New 4.6L Owner, have some n00b questions...

ocelot · May 20, 2005

I'm picking up my 96' GT tomorrow and i've got some questions before more mods begin. Basically the car only has a K&N intake, an off-road H-pipe, flowmaster catback, and a short shifter. Based on this, what would you guys say the next step is as far as bolt-ons go? I've been reading about throttle bodies, MAF's, and some chips, but I have no idea what ones are the best for my car and which will give me the best performance increases. What are your suggestions as far as my next mods go and how much net gain they will get me.

Also, i'm interested in what you guys think the car will run on the 1/4 mile and 1/8 mile the way it is now. Theres a 1/4 mile track pretty close to me, and a 1/8 mile track really close to where i'll be going to school after the summer, so i'm curious to see around what times i'll get. From what I understand, the car stock runs around a 15 second 1/4 mile?

Thanks for the help,
Brian

streetstang03 · May 20, 2005

you NEED to do the full PI heads/intake/cam swap along with a good tune. Add some VT stage I cams while you have the motor apart and you'll be beating 99+ GTs easily. thats going to be the best bang for your buck. with that, you may be able to get right around 300 rwhp. then, focus on gears, maybe some suspension/sticky tires and then save up for a blower or nitrous.

and you are correct about the 1/4 time.

Barrier · May 20, 2005

Lots of people talk about a PI head swap, but thats quite costly... you could always go supercharger, also very costly but many give the Ken Bell 1.7l twin screw very high regards...

If you want a cheap fix get a new gear set... gears cost around 150 and if you dont do it yourself, look at around 450-600.. get either 3.73s or 4.10s, the higher you go, the less efficient and more acceleration you'll get (less traction )

COramprat · May 20, 2005

Last question first...yes it is about a 15 second car with the mods. Stock about 15.2. If you are lucky you may break very high 14's...but generally those mods are only adding a few HP. If you really want a kick bump the gears to 3.73's or 4.10's (4.10's on mine). That will give you the "go factor" you want. Another thing about the 96's is if the intake manifold hasn't been swapped for the one with the aluminum crossover it will probably crack evetually and leak coolent. Look under the hood and see if the thermostat housing is plastic or aluminum.

Adding the throttle body and plenum on my car didn't really do anything as far as my SOP factor. Niether did new coil packs but I guess if i had dyno'd after each mod I may have seen an increase. Check out my garage and fel free to ask questions about any of my mods you see.

streetstang03 · May 20, 2005

Barrier said:
Lots of people talk about a PI head swap, but thats quite costly... you could always go supercharger, also very costly but many give the Ken Bell 1.7l twin screw very high regards...

If you want a cheap fix get a new gear set... gears cost around 150 and if you dont do it yourself, look at around 450-600.. get either 3.73s or 4.10s, the higher you go, the less efficient and more acceleration you'll get (less traction )

gears....dont do it yourself unless you absolutly know what you're doing. if you havent done gears before, get someone else to do it. the blower is going to get you the power you want easiest, but IMO, with a 96-98 GT, i would want to do the PI swap to get all the hp out of the car I could. A vortech s/c'ed non-pi GT "only" puts down about 350 rwhp.

ocelot · May 20, 2005

Thanks for the info. Everyone i've talked to seems to tell me to go for a head swap, but how much is that going to cost me approx? I'm actually a rotary guy so i've got the basic intake/exhaust/fuel knowledge, but when it comes to heads, cams, etc. i'm lost so I probably wouldn't do it myself and I imagine it would be quite costly in the end. Anyone have approx #'s? I'm a college student so chances are i'll stick to small bolt-ons until I can actually afford mods, so any suggestions in that area?

ocelot · May 20, 2005

Oh, also about how much on my 1/4 mile will the 4.10 gears cut off?

adrift · May 20, 2005

You can get a PI manifold kit here http://www.livernoismotorsports.com/product.phtml?p=457 for about $650... which isn't cheap exactly, but it's probably worth it I'd imagine.

Steve777 · May 20, 2005

Do the gears first. Very inexpensive compared to the PI swap. Once you learn to drive without spinning too much, 4.10s would knock around .4 or so off your 1/4. I would do that before the headswap and see how you like the feel. Then decide if you really want to toss $1200+ more into it. After the gears, I would suggest just the PI intake swap if you don't want to spend a lot more money. The intake swap would be cheap as well, but will get you about 20 hp - a considerable gain for the price. Those two mods combined and your car will breathe a lot better and feel much quicker too.

