A rambling "how much would this cost and what should I buy" thread

First things first, gotta say hi to everyone. I feel like I'm walking into a AAA meeting:

It's been about 4 years since my last tech post on StangNet. At least posts that weren't associated with me trying to sell crap. My poor Mustang has sat in the garage undriven, mainly because I had 3 kids in the last 4 years, and that left no time for this hobby.

Well, I moved about a year ago, finally got settled in, and have bought most of what needed to be bought for the house.

As I've started riving the 'stang more often, i've realizing it's perhaps time to pick up where I left off.

I've pretty much replaced or rebuilt everything on the car, except for the small block itself. I suppose it's time to finally do something to up the power.

So, now to the "what should i buy and how much would it cost?:"

At the moment I have a C&L MAF, a AccuFab TB (I think it's a 65), and an Edlerbrock Performer intake. I also have FRP shorties, but other than that, the engine is stock (I'm not counting the 200 AMP alt, upgraded water pump, under-drive pullies as anything spectacular).

My car is strictly a street car, and these days nothing more than a glorified grocery-getter. It's unlikely it will ever run at a track again.

So, I'd like a little more "oomph" out of it, which means time for Heads / cam upgrade.

So, if you were updating a street car, what would you get?

Again, not looking for a specific time slip (the car ran low 14's when it was in near stock form about 10 years ago).

Last time I researched this, I figured I needed this:
head
cam
rockers
new valve covers
various gaskets...

What else? Is it mandatory i upgrade the injectors? those are still stock, but I do have a FRP 190lph fuel pump I added before my "upgrade" plans bottomed out.

S&B said:

I would buy a vortech V1 strim, i think they are even self contained these days. Buy the whole kit with injectors, and have someone tune your car. It will give you all the power you need and you wont have to mess with the motor for now. It gives you tons of room to expand and as always you can sell it in a heartbeat if you change your mind.

Click to expand...

An all in one kit is tempting. I'm certainly a wrench head and messing with the motor doesn't really phase me, but a blown motor requires a different type of head, cam profile, injector, and most importantly tuning... Hmm.

I designed the car (everything else I bolted on) with a target goal of 400HP/400TQ, so I guess a s-trim + motor upgrade someday would be good.

One fear I have right now is grenading my motor. It has 115K original miles on it, and I've never had the heads off. Had the valve covers off once to replace the gaskets.

Lately when I've been cold starting it's had a really rough idle to the point of stalling, and backfires a bit when I start accelerating initially. That's kinda why I thought starting with an engine freshen wouldn't be a bad idea.

Of course, if I grenade it then I can just have an excuse to buy a prepped 331.