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What's the most HP but still reliable?

1K views 10 replies 9 participants last post by  EJ257 
#1 ·
I was just curious what some of you thought about where a daily driver starts becoming unreliable due to modifications to the car. What's the max HP?
 
#2 ·
Honestly, if you're worried about your car being truly reliable, leave it stock.

I've seen stock cars blow up, stage 1 cars blow up, and cars pushing 400WHP last for 80K miles.

It's all in the tune, the driving style, and the maintenance.
 
#4 · (Edited)
There is no set number.. some cars fail at stock power levels. It also depends on what kind of car you have.


That said, as long as you use high quality parts you can likely do mods like turboback exhaust, equal length headers, uppipe, EWG, TMIC, intake, inlet, 3-port EBCS, gauges, fuel injectors, and fuel pump with a custom tune by a reputable tuner without decreasing reliability too much. And of course things like suspension mods and brakes should be fine as long as they're also high quality parts.

Flex fuel is even within the reasonable list of safe modifications IMO.. although that coupled with everything else will be a good deal over stock power, so you're looking at additional strain on everything drivetrain related.
 
#9 ·
We'll I have quality parts and it's already modified. I'm at 350hp which I think is modest it runs great and I'll have to agree with mainframe. I've seen them come off the floor and blow a rod out the side and the I've seen people push them hard every day and take it. They are a hot or miss when u pick one out. Like I said I feel all my aftermarket modifications there was hardly an expense spared. I was just wanting maybe 25 more HP and was debating it or just be happy with how it is cause I love how she runs now. I just was itching for a pinch more HP. Lol
 
#11 ·
MainFrame said:
There is no set number.. some cars fail at stock power levels. It also depends on what kind of car you have.


That said, as long as you use high quality parts you can likely do mods like turboback exhaust, equal length headers, uppipe, EWG, TMIC, intake, inlet, 3-port EBCS, gauges, fuel injectors, and fuel pump with a custom tune by a reputable tuner without decreasing reliability too much. And of course things like suspension mods and brakes should be fine as long as they're also high quality parts.

Flex fuel is even within the reasonable list of safe modifications IMO.. although that coupled with everything else will be a good deal over stock power, so you're looking at additional strain on everything drivetrain related.
At what point do you consider the car "unreliable"? Blown motor/transmission? Issues that are not "catastrophic" and have your vehicle down for a few days?

Robin brings up some good points. At times, there are setups / calibrations in which the aftermarket is actually safer than factory. For the most part, I would say an STI is safer @ S2 power levels with a pair of injectors and a fuel pump than with the factory ones, because you can run out of fuel. Cars with the plastic "accordian" style inlet are better off with a metal or metal-reinforced aftermarket turbo inlet (e.g., Perrin), due to the OE one shearing and creating a massive leak. An EWG reduces exhaust gas back pressure, which helps make the vehicle less prone to detonation, which is up there as possibly the worst thing for the motor (along with oil starvation). An aftermarket oil pickup tube (e.g., KillerBMotorsport) would be safer than the OE one, due to the history of failure (READ: oil starvation).

In reality, you should be asking your calibrator where they feel comfortable with leaving your vehicle. They know their work best, and they're the ones "on the hook" if something blows up. Plus, dyno #s vary too much to give any kind of a reasonable estimate (link).
 
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