Power adder(s) on a relatively stock engine

[streetstang67]

I went to the drags today and saw an incredible amount of mustangs, camaros, and even imports that were stock internal engines, with nitrous and or a supercharger/turbo thrown on. They were fast cars, but I know a lot of people frown on that approach because your still stuck with the same stock engine internally. Now, being the cheap and "organized" guy that I am, I want more power, but just as a guideline for my car, if I already spent money on something, I don't want to touch it again . So I was considering a supercharger and or nitrous. (mabye a cam, but no other internal work). The engine is a stock rebuild with a few little things (see sig.). What do you think about this whole concept?

 

[geostang351]

What have you done internally? Do you have forged pistons or cast (hyperneuticccc ????)?

 

[streetstang67]

stock rebuild, '67 289 (originally 2bbl) now 4 bbl

 

[my66coupe]

From your sig, it looks like you have yet to upgrade some components that are way cheaper than any power adder and do give you quite a bit more power. Have you done any work to your heads? If not, i strongly recommend porting, polishing and bigger valves. Matched with a good cam you can be seeing upwards of 50+ horsepower. As for power adders, I and many others will agree that any engine can be fed nitrous, a supercharder or a turbo....and run it all day with out any harm to it. The key in any power adder is proper tuning. Many think you can just slap on a nitrous kit and go run....not true. You need to upgrade many other components such as your fuel system to accompany the nitrous. Same goes for superchargers and turbos... I am running a 100 shot right now, but to use it safely and not worry about critical parts breaking, I had to upgrade to a 9" Ford rear end, a large fuel pump, fuel pressure regulators etc. This is where forced induction can get really expensive. Good luck

Mike

 

[84convertablegt]

Its all about how healthy the engine is and the amount of boost you are gonna put to it. If you have a recently rebuilt stock spec motor, it will be fine with a supercharger. The key is not to kill it with too much nitrous, boost, whatever. 6-10 lbs. of boost or a 50-100 shot of nitrous with the right amount of fuel and timing is fine for stock pistons, crank, etc. forged everything and aluminum heads is obviously better as it allows a little screw up for detonation and cylinder pressure without blowing apart a piston or a head gasket. But, as long as u are careful and limit these factors, all is good. i had a 94 cobra with a kenne bell supercharger. i had 12lbs of boost with the wrong fuel system, and on a pass down the track, i got too lean, started detonating and blew the head gasket. i wasnt careful enough, and had a stock motor with 100,000 miles on it. everything was ok, except for i blew the head gasket. u may need some kind of boost cooler, or a ignition retard device, just in case, but with the right fuel system and a limited amount of boost, u have nothing to worry about. serious racers with lots of nitrous or boost need the forged motors. some may disagree with me, but its fact as i know it.

 

[65ShelbyClone]

You can boost a stock block, but you'll need more psi to make the same power as a modded engine. Even a hypereutectic piston engine will be fine with a 6psi blower as long as you dont lean out. There was someone on the Corral that was boosting an EFI Kragen rebuilt 302(cast pistons) and actually overpowered and broke only the block.