Want to know alot about building up the redline of a 60degree v6

[CalicoDreams]

Hello, I was looking for some serious info about building up a 60 degree V6 to higher redline, looking for maybe 6500 or even 7000. Please no, "your stupid, why waste your time" I want to know what needs to be done, and what parts I should get. Not doing it any time soon but the info would be nice incase a part comes up sometimes I need to grab. I would like to know what parts I should shell out the extra cash to get forged and what type of metal they should be also, thanks alot. It's a 3.1 but have no problems with possibly making it a 3.4

[curtis73]

You'll need better breathing. Focus on head porting (or finding factory heads that flow better) and a couple steps up in cam. For a V6, figure on adding about 10 degrees of cam duration for every 500 RPMs you want to raise the redline.

You'll want to seriously stiffen up the bottom end. I would say some main studs in place of the main bolts should do the trick, but I don't know the ultimate strength of the stock bottom end.

Get some headers, you'll need them. Its better to keep true dual exhaust, but your chassis might not allow that. If you must do a single, do at least a 2.5" exhaust, preferably a 3".

Talk to Edelbrock for the intake. They make one for the 60* V6's, but I think its advertised in the idle-5500 powerband, but it shoudn't take too much more than the Edelbrock to support those revs.

[MagicRat]

Good post from curtis.
I would add that the bottom ends of these engines simply do not tolerate higher revs. Their bearing oiling is not good enough. In order for the bottom end to live, use the studs as mentioned above. Consider main bearing girdles, chamfer the bearing oil holes, cross drill the crank ( that effectively makes more oil passages to the bearings).

I would add these engines can be made to produce more power without revving it to the moon.
However, if you are serious about making decent power and revs, throw the 3.1 out. It will be cheaper and better to use a 3.4.

[CalicoDreams]

Thanks alot for your responses... what kind of compression should I be looking for, I already have a good cam inline for this project (crane cams PowerMax f-228/3067-2-12) think that should be enough or should I get the next severe one, think it's the f-248/3334-2-12? Think I will need forged pistons or rods, to stand up to that speed and pressure? The edlebrock intake your talking about... the performer, you think it's a better idea to switch to a carb setup then, my intake now is really restrictive.

[curtis73]

I don't know that I specifically recommend a carb, but that stock intake has to go. It depends on what you have and what you want. If you currently have a 3.1 with EFI, you could probably modify the edelbrock intake with injector bungs, then put some kind of TB on the carb flange. For the greatest ease, I might suggest a carb, but if you are master EFI tuner, go that route. The problem is, none of the factory EFI for the later V6s is very "hackable." You could use an earlier 727 ECU from a truck and reprogram it, but at that point you're completely custom anyway, might as well just get an aftermarket EFI setup. You also have to consider how you're going to control the spark. They were computer controlled. If you keep the stock injector hardware, you can control spark, but you'll have a heck of a time tuning it.

The carb would be ultimately simple. You would need a 300-350 CFM carb, and any of the dualjets from Rochester should be a good choice. Holley makes some nice 2bbls, but they are usually intended for race and are a little more difficult to tune.