91 camry looking for performance

[Radar]

I recentally purchased a 91 camry LE it has the 4-cam 24 valve v6 and i'm not sure of the engine code, but if anyone else does that would be great. It has 48k miles original I have a knack for locating old people that died. The starter squeals occassionally but taking the key all of the way out and trying again has never failed to fix that.

problems I would like to address

1 sometime and only from a slow speed (under 20mph) the car shudders while breaking. The brakes pads are new and all of the equipment seems in good order. so any input would be helpful.

2 the car is an auto and it doesn't like to down shift, sometimes I'll floor it and it still won't down shift (usually between 40-60mph). I've skated this problem by momentarly taking my foot off of the gas then flooring it again, but since that probally isn't the best thing for it i'd rather fix the problem than create a new one.

other than that i really love the car it feels crisp and zippy

however i'm looking for it to go faster. after scowering this forum I'm going to go find some bars off of an ES250 asap.

Cat- i read in another thread that the oxygen sensor is in front of the cat and sense i live in florida (we dont get tested) can i remove it that was 10-20hp on all of my other cars. i just dont want the check engine light to come on for doing that.

Air- assuming that the intake manifold can't be reasonably upgraded for the money. what about the air box it is, well restrictive. I'm simply worried about screwing with the sensor right behind it. If it wasn't for the sensor i would have just made one, i work on off-shore race boats i have just about every tool at my disposal. Sorry my point, i saw that somebody replaced the air with a cone filter and kept the sensor does that F with anything.

ignition- is their any benifit from a multi-spark ignition system, we have an extra MSD just sitting in my garage, and that was a 62hp increase on my friends acura w/a B18A, the only import i have ever messed with. I mostly work on 502+ cubic inch big blocks and diesels.

shocks struts and springs- i can't find jack for this car and summit and jegs are worthless for it

I'd like to pull the top half off the motor and do a valve job plus some porting and honing but just dont have the time or the space and won't for a while but i would still like to know the torque settings if anyone can help with that

plus any suggestions would be nice, thank you

[blu_91_cam]

welcome to the forums man and nice find on the V6 with that many miles on it. As far as your engine is conscerened its a 2vzfe.

1. Not too sure about your brake problem but sometimes warped rotors can cause a little bit of an issue or it could be a problem with your abs

2. I have a V6 too and it behaves in the same way so I dont think you have a problem with that.

As far as your airbox their isnt really that many option to go with. Either custom a ram air intake or just drop in a K&N or kool blue airfilter. If I recall correctly someone made a ram air for their i4 and if Im not mistaken they actually lost power but I could be wrong.

Spark plugs would be a good idea since your really close to a tune up anyways and new spark plugs always make a performance difference

these are just my imputs so you might want to get some input with one of the veteran members.

[boi_si]

2vz/3vz auto trannys are well known to be bad anyway.

[Radar]

hey thank you, first i would like to say that i was mistaken about the acura that horsepower increase was after intake, exhaust (full cat back system with a flow master s40), and the ignition, after the motor was taken apart and reasembled to replace a gasket but that number was over stock figures.

as for the problems

1 brakes, it isn't the rotors already went through that, i don't think it is actually related to the brake system or at least something common, i'd be more willing i was just slipping

2 what exactly is bad about the tranny on my model, and i was messing around with the car today and it downshifts better in the performance setting on the ect but still doesn't like to do it

upgrades

air intake- we got in there and started digging around in there and weren't really happy with the standard options. i believe were going to remove the cold air duct then make a new one and route it through through the side of the car and put a luvard vent on the outside molded in, then just replace the filter with a K & N stock replacement and keep the actual air box so i don't mess with the sensors that make up the top of the box, any heads up on structural integrity or anything else that i could damage with a sawsall would be nice to know upfront.

[fredk]

you have an analog system that is very simple, the air meter is simply a flapper with a wiper mounted to it that runs along a carbon track like a potentiometer, there is a switch in the meter that when the flapper moves off the stop it closes the fuel pump circuit and then the motor starts

[TBayToyotaBoy]

Too bad you don't have lots of time right now, the best fix for your tranny worries would be to swap-in a 5-speed. You'd be amazed how responsive a 2VZ can be...

Also, run a search on the Gen3 Camry forum. There was a post in there awhile back (last summer?) about dismantling the passenger side of the intake plenum. Apparently if you grind/shave down the aperture you can improve air flow and increase power noticeably. I'll try to find the post later...

welcome to the forum.

[Radar]

a concern that was brought up by a mechanic was that if i made the vent force air into the intake that the extra air would cause the computer to dump more gas and if it didn't i could end up running to lean and risk detonation

and TBay you mentioned swaping out the tranny "Too bad you don't have lots of time right now, the best fix for your tranny worries would be to swap-in a 5-speed. You'd be amazed how responsive a 2VZ can be..."

the body has the holes already cut in it right all it would take would be sealling the old ones and punching out the new ones and then installing the stuff right, probally wont bother untill i kill the tranny or race season starts but its on the table

and last does anyone know how the car responds to back pressure if removing the cat will help that only takes 30mins and thats counting the time it takes me to go get the replacement pipe

[fredk]

anything to the ex system will help