Start With Basic Mods Or Go Forced Induction

toxzzic1

Member
Jan 1, 2012
172
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19
SW Va
I bought my balk on black 02 GT about a month ago. I have been thinking about forced induction but wonder if I should do some bolt ons first. Which route would you all recommend and any suggestions on parts. The car is bone stock right now with 70k miles on it. I was also curious about water/meth injection. Thanks in advance
Matt
 
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But buy a power adder that you won't have to replace the next time you upgrade the engine's ability to breathe.

In other words: Spend a little more to get a blower capable of growing as you mod.
 
What blower setup would you recommend? I would have to buy a used setup at the moment. My sig pic is of my old setup in my 91 GT. I was running a powerdyne bd11a. It was ok but no room to grow.
 
I am actually in the process of getting a saleen setup. I am paying payments on it and am picking it up as soon as it is paid off. The person I am getting it from has a good reputation so I trust him as far as getting it after I get it paid off. However I am not sure this is the setup that I should use. Here are the details tell me what you think. Not sure what HP numbers this would make but it would look clean under the hood.

Saleen Series IV charger (Whipple Style) off an '04 Saleen with ~30K miles. Complete kit including factory cold air intake setup and 70mm TB, 42 lb injectors, Lightning 90mm MAF (NEW), Ford GT fuel pump used for less than 1,000 miles, MoSaleen idler (NEW), and Pulley Boys 2.9 pulley (NEW), as well as the original Saleen pulley. Has been gone through and checked and has new gaskets installed. I also have a BRAND NEW set of braided intercooler lines from 21st Century Performance. Comes with lower intercooler, overflow tank, tank bracket, working pump, working fans, etc. Basically this will come with everything but a belt. Just needs one of those and a new owner. Will also throw in a NEW steering column single gauge pod with NEW boost gauge $3,500 obo.
 
I am actually in the process of getting a saleen setup. I am paying payments on it and am picking it up as soon as it is paid off. The person I am getting it from has a good reputation so I trust him as far as getting it after I get it paid off. However I am not sure this is the setup that I should use. Here are the details tell me what you think. Not sure what HP numbers this would make but it would look clean under the hood.

Saleen Series IV charger (Whipple Style) off an '04 Saleen with ~30K miles. Complete kit including factory cold air intake setup and 70mm TB, 42 lb injectors, Lightning 90mm MAF (NEW), Ford GT fuel pump used for less than 1,000 miles, MoSaleen idler (NEW), and Pulley Boys 2.9 pulley (NEW), as well as the original Saleen pulley. Has been gone through and checked and has new gaskets installed. I also have a BRAND NEW set of braided intercooler lines from 21st Century Performance. Comes with lower intercooler, overflow tank, tank bracket, working pump, working fans, etc. Basically this will come with everything but a belt. Just needs one of those and a new owner. Will also throw in a NEW steering column single gauge pod with NEW boost gauge $3,500 obo.

This is a much better plan in my opinion, than trying to piece together and fabricate all that's necessary for an On-3 kit. :nice:
 
I will have it paid for by November. I am planning on upgrading my exhaust and switching to 4.10 gears as well. any idea on what kind of rwhp numbers I should be looking at?

With an otherwise mostly stock car on that setup, I'd guess a solid 360 rwhp, maybe more. Intake, exhaust, etc. should push that to 400+. Way more than enough to roast the tires and have fun.

I'm probably about to start a fight here, but I'd say that 4.10s are too much gear for a setup like that, dependent on what you want out of it. If you're planning on racing the 1/4 mile on stock size tires, that's too much gear; you'll run out of RPM. On the street, 1st and most likely 2nd gear will be completely useless. Believe it or not, spinning tires every time you get on it gets old quicker than you think. Everyone talks about what great fun a ton of gear is (and in some situations, it is), but when you're getting your a$$ busted stoplight-to-stoplight by grandma in a V6 Accord because you can't hook it up, you'll rethink just how much "fun" lots of gear is. My car is an automatic with a blower similar to what you're wanting to run. With 3.73s and a 2.84 1st gear ratio, I can FRY the tires on command in 1st gear. It's a PLENTY of torque. With your 5-speed, your 1st gear is even steeper, and 2nd gear isn't that much taller either.

