Most/Best Built-up 3.0L 3VZ-FE V6 (especially Gen 3)?

[Slooooooow]

I've been running multiple searches trying to find out which user(s) have the most and best built-up Gen 3 3.0L 3VZ-FE V6s. So far, no search has taken me to a thread with a bevy of 3VZ-FE with upgrades.

The build-up suggestions on the Lexus boards tend towards:

• "this is not a performance automobile - why would you even try to optimize the engine?!?"
• don't bother with intake mods - they decrease power if anything (which I've personally read good data about - looks to be true)
• don't bother with ECU mods - it's hard to beat the factory maps
• and on and on...
  

I'm thinking (hoping?) the Camry folks have been modding these engines for a little while longer and might have found more to do with them.

I can't help it. When I get an engine I like to see what can be done to make it better.

Any recommendations/pointers to user names that I can check out?

[Toysrme]

They're all wrong & you won't find any.
AFA the stock ECU it's very forgiving to piggybacks, which can become close to what a basic stand-alone can feature once you get slick with it.
Nobody's run the limit on the internals under FI yet. N/A modifications in general are far too expencive a route to go. For the same money you can have a 4000rpm powercurve with a turbo, isntead of a peaky 2000rpm jump.

It depends on how much money you have & what you're willing & not willing to do. If you're up for FI, then 450-550bhp without replacing anything. (It would be wise to replace the headgaskets, or have one standing by. And if you're doing that, get the master gasket kit & re-gasket the top half of the engine. It's well worth the $200 to not have oil leaks lmao. You'rs probably leaks anyways just like al the other engines. You just don't know it yet haha!...)
If you're not up for FI... ECU tuning will bump it from 185/195 to 200/204'ish. Intake will get you afew horsepower & throttle responce, y-pipe will free up another 15-20bhp. Exhaust after that is worth afew horsepower. Porting & polishing + valvework the heads is worth alot on the top 1/3rd of the rpm range. Custom cams are quite expencive & worth about the same.
The pistons have to work with the cams & porting as the cams get wilder to maintain compression. Which also means you pretty quickly need some form of stand-alone management b/c the OEM ignition cut is more 7400-7600rpm, while th OEM fuel cut is lower.

Without stroking, you'd be in the 400-440bhp range, but the cost would be thousands & thousands. Much, much cheaper to weld on a turbo & it's related hardware, deal with engine management & tuning. Then roll the engine like you got it.
Which.... Is why almost noone short of the random FWD SCCA racers & older jap rwd v6's (that dont' race the Camry platform anyways) *ever* build N/A powerplants. FI is cheaper & crazy faster. Also retains a near stock engine anytime you're not using FI.





Stock A/T's hold 280-320bhp worth of power. Somewhere in there. Anymore than 320 & you really need to swap for an E series manual with a HD clutch/pressure plate (act 6-puck > spec), or send the transmission to be rebuilt.






That's pretty much it... The stock engine under FI will hold far more than the A/T transmission it's mated too, while the M/T's are so rare to run across. So that's pretty much it... Anywho... You're really nothing short of willpower & a bank account to making some big numbers, or a very fast car if you wanted too. Best way to do it is just go turbo, solve tuning & solve the draivetrain.





So... if you don't rock a seriously big bank account, N/A is out of the question.

























The real question is what kind of powerband, and what kind of peak power do you want? Or how fast do you want the car to go?

[ASG14]

Originally Posted by JJJJJJ

You might be better off trading your car in for something more sportier...it's cheaper then mods and fixing things that go wrong...and you never get your money or time back.

Look into a supra, sc400, bmw m3, a4/s4/s6...etc

Then he'd have the SAME thing as everyone else..........It;s the reason I mod a Camry, cause its unique.

[bigbird]

i my self have crunched numbers in several situations and it has been increasingly evident that upgrading the car u have would be cheaper then buying a new(used) car, both in terms of reliability and insurance. id stick with what u got, and mod that if u want to. like asg said, alot of us mod our camrys cuz its different and unexpected.

[Slooooooow]

Exactly. I have other cars, and I'm modding them as well.

My Lexus is paid-off, it's a hoot to cruise around in with the windows down and the sunroof open...
I just want to improve it. I can't help it. I'm an enthusiast/hobbyist. And I really love this car.

So for those of you that HAVE done some engine and performance improvement mods, what are the most noticeable? What are your favorites? Which ones have brought you the biggest bang for the buck?

(Yes I fail to believe that amongst this many Gen 3&4 Camry nuts, all the mods have been appearance, intake and exhaust)

[Toysrme]

Turbo
y-pipe
valve body changes
smt6
porting & polishing w valvework.
intake


in order of what I liked the most.


Short of when I ran a turob & sean's turbo (that's in storage awww) that's about it. Oh and a single bank turbo 3vz-fe in an mr2 swap. Pretty much it.

[Slooooooow]

Saw all this on LuckyNumber5's signature:

1992 Camry XLE v6: p&p, 3angle, 3" CAI, y pipe, SAFC2

What all do we have going on there? Some tuning and modding!

• P&P - Polished and Ported. Sweet!
  
• 3angle?
• 3" CAI - Cold Air Intake with a pretty large diameter pipe. Ok. Mostly for noise and looks, since we're told constantly that these do little, nothing and even hurt
  
• Y-pipe - Nice. I'm looking at getting one of these as well. There's another thread looking for these.
• SAFC2 - "Super AFC-II" Saw this for the first time in another thread in here. Must research these. This looks like a more dynamic application of computer tuning as opposed to just replacing/piggybacking a chip, a more static application.

[felonyr301]

From what I read smt-6 does alot more than safc2 but it's a little more money.

[Toysrme]

If you can afford ans smt6, then you get ignition tuning & a good bit of other things too.

[chullen]

3 angle is how the head had it valve job done using three angles usually 30, 45, and 60 degrees

[Luckynumber5]

The CAI I have had on there for like 4 years now, back when it was the cool thing to do I took the SAFC off and sold it, wasn't doing me much good anyway, either a standalone or something like an SMT-6 is what these cars need.