Hay guys

My 3.8l is going in my magna fwd very soon. I've heard people having traction problems with the 3.8 running in the magna. I was wondering have people worked out a tyre combo with complete traction with the 3.8l. Or do u need coilovers for traction with good tyres? Let me know 3.8 boys.

Cheers Kurt.

I don't think you'll ever get 'complete traction' with a manual 6G75 FWD lol

Coilovers are supposed to make a massive difference to traction since they prevent the back end from squatting as bad. Worth looking into.

Obviously good tyres make a difference too.... if you want something (comparatively) cheap and really grippy, a few to choose from are the Kumho KU36, Achilles 123, and Federal 595 RSR....

You have an lsd right? if you get ku36 your car will grip in 1st when the tyres are warm. They are a noisy daily tyre though so if you get a good daily tyre like the max performance summer tyres in 235 you should also be fine. My ku31 235s grip my first gear fine and these other tyres flog them and should be able to handle the extra power.

You have an lsd right? if you get ku36 your car will grip in 1st when the tyres are warm. They are a noisy daily tyre though so if you get a good daily tyre like the max performance summer tyres in 235 you should also be fine. My ku31 235s grip my first gear fine and these other tyres flog them and should be able to handle the extra power.

But do u have a 3.8 Hayden vrx?

But do u have a 3.8 Hayden vrx?

Nope but good performance tyres have alot more grip then mine so the extra 50nm from the 3.8 over my car should be able to be handled.

Seeing as you already have a lsd I would invest in some decent tyres and coilovers if your budget stretches that far my open diff cannot handle the extra torque of the 6G75 but traction has improved with the fitting of my coilovers I'm not too worried as I'll be fitting a lsd soon

Red Valdez is pretty much right.

When i first had my conversion done I had an old set of mags with 225 Maxxis and they broke traction at about 80km/h when I dropped it back to 3rd to overtake.

Next up tried KU31's, and improved a bit but would still wheelspin in first, and second if you tried to shift quick/hard.

I've since tried semi-slicks (both KU36 and federal RSR's), with both these it still wheelspins at full throttle in first gear at any stage. So for example if I'm cruising along in first gear (with clutch out completely), and I floor the accelerator it will break traction no matter what revs.
Also if I try to shift into 2nd too aggressively it will also break traction.


I have boges rear shocks and king low springs, and LSD.
I'm starting to think that Maybe the wagon rear suspension is less than ideal for front end traction?

I've tried sourcing an anti lift kit which would help, but no-one makes them off the shelf so would need to be made as a special run (group buy).

I've tried sourcing an anti lift kit which would help, but no-one makes them off the shelf so would need to be made as a special run (group buy).

This, someone organise this, there would be a huge amount of interest.

Whiteline used to sell them but have since discontinued.

Doesn't megatron have some sort of contacts at whiteline or does he work for them? Maybe he could orchestrate a group buy. I just don't think there'd be enough people here to make it worth their while though. I think you'd be lucky to get 20 people interested which probably isn't going to be too attractive for whiteline.

Tyres will help definitely. Very sticky tyres in wider size will help but there's only so much tyres can do. I can spin up a set of KU31's reasonably easily in the dry and far too easily in the wet - and all I have a unmodified 3.5L engine with a 3L gearbox. Nothing major.
I suspect a very firm suspension setup that would restrict the car from shifiting weight backwards and thus reducing downforce on the front driving wheels, would help but it seems this is only really possible with coilovers. I figure it would also not be a very comfortable setup for a daily driver either.

Needless to say I think it does come to the old problem of putting too much power down in a fwd car. Not saying it's rubbish platform but there are limitations to how much power can be usable when being driven from the fronts.

Out of interest - even with loosing so much traction is a 3.8L setup quicker than a worked 3.5L on a perfect launch in a very capable driver's hand?

MagnaP.I My ralliart ran 14.4s and Tjtime's 3.8 ran 14.1s so there's your difference.

