I have a 1995 stock v6 3.8L mustang and I keep getting crap about it, saying it isn't worth it and I should buy a v8. Isn't there some way I could make it better?
I wanted to eventually put a turbocharger in it but I get mixed opinions about that, please help me out
If you are going for speed you are definately wanting a GT.
As for turbo/super. I am a turbo kinda guy. I like the feeling of "nothing nothing nothing EVERYTHING"
A supercharger will have a smoother powerband with a little less power.
A turbo will throw down a little more power but you will get peek boost at one instant (ex: 3k rpm, turbo kicks in, your back in your seat)
Any car can be fast, just takes some money! Think about it this way: the money you will be saving by not buying a GT and paying more insurance can be put into the car and you will have a project
or
The money you use to buy the GT will have a better base to work off of to improve power, or you can be fine with the ~300 HP :P
Don't let people tell you what to do. It is your car, do what you like. Granted, a turbo will be slightly more expensive as you will need to buy more parts. Enjoy your ride man
ok. thank you. So saying money isn't a problem.... but I do want to save with insurance, Could the v6 engine handle the turbo itself? If not could you tell me everything I would have to do to put the turbo in and actually have it last.
Also if you're talking about turbo lag, would a smaller turbo or wastegate be able to fix that?
so turbo i'm doing last and in the process i'm building up the engine, this way i'm not just getting it ready for the turbo, i'm making the enging better too?
any suggestions for gears... what brand of headers would you recomend?
And intake cam.... do u mean change it from a 12 valves to 24... or just put in another intake valve to each cylinder?
i would personally start with an exhaust system, build up your engine first before you go traight to the turbo,
you can go daul or single(dual makes it look better in my opinon)
then cold air intake, gears, its just a start.
if u really wanna throuw around some money, you could go with new heads, intake cam.
then when u throw the turbo on, u wont be getting any crap
you'll be giving it
What is the time frame that you think you will have your Turbo?
If you're getting it soon then DO NOT get a CAI or exhaust or they wil be useless to you. CAI's are not used when you have supercharger or turbocharger and as for the exhaust, if you get an exhaust done you're going to wish you hadn't because due to the larger intake of air from the turbo, you're going to need more room for it to "expel" itself out the exhausts. 2.5"+ are the size pipes you need for a turbo, anything smaller would create too much backpressure.
If you are absolutely serious about this project you're going to have to dish out some major cash. $2000 for a forged internal kit and + how much it will cost to get it installed if you don't want to do it yourself. Then about $3000 for a NEW turbo, you can find a used one around half that price though. Then, it's just minor cash on the little things, like gauges, dyno tune, etc.
Just make sure you know what you're getting yourself into, it's going to be a rather expensive project to do.
so turbo i'm doing last and in the process i'm building up the engine, this way i'm not just getting it ready for the turbo, i'm making the enging better too?
any suggestions for gears... what brand of headers would you recomend?
And intake cam.... do u mean change it from a 12 valves to 24... or just put in another intake valve to each cylinder?
You're making the engine stronger, yes. If you decide to go with the turbo, you're looking at something such as a stroker kit, and the most popular with v6 mustangs are the 4.2. They cost about $2000 to buy and installation is a whole separate ball game.
gears are based upon where you drive. If you drive the highway a lot, there's a gear ratio called 3.73's that are built for our stangs. If you never go on to the highway 4.10's are what you should be looking at. Both will significantly increase your off the line abilities, but, in doing so reduce fuel economy, and raise RPM's much higher when at a higher rate of speed.
You don't need headers until you get a turbo. The stock headers are free flowing as it is.
intake and a cam are two separate things. the cam is in the internals of the block and the intake is sitting right up top. The intake can be changed to a split port which will net you around 40HP. That's why the '99-'04 Mustangs have more power than the '94-'98's is because they went from single port, to multi.
ok so would I be better off just getting the CAI and doing other things to the engine than getting a turbo?
and could i still change it to a multi port if I have the CAI?
ok so would I be better off just getting the CAI and doing other things to the engine than getting a turbo?
and could i still change it to a multi port if I have the CAI?
I'm not saying that, Power adders are always the best way to go to kick some butt. They're just expensive as heck. If you have the money to spend for a turbo then I say, go right ahead, but otherwise just stick to some basic mods, like a CAI and exhaust. that's what most people have here.
yes you could still change it to split port. I'm doing that on my mustang as of right now. I'm buying all the parts and then going to slap it on. Again the split port swap is not cheap though, it'll run you about $800+ if you're buying top grade parts which I recommend you don't do otherwise.
Here's my 2 cents:
everyone gives me crap like "for what you're spending you could have a GT" Bottom line is, for what i am spending i could have a bone stock GT with no money to do mods. With this car i can modify the thing just the way i want it, and eat up some pretty nice GT's
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Here's my 2 cents:
everyone gives me crap like "for what you're spending you could have a GT" Bottom line is, for what i am spending i could have a bone stock GT with no money to do mods. With this car i can modify the thing just the way i want it, and eat up some pretty nice GT's
amen! I'm already hittin' more power than a stock GT from my year so I'm movin' on up hehe
Yeah it's a tough choice to make, I'll probably end up just doing little things so that I wont have to make the engine changes I would have to for the turbo. I think I'll do all new manifolds and exhaust system but with an exhaust that can take the turbo, that way I would only really have to change the CAI if I wanted to put in a turbo, right?
And what about a supercharger, would I have to do the same thing?
Yeah it's a tough choice to make, I'll probably end up just doing little things so that I wont have to make the engine changes I would have to for the turbo. I think I'll do all new manifolds and exhaust system but with an exhaust that can take the turbo, that way I would only really have to change the CAI if I wanted to put in a turbo, right?
And what about a supercharger, would I have to do the same thing?
As far as the exhaust that can take a turbo not a good idea. You'll lose a lot of power by open up the exhaust that much. You either have to get an exhaust for N/A or exhaust for P/A.
As for the supercharger, yes everything would be the same because you're forcing air down the cars throat basically, causing wear to increase.
Yeah you would have to do pretty much the same thing for a supercharger..
Make sure you do it right, that's all I can say. As for turbo lag, you can reduce it many ways. The easiest and best way is to do a Twin Turbo, that way (for your car) you will have 3 cylinders for each turbo, instead of 6 cylinders for 1 turbo. But the turbo lag feels awsome
I am not sure how they will work on stangs, but check out Invidia Exhaust for turbo products reguarding the exhaust :P
Internals are the main thing if you want a turbo. The exhaust will just restrict you, so youc an just take them off and run straight out of the headers (haha. dont do that :P)
Stanger 98 summed things up very well as far as what you would need to do if you went that way. But if I were you I would take a step back and do a little research into how turbos work and what it takes to properly maintain and safely run them on your engine. Here are some links that I think might help you out and give you a better understanding of how they work because adding a turbo kit is a very extensive and expensive projet:
Need help with my new Mustang 
