engine has been rebuilt, only 281RWHP, what is wrong?

mustangLover281 · Nov 19, 2006

Hey guys, I bought my mustang about 8 months ago. it is an 1986 lx with a 302. the guy who owned it had rebuilt the engine on the car. here is what he had to say about it: "MOTOR: is a 0.30 over 302 with forged pistons a new std. crank and bearings,the cam is an x303 with a 224 dur,and 542 lift roller with new lifters,felpro gaskets,melling hv oilpump,edelbrock intake,750 vac sec holley and bbk longtube headers,the heads are stock castings that have been ported and polished with comp cams springs, stainless ferrara valves185 in. and 160ex."

Also the car has 8.8 rearend with 373 gears. rebuilt T-5.

The guy said he dynoed the car at 281 rwhp!!! which I am wondering about. his combo after all this work put out only 281rwhp, I have searched through a lot of your posts and found out that you could get over 300 rwhp just by changing the heads to gt40 and the cam for example. is this combo missing something? does it need to be adjusted somehow, or this is what it should put out after what this guy did to the car? any help on this is much appreciated.

795.0pacecar · Nov 19, 2006

Those actually sound like really good numbers for worked over E7s. I would be happy with those numbers.

Daggar · Nov 19, 2006

795.0pacecar said:
Those actually sound like really good numbers for worked over E7s. I would be happy with those numbers.

Yep... I'm with 79.

I think that you will find a lot of inflated HP estimates on this and every other car forum on the net. You will also find a lot of threads from folks that have done head, cam, and intake swaps where they thought they'd end up with One point Twenty-one Giga-Horsepower.

280 HP (over 300 at the flywheel) to the wheels is damned good for what you've got listed there. I'd hazard to guess that the estimate is even a bit high. Get it on the dyno and find out for sure if you're that concerned about it. Personally, I'd be more interested in how it drives and feels. If you can plant that power to the pavement effectively, I think that you'll discover that you'll be putting down many cars that boast ahving a lot more power. Most dyno numbers you'll come across are Seat of the Pants dynos anyway. If they weren't, then all the dyno owners in this country would be rich and overworked (they're not-lol).

25thmustang · Nov 19, 2006

Who is getting 300 plus to the tire just by slapping in a cam and GT40s???

I have a stout E7 combo and dont make that much power, if it is true Id be very satisfied with those numbers!

mustangLover281 · Nov 19, 2006

Yeah, I am pretty happy with the way the car drives. it is FAST!! with no doubts. I just did not know if these were good numbers for the build. I just thought I should be pulling more horse power after reading some of the posts. I am not running Nitrous or anything on it right now. I am not sure how to increase this horse power to get it in the 12's or even the 11's. I definitely want more horse power. I am thinking about a super charger that will go with the holey carb. some guys I talked to suggested Nitrous, but I heard that Nitrous will ruin your engine pretty quickly if you get on it often. I am not sure what route to take to increase the horsepower. from what I got listed above for the engine, what do you guys think I can do to increase the horse power?

Daggar · Nov 19, 2006

That totally depends on your budget and ability. I'm not just talking about your ability as a mechanic but also your ability as a driver. If you're putting down what you say you're putting down, then you can likely hit 12's now, with some traction and good driving.

RYC CUKR · Nov 19, 2006

I would be pretty happy with those numbers. Especially with just a set of worked over e7s.

mustangLover281 · Nov 19, 2006

I have not been to the track to test the car. I have not dragged before. I think I am an okay driver. I am sure it will take me a while to get some good number on the track. I am going to take it to the track next year hopefully after the winter. I am really not a mechanic, but more of an ethusiast. I do some work on the car, but nothing major. I have a friend who is a mechanic though who will help me with stuff.

Mustang5L5 · Nov 19, 2006

The car is an '86...so does that mean it still has the stock E6 heads???

If so, those are damn good numbers for E6 heads.

nitrous_bob · Nov 19, 2006

your making 100 hp over stock at MINIMUM

thats assuming you only lost 19 hp through the drivetrain

281 to the rear wheels will run mid-12's on a 5-speed that can hook

i'd be happy with that for sure.

LtDavis · Nov 19, 2006

I noticed that also, Mike, and E6 heads didn't come with valve reliefs I believe so those are very good numbers.

25thmustang · Nov 19, 2006

Might be E7s on an E6 motor with those valves. Not sure though as with the cam and bigger valves I dont know if you can run that on an 86 bottem end.

Either way with 265 rwhp I went 12.5-12.6s all day long.

Mustang5L5 · Nov 19, 2006

Well he said he had different pistons, but stock heads.

I'm just assuming he meant the stock for 86 heads

Daggar · Nov 19, 2006

mustangLover281 said:
...it is an 1986 lx with a 302. the guy who owned it had rebuilt the engine on the car. here is what he had to say about it: "MOTOR: is a 0.30 over 302 with forged pistons a new std...

310stanger · Nov 19, 2006

i think that cam is too big for that combo personally. needless to say 280 rwhp is REALLY good for ported stock iron casting e6 heads. like daggar said whats important is how the car feels.

85_SS_302_Coupe · Nov 19, 2006

That's a great number for stock heads, and i wouldn't put much faith in the "ported and polished" because god knows what that means to the next guy. Any idea what compression it is?

Also if you did get better heads you'd see some much better numbers.

GTOreturns · Nov 19, 2006

Not too mention 86 heads are different from 87 E-7's. So those #'s are pretty decent. With just a head change with a decent head those #'s should increase quite a bit.

DMAN302 · Nov 19, 2006

Alot of 'he said' is going on...do you have a dyno sheet showing 281? You're not going to get anywhere neer those numbers with the parts listed...sorry but I just don't see it. I've just seen too many self ported alpha cams on the rollers barely break 230-250's. Even thumper combo's are barely breaking 260's.

Daggar · Nov 19, 2006

I doubt that he has E6 heads installed. Nobody in their right mind would put new pistons in a block to reuse those heads.

GTOreturns · Nov 19, 2006

Daggar said:
I doubt that he has E6 heads installed. Nobody in their right mind would put new pistons in a block to reuse those heads.

the heads are stock castings that have been ported and polished with comp cams springs, stainless ferrara valves185 in. and 160ex."

engine has been rebuilt, only 281RWHP, what is wrong?

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