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[6banger]

Has anyone here had any experience with aftermarket adjustable cam gears and also, smaller crankshaft pulley?? Is there really any performance gain?? I have a 2001 non-turbo cruiser with 78000 miles, new timing belt just done, MSD coil and wires, cold air intake, aftermarket flowmaster series 40 exhaust. Car runs real good now, but would like a little more from the cam gears and smaller pulley if they are worth the work and money....PLEASE ADVISE!!!!

[quicksilverdon]

Yes, smaller pulley does help a bit - alernator runs slower, so if you idle a lot and take short trips, maybe not a great idea....
Another thing is to drop the oil pan, and take off the chain that drives the countershafts - idle will be a bit rougher, but it adds HP. Those who've done it say idle hardly changes in roughness.

[Mean Green]

The 2.4L non turbo engine is not worth the money to try and add more power. You can pour lots of money into it and still only see a small gain in power. Be happy with a good running car and make it look nice. Now the turbo engine, the sky's the limit with that one.

[TommyNiagara]

Originally Posted by Mean Green

The 2.4L non turbo engine is not worth the money to try and add more power. You can pour lots of money into it and still only see a small gain in power. Be happy with a good running car and make it look nice. Now the turbo engine, the sky's the limit with that one.

Well, I'm in the same boat of wanting more from my NA engine. Planning to do a cold air intake, free up the exhaust, add a chip and see from there. Don't expect a huge gain, but hopefully it'll add some punch.

[cdynaco]

Originally Posted by TommyNiagara

Well, I'm in the same boat of wanting more from my NA engine. Planning to do a cold air intake, free up the exhaust, add a chip and see from there. Don't expect a huge gain, but hopefully it'll add some punch.

While I haven't done any modding on this engine, I've put different cams and adjustable cam sprockets (for that '5th' cycle) on a 2.0 Lotus some years back. That and new Webers (throat for each cylinder) really made a great revving engine even better. Definitely noticeable! But it had a header also to handle the increased flow on the top end. So I don't know how much one would get with the stock PT manifold.

As for the cold air intake... they all sound great, but don't expect any HP increase unless the airbox is completely sealed and the intake is in front - not the wheel well.

My Bullitt Mustang was the first production Mustang to have the Ford Racing CAI, and it added 15HP over the stock GT. But the hood liner was redesigned to meet the CAI with a rubber seal and pulls air from the headlight area. And you have to have a tune to match so your A/F ratio stays in range and doesn't run lean with the increased airflow.

After market models for the Mustang did not achieve the same results because they didn't have a true seal to the hood liner and some sucked air from the wheel well - hot road-hot tires-hot rotors = no cold air.

Now I'm confused about the PT - do you change a 'chip' for performance or do you use a flash tuner like the SCT?

With the Mustangs you can use the flash tuner and adjust the power band, timing, A/F ratio, etc., and things like speedo for tire changes, even cancel the TPMS.

What is available for the PT - chip or flash?

[Mean Green]

Originally Posted by cdynaco

While I haven't done any modding on this engine, I've put different cams and adjustable cam sprockets (for that '5th' cycle) on a 2.0 Lotus some years back. That and new Webers (throat for each cylinder) really made a great revving engine even better. Definitely noticeable! But it had a header also to handle the increased flow on the top end. So I don't know how much one would get with the stock PT manifold.

As for the cold air intake... they all sound great, but don't expect any HP increase unless the airbox is completely sealed and the intake is in front - not the wheel well.

My Bullitt Mustang was the first production Mustang to have the Ford Racing CAI, and it added 15HP over the stock GT. But the hood liner was redesigned to meet the CAI with a rubber seal and pulls air from the headlight area. And you have to have a tune to match so your A/F ratio stays in range and doesn't run lean with the increased airflow.

After market models for the Mustang did not achieve the same results because they didn't have a true seal to the hood liner and some sucked air from the wheel well - hot road-hot tires-hot rotors = no cold air.

Now I'm confused about the PT - do you change a 'chip' for performance or do you use a flash tuner like the SCT?

With the Mustangs you can use the flash tuner and adjust the power band, timing, A/F ratio, etc., and things like speedo for tire changes, even cancel the TPMS.

What is available for the PT - chip or flash?

As far as I know SCT doesn't support the na PT, just the PT turbo. As for "chip" I don't know what they mean. I hope it's not the bogus Jet chip or the bogus chips on ebay. You're correct about the CAI having to be only in a totally enclosed system sucking only cold air. Still, you have to be making good hp to get enough of a gain from mods. Unfortunately, the na PT just doesn't make enough hp to produce a noticeable difference other than sound so gains are really minimal.

[TommyNiagara]

I was thinking of this...and its the only thing thats come up.

Computer Chip Module

Bogus, how?

[Mean Green]

Originally Posted by TommyNiagara

I was thinking of this...and its the only thing thats come up.

Computer Chip Module

Bogus, how?

Look on ebay and see how many are being resold. They just don't do what they advertise. The Jet chip tries to fool the pcm, but the pcm wins out. I have a Diablosport Predator which is a handheld devise that actually reprograms the pcm. That works. Sorry, but the DSP doesn't support the non turbo PT.

[makku]

I know nothing of getting performance specifically out of a PT Cruiser... but there are basics you can take into account.

1. Stock airflow is usually overly restricted due to noise concerns and fuel economy concerns. From what I've been reading, this doesn't seem the case on the PT Cruiser, but generally cold-air intake, headers and exhaust take care of this. Unless there are serious flaws with a model, spark (aka plugs/wires/coils) and fuel are going to be just fine for any NA applications.

2. WEIGHT REDUCTION is your next best shot at increasing performance. (This includes going on a diet.) Not sure how much you can take away from a PT Cruiser. This includes LIGHTER tires/rims.

3. SMALLER TIRES... yes this works. When you use smaller sized tires, you can get better acceleration at the expense of top speed and handling (and needing to recalibrate your speedometer). Not sure if the PT Cruiser can accommodate these.

4. VERY simple and small nitrous setup. Not sure how well the stock rods of a 2.4L NA engine can handle a small nitrous shot, but this is fairly cheap to do. It's not very good for the engine, but....

5. Beyond this, everything else to increase performance for NA is going to get EXPENSIVE. New cams, adjustable cam gears, new pistons to increase compression ratio, porting your head, changing valve sizes, reprogramming the PCM/ECU for a more fuel aggressive map. Remember that none of these things alone is going to do much for you... in fact, if you just did one of these, you may end up blowing your engine.

NA is an art... if you want cheap power go with a small turbo or supercharger. It's not that cheap, but definitely cheaper than a real NA powerhouse.