[The Pope]

part of the Can Am project race cars. They had 250+ HP in NA form. There are people out there building and rebuilding the engines. Wonder if there are any parts to be had like a cam shaft and piston set?

Allpar has photos and a good read

 

[The Pope]

Shelby Dodge 3.3 V6 and Can-Am Race Car!

another really good read, talks about the 11:1 compression pistons and the steel 3.5 crank used in a 3.3.

 

[sinister87ttop]

Shelby Dodge 3.3 V6 and Can-Am Race Car!

another really good read, talks about the 11:1 compression pistons and the steel 3.5 crank used in a 3.3.

god damn!! that was an awsome find!! and read!! would love to put one of them in my 00 mini!! lol and throw a twin turbo set up on it too!!!

 

[The Pope]

the 3.3 right off the bat was a sweet engine. I heard complaints the rods were too "sloppy". But Shelby's engines had a better fit. Sounds like porting, plenum and a custom cam and the 3.3 / 3.8 would run good. FWDs stage 4 grind on a 3.3 stick would be very nice, and you don't have to buy 3.3 beehive springs lol

 

[Vigo]

There's a whole mess of pics of all the internals somewhere on Dodgeintrepid.net. I have some of them in my photobucket but i am lazy..

This year i have had my 3.3 car for 10 yrs.

 

[V6 Aries wagon]

Im suprised that none of you have mentioned THE Dodge Dynasty Web Site they cover the 3.3 and 3.8 and have a breakdown of mods boost / n/a and they also have a link to the shelby registry and etc. lots of good info and pics to boot. (but u knew that already) Vigo got some old/ nu pics up 4 you.

wago anybody!!!!

 

[The Pope]

buy the looks of the intake you can add some power there. The intake can get cut below where it says 3.3 and make the upper box all open vs having the runners half up in side it. then there is the 58mm TB opening the neck.

The big thing here should be someone finding out all the factory specs on the cams over the different years. Using a cam from a late model with 200 HP+ would be a good idea. Just need to find iut what is out there.

 

[The Pope]

As far as wagons go I have one of the turbo Reliant wagons, but it is in line for a SRT engine. I just have too much work to do lol.

 

[V6 Aries wagon]

That black intake is off one of the later 3.3 engines, i've seen them on late model 95's the one pictured is off a 96 gc. Most of the parts from my swap are from the 96 gc awd. According to the site you can order the parts necessary to "signifigcantly improve" your stockers performance. but that 'd cost me an arm and a leg !! I had the option of buying a wrecked 2.0 srt. but i 'd already done the reserch and legwork for the 3.3/3.8 and half the research for the 4ltr. I am interested in seeing some pics and vids of that type of swap though!!!

 

[Vigo]

The intake can get cut below where it says 3.3 and make the upper box all open vs having the runners half up in side it

The runners actually dont intrude into the plenum area at all. They end right where they meet the plenum.

I agree that the cam must be a major weak link, because honestly if you look at the top end you have to wonder why it isnt rated much higher than the 3.0. It seems likely to me that a stock 3.3 longblock could make 170-180 hp with thorough tuning, even without changing any parts.

 

[V6 Aries wagon]

good to see your still kickin on this thing vigo!!

 

[gulfx72]

That Shelby version is something else. It must not have been marketed well though no one knows about them?

 

[jimbo729]

The runners actually dont intrude into the plenum area at all. They end right where they meet the plenum.

I agree that the cam must be a major weak link, because honestly if you look at the top end you have to wonder why it isnt rated much higher than the 3.0. It seems likely to me that a stock 3.3 longblock could make 170-180 hp with thorough tuning, even without changing any parts.

I have been running cams through Desktop Dyno and there is nearly a 30-40 HP gain with the right cam, which puts it slightly over the 2001 and up version of this engine. Most of the gain is from 4000 RPM up on the different cams I have input with no loss of low end. BTW, Desktop Dyno was nearly dead-on to factory rated power when I put all the '94-95 specs in.

I also think intake is a part of it too. The engineers optimized low end torque at the expense of horsepower. It needs a little shorter or larger runner to gain some top end. The Intrepid intake would be a good thing to try if you can cut the elbow off it.

That being said, now I have a Megasquirted 3.3, I think the factory was also conservative on the tuning to save the A604 transmission. My engine screams with a 60mm throttle body, 3" exhaust, and a little tuning. I am using the 160 HP '95 van engine but it seems nearly as strong as my 225 horse 2.0 turbo was. The engine falls over at about 5000 RPM, so that does back up the cam theory, and verifies the published HP/TQ graphs I have seen.

 

[gulfx72]

There are people out there building and rebuilding the engines.

Does anyone on this site have one or built a clone of this motor?

 

[Vigo]

Jimbo, good to hear..

I'll probably contact you when it comes time for me to ACTUALLY MOD my 3.3 car. I do have an intrepid intake that i will be cutting the elbow off of and otherwise modifying to flip the other direction for my dynasty (turbo related, it would be easier to keep it facing the original direction).

The intrepid intake plenum volume is definitely not great for the motor displacement but it gets rid of ALL the runner length in the upper intake. I dont think its ideal by any means but im pretty sure a 3.8 shortblock swap and a neon torque converter is still going to give me far more low-rpm torque even with a compromised upper intake.

Thanks for posting about your work on the cams.