What to do with $2,000

[ctkt95]

Hey guys, I have had my 95 GT for a few years now and at one time it had 4.10's, Pro-chamber, 2-chamber flows and that was pretty much it for big performance gains. It is all back to stock now because I left the car with my father when I joined the Army. I am getting the stang back in a month or so and have some deployment money burning a hole in my pocket begging to be spent on the stang.

Question is, what would you do with 2 grand to a practically stock stang. I am going to go with 3.73's for sure. I was thinking about trying to get a new intake and heads and a hi-flow catted H. Do think think all that is reasonable to do with $2,000? Also, for the heads and intake I was thinking about going with an Edelbrock performer intake and Twisted Wedge heads. Ive heard that the Typhoon intake is a knock-off of the RPM intake... Would that be a good option to keep the budget down?
Anyone have any other suggestions as to where to start off at?

 

[trav_19]

your plan sounds pretty good to me my only question would be why would your father spend the money to return the car to stock?? the time and effort in the rear end just dosent make any sense to me lol....sucks about having to start over though

 

[ctkt95]

He got a promotion in his company and they took away his company car (like that makes a lot of sense...) so he was using it as a DD for a while and had a 60 mile one way trip to work on the freeway so he didnt like the 4.10s much. I still had the stock gears and he got a great deal on the labor with the shop that works on all the vehicles for his company.

i dont mind that he returned it mostly to stock (only thing left is the pro-5.0 shifter and 2-chamber flows) because he took care of it while he had it and decided not to sell it like he almost did haha.

 

[trav_19]

well thats good he kept it lol...i guess i could see his point lol if it was my dad i would have came back and the hood would be up and the motor missing...lol hes kinda hard on things lol

 

[94GTMOOSE]

sell the car and buy and 05 or newer, you deserve it. WHO RA!!!

 

[ctkt95]

sell the car and buy and 05 or newer, you deserve it. WHO RA!!!

there is too much sentimental value in the car to ever sell it. plus, no car payment > high car payment and higher insurance.
thats the mistake a ton of soldiers do. they come home and blow their entire savings on brand new cars but then a month down the road they dont have enough money to even put gas into them because its all going towards the car payment and insurance.

 

[MustangGT95]

Buddy of mine did that. Ended up having to sell his truck cause he couldn't find a job when he came back from Iraq.

 

[final5-0]

I only know how to tell it ... like it really is

If you focus on starting the combo with heads first
which I might add
Is my most favorite way to start the whole mod thing

And if your goal 300 NA rwhp

Two Grand is not gonna go very far for a typical h/c/i combo

If you wanna build it up in steps ... money steps that is

Here is how I'd do it

Do after market heads and cam first
because
that gets the major motor tear down/back together project
out of the way, over, and done with

I'd go with some good flowing Aluminum heads
and
I had good success with a custom cam
but
If you go ots cam, do your research ... to get a good one

For the next project .............
I'd go with caled/maf and injectors

For the next project you could go intake

Do Not try to make too much power with tiny 19# inj's

Yes ... you can do the bolt on thing with tb's, rr's, ignitions,
and
all the rest ... but you won't generate any power to speak of
and
you will have spent a good bit of money in the fruitless process

Just a thought or two as I see it

Grady

 

[Hef5.0weisen]

K/N, gears, flows, and..
find a used Kenne Bell

 

[Pokageek]

You da man for defending our country.

Saveyour money on the Trick flow or edelbrocks in my o. If I did it again, I would have gobe gt40 heads and cobra intake or something. Y'all might disagree with me but the performance difference of 20-30 HP wasn't worth the price of the new heads and intake cnsidering you can get close to 270rwhp with the gt40 p's...Then you will actually have some money left over. Invest it in a mutual fund.

 

[legalize420]

You da man for defending our country.

Saveyour money on the Trick flow or edelbrocks in my o. If I did it again, I would have gobe gt40 heads and cobra intake or something. Y'all might disagree with me but the performance difference of 20-30 HP wasn't worth the price of the new heads and intake cnsidering you can get close to 270rwhp with the gt40 p's...Then you will actually have some money left over. Invest it in a mutual fund.

i dont disagree i made 270 at a local dyno day. i think with a personal dyno session i could see a little bit more. with a little bit of port work i could be close to 300 for half the price of the trickflow kit. one downside is the heads are really heavy compared to alluminum.

