98 Gt...yes I Know.... Mods?!

[jmk97GT]

All i hear is PI PI PI! Im a fan of the intake but not the heads... The compression added to the engine would blow if i put a SC on.... i was looking at kenne bell and they ran 14psi in a 99-04 gt... I would prolly guess there was some intence work done inside? If not then damn id do the PI swap and get the 14 PSI kit. 5k for over 500 hp not bad!

No ****...finally someone with some sense. Its completely not worth it to do a PI swap and a piston swap just to keep compression low enough to add boost. PI intake is a good choice, though, as that is relatively inexpensive and not extremely difficult to do. Plus, its the intake thats the most restrictive, not the heads.

directly from KB:

 

[90RanGer]

Kennebell kit also costs $4899, you can only get the 9psi intercooled kit for the 96-98. How many people here can seriously just drop almost 5 grand like that? Plus hes only 19, it will take quite a while to save 5grand. With the vortech kit and npi intake and npi heads you will not make much over 300rwhp. Personally I have $4k I have saved and I could do the mongoose kit and thought seriosuly about it, but I will be staying N/A and be diong the PI headswap over the summer with vt stage 1 cams. I have a friend who works at a flow bench shop that will port and polish my heads and remove the swirl dams to lower the compression back down incase I want to get a blower down the road. Most people are making around 275rwhp with headswap and vtstage 1 cams and some bolt ons and are spending less than 2 grand to do it. Why not set yourself up now to make real good power and put the rest of the money away.

 

[oohsoobad2]

You can buy special head gaskets for the PI swap that drop the compression back to stock. The PI swap will give your ride alot more balls and make it so much more fun to drive while you are saving for a blower...

 

[Red mustang Gt 46]

I suspect that you'll be adding things here and there so...

Gears and shifter first...afterwards, sitdown and plan how much you want to spend and how fast you'd like to go.

Then someone can give you DECENT advice. There are pros and cons of just about every mod.

The gears will at least keep you ahead of most of the GM's (with good driving).

 

[Roger_4.6_96]

Id start with a cobra engine

 

[prsrizdgt]

I did what you did unfortunately. Bought a super sweet low mileage 98 NPI slow boat to China. You said you were working a year to get the money so you have some time and some resources. IF you are dedicated to sticking with your car like I am, because you don't have little penis syndrome and have to have a 500rwhp car, you can make your car a blast to drive and get respect from people who think they will blow your doors off when they see a 98 lining up.......1st- gears (3.73's for the KB) 2nd - exhaust (Magnaxxxx preferred now-a-days by most I think) 3rd - shifter (research) 4th - blower cams (research), 5th - Kenne Bell ....... I didn't have the KB as an option when I bought my set up....wish I had. At any rate, with this combo you will be at around 330 - 340 rwhp. You will trap around 108 or 109 my guess, and hit mid 12's with some traction. Good Luck. PS: You can trap above 105 with untouched NPI heads. Its not easy, I will admit.

 

[hotmustang331]

Come on people THINK. You guys are like well KBs site says you gain 151 with NPI vs 160with PI so you would only gain 9RWHP. Thats from their both respected BASE LINES. PI its upping the power 160HP from 260 = 420....NPI its upping HP 151 from 215 that = 366 SO your really loosing 54RWHP, NOT 9. And thats with the increased CR of the 96-98 engine, so pull that now 10.1-1 CR and your loosing OVER 60HP. Everyone just wants to think that if you shove a TON of boost on crappy heads it will over come their lack of flow....CFM is everything.This is pretty funny stuff.

 

[Reimann]

Well, my car is slow... its way fun but its slow... i coudnt run with a new grand prix practically. Now... my car just turned over 23k, yes i know very low for 98... i got lucky.

Don't feel bad about having a '98. When I had a '97 girls would walk up to me all the time in parking lots and tell me how much they like car. With my '02 GT the only people that walk up to me now about it are guys! And don't listen to those who bash your car as being slow, everyone says that about a car that isn't theirs. For example, Civic owners say all Mustangs are slow.

23K miles is really low for its years. Did someone stick it in a barn and forget about it? My '02 has 32K miles on it.

 

[prsrizdgt]

Come on people THINK. You guys are like well KBs site says you gain 151 with NPI vs 160with PI so you would only gain 9RWHP. Thats from their both respected BASE LINES. PI its upping the power 160HP from 260 = 420....NPI its upping HP 151 from 215 that = 366 SO your really loosing 54RWHP, NOT 9. And thats with the increased CR of the 96-98 engine, so pull that now 10.1-1 CR and your loosing OVER 60HP. Everyone just wants to think that if you shove a TON of boost on crappy heads it will over come their lack of flow....CFM is everything.This is pretty funny stuff.

I am not sure I understand what you are saying. Regardless what the KB site says, he is making around 180-185 rwhp stock...with the mods I listed he will be over 325 rwhp, not the KB alone, but "the package". I guarantee with the KB he will be over what I am making with a lowly M90 Eaton, and even with my torque, I have no trouble with any PI headed N/A Mustang. As I said before he has to spend some money on traction as well. PI's gain you much needed horsepower, but they don't give you near the much needed torque the mod motors need. They are very well suited to supercharging IMO. It sucks that it costs alot, but if it was any cheaper to do, then everyone would have one. It almost seems like that anyway. This is about the millionth time a subject like this has been discussed on here. I would be willing to agree to disagree right now so we don't keep wasting bandwidth when we both know we won't change our minds anyway.

