Talked to AMP PERF... what do you think of their recomendation?

To answer your question.....and this is only my opinion....

I think the number one reason why CAI's/TB/Plenum mods are bought is by ignorance....I would say by in large, a majority of people do not research before they buy and go off of manufacture and or magazine claims/ads..

As for the educated stangnet population I would suggest the following....

-as an appearance mod
-as support for other modifications (like what I did)
-making a mistake by being impulsive (despite knowing better) and not wanting
to wait to save $$$ for more worthy mods.

I myself can only say that from my own personal experience I've found opinions can vary greatly from the facts, but stay consistent when looking at the source.... Places like THR and major parts pushers all make claims that they cannot substantiate to push the parts out, and it does work. I've heard what I know now to be outrageous suggestions of power when talking to these people and know their comments to be far from fact. They make their money by selling products for a cheap price to the relatively uneducated masses....they are NOT held accountable and people will not come knocking on their door if the pulley CAI mod doesn't make 20hp. I would assume 99% of people they do sell to anyway will never see a dyno and won't catch on anyway....in that case those people are happy regardless....ignorance is bliss i suppose...

On the flipside of that...I've also talked to shops that have all given me consistent information similair to what you will find on stangnet, and what you've seen people in this thread have given. When doing my first round of mods I spoke with the boys over at VT engines, Steen Racing, Sniper, Patriot, just to name a few. The information they gave was not an opinion, but factual information substantiated by years of first hand product testing. It is these sources that have to answer to a customer when they lay out money, no matter it be a hundred dollars or ten thousands based on their advise. It is only their reputation that they rely on. Which is why you will not walk into one of them and have them recomend a CAI TB and Plenum mod with your first spent monies on a stock car.

As for the population here on stanget...99% of people have nothing to gain by giving bad advise, and have probably sometime in the past learned the hard way on parts purchases as well.....You can see real quick from someone's post if they are genuine or just here to run off at the mouth and be a pretender. Most people here, although not having hard numbers like me, have been able to substantiate many things they convey based on conversations and facts given to them by those in the know....

It seems maybe you've had bad experiences on other boards? But I can honeslty say this is one of the best BS free forums that you'll find, and actually a rather tight knit little community...If I were you, I WOULD NOT take everyone's word here as gospel, but having that lead you to doing research, you will find that in alsmost all circumstances, the info given to you here was dead on....giving what people are telling you here the credence and respect they've earned in my book!

just my .02


Noted and, may I say, worth more than the .02!:nice:

Thank You!

John
 
Magazine article I just came across so take it for what it's worth but their HP claims sure fell close to my original ones!

BBK Bolt On's - Bang for the Buck
PHR's Project Mustang Gets BBK Bolt-ons
By Cameron Evans


Taking a little time off is often a good thing, and in the case of PHR's Project Mustang, it's been a great thing. For a few months, it was crazy around the Tech Center, scheduling what modifications would come next. Taking a little time to think through what really needed to happen next helped us to come up with better plans and more isolated testing.

Rather than make huge, expensive changes right away, we focused on making a little power under the hood that could be easily replicated and afforded. Thanks to three simple systems from BBK Performance Products, we nailed it. The results were amazing, not in that they made giant power but that they made big gains for such basic modifications. Moreover, each of the changes will make for a better package as our modifications get deeper. Each system retails for under $200, so that's a big plus!

The parts here are all very basic bolt-ons, performed with common hand tools in your driveway (and that's a rarity these days). The first thing that we took on was the pulley, BBK Performance Underdrive Pulley Set, for 2001 and up 4.6L GTs and Cobras (PN 1559). The system slows down the front accessories just enough to give you back some power but not so much as to cause cooling or electrical issues. Included are aluminum replacement pulleys for the alternator, water pump and crankshaft, with the latter being the only tricky one to install (it presses on after a bath in hot water). If you would have told us that we could get almost 12hp and over 12lb-ft more at the rear wheels from just this swap, we would have told you that you were nuts! The DynoJet proved it, as did the seat of the pants feel. We ran a few 20-minute road course sessions at a NASA Track Day in Las Vegas with this setup and saw no cooling rise or voltage drop. So if that's not an endorsement, we don't have one for you!

The next to find its place was the throttle body, the most basic swap of all. We often get letters asking why the OEMs don't sell vehicles with bigger throttle bodies in the first place (if they help to make so much power), and the answer is expense.

