Fresh engine

[Guest trofeo73]

Hey guys and gals , I know this sounds like a stupid question,,, so here goes. I know there are some of you all that have owned your reatta since the day it was born. What I was wondering is this: How much of a difference in power and throttle response is there when it was brand new to when it has around 100K on her? I guess it all depends on how well it was takin car of though. I can recall being 10 years old when my parents bought a brand new car. It was still fast when I had turned 15. However, as It approached 10 years old (me being 20)the power was sluggish and dissapointing. My parents tuned it up regulary though. What do you all think, does a Fresh engine make a big difference in power????

[Guest EDBS0]

Should be easy to figure out. Car and Driver posted 0 to 60 times simply compare to your engine today.<BR>Without ring failure I would expect a new timing chain would restore original performance to factory fresh state assuming clean injectors and fresh plugs and wirers and transmission is not slipping.<BR>Over the years I have several engines that performed as well at 180,000 miles as they did at 10,000 (with regular maintenance, timing belt, plugs and wires etc). Perhaps slightly better due to slightly less friction? always ran synthetic oil and good air cleaners. Robert

[Guest trofeo73]

I see, I was going to replace the timing chain on my car as well. My friend had a timing chain on a 460 that had stretched a full inch! It was beating on the inside of the timing chain cover as well.

[harry yarnell]

Bear in mind the 3800 in the Reatta has a tensioner, this tends to minimize slop in valve timing caused by a stretched chain. That said, the tensioners wear out! Solve one problem, cause another. I went to replace the chain on my '90 just because it had 153k on the clock, and found the chain and gears, just fine.

[padgett]

On a 100k car, chain stretch is one of the first places I'd look though if going in that deep would be thinking about a warmer cam.<P>Keep in mind that while the tensioner keeps the chain from rattling, there is still stretch on the leading edge of the chain which will still retard the cam.<P>On cars that I have replaced the chain on, the low gears were noticably quicker in the upper rev ranges. Biggest perceived improvement was in a car that had been having difficulty reaching the shift point in low.<P>Suspect the early cars with the smaller tensioner (prior to mid-1989 ?) are most likely to suffer

[Guest trofeo73]

Thank you all for your input, I will change the chain and other nessesary components when I get a warm day off.

[pketch]

I have to say after the change of the timing chain, this is a new car. And that would be and not limited to the cherping of the tires at a dead start

[Guest]

The difference is that when you were 10, your parents were driving and you had no idea about what going was fast was all about. Now that you are 20, you are in control, testing the engines limits, your hormones are kicking in at full throttle, and you want to kick some ass. If the 3.8 ain't cutting it, Get a 440 6-pack Roadrunner or a GTO! My point is, a stock, little 3.8 with 100k, you would not notice a difference from 1k.