 

[prsrizdgt]

Come on people THINK. You guys are like well KBs site says you gain 151 with NPI vs 160with PI so you would only gain 9RWHP. Thats from their both respected BASE LINES. PI its upping the power 160HP from 260 = 420....NPI its upping HP 151 from 215 that = 366 SO your really loosing 54RWHP, NOT 9. And thats with the increased CR of the 96-98 engine, so pull that now 10.1-1 CR and your loosing OVER 60HP. Everyone just wants to think that if you shove a TON of boost on crappy heads it will over come their lack of flow....CFM is everything.This is pretty funny stuff.

Okay hotmustang331...I re-read your post I understand better what you mean now....yea, KB isn't reminding you on the site that the PI motors start off with 30-40 more HP to begin with. Your right. I thought you were dissagreeing with supercharging as an alternative in general. Sorry. If you can deal with the compression ratio issue, which I heard about the new head gaskets, then you have a great possibility with the PI heads and the blower. I just never could afford the heads or NPI head porting after buying everything else. Let alone forged internals.

 

[hotmustang331]

Okay hotmustang331...I re-read your post I understand better what you mean now....yea, KB isn't reminding you on the site that the PI motors start off with 30-40 more HP to begin with. Your right. I thought you were dissagreeing with supercharging as an alternative in general. Sorry. If you can deal with the compression ratio issue, which I heard about the new head gaskets, then you have a great possibility with the PI heads and the blower. I just never could afford the heads or NPI head porting after buying everything else. Let alone forged internals.

Oh no, I say supercharging is definatly an option with the NPI heads(good power increase). A s/c will increase HP on any car, but I was just telling these guys that there isnt a 9RWHP difference between NPI heads and PI heads, more like 54HP...so you read that correctly the 2nd time...sorry it was kinda confusing. And BTW IMO PI heads suck too, so NPI head people dont take that the wrong way, like just your heads are bad...we are all in the same boat, just that PIs flow better but still nothing to brag about LOL..... Ours flow about 180 CFM FYI, not sure about NPI.

 

[Try Me]

PIs flow better but still nothing to brag about LOL..... Ours flow about 180 CFM FYI, not sure about NPI.

Oh i disagree.

 

[DriveGT46]

OK well today i got an urge to go buy something so i went to the muffler shop and purchased some mufflers....They are off brand flows so i guess i did alright... Now i just need an H pipe. Im not a fan of X, they dont sound right to me... So once i get an h exhaust will be done for now.... so i guess i should prolly do the PI swap... Kenne Bell is way expensive and i konw i cant come up with the cash right away unless i finance lol... I see someone has an h for sale.. why are u getting rid of it?

 

[DropTopPony]

i was on the bbk site and they have a bunch of mid pipes from testing sessions that are used but cheaper....if your on a budget maybe you should check out the website.

 

[hotmustang331]

Oh i disagree.

LOL, well maybe not, but they are not great compared to the heads on my other car that flow about 290CFM. SO thats what I am used to....err and compared to 01 cobra heads that flow about 230CFM....03-04 DOHC flow about 266CFM. You still disagree?

 

[jmk97GT]

Kennebell kit also costs $4899, you can only get the 9psi intercooled kit for the 96-98. How many people here can seriously just drop almost 5 grand like that? Plus hes only 19, it will take quite a while to save 5grand. With the vortech kit and npi intake and npi heads you will not make much over 300rwhp. Personally I have $4k I have saved and I could do the mongoose kit and thought seriosuly about it, but I will be staying N/A and be diong the PI headswap over the summer with vt stage 1 cams. I have a friend who works at a flow bench shop that will port and polish my heads and remove the swirl dams to lower the compression back down incase I want to get a blower down the road. Most people are making around 275rwhp with headswap and vtstage 1 cams and some bolt ons and are spending less than 2 grand to do it. Why not set yourself up now to make real good power and put the rest of the money away.

I'm 16 and I started working when I turned 15 and saved enough to buy my car...$6000

 

[DriveGT46]

being 19 with car payments sucks. I bought the car in ohio and the lady was divorced and bought it as a mid life crisis. Anyways... I bought the car with 5400 miles on it! Can you believe it?!... so yeah whats the next step in mods... gearS? or h pipe?

 

[def1eppard]

And thats with the increased CR of the 96-98 engine, so pull that now 10.1-1 CR and your loosing OVER 60HP.

increased CR on a stock 96-98 motor? The PI headswap is what increases the CR on the 96-98s.

 

[Try Me]

LOL, well maybe not, but they are not great compared to the heads on my other car that flow about 290CFM. SO thats what I am used to....err and compared to 01 cobra heads that flow about 230CFM....03-04 DOHC flow about 266CFM. You still disagree?

The difference between NPI v. PI is 60~HP.. thats significant to me.
Maybe not when comparing NPI v. DOHC, but thats apples and oranges.

 

[LI98GTStang]

The difference between NPI v. PI is 60~HP.. thats significant to me.
Maybe not when comparing NPI v. DOHC, but thats apples and oranges.

Not that high actually, but still worth it to go PI. Factory specs put the '98s at 225 hp stock and stock typically dyno at the wheels ~195 bone stock. For stangs with PIs (99+) are rated at 260 hp stock and typically dyno in the neighborhood of 230rwhp. RWHP difference of ~35rwhp. Putting a PI head on an an engine will add approx. additional 10rwhp because of the compression increase, which will put you at approx. 240rwhp. Nice gains to be had.