any more. This thread is about an LS engine, not 10000hp. And like I said, if you have to ask, then it's too much power for you.

I'd love to see someone develop a speed-based variable drive by wire where full pedal travel gives you zero throttle to loss of traction, regardless of speed.

That's traction control, isn't it? I seem to recall reading that there are provisions in lowly Megasquirt that would allow you to add in traction control if you could adapt all the sensors and computer to your car. That's a lot of adapting, though, much easier to just learn when it's not wise not to get into it so hard.

IMO, your ability is what determines what is too much power. The best thing anyone can do to improve the performance of their car is to improve the driver. I've seen way too many people destroy their cars over the years because THEY could not handle the power.

You've seen the way I drive....

--DD

I just wanted to add that the best feature of my LS1 conversion, is the electronic controls. A twist of the key, and it fires NOW even after sitting for a month, then drives like any modern car with EFI. I also took advantage of the AC and fan controls by the PCM.

Andys

Where is speedmetalarmy on this one. He did this to my old car. He's quite happy with it. He has a thread here somewhere.

Hi Mark!
Not too much power, no. Just a blast to drive! The reliability is the second best part.
Zero regrets, just having fun and driving.

There is "No Replacement for Displacement."

During the development of the 917-30 motor, the German Porsche engineers often asked Mark Donohue if the motor finally had enough power. His tongue-in-cheek answer was "it will never have enough power until I can spin the wheels at the end of the straightaway in high gear."

The 917-30, SCCA bitched, was killing the Can-Am series. Mark Donohue disagreed. “We’re far from having too much horsepower,” he asserted. “My definition of too much horsepower is when all four wheels are spinning in every gear.”


I agree with Mark Donohue, you can never have too much horsepower. But you need a chassis and driver that can use that horsepower too. When I was in my 20s, I was a corner worker at an SCCA race at Green Valley raceway, near my home. Green valley was a drag strip with a road course spliced onto it. I watched a big block, full race Corvette trading the race lead with a Bugeye Sprite. The Corvette would come out of the last turn onto the 1/2 mile straight that was the drag strip, and accelerate hard for the hairpin turn at the other end. Behind him was the Bugeye. At the next lap the Bugeye was in front, but not by much. The Bugeye got passed on the straight. Next lap, the Bugeye came out of the last turn a little farther ahead of the Vette. This repeated lap after lap until the Bugeye was entering the hairpin before the Vette was able to clear the last turn. Before the race ended, the Bugeye had lapped the Vette. All because the Bugeye had a better chassis setup and a better driver.

It is your car, so build the one you want to drive. But it will be more fun if you add the handling and driver improvement too.

Totally true. I remember those satanic straight-axle Corvettes autocrossing back in the day, big huge slicks front and rear and two-four barrel engines that wouldn't idle but sure as hell would rev, jump up into the air and GO, then being beaten by little Lotus Sevens, Mini's AND my little bugeye. Good times.

Now take that Green Valley story and double or triple that bugeye's (or 914's) horsepower. Then that driver's having a real fun day around the whole track, not just the corners, and is pretty much unbeatable. Goes from good times to REAL good times.

Except for positive manifold pressure.

Ha ha ha, very true.

There are still LOADS of vettes like that in the american autox series.. Super fun to watch