The only way I'd run 4.10s is if I was trying to squeeze every last ounce out of it at the track. Even then, it'd have to have 27", or 28", tires to make it down the 1/4 mile. 3.73s is how I'd go for a fun street car.
 
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All depends on your goals. You want to be running consistand mid to low 12's easy then jump for the blower if you got the cash. You will most likely do the bolt ons at some point anyway so it doesn't really matter.
I think 4.10 would be hard to hook up with a blower unless running slicks, but then I would just upgrade the axles as well.
In my case I still can't make up my mind so I do bolt ons while thinking about it. Kinda shying aways since I already have 4.10s and its my daily driver and no spare car at the moment other than wifey's.
 
All depends on your goals. You want to be running consistand mid to low 12's easy then jump for the blower if you got the cash. You will most likely do the bolt ons at some point anyway so it doesn't really matter.
I think 4.10 would be hard to hook up with a blower unless running slicks, but then I would just upgrade the axles as well.
In my case I still can't make up my mind so I do bolt ons while thinking about it. Kinda shying aways since I already have 4.10s and its my daily driver and no spare car at the moment other than wifey's.

Although it would likely still be difficult to hook, 4.10s with a centri blower would be much more manageable than with a positive displacement blower.
 
I am going to get the blower setup and run the stock gears in hopes I can judge what gears I will need after driving it stock. I bought a bbk cai and am trying to decide what to buy next. I am thinking about plenum and throttle body
 
I say leave your gears right where they are. I made 410hp with my Eaton blower in an auto equipped Mercury Cougar that tipped the scales at well over 4,000lbs with driver and still managed mid-12's with the stock 3.27's and 27" tires out back.

Don't get so eager to swap gears when you're planning on making that much bottom end torque. You don't need them.

I actually swapped out to 3.73's for a while, but ended us switching back to my stock 3.27's. The car was just as fast with the stock gears and was nicer to drive on the street, while retaining better fuel mileage to boot.
 
I say leave your gears right where they are. I made 410hp with my Eaton blower in an auto equipped Mercury Cougar that tipped the scales at well over 4,000lbs with driver and still managed mid-12's with the stock 3.27's and 27" tires out back.

Don't get so eager to swap gears when you're planning on making that much bottom end torque. You don't need them.

I actually swapped out to 3.73's for a while, but ended us switching back to my stock 3.27's. The car was just as fast with the stock gears and was nicer to drive on the street, while retaining better fuel mileage to boot.

He's got 4.10s now, which is why I was saying he might not like them. But he has a good plan: install everything, drive it, and see how you like it. Then make a decision.

I'm surprised you didn't like the 3.73s. I went from 3.27s to 3.73s and it has made a world of difference. The car is now just at that point where I can sorta-kinda hook it up on street tires if I want to (by just easing into the throttle from a roll), or completely lighting them up for as long as I see fit (via smashing the throttle from any point in 1st gear). Ton of fun, and still pretty quick to boot. :nice:

Also, via some not-terribly-scientific results from the track, I picked up nearly 3 mph as well. So it is more than just a SOTP result.
 
I didn't like the 3.73's because it always felt like my car should be searching for another gear on the highway. I found the 3.27's were the perfect compromise gear. With the amount of torque I was making, the car still had what seemed like limitless bottom end, yet would cruise along well under 2,000RPM on the interstate. Not to mention the lower gear kept me right in the middle of my power band when it came to passing. Instead of zipping through passing gear, it kept me in the meaty part of it and let the torque do it's thing.

Different blower characteristics I guess. I had a small displacement (90ci) 3rd Gen Eaton that was ported and pullied (and I mean really pullied....2.35" lol), so it really came on fast. Much faster than any M112 or Twin Screw I've seen. Even with the cars weight, it would break them loose almost at will. Torque came on really fast and hard, which is maybe why the taller gear-set worked so well for me?
 
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Honestly, I wouldn't' have even bought the BBK, as it makes no power and will have to come off when you add the blower. I'd cancel the order and just remove the air horn and ad a flat panel K&N to the stock airbox unless "bling" is what's most important to you?

Go with mods that are going to help you out later on. Exhaust, throttle body, MAF, intake, heads fuel pump....and lets not forget the all important suspension and chassis mods....which these cars are in desperate need of.