Look under the hood of various makes, models, and years, and you'll see that they often share a similar setup. When they build your new GT (or GTO for the GM set), the cost savings is important right down to pennies, both in terms of their profit and your final purchase price. A custom throttle body for each vehicle would cut into both, and that's why a stock Mustang GT has a 65mm unit in place. Now BBK does sell a Throttle Body Assembly for the 1996-03 4.6L 2V GT (PN 1700), but it's designed for when it's about the only thing you're going to change. So we went with the 75mm unit (PN 1701). We found a little better throttle response and a gain at the rear wheels of 4.3 hp and 3.3 lb-ft. Not bad, but I'm sure it'll show its true colors once we get that ProCharger system on board. If we get time, we'll try the blower kit with the throttle body to show you just what we mean.

Finally, we strapped on the BBK Cold Air Induction System for 1996-'02 4.6L GTs. It is one of the better looking systems that we've seen, not to mention that it made the most dramatic appearance change so far. This new part (PN 1718) replaces the factory air box, increases under hood noise a bit, and actually makes it sound like a little as if you have a turbo when you step on and off the gas. The system comes with a real K&N filter and its fender well intake insures that the air is as clean and cold as it's going to get without a bunch of plumbing. We achieved a gain of 9.8hp and 13.2lb-ft of torque on the chassis dyno with this final install, but we think the throttle body really started working better once this cold air system was in place--the two work together.

Overall, we went from making 225.5hp and 263.2lb-ft to generating 249.2hp and 263.2lb-ft with the three bolt-ons working together. When you consider a 15 to 20 percent loss from the flywheel horsepower ratings that is incredible.

We took the Project PHR Mustang out to "Fontucky" for a little testing and the results were a great surprise. California Speedway's parking lot is wide open, and that's where we did our baseline tests, so know that traction is a little limited on launch. Initially, our stock 4.6L SOHC GT (with the Maximum Motorsports suspension system, and K-member already on board) could only muster a 15.17 in the quarter at 93.02 mph, but with our bolt-ons we went 14.42 at over 98 mph! That is a serious increase for such simple mods, friends. Our 0-60 mph increase was significant, too, as we went from 7.09 seconds down to 6.12 seconds!

These numbers should drop dramatically again once we get BBK's longtube headers and crossover pipe on board. Let's not forget the Magnaflow exhaust system, either. We were going to install new COMP camshafts after that, but it looks like the ProCharger system is going to be next. We'll have to remove the cold air system to make the blower arrangement work, but we'll be adding a Superchips custom chip and a Granatelli Motorsports mass air meter, which should really wake this thing up!


So let's see now, with the bolt ons that they used they gained roughly 24hp and 28lb-ft of torque! Keep in mind they didn't bolt on a plenum so let's throw a measly gain of 3 hp on this piece so that noone gets their panties in a bunch claiming I'm making "idiotic" claims! This would bring our HP total to 27hp! With LT's let's be conservative and claim 15hp gain. Grand total? 42hp!

Yup! Doesn't work!

John
 
magazine articles should be takin with a grain of salt....

I guess, you win, you know it all, and we all need to learn from your experience.:rlaugh:

Thank god that we now have a member with such vast experience with 2v's
 
Noted and, may I say, worth more than the .02!:nice:

Thank You!

John


Did you even read what I said? I can't believe you posted that. Your post is the exact reason why the masses go out and buy that stuff. I have alot of toys and look at lots of magazines and I can tell you that the stang mags are by far the absolute worst most unobjective pieces of garbage out there.

They are off in la la land, it's not the real world. They're good for looking at pictures then whiping your azz


You will learn the hard way then, and there's no problem with that, it's not my money :shrug:

then, you'll come back and say damn...maybe next time I'll lend some credence to people that are trying to help me improve my car. In the meantime, I truly hope you don't clout any other new members on this site coming here looking for help.:notnice:
 
Magazine article I just came across so take it for what it's worth but their HP claims sure fell close to my original ones!

So let's see now, with the bolt ons that they used they gained roughly 24hp and 28lb-ft of torque! Keep in mind they didn't bolt on a plenum so let's throw a measly gain of 3 hp on this piece so that noone gets their panties in a bunch claiming I'm making "idiotic" claims! This would bring our HP total to 27hp! With LT's let's be conservative and claim 15hp gain. Grand total? 42hp!

Yup! Doesn't work!

John

HAHA What you don’t realize is that manufactures pay magazines to put that stuff in there. Do you think BBK, MAC, Trickflow or any other company would pay to have a magazine say, “We really didn’t make jack s**t for power with this product but you should still buy it.” You can go by every BS claim you want and after you wasted $500-$600 and you want to really start making power you come back and talk to us.
Tell you what you might as well buy a TB Spacer and a turbonator while you’re at it because I read in a magazine that they made like 50hp with those!! :eek:

Once again why would we lie to you about how much power this stuff makes? You need to realize you are replacing parts that flow pretty good already especially for the power your making.