Seeing as you already have a lsd I would invest in some decent tyres and coilovers if your budget stretches that far my open diff cannot handle the extra torque of the 6G75 but traction has improved with the fitting of my coilovers I'm not too worried as I'll be fitting a lsd soon

Hay mate. So u have good tyres and coilovers how's the grip leval if u ease of the throttle from zero and hit the gas do u get traction in first?

I have half decent tyres coilovers 3lt box and a open diff I don't know the meaning of traction lol but the coilovers have stopped the tramp that it once had

I have half decent tyres coilovers 3lt box and a open diff I don't know the meaning of traction lol but the coilovers have stopped the tramp that it once had

Any traction at all in first?

Kurt brendans car has no relation to yours.He has an open diff and tyres that are 225 and not super high up the performance scale

Any traction at all in first?
i can get traction its just very difficult to control

From personal experience my KU39s when warmed up will generally give me better traction, but Traction Control doesn't agree with it sometimes. Best thing to do is crawl forward to get some momentum then floor the throttle

Kurt brendans car has no relation to yours.He has an open diff and tyres that are 225 and not super high up the performance scale
i ran a 14.2 running 215's at the drags so i must have been doing something right

Take off in second??

Take off in second??

never tried but with the open diff it would more than likely be just as bad as first

never tried but with the open diff it would more than likely be just as bad as first

Was more responding to Kurt's original question lol

If you can't set up your car to handle first gear with a 3.8 there is something wrong.

how do you think Ego feels :P

Lol yea sounds funny & I havnt got times to prove it but its amazing how well our magnas take off in second because the engine is so flexible, I read in a particular car magazine article testing a ralliart that they found the engine so flexible they started in 2nd gear & recorded a 0-100km run in 7.4sec!
Take off in second??

This, someone organise this, there would be a huge amount of interest.

All the Whiteline "anti lift" kit was was six 10mm longer bolts and six 10mm thick alloy spacers that were fitted to the front lower control arms "rear" mount between the body/crossmember and the rear mount (this mount is either the pushed on type or the nut/washer type depending on year and model of magna/verada.

Ive got them in mine (got them given to me by whiteline to try way back in 2002). Could quite easily make some up out of alloy bar and buy some 10mm longer 8.8 bolts.

I'll try and get under my car tomorrow and take some pics if people want.

Hay guys

My 3.8l is going in my magna fwd very soon. I've heard people having traction problems with the 3.8 running in the magna. I was wondering have people worked out a tyre combo with complete traction with the 3.8l. Or do u need coilovers for traction with good tyres? Let me know 3.8 boys.

Cheers Kurt.

Get an AWD magna/verada? Mine has no trouble at all getting traction even in the wet with a 3.8 running Pirelli P7's. It may be 5 speed auto, but the first couple of gears are lower ratio than FWD 5 speeds.

Pretty sure Kurt's not going to spend 8k on an awd magna and then the 3-4k for a 3.8L conversion and a SKR tune. Plus there's no way I think he'll settle with an auto.

He wants to get under the 14 second down the 1/4 mile - probably not going to happen with a 3.8L awd. Even if you have 190kw's at the fly, you'll end up with around 125kw at the wheels which is a bit less than what he probably has now with his worked 3.5L manual. The awd would also be heavier as well.



If you can't set up your car to handle first gear with a 3.8 there is something wrong.

It's not about being to launch a 3.8L magna in first gear - it's about launching hard without experiencing excessive amounts of wheelspin. It is a balance but the gear is that the 3.8L engine in a magna could cause serious problems with traction. It looks like this only gets unbearable if you work the 3.8L.
You're always going to get some wheelspin, but it should never be so much that you're forced to using very little of the potential power due to traction issues.

However I do think that sometimes you just can't work around simple physics. If you want to go really fast you get a rwd car, if you are going to use a fwd then you get a smaller lighter car with heaps of downforce on the front end. Weight for weight, Size for size, Power for Power - a proper rwd will still trump fwd for traction.

