Anybody familiar with the GM LY7 3.6 V6 engine?

[Graham_A_M]

Hey guys in my daily driver '07 Saturn Aura XR, I have the LY7 3.6L V6. Basically its (more or less) the same engine as offered in the new V6 Camaro, the Cadillac STS and a few others.

In my car, its 252hp/260tq bone stock, yet in the Camaro they boosted it up to 323hp. Apparently if I can redo the timing it'll garnish an 11.4:1 compression ratio, up from the 10.2 I have stock ( I dont know if thats true at all, but thats what someone was saying). Just curious as to what else I'd need to change to push for more HP.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_High_Feature_engine
^ Thats a great source for info.

Im just curious as how the engine is set up in the Camaro to get those extra HP. Basically I was hoping to do some simple mods to get almost 70 HP more. Mind you the Camaro has the LLT engine which has direct port FI, and different headers, fuel injectors and intake.

Anybody know these engines at all? I've no experience with this engine, and there isn't a huge aftermarket following like the SBC.

Huge thanks in advance for reading this and offering any help you can.

[corsvette]

Turbo it! ..... jk

I think exhaust, cai, and a chip is about all you would be able to do for cheap mods. The later versions with DI brought a lot more HP. These new engines tend to be built to squeeze out every drop of power right from the factory, and any kind of real power gains are going to require forced induction or serious internal mods.You have to remember the tranny may not be happy with added power either. The Camaro is a RWD so GM has a trannys strong enough for 323hp, i think the most power this engine makes is in the AWD Buick Lacrosse at 303hp.

Going to be tricky to get any more than ~20+ extra HP out of it imo.

[EK 2.0]

Originally posted by Graham_A_M

In my car, its 252hp/260tq bone stock, yet in the Camaro they boosted it up to 323hp. Apparently if I can redo the timing it'll garnish an 11.4:1 compression ratio, up from the 10.2 I have stock ( I dont know if thats true at all, but thats what someone was saying). Just curious as to what else I'd need to change to push for more HP.

Huge thanks in advance for reading this and offering any help you can.

Just changing your timing will not give you the compression ratio you are after...you will need to get different pistons, or mill the head to bump up that ratio...

Changes and differences in the two motors will not only be internal but also with different exhaust routes, possibly exhaust manifold configurations, and intake manifold and configuration differences...That along with a more "performance" oriented ecu mapping is what gives the camaro more beans than your set up...

It is probably not worth the time and money it would take for you to make any sort of considerable gains with the current motor you have...but if you are gonna go through with it then of course that is all you...

[Graham_A_M]

^ Yeah, when they said redoing the timing would bump up the compression, I knew he was full of shit. I thought I'd ask here since perhaps I was missing something though. :dunno:
perhaps swapping the intake & injectors (& exhaust manifold) could get me another 25-30hp, but I wanted to ask here to see what other people think.

[EK 2.0]

Originally posted by Graham_A_M

perhaps swapping the intake & injectors (& exhaust manifold) could get me another 25-30hp, but I wanted to ask here to see what other people think.


I'm really not familiar with the motor you are asking about at all...in fact I have no clue about it's dimensions or set ups in various GM cars if I'm to be completely honest with you...Perhaps you can advance the timing a few degrees that gain a few hp that way but it won't be anything worth writing home about...

I am just basing my information on other makers sharing motors across different platforms....that being said...the intake and exhaust might not just naturally fit even if the "bolt all line up" because of how the motors sit differently within each chassis...RWD setup vs FWD/AWD transversely or anything...so that you would have to crazy research before attempting and going balls deep in mods and spending cash...