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what do you need to make N/A 300rwhp?

3K views 30 replies 11 participants last post by  tripleblack 
#1 ·
well, the title mostly says what i have to ask. i'd like to have 300rwhp b4 april. maybe a little more but i want to get over that mark without a supercharger, heads and cams. anyone out there have a real recipe i could use to make 300 or so rwhp?
 
#2 ·
Not sure its possible. I see Mustangs on this site that claim 275rwhp with: CAI, cat-back exhaust, h\x pipe, plenum, throttle body, and SCT tune. You may be able to chang pullies for a few more hp but I'm not sure you can hit 300rwhp with bolt-ons. I dont think there is much more you can do as far as bolt-ons, unless you are considering NOS. If you think of any I forgot remind me.
 
#5 ·
supercharger would kill the point of N/A... well, i was thinking throttle body, plenum, tune, diff sparkplugs and wires?... what about intake manifolds?.. id like to hear what ppl think on this one.
 
#8 ·
i'll have a full exhaust come march 17th.. i've got the tuner in the mail coming..
 
#9 ·
how easy are pullies to put on? thats a simple 1-2hour driveway job right?
 
#12 ·
yea becuause its and OHC, youre gonna need to pull the top half of your engine apart... probably not the best driveway job. more like a day job; but VERY well worth it. new pullies n cams are good!!
 
#13 ·
well i was thinking pullies are the gears that the belt goes on. correct me if im wrong. thats the point of UDP right? use smaller pullies on the altenator and a/c... can we get a little help from a made member or a forums moderator?
 
#15 ·
Hopefully stlwagon chimes in, he's got them, they are only good for a few ponies at the most.
 
#14 ·
there are three pulleis-crank,waterpump and the alt but two things.1 get a one peice crank pulley not the piggy back one and most of the time the alt pulley is the same as the factory one.
 
#16 ·
so who makes a good set that you will actually see a little power gain?
 
#17 ·
march is one of the few companys to make a one peice pulley so id go with them. but save ur money just put cams,a good set of heads and a good lower intake on it, wish i would of or bought a supercharger instead.now i have to save 3400 for a vortec :happydance:
 
#18 ·
Bolts ons are a waste of money and you will not feel any gain from them.

Pulleys and throttle body spacers do pretty much nothing. Until I see a dyno test that proves otherwise, I'm not budging.

The only things that will really free up some power on your car without a power adder or heads/cams are.. uh... NOTHING.

You can spend 4000$ on stupid little bolt-ons, add up the "claimed hp gain" and you might see a 5hp difference total. Exhausts get you 5hp at most. O/R pipes get you 5hp at most. (this is N/A we're talking about)

See, all of those bolt-ons do nothing but free air restrictions. When your engine is N/A, they do nothing. When your engine is FI, those bolt-ons DO make somewhat of a difference.

Unless you're willing to buy a power adder, heads, cams, or a different rotating assembly, you're stuck with your stock 245rwhp Mustang. I can try to dig up a few articles on bolt-ons. One place bought every possible bolt on (not heads, cams, or a power adder). They dyno'd at 270rwhp. Wow, 4000$ for 25hp? WASTE OF MONEY
 
#19 ·
dont get me wrong, im doing heads, cams, and a blower.. i just want to knock off all the bolt ons first. that way when im blown racing a blown stang... i have the extra bolt ons to beat him.
 
#20 ·
Bolted



OK...

1. Underdrive Pulleys. These go on the shelf as soon as you add a LOT of stereo or ANY supercharger. Suggestion: If you are going with the supercharger in the future, skip this one. If you MUST do this, look at March or Steeda (and yes, the one piece crank pulley is the only way to go). Avoid raw aluminum parts at all cost.

2. Throttle Body. 75mm for top end wot advantage, but it will respond a little softer down low. Excellent with power adders and a strong N/A build. Suggestion: This one can be done any time, and should work with most future plans.

3. Upper intake plenum. These also go on the shelf as soon as you add a positive displacement (kennebell, whipple, saleen, roush, etc) supercharger. Suggestion: If you are going with the KB blower, skip this one too. If you MUST do this, consider port-matching the plenum to match the tb and the lower intake. This way you get 4 hp instead of just 3 on a stock motor.

4. CAI. These ALSO go on the shelf with many superchargers! I like K&N, JLT, and DenseCharger (Tuneable Induction).

5. Intake Manifold. I like the HardBall'n intake best, but the Trick Flow looks like a quality piece as well. Pricey selection, and AGAIN, these hit ebay if you elect a positive displacment blower.

