Best method to achieve a reliable 500HP on a stock 5.0 Block?

[oxemoron]

Hi had a question for you guys. I just started a job at a local ford dealership and was looking to either get a 03-04 cobra or save the money and just sink some cash into my 94 Mustang GT. My car so far is basiclly stock with 36,000 original miles on it. The things that i do have done to it are a homemade cai, b&m ripper short throw, pypes offroad h pipe, and magnaflow cat back. If i do keep my car and mod it a few of the things that i was looking at doing are a kenne bell blowzilla or a twin turbo setup along with other basic bolt on (H/C/I). I want to achieve somewhere around 450-500HP but i do not want to have to worry about blowing the engine or trans because this will be a daily driver. I originally wanted to drop in a 351 but do to the fact that i still owe my dad a little money on the car and the fact that it has such low mileage he doesnt want me changing the engine. So i'm in a little bit of a situation and need to feed my craving for more power . What are your opinions? Thanks

 

[BlueOvalStangGT]

A H/C/I and power adder car could make over 500 , just get a good tune and youll be fine. Right now im working on my car which is gonna be a supercharged/heads and intake car, ill let you know the numbers.

 

[oxemoron]

BlueOvalStangGT: Can you send me pics of your car? Looks like you have the same bumper as me possibly. I have the cobra bumper w/ lip and saleen heat extractor hood

 

[94TURBO5 O]

Go Turbo You will not regret it.......

 

[BlueOvalStangGT]

Mines the stock bumper with a lip although I have a saleen on sitting in my room. Heres a pic anyways.

And here what happens when you shoot for 500 hp like you want to do

 

[BlueOvalStangGT]

Go Turbo You will not regret it.......

Seriously, I regret getting the Vortech. Listen to this guy, he knows his ****.

 

[BlackVert]

I'll be going turbo (or at least try again) in a year or two after I get moved into my new house and add on a garage.

Stock driveability at light throttle, a beast at WOT, that's what I'm talking about. It can be reliable so long as you get the tune right.

 

[ES Stangin]

Mines the stock bumper with a lip although I have a saleen on sitting in my room.

So you want to sell me ur chin spoiler.. correct?

 

[S/CBlack95GT]

Nothing wrong with a blower, you just have to tune it before you hammer it. The same goes for any power adder. If you simply install it and go out and run the car hard you are just waiting to grenade it.

 

[BlueOvalStangGT]

Like me...

 

[Rootus]

"500 rwhp", "stock block", and "reliability" do not occur in the same sentence. Either does "T-5".

I see at least $10K to get 450-500 horsepower. And that would be how I ended up with my '03... the dollar signs scared me away from doing it with the '95...

Dave

 

[Starman]

500 RWHP or at the crank?? There's quite a bit difference there.

500hp at the crank shouldn't be much of a problem as stated above with a power adder. A lot depends on the tunning. A bad tune will result in cracked rings/pistons/etc.

500 at the wheels is getting into the limits of the stock block. Some last, some don't at that power level. It's usually not the internals that give out, but the main webbing in the block.

The t-5 won't last too long at that power level, especially if you power-shift.

As for it costing $10k to get to that power level reliably....don't see that either.....
A Dart or World Products block would handle anything you could throw at it and run about $2000. An A4 block will handle 500 rwhp and they run about $1500. Then any decent tranny like a T56 or TKO (or built auto) about $1500 - $2500 new

 

[MattZ281LE]

10k is in the ball park to do it right. For a decent reliable combo.
Been there done that.
Reliabilty is a realitive term.
Power=stress on components.

Cheapest most reliable way to 500hp. 03 Cobra with pully change/chip and exhaust/induction.
25-30k


You could do it for $750.00 with a big nitrous shot. 1 time
It's all about money. If you do the work yourself cut 1/3 to 1/2 of the cost. You will still have to tune it. Not recommended for big power your first time trying.

The money is always spent on the little things needed to support that level of power.

Over looked components:
Machine work
Tunes with dyno time
Fuel System
Cooling
Rear end/Transmission/clutch

Ask me what I spent. And all the headaches.

