Tbird vs Stang

Wow...how did I miss this thread?

Yeah, there's plenty that can be done the '96-'97 T-Birds. The engine is essentially identical to that of the '96-'98 Mustang. If feels a little slower because as BurningRubber already stated, the tune and exhaust sytem are slightly more restrictive (205hp vs. 215hp) That and the fact that the Bird clocks in at over 3,700lbs.

My car is a little more on the extreme end mods wise (there are details and video's in the link in my signature), but its hardly as far or as fast as you're able to take them. My car has an impressive list of mods, but they were unfortunately performed in anticipation of a much larger blower kit than the one that I went with. The company I bought it from went out of business right at the time I was ready to put their "Race Kit" on, so I had to settle for the street kit they still had sitting on the shelf.

At 410hp/465lb ft of torque, it still no slouch, but I could have easily gotten away without all of the exhaust mods, ignition and fuel system upgrades, ported heads, or forged short block and still made nearly the same amount of power.

If you'll check out the power adder thread over at TCCOA, you'll see that one or two guys have actually adopted the Tork Tech kit for their car. I believe blown96bird has an ongoing progress thread with pictures and details of the install.

If a power adder isn’t something that’s in the immediate future, keep in mind the car will accept all the same mods as a ’96-’04 Mustang will. That includes full PI swap. The 3.73 gears are a good idea. Your '97 will have 3.27's in it from the factory, but because of the nearly 27" tall tire our cars have, it makes them feel like 3.08's.

Another member on this site you might want to PM would be TGJ . He’s got a pretty impressive grasp of these cars as well and may have a different route for quick ET’s than my own.