All the Whiteline "anti lift" kit was was six 10mm longer bolts and six 10mm thick alloy spacers that were fitted to the front lower control arms "rear" mount between the body/crossmember and the rear mount (this mount is either the pushed on type or the nut/washer type depending on year and model of magna/verada.

Ive got them in mine (got them given to me by whiteline to try way back in 2002). Could quite easily make some up out of alloy bar and buy some 10mm longer 8.8 bolts.

I'll try and get under my car tomorrow and take some pics if people want.

That'd be great mate, perfectly understand the concept of it, but wasn't sure as to how they did the magna ones, somewhere there is mention of down set bushes that replace the original and the same way that you have described. If you could snap a couple of pics and measure how much it down sets the rear of the control arm would be great.

Fair post MagnaPI obviously it depends on alot but for an example. If i threw a 3.8L in mine and when i get my new tyres i don't think i would wheelspin at all unless i did a heavy launch. This is ofcoarse with my chassis, coilovers, lsd and Great tyres when i get them. Just having a guess at this from my experience in these sort of cars.
How my car is at the moment when i have my track wheels on the front and i have done a burnout, i can drop the clutch at 2500 and there is still no wheelspin, It's great being able to use first gear all you want and know it will always grip unless you hit some bumps.

That'd be great mate, perfectly understand the concept of it, but wasn't sure as to how they did the magna ones, somewhere there is mention of down set bushes that replace the original and the same way that you have described. If you could snap a couple of pics and measure how much it down sets the rear of the control arm would be great.

The offset bushes your thinking of are the ones that are used to add more castor but i have seen guys press them into the mountings with the lower offset part of the bushing to the bottom which effectively lowers the rear lower control arm rear mount and thus adds some "anti lift" but then you dont get the added castor.
I have the whiteline offset lower control arm bushes as well, which added a small amount of castor (about half a degree). Did all this just on 10yrs ago and havnt really looked at them since lol

I will try my best with the pics but it might be a bit hard to see them clearly in a picture whilst still fitted/mounted to the car.

Fair post MagnaPI obviously it depends on alot but for an example. If i threw a 3.8L in mine and when i get my new tyres i don't think i would wheelspin at all unless i did a heavy launch. This is ofcoarse with my chassis, coilovers, lsd and Great tyres when i get them. Just having a guess at this from my experience in these sort of cars.
How my car is at the moment when i have my track wheels on the front and i have done a burnout, i can drop the clutch at 2500 and there is still no wheelspin, It's great being able to use first gear all you want and know it will always grip unless you hit some bumps.

My magna hooks up pretty damn well if the revs are kept under 3500rpm when launching and it has the decent yokohama advan tyres on the front....
Launch it from say 4500-5000rpm and she'll just hammer the 7900rpm revlimiter in first and well into second before gripping up (ask Zero about the demo i did with him in my magna at a club day on a private closed road of course)

Pretty sure Kurt's not going to spend 8k on an awd magna and then the 3-4k for a 3.8L conversion and a SKR tune. Plus there's no way I think he'll settle with an auto.

He wants to get under the 14 second down the 1/4 mile - probably not going to happen with a 3.8L awd. Even if you have 190kw's at the fly, you'll end up with around 125kw at the wheels which is a bit less than what he probably has now with his worked 3.5L manual. The awd would also be heavier as well.


Fair enough if he wants a manual. My 3.8 AWD put down 136KW at all four wheels un-tuned with stock exhaust and HM headers. As of writing this post, i'm not 100% sure what it'd make down the 1/4 mile, but speaking to other members with a similar setup, it's apparently low to mid 14's?

Only one way to find out Mr Munkey!

Edit: already mentioned

With the stock 3.8 and LSD and running KU31's, the best I did was 6.4 secs for 0-100km/h when launching in first.

launching in 2nd I tried but best I got was around 7 flat.