 

[bjl95mustang]

$10,000??? In the end I will have about $5,000 in to my 418 engine and tranny and everything in my sig. I'm doing the tranny myself with a multidisc lockup converter and blueplate special clutches. I searched around for the deals and i found some great ones.

 

[MattZ281LE]

$10,000??? In the end I will have about $5,000 in to my 418 engine and tranny and everything in my sig. I'm doing the tranny myself with a multidisc lockup converter and blueplate special clutches. I searched around for the deals and i found some great ones.

Break it down in cost. Everything. If you did it 100% for 5k your a rare exception and not a rule. Alot of things missing from the sig to put the power down reliably.
And is the 418 you have between 450-500 at the wheels?

Not trying to flame but the costs are there and as most people that have put together high HP combos have learned. Even a good H/C/I can cost 2500 or more.

 

[bjl95mustang]

Ok, I forgot to add a couple of things so it's more like $5500. I was just trying to show it's not hard to keep some kind of a budget and get some power. In about 6-12 months i'm going to sell my vic jr's and get some afr 225's. I know a buddy that will get me some new ones complete for $1700 and I hoap I can get $800-900 for my vic jr's. so lets say on the high side a 418 with afr225 and a spyder intake for under 7k.

 

[Rootus]

$10,000??? In the end I will have about $5,000 in to my 418 engine and tranny and everything in my sig. I'm doing the tranny myself with a multidisc lockup converter and blueplate special clutches. I searched around for the deals and i found some great ones.

If you buy everything used, do all the work yourself, you can definitely make it cheaper. But in any case you get nickled and dimed to death. I cleared $5k doing H/C/I and all the bolt-ons on my '95 -- my initial budget figured on it costing about $3K or so. And I quit counting after awhile because I no longer wanted to know the total . While it was a very nice combo consisting of only good, high quality (and brand new) parts, it was still only good for about 300 rwhp. I still didn't have a tranny -- there's $2K, doing all the work myself. And I was going to go with a turbo -- $5K, again doing all the work myself. Right there I would have cleared $10K just in parts.

So I'd say that while you can do it for less, it is unrealistic, and the vast majority of people here would be hard pressed to meet that kind of budget. Just total up the cost of all the parts you can think of, double it (triple if you want to be safe), and you'll be fairly close to the end figure.

Something else I think a lot of people don't know -- the fact that a heavily modified car requires a lot of ongoing care and feeding. It's not a "build it and forget it" type of deal like you get with a factory car. I've met more than a few people that jumped in without knowing what they were getting into. You definitely have to enjoy the mechanical aspects as a hobby ... or you need a big wallet to pay someone else to enjoy it .

Dave

 

[syburstang]

If you dont like wrenching on your own car and spending alot of money buy the cobra. If you enjoy wrenching and building your own power house mod out your GT. In the end you are going to spend more on your GT. However thats only if you keep your Cobra stock....yeah right!! Nobody buys fast performance cars to keep them stock. Not totally stock anyways. You will be happy with either of your choices, but it all depends on what you like to do with your spare time. I like to wrench every chance I get...its the money spending I'm not fond of. Good luck.

 

[Rootus]

However thats only if you keep your Cobra stock....yeah right!! Nobody buys fast performance cars to keep them stock. Not totally stock anyways.

So true! I break a sweat every time I have to undo the five allen bolts to swap pullies .

 

[DARK-5.0]

Take your stock motor. Buy a ptk set up like JR did. Get the essential fuel items and have fun. I don't see you spending anymore than 5K to get the thing back on the road making 500hp. You could turn up the wick and make 500rwhp if you wanted but then your playing with fire on the stock block. The stock cam is great for a turbo set up, the heads and intake are a bottleneck but you can still make that kinda power on a stock set up. Just go to Turbomustangs.com and see the results. But if you have the money to do heads or atleast an intake. I would do it. Good luck and don't let these guys tell you its gonna take atleast 10K to do it, cause it won't.

Jeremy