what are some simple things to do to my '92 245 to get a little more life out of her?

On the suspension front I am doing IPD sway bars and lowering springs, and adding Virgo's with some lower profile treads.

What can I do, simply, easily and somewhat cheaply to get some more acceleration?

KN Filter?

Anything else?

Danke

 

K&N filter won't get you any performance improvement. Pure snake oil.

 

Sway bars and such don't add horsepower to the car, try doing a little timing change if your up to it.....you may need to advance your timing a bit, keep in mind that advancing timing a few degrees will give you more response, but you get lower gas mileage, a retarded engine will burn all the fuel in the cylinders, whereas an advanced motor does not.

 

When I feel "the need for speed" i just find a hill and point my 240 downhill. For added fun, I roll the sunroof back.

 

Lol! Very funny! Hahaha!

 

To get more life out of it, just do the maintenance by the book.

 

Depends on how much more you want. All the standard hot-rod tricks would apply here; how much time/money do you want to invest? I got a VX cam from IPD for my 240. Haven't installed it yet, so can't testify as to the improvement, if any. You're talking about an 8 valve, 2.4 liter engine in a car that's fairly heavy and you can't beat physics. You might consider changing the rear end for more acceleration, but that would hurt your mileage. IPD sells an adjustable cam timing gear that might be what you're looking for. You don't get any more power but you can move the power around for more low end/less high end and vice versa. Fairly simple install.

 

I think you have your terms reversed there...

Ideally you want as much timing advance as possible with no detonation. This will ensure a complete combustion cycle, better power & economy.

Retarding timing postpones the ignition cycle and gives the fuel less time to burn. Resulting in an incomplete burn, less power, higher emissions, etc...

In any case, it's always worthwhile to check timing with a timing light to verify it is at least the manufacturer's recommended setting as retarded timing can have a severe impact on performance and fuel economy.

I would also suggest making sure all other systems are working as intended: EGR, check spark plugs, wires, cap/rotor, O2 sensor etc.

 

Yup you are certainly correct, didn't have all the wattage in the bulb lit when I responded, thanks foor the correction.

 

It's a moot point. His car has LH 2.4 and the ignition timing is set by the computer. No adjustment is possible at the distributor.
Tweaking much more power out of an n/a B230 is an expensive proposition with a cap of 165-170 hp. Do the little things and enjoy knowing you are driving a piece of history.

 

You could buy a bunch of Estes rocket engines and make and array of them on the back. Then when you want to rock a sports car at a light, you can really rock them!

 

or do what swiftjustice did to his 740.... find a clean mustang 4.6L with a manual gearbox, and transplant the whole thing, blueprinting and tweaking out the motor to your hearts content. really, you don't need much in the way of tweaking on a small block ford to make the Volvo shred tires.

I find in good tune, our totally bone stock 240 has plenty of pookah, you just need to lean on it fairly hard, let it wind out 2nd, and so forth.

going to +1/+2 wheels, stiffer springs, etc will just harsh your ride, and annoy your significant other. body lean or not, as long as your 240's bushings and stuff are in decent shape, you can corner pretty darn hard on good tires before they start to slide. the stock boge shocks give a nice compromise between good ride and comfort.