Horsepower with Warranty

[Kirby]

Well, even though I wanted to have the extra ponies I will have to wait for a couple years. It is a shame though that the engine will just start getting "tired" when waranty runs out and I can contemplate these "waranty poisonous" upgrade parts. I will always wonder what a "fresh" engine tuned properly would have fealt like. Just another dream like sex actually lasting in marriage I guess.

We do have a few options at our disposal though:

1) Cat Back Exhaust - some owners have found up to 20 wheel HP.

2) New Reduced Pressure Air Intakes - I would like to see Dyno figures, but would guess 5-10 wheel HP.

3) Synthetic Oil - Some claim HP with 5-30 weight. A good idea anyway if you don't want your turbo bearing surrounded in crusted burnt oil coke.

4) Tires - Keeping contact will help better use what HP is available. Almost anything can beat the all-season Mud & Snow tires that come stock on the PT.

5) Shocks - Tokico has a set of reasonable ($260)performance shocks that won't allow the rear end to bottom out all the time and might actually help to keep the tires in contact with the road.

(The tires and shocks thing is not my idea, if you look at the original equipment on the SRT-4 you will find Michelin Pilot tires and Tokico shocks as the STANDARD EQUIPMENT package.) I guess DC figured a lot of retired people would be towing the PT Turbo behind their motorhome and wouldn't notice things like this.

Your warranty states that warranty service cannot be denied by replacing things like tires, muftlers, air filters, or by changing the oil; so for now thats as good as it gets. I would still like to see the figures on the "acceptable upgrades".

[Gary C]

the shocks *do* help, if you get something like a KYB adjustable .. if they have a fitment for the PT that is. Reason being is you can change the stiffness of the shocks, and thus dial the front suspension in a little bit firmer than stock, with the rear firmed up all the way to help prevent the squatting which unloads the front tires.
The other thing which doesn't *add* power, but helps it get to the ground better would be a set of uprated motor/trans mounts. Reason being it will help cut out the serious wheel hop issues, and instead turn that into a firmer mounted drivetrain with wheel spin vs wheel hop. I'm seriously afraid *even on the street* to launch fairly hard as I don't want to bust one of the stock mounts, untill my upgraded ones are here. You will get vibrations into the cabin though. As far is warranty is concerned I've never had any issues with prior cars, and some even had full solid mounts.

[Kirby]

As far as I can find, the only upgrade shocks are the Tokico Performance shocks ($260)and the Koni Adjustible set ($500). KYB makes a set of everyday shocks (NOT their GCX Adjustables), but I have never liked their regular shock...probably a good shock for the old station wagon, but definitely not a "performance" shock.

[RobGT]

Hey Eibach just started making shocks.....
They now sell a complete suspension kit including sway bars...unfortunately not yet out for the pt!

[RobGT]

O Gary what kind of mounts are those, and are they the same as the upgraded ones for the SRT?
Thanks!

[Steve03GT]

With regard to a cat-back giving 20rwhp read this link:
http://www.thrashercharged.com/L67_htm/exhaust.shtm

The only way for a 20hp gain is if the existing muffler/s were stopped up or something.

[Kirby]

I am not trying to defend the possibly inflated HP claims, but I do know that a supercharged vehicle does not react to a free flowing exhaust like a turbocharged vehicle (they are apples and oranges) also, if I wanted to have a performance test I CERTAINLY would not use a tired old GM piece with cast iron exhaust manifolds.
This arlicle in the guise of research even begins with the biased viewpoint that exhaust manifacturers inflate their HP numbers. (If you look for low numbers, guess what, you find them.)

Please, if you are on this website, will the guy from Oceanside California that actually had a before and after dyno tests done on his PT Turbo give us a real world response.

Sorry, I probably WON'T try to extrapolate PT Turbo performance from an old GM V6.

[Dalite]

I won't weigh in with an guess of how much power can be gained from exhaust work, though I would tend to believe it was less then the 20 HP mark, as it is taking a new PCM and injectors to get that from Mopar.

The design that is used on the turbo is tuned for the turbo engine. With the amoung of noise that the turbo breaks ups / absorbs, straight pipes become a possibility. At a minimum, a resonator the is more free flowing would be a thought. It would be nice if someone could give a measurement of backpressure measured with the stock muffler, and various other brands of mufflers, resonators, etc. when fed from the same diameter pipe as the stock muffler is fed from on a turbo charged engine.

However, I will point out that the 2003 Service Manual defines the TurboCharger as an exhaust driven supercharger. Other than the HP lost due to the Super charger being belt driven, they both apparently provide the same outcome.

Although, I would tend to believe that the turbo charger's performance would vary more with changes in the exhaust system. Any change that slows the extraction from the tail pipe would have the potential of limiting the speed of the turbo. One example of changing the extraction might be enlarging the exhaust pipe to the point that the exhaust gas temp lowers from expansion, becomes more dense and slows extraction.

Since the GT uses what Chrysler considers and assembly for the Turbo Charger, wastegate and exhaust manifold (any one of these items become suspect, and the diagnostic manual says to change the whole assembly), installing a header would not become an option. From the physics end of the discussions, increasing the size of the exhaust flow before the cat (like going with a header) would actually decrease low end torque, so that is one worry we don't have to contend with.

[Kirby]

PT-Tuning has a quote on their site from an owner who got 20 HP increase! from their duals...

" I just picked up 20 HP on my GT. I bought my 2003 PT GT August 1st 2002. The day San Diego county was receiving the first GTs. I was delighted to find a set of Dual exhaust from your web site and just received them 5/1/03. I had them installed at a local performance shop. He put it on a Dyno -- Before installation, 210HP. After installation, 230HP with 260 ft/Lbs Torque. And it sounds "MEAN" ......."
Thanks: Larry Kern Oceanside, Ca."

--> http://pt-tuning.com/GT-Turbo/GT-Turbo_Main.html

PLEASE Call Larry and tell him he is a liar if you don't believe him.

[Dalite]

Larry's testimonial is very compelling. With the BTG Dual cat back system and the stage I upgrade the 260 HP would be hard to beat. I guess he would have to go the exhaust route only, since the Stage I upgrade is specifically illegal in California.