need more power!!!

68mustang5.0 · May 30, 2005

my friend has a 97 gt with 373s and flowmasters.he finally wants to push it!!! he wants 350hp,whats the best thing to do, pi heads intake cams,etc on his engine or just swap it out for a different one. mach1,01 cobra engine, what about a 5.4l out of an expedition??whats the best bet??he can spend somewhere around 5k to 7k, what would u guys recommend also he wants it smog legal here in california.

2001sleeper · May 30, 2005

thought about a blower?

68mustang5.0 · May 30, 2005

how much power can he get with and still use 91 -93 octane???

2001sleeper · May 30, 2005

maybe 315rwhp. he is kind of stuck. i don't think either way he goes he will be seeing that kind of power. motor swaps with all the odds and ends will be pricey and won't get you to 350rwhp without excess mods. the 5.4 is not practical for what you want with the added weight of the motor. heads, cams, intake, and nitrous will probably be the cheapest set up. the blower will probably be the best bang for the buck when including ease and reliability of setup. put the blower on, cut some weight, and have fun.

68mustang5.0 · May 30, 2005

well 315rwhp is pretty good. this cars only came with 215 out of the factory,u dont think it will reach 350 with a whole pi conversion and a blower at 8 psi?? hes looking into hitting low 13s high 12s oh and the cra is convertible.is it possible to do this keep it smog legal,93 octane,and keep the 373s???

68mustang5.0 · May 30, 2005

what about online-racer.com they have a whole pi conversion and competition porting for $2600 has anyone heard of it??is it any good???

2001sleeper · May 30, 2005

i thought you wanted to go one way or another, not combine a few of them. In that case do the PI conversion, this wil raise the compression but you should still be able to run 8-10lbs of cooled boost with no issues. with this combination you will need a good tune with it and you should be fine. probably put you in the 340-360 range. i think doing both would put you out of or at least at the ends of your money range.

Sick96Stang · May 30, 2005

2001sleeper said:
i thought you wanted to go one way or another, not combine a few of them. In that case do the PI conversion, this wil raise the compression but you should still be able to run 8-10lbs of cooled boost with no issues. with this combination you will need a good tune with it and you should be fine. probably put you in the 340-360 range. i think doing both would put you out of or at least at the ends of your money range.

I would definetely not run 10 PSI on a 96-98 PI headswapped car that just asking for trouble even 8 PSI is pushing it. You are better off just spending a little more money and throwing some forged dished pistons and rods in there. He can get to low 13's high 12's with 5-7K easily. 350 rwhp you are gonna have to go with either a blower or nitrous to get up there. Definetely do the PI headswap when I say headswap I mean cams and intake also. Parkway Ford sells a complete kit for $1300, or u can look around locally or on ebay and see if you can find the parts for cheaper. Like I said earlier if you want to run safe boost on a PI headswapped 96-98 you are gonna need to lower the compression down. Once u have that put the blower on there and your set. He has a 97 though so I'm assuming he has quite a few miles on there so a new engine or engine rebuild would definetely not be a bad way to spend some of that money.

Gunfighter · May 30, 2005

if he wants to do just 1 or 2 things and be done w/it, then i'd say go for the blower. If he wants to continue to add things on over time, then i'd go the H/C/I route, then add the blower (and more boost) at a later date

68mustang5.0 · May 30, 2005

yeah the car has 100k on it, and thats what we were discussing yesterday, hes plans are to get the most out of it with the 5k he has and can get another 2k by the end of the year.thats another issue we were discussing if the stock short block will handle that kind of power,how much would a rebuild long block with pi heads cost???i know just an estimate to get an idea on how much it will take??u think 5k will cover for that??this will probably be the best for now and than in 6 months drop a charger with 8 psi.well thanks for the replys and if u guys have any ideas hit me up.

Dark Knight GT · May 30, 2005

What these guys have told you is true. If you do a PI head swap, you might as well get the heads ported, polished, have the valves oversized, get ss valves, and put a high lift cam in there like the VT engine state 2 wild N/a cam. Combine that with a good intake setup like either the new Fox Lake intake or just go with the Accufab upper intake over the PI lower intake, you'll definately see a good jump in power. Combine all of this with a good tune, some exhuast work, and maybe a set of u/d pullies, you can pull over 300rwhp. However, 350rwhp is another thing. I dont think even with all the above you're going to put down that kinda power. Now, if you throw in a stroker kit, then yeah, you should hit 350rwhp but thats quite expensive.

As stated above, boost is the best way to go to make raw power. However, if you run boost, you run the risk of blowing your pistons and throwing a rod. The bottom end of these Modular motors aren't meant for boost stock from the factory. If you plan on running boost(more than 6-8psi intercooled) you had better plan on upgrading the lower portion of the motor to forged pistons and forged metallic rods for adde d strength. The crank will be fine as its an Iron crank.

Either way you go, whether its naturally aspirated or boost, you're going to be investing some serious money. The choice is yours. Just be sure to investigate the pros and cons of each setup before you make a decision. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. Be sure to also use the search feature of this site to find other articles written about such things as superchargers, n/a setups, and nitrous.

Dark Knight GT · May 30, 2005

68mustang5.0 said:
yeah the car has 100k on it, and thats what we were discussing yesterday, hes plans are to get the most out of it with the 5k he has and can get another 2k by the end of the year.thats another issue we were discussing if the stock short block will handle that kind of power,how much would a rebuild long block with pi heads cost???i know just an estimate to get an idea on how much it will take??u think 5k will cover for that??this will probably be the best for now and than in 6 months drop a charger with 8 psi.well thanks for the replys and if u guys have any ideas hit me up.

Contact Scott or Jim at VTengines and ask them how much a set of rebuilt hi-performance PI heads with a PI intake will cost. Their website adress is www.vtengines.com

mr_woodster · May 30, 2005

Turbo it.

2001sleeper · May 30, 2005

when you do this build, do it with a power adder in mind as you will need to have one to see the power you want. and 10psi is not the best idea, but you stated you wanted to take it to its limits and 10psi of cooled boost with a good tune is definitely the limits.
since you do have an old motor like stated above, you would be best off building the bottom end with blower in mind and set up the rest for a blower. six months later slap the blower on and your good to go.

68mustang5.0 · May 30, 2005

thanks guys

Sick96Stang · May 30, 2005

68mustang5.0 said:
yeah the car has 100k on it, and thats what we were discussing yesterday, hes plans are to get the most out of it with the 5k he has and can get another 2k by the end of the year.thats another issue we were discussing if the stock short block will handle that kind of power,how much would a rebuild long block with pi heads cost???i know just an estimate to get an idea on how much it will take??u think 5k will cover for that??this will probably be the best for now and than in 6 months drop a charger with 8 psi.well thanks for the replys and if u guys have any ideas hit me up.

Yea 100K I give u 5 runs down the track at 8 psi before the motor blows on a stock bottom end. As far as for a built longblock your looking at a good 6-8K just for the built longblock. VT engine sells GT street longblock for just under $7K you can look on there website and see what comes with that. It would be an awesome foundation for a very powerful car. With that and a PI intake you could turn the boost up to at least 12 PSI at least and it would still run good the motor at least I cant promise anything about the transmission and clutch. Another option to check out would be fox lake. The fastest 2v NA uses alot of fox lakes. Few prices for you Stage 2 P&P PI heads from them is gonna run you a little under 2K and u can get a forged short block from them for $3K. PI Intake is only $150 from www.oemfordparts.com thats right around your 5K area and you have a nice built forged short block with some awesome P&P PI heads, and now u are ready for when u get the money for the blower.

need more power!!!

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