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V6 with strong aftermarket?

Emoney600

Emoney600

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Oct 6, 2013
Location
East Bay
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I was wondering if someone could point me in the direction of a V6 engine with a good backing. I'm looking to start another project but I don't want to travel down the usual V8 path of Fords and Chevys although the after market for those are great. I mean, even the old ass LT1 has all kind of options still available.

Thanks

Edit: Forgot to add I will be building from the block up, not buying a crate motor.
 
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Buick 3.8/gm. Factory supercharged on a bun h of boringass sedans currently.in junkyards. Easily convert able to rear drive layout
Ford 4.0

Both have caveats but what engine doesn't?

If you really want to confuse people go with the olds quad 4 and boost it. They got silly power out of those when they were new.

Nissan makes a nice v6 too.
http://www.jimwolftechnology.com/
 
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Plenty of V6 builds are possible. Have you looked in the GM Performance Parts or Ford Racing catalogs? I know for GM, the 4.3L V6 (which is essentially a 350 with two less cylinders) has been an engine they'd been using for a quarter century.

Or if you wanted to go import, the Honda "J" series V6 has been around for over 15 years though it's a transverse engine. The Nissan "VQ" series is longitudinal as are the Toyota truck V6s.
 
Mercedes Benz m112 compressor engine- C32/SLK32 models.
If you were looking for something a bit more exotic- Benz m156 v8 AMG engine or if you can find one the M159
 
I actually just started looking at the VQ35DE's like 5 minutes after I made this post, lol. For the past few days I have been looking into LT1's and maybe the LS1. From what I understand the Ls1 and Ls6 share the same block, which would explain why it's still expensive as shit.
 
Eric, I have a friend who slapped a kompressor S/C on his 190e 16V. I havnt looked into them as possible candidates though.
 
What are you using it for?

VQ's sound annoying, and vibrate too much for my tastes. I would go GM. Either the old 3.8 if all you need is smooth torque, or a 3.5 24-valve if you want better top end (it's essentially a northstar V8 with 2 cyl's cut off)
 
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The long term goal is to build a kit car.

The short term goal is to find an engine I like, build it from the block up, slap it in a cheap roller, and get some experience with it. There doesn't really seem to be any turbo kits for V6s that are carb legal which may explain why a lot of people roll v8. That was essentially my plan. Find a v6 that looked promising and slap a blower on top.
 
Avoid the 190E 2.3/16 like the plague- it was a cool concept but head gasket leaks and head warpage abound.

The M112 for the SLK/C 32 vehicles was factory v6 with clutched twin screw supercharger with an air/water intercooler integrated in the manifold and an 8.5 qt oil capacity.

Very few issues with the engines if you did your regular services. Mainly valve cover sealant at the pcv chambers, expensive factory plug wires for the dual spark, and crank position sensors due to the cramped engine bay. If you get after market parts and do the relatively simple work yourself, they are inexpensive to maintain and reliable. I've seen motors of this generation well above 300k miles if the oil is changed every 10k miles.

Internal engine issue that I saw were due to extreme poor maintenance and two dipshits that hydrolocked their engines- one a client who drove through a flooded street, the second a tech who dumped a full can of induction cleaner in the intake all at once.

Pulley kits were available to over spin the supercharger, but putting a good set of equal length headers on it, a dedicated air/water intercooler system rather than sharing the engine coolant circuit, and a high volume cold air intake would give you great gains without the extra stress on the parts.
 
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Ford 3.0 V-6. The "Vulcan.". Lots of options, built for years, tons of aftermarket support. And easy to get 300hp out of.
 
Not many people make twin-screw blower kits for V6 engines, but if you're doing your own custom build, you've probably got the know-how to just get an appropriately-sized blower and kludge it on to the engine of your choice.

Procharger (intercooled centrifugal), on the other hand, has several kits for various Ford V6s, but none for GM V6s.
 
The VQ35DE is a solid motor that is pretty available and cheap. There are plenty of wrecked Z's and you can get the electrics to run the motor for a song. The motors make decent power in the stock configuration and can be mildly boosted. Guys regularly talk about the 500hp range with turbos, but I'd want to build up the internals and get a stronger tranny with anything exceeding 400hp. Some folks do run superchargers, but that's a less popular option.
 
61MRrcQLdNL.jpg
 
Reli said:
or a 3.5 24-valve if you want better top end (it's essentially a northstar V8 with 2 cyl's cut off)
Click to expand...

GM Techs called the Aurora V6 the "shortstar" since it was so similar to the Caddy 4.6.

Unfortunately the similaries follow through to the weaknesses too. Head gaskets, expensive oil leaks, and bolts pulling threads from the block. Smooooooth engine, but bad long term reliability.
 
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