 

[ctkt95]

You da man for defending our country.

Then you will actually have some money left over. Invest it in a mutual fund.

Thanks, I just do what I gotta do...

Ive got plenty more cash from the deployment, 2 grand is just the starting point that i feel like blowing/spending right away haha. I want to stick with an NA set up. I have a couple deals lined up with some AFR heads that I might pick up. Would the typhoon intake work well with the AFR heads? Also, anyone have any recommendations on OTS cams? Id like to start off on somewhat of a budget and a little while down the road I plan on hopefully doing a 331 with all the works. I just want to see how close to 300hp I can get and still have it be reliable and not too much on the expensive side.

Thanks for all the tips guys.

 

[ProKiller]

a typhoon will work. i would try to get AFR 185s if you plan on stroking it later, as you won't have to buy different heads later.

I like Grady's "Path to Power"

 

[final5-0]

There is WAY more to this subject than it would at first seem

I'll just touch on the major topics

Believe Me ... I thought long and hard about the difference between
budget based oem parts combos
and
more expensive after market parts combos

I said to myself the very same thing
More money for just 15% more power

I followed through with that reasoning
and
Built my little self ported E7 combo

At that time, I would not face the fact of something I knew all along
even before
I pulled out the porting burs and die grinder

I wanted a full tilt built ... h/c/i combo at 300 or better rwhp
or
Something like the old school cars I had when I was a kid

After I went a short ways with the oem combo ........
I knew ... I NEEDED ... what I wanted
and
it then became plainly clear to me

That little best bang for the buck spent combo ......
was NOT gonna give me what I desired

Now ... I wanna point out ... I feel I got good value for the buck spent
but
I just wasn't gonna throw any more money after bad

For me ... bad ... it was ... cause ... it wouldn't make me happy

I abandoned my budget minded project!

I started my research to see .........
What I could really achieve for the additional money spent

My research showed me .................
I could use this newer technology to my advantage

Roller cams with their more aggressive ramp rates
Fuel injection along with long runner intakes
PCM's providing very adjustable fuel/spark tables
and
Some old school tricks I picked up over the years

If I could mix it all together just right ..............
It ought to give my performance goals
and
I also found I could have WAY more drivability
than
ANY of my old school combos in the past

I'm saying I saw peeps were getting it all

Low end torque
Mid range torque
Flat power to 6K
AND
Drivability

Now ... Not all NA 300rwhp combos are ... the same

True ... they all peak around 300rwhp ..........
but
It is all about how they make hp & tq to get those peaks

There is a difference
and
That difference is the possibility of what one can get .........
When they spend the additional money

Simply put ... the budget combos start to peter out
a bit above mid range
and
have to work harder to make it to the peak power we all desire

Above ... I talked about what my research showed

I have a combo that shows my research was valid
for
MY ... desired plans or goals

Summing up here

260 to 270rwhp is about average for a budget combo
300 to 325rwhp is very possible for an after market combo

Giving the budget combo 270 and the after market 312 ...........
thats a difference of 42
and
many budget combos will only make 260
so
that difference then becomes 52

A tune is gonna be necessary for .......
either choice of combo to achieve maximum hp/tq levels
so
the expense of the tune kinda hoses the budget concept
and
Thats the main reason you don't see MORE 300 budget combos

There is a reason after market stuff is more expensive!

Hey ... My research and experience showed me

I got more than I expected
and
I got my moneys worth
so
YEAH ... to me ... it was worth it

Grady

 

[Pokageek]

"260 to 270rwhp is about average for a budget combo
300 to 325rwhp is very possible for an after market combo"

Ok, apples to apples:
260 to 270rwhp is about average for a budget combo
289 to 300rwhp is about average for a after market combo

or

270 to 285rwhp is very possible for a budget combo
300 to 325rwhp is very possible for an after market combo

 

[Green 94 5.0]

i was very pleased with my oem/aftermarket combo. the n/a setup i ended up with after a ton of trial and error was a set of gt40x heads with aftermarket valves/springs, gt40 tubular intake w/ ported lower, and a trickflow stage 1 cam. that got me to 292hp and 314lb/ft. the average tfs or fti combo will get about 300hp and 300lb/ft to the wheels for a good amount more price wise. just a little food for thought from my personal experience.