Intake/Exhaust

Hey, welcome to stangnet. I'm no genius about mods, but I'll tell you what I know (i dunno how familiar you are with some of the terms, so if I sound like I think you're stupid, that's not case - i just wanna make sure you get what i'm saying ).

It sounds like you think that you need to get mods for your car that will intake and exhaust the same volume of air. This is not the case. Your performance will be affected if you have a bottleneck in your intake or exhaust, but by no means do you need to get an intake and exhaust that flow the EXACT same amount of air.

If you want to start with some good, cheap mods, then I would suggest getting some 3.73 gears in the rearend. The fact that you have a cobra means that your intake is pretty good for the cylinder heads you have (gt-40). A cold air intake will also help add some horsepower. There are a lot of guys on here that have made their own out of pvc pipe. A larger MAF will help out too. Just remember that a cobra has 24lb injectors, not 19lb like a gt. Exhaust is also a good place to start modding. I would get an O/R midpipe, either an X- or and H-pipe (this means there are not catalytic converters - if your state has emissions tests, you will need to put the stock midpipe back on for the tests because no cats is illegal). Than a cat-back would be good. Go go for a 2.5" exhaust.

I bought C & L's 76mm Mass Air system. It came with the 76mm diamter sensor, their aluminum Truflow inlet pipe (pipe between the MAF and the Throttle Body), a 9" conical K&N Filter ( a MUST lol), and a plastic heat sheild to block hot engine bay air from the filter. That was about $260 and easy to install.

Your basic O/R H-pipe will be about $120-$150

Cat-back (depending on the company) $350-$450

Gears+labor is usually somewhere around $400. For a complete rear end rebuild prolly closer to $600.

Hope that helps you out somewhat.

Oops, I forgot you mentioned longtubes. Those will give you a nice power gain from what others have experienced. For a cat-back I recommend Magnaflow. I love mine - good fit, good looks, and even better sound. www.mustangexhaust.com has a lot of information about exhaust you can look up.

I'd personally go with BBK long tubes, ceramic or jet-hot coated, on or offroad bbk x pipe (depending on your state's emissions laws), magnaflow catback or equivalent (bassani if you got the cashflow...they're twice the price though). I would put on a performer or performer RPM intake (depending on what you plan on doing with the car). BBK cold air intake. I wouldn't mess with the MAF right now, you'd be better off putting your money into a throttle body and a spacer.

That's just what I would do.

You already have a pretty good intake, and your heads are pretty good.

If the exhaust is stock, that is a bottle neck. Get a good cat back and h/x pipe and headers and that is taken care of.

You might find a few horse power with a new cam, porting your heads and intake would help a bit, then there is boost juice and displacement.

The typical AFR heads, Holley or trick flow intake and custom cam would add a good ammount of power, but it won't be as big an increase compared to the typical GT. I don't think it's worth it unless you have plenty of money.

Everything I read says that the CAI's are not much better than a K&N in the stock housing with the air silencer removed.

With $1500, I would get the K&N, and the exhaust. Then take the left over and buy a new set of spark plug wires, see if the harmonic damper needs replacing and look for any other preventative maintenence that you can do. Then advance the timing for a bit more power and you will have a nice driver and pretty fast too.

Like josh94gt said...put in gears first...it is the biggest bang for your buck

LOL side question : whats the difference between the edelbrock heads and the gt40 heads

Doncoryon,

First get your car running top notch. Since you don't know the history of the car you just purchased, I'd get a full tuneup (plugs, wires, cap, rotor, fuel/air filters, pcv, coolant flush, oil/tranny fluid change, etc. Then I'd get a shifter, gears (3.73s), offroad H-pipe, 2.5" catback and that will get you going in the right direction. From there, it's all about the plans you have for the car (autox, drag etc). That's how I started with my '91 LX 5.0 and were happy with the results. Good luck.