COramprat · May 20, 2005

Headswap can be done cheaply if you buy used parts. Probbably around 4-500 BUT that is if you do it yourself. Gears done at a shop should run no more than 400...

ocelot · May 20, 2005

As far as the 4.10 gears go, what kind of effects am I looking at? I've seen the videos posted that go through all the driving RPMs and driving situations that gave me a pretty good idea of how the driving will be with the new gearing, but i've heard stuff about decreased gas milage, uncalibrated speedometers, and vibration of the driveshaft. Any/all of these true? Also, what's usually cheaper, just getting the gear by itself and having them swapped, or swapping the whole thing? Any places that sell the gears cheap or is it best getting them used?

myg- · May 20, 2005

go here:
http://www.powerheads.com/headswap.html

COramprat · May 20, 2005

For gears get them new. They usually run about 180-200. Check around the on-line sites for best prices or pick up a Mustang mag and check the ads. Another 200 or less for the install.

Some do experience vibration in the driveshaft (I did but mine was a bad u-joint).

As far as gas mileage I lost MAYBE a mile per gallon and that's pushing it. Around town it could increase because you will be shifting into higher gear sooner. Don't expect it though if you are like me...I tend to nail it pretty often.

Your speedo will need to have a Speedcal connected to correct the speedo/odometer. There is a plastic gear you can use but it is still off by about 10% and only lasted me a year before it chewed itself to bits. A chip or computer flash won't fix the speedo on 96's so these two are your only options.

mity2 · May 21, 2005

Barrier said:
Lots of people talk about a PI head swap, but thats quite costly...

may be costly, but for the money it take(+- $1500 or so?) amd power u get(+- 45hp?), i think its performance bargen. what other mods for $1500 gives u that much increase in power that does not reqire bottle to be filled once in a while?

Mike97gt · May 21, 2005

PI headswap is the way too go with the 96-98's

Erskine · May 21, 2005

coramprat said:
Last question first...yes it is about a 15 second car with the mods. Stock about 15.2. If you are lucky you may break very high 14's...but generally those mods are only adding a few HP. If you really want a kick bump the gears to 3.73's or 4.10's (4.10's on mine). That will give you the "go factor" you want. Another thing about the 96's is if the intake manifold hasn't been swapped for the one with the aluminum crossover it will probably crack evetually and leak coolent. Look under the hood and see if the thermostat housing is plastic or aluminum.

Adding the throttle body and plenum on my car didn't really do anything as far as my SOP factor. Niether did new coil packs but I guess if i had dyno'd after each mod I may have seen an increase. Check out my garage and fel free to ask questions about any of my mods you see.

i did mid 14 stock with a 2.0 60'. all about if u can drive or not and i never powershift it cause i think that is retarted

2000 blown conv · May 21, 2005

streetstang03 said:
you NEED to do the full PI heads/intake/cam swap along with a good tune. Add some VT stage I cams while you have the motor apart and you'll be beating 99+ GTs easily. thats going to be the best bang for your buck. with that, you may be able to get right around 300 rwhp. then, focus on gears, maybe some suspension/sticky tires and then save up for a blower or nitrous.

and you are correct about the 1/4 time.

Yep,,that's the first ting I'd do,

2000 blown conv · May 21, 2005

coramprat said:
Last question first...yes it is about a 15 second car with the mods. Stock about 15.2. If you are lucky you may break very high 14's...but generally those mods are only adding a few HP. If you really want a kick bump the gears to 3.73's or 4.10's (4.10's on mine). That will give you the "go factor" you want. Another thing about the 96's is if the intake manifold hasn't been swapped for the one with the aluminum crossover it will probably crack evetually and leak coolent. Look under the hood and see if the thermostat housing is plastic or aluminum.

Adding the throttle body and plenum on my car didn't really do anything as far as my SOP factor. Niether did new coil packs but I guess if i had dyno'd after each mod I may have seen an increase. Check out my garage and fel free to ask questions about any of my mods you see.

Dude,,let me tell you somthing,,That plastic intake will take more than you can throw at it on your car,,except a shot of nitrous from a cheap dry kit backfiring in it . For the power mods he is asking about,,plastic intake is good for low end torque,,as long as you get the air flowing through better...I'm runnin over 450RWHP on my car and I still run plastic intake..He neees to work on the air intake system 1st then tweak the exhaust with a nice set of long tubes, then start looking for some juice for cheap power or a blower,, and he"ll be laughin running 12's at the track while you"re still runnin' 14's..and prob. for the same money you spent.. :I'm not sure about stock gear in that year but 4:10's with street tires is way too much gear for a power adder.unless he plans on runnin a 28" slick or E/T street. 3:55 or 3:73 would be perfect..Give this guy some good info..

BCB00GT · May 21, 2005

To save money and have a nice TQ streetable car, I would get the FRPP supecharger. They are not very popular, but having driven one, they are a blast. The install is easy (you can do it yourself), gets rid of the plastic intake, and doesn't really need a gear swap.

Barrier · May 21, 2005

mity2 said:
may be costly, but for the money it take(+- $1500 or so?) amd power u get(+- 45hp?), i think its performance bargen. what other mods for $1500 gives u that much increase in power that does not reqire bottle to be filled once in a while?

Never said it wasnt worth the money Just saying theres a good deal of money involved..

New 4.6L Owner, have some n00b questions...

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