Well after having my 3.2 L motor in my original six since 2002, thinking all this time it was tuned pretty well, I dropped my car off at a master mechanic in the East Bay to have some upgrades done. Turbo tie rods, factory front sway bar installed, ceramic coated my HE's and muffler, converted from tail shifter to side shifter, etc.

Since he has a dyno tester I also had him check to see how well tuned my webers were and also to get a reading on the HP to the rear wheels. In its original state the motor was only putting out 148 HP, which for a 3.2 motor is incredibly weak! It turns out the motor was running very lean thus robbing it of HP and creating higher temps to boot. He played with different jet sizes and eventually was able to re-jet the carbs to create a new reading of 194 HP to the rear wheels, a 31% increase! Converting this number to what is normally quoted to the crank means this motor is now putting out approx. 223 HP.

I haven't had a chance to pick the car up, but can't wait to see and feel the difference in shifting, torque and acceleration. Pictures to follow. He is also going to provide me with a disc of all the computer dyno readings including torque curve, HP, etc. I CAN'T WAIT.

BTW, if anyone in the Bay Area is looking for a great mechanic that really knows these cars, I highly recommend John Holleran at Holleran's Performance in Pinole. He also does complete engine rebuilds and is also an excellent body/metal fabricator. You should stop by and see the factory steel flares he did on six conversion he is building for himself. I believe Horizontally-Opposed knows John quite well and can also vouch for his work.

Yep, I've known John since high school (nearly 20 years) and he knows his gig well. He re-sealed my side-shift transmission and installed my anti-roll bar years ago. Did a nice job on both. Wouldn't hesitate to use him again in the future. His fab and metalwork are REALLY nice, and one of the best high $$$ Porsche shops in the Bay Area sends its headwork to him. Hmmnnn.

Tempted to show pics of his 6 conversion in process for some time, because it is silly good. But I want to leave that surprise until he gives permission. He also made his own GT headlight kit (didn't want to wait for it), which I checked out last weekend. Very slick, just needs a little more refinement and the cables. He is thinking about making more of them, so that's something worth calling him for in and of itself.

pete

It took me a month or so to get my carb's dialed in. When I did the car ran incredibly smooth.

Can you post the before and after carb settings? I have a 3.0 and it would be nice to compare. Sounds like I should have mine dyno tuned also...

Very slick, just needs a little more refinement and the cables. He is thinking about making more of them, so that's something worth calling him for in and of itself.

pete

Yep he showed me that set up. Really slick. BTW did you happen to see my car when you were there? It's the metallic green six. I was considering converting the very slight rear fender flares back to stock once I realized how talented John is at metal work, but this is where things get really interesting.

John has looked over my rear flares extensively and is quite puzzled by the high quality of the work. He can't find any sort of seam to confirm a metal flare was added on nor does he believe they were heated and rolled since the original factory undercoating in the fender wells is still intact. He even did a measured comparison from one side to the other and found the dimensions to be mirror images of one another..exactly symetrical. He advises me not to touch the fenders until I do more research. Remember this opinion is coming from a master metal fabricator. He seems to recall some Six Rally cars with this similar suttle lip. I will post some detailed pics of the flares when I pick up the car this weekend. Stay tuned.

Based on my results I would highly recommend doing so. I imagine John will provide the before and after settings so I will post if he does.

Ok, Sweet!!!