6. Full Exhaust. Of all Mustangs, the 99-04 cars benefit (horsepower) the LEAST from exhaust upgrades. Amazing, but true. They are also harder to install (the LT's and starter installs are infamous) than on virtually any other era Mustang. Very little access room, ample opportunity to strip bolt holes in the aluminum heads, and the norm is to end up with exhaust leaks UNLESS you drop the K member, etc, etc, etc. Cost is a ton for what you get in hp, and hp gains are small (very small with anything less than LT's and X-pipe).

7. Big MAF. Unnecessary for the stock bolt-on motor. Same with larger fuel injectors, larger fuel pump, etc.

In the case of a KB install, the kit COMES with most of the appropriate bolt-on mods needed for it to perform, with the exception of the exhaust (and yes, THIS is where the upgraded LT headers and free flowing exhaust will finally pay the dividends it could not deliver on the stock motor).

Things like suspension and brake upgrades WILL help make the difference when 2 otherwise comparable cars compete, and these WILL make you run faster - but won't add any power to the car at all.

Make the plan, make the key choices, establish your goals, but don't assume a given bolt on (or list of bolt ons) will match every decision regarding the serious stuff when forged goodies start to go inside and expensive blowers start to bolt to the outside!

stan
 
#22 ·
so i just bought hood pins. not really a hp adder. but my favorite store has them on sale 15% off so i couldnt resist. they were like $30. if anyone else is interested its CJ Pony Parts - Ford Mustang Parts but its only today. some kind of metal mania sale...
 
#23 ·
What tripleblack said.
 
#24 ·
Yea, I don't see 300rwhp without cams and or ported heads, unless you change out pistons and make the thing 11:1 compression. Then your looking at premium fuel and no supercharging, so thats out. The long tubes will help alot, the Steeda pullys are top notch but a waste as stated before if you plan on a s/c. About the only things smart to go at this point are the long tubes and maybe the pleneum and 75mm tb if your going with a centrifical and not a roots blower. You could also get a new lower intake, P51, trickflow, FRPP Bullitt, and I think Professional Products makes one too. Heck you may as well just rebuild the whole engine because if eventually you will have ported heads and cams then you won't be able to push a lot of boost because you'll just blow the stock bottom end. If your staying with the stock bottom end then don't waste your cash on any more bolt ons, the right supercharger will get you to the limit (about 400rwhp).
 
#26 ·
Ditto

I forgot about the P51, FoxLake, good guys, good work, do excellent head/port jobs...

Well said, dollarbill, well said!

PP does make an aluminum intake, essentially an aluminum version of the stock nylon. Its not bad, and its the cheapest - but I'd rank them:

1. Hardball'r
2. Trick Flow
P51 (tie, mainly because the P51 is ugly, though I think it flows)
4. PP/Typhoon

If all you have to spend is $400, though, the Typhoon is the only player in that lot.

Yea, I don't see 300rwhp without cams and or ported heads, unless you change out pistons and make the thing 11:1 compression. Then your looking at premium fuel and no supercharging, so thats out. The long tubes will help alot, the Steeda pullys are top notch but a waste as stated before if you plan on a s/c. About the only things smart to go at this point are the long tubes and maybe the pleneum and 75mm tb if your going with a centrifical and not a roots blower. You could also get a new lower intake, P51, trickflow, FRPP Bullitt, and I think Professional Products makes one too. Heck you may as well just rebuild the whole engine because if eventually you will have ported heads and cams then you won't be able to push a lot of boost because you'll just blow the stock bottom end. If your staying with the stock bottom end then don't waste your cash on any more bolt ons, the right supercharger will get you to the limit (about 400rwhp).
 
#25 ·
hey since i have this SCT on the way to my place.. what kind of power gain should i be looking at? i know the websites and other stuff say 20rwhp.. but i dont believe that. did i just spend 400 bucks for 5rwhp?
 
#27 ·
Power



20hp (not rwhp) is unlikely, imo, with a stock car. If you do manage this feat, with a dyno slip to prove it, show it to us!

You WILL get better response and a power pickup (more like 5-10 rwhp) with the canned tune (which is really quite good for stock or near-stock Mustangs).
 
#28 ·
5-10... hmm.. what do you think about an accufab 75mm throttle body? im not doing the plenum because of future plans.
 
#31 ·
Response



Don't discount the "response" gains. This is TIME (vs horsepower), and means more than you think. You feel it every time you hit the throttle or change gears, that little hesitation while the stock tune sorts out what you want. The Diablo or SCT tune does away with much of this, and you will be able to feel it (at first - pretty soon, we get used to any improvement and start to crave more - its a Mustanger thing).
 
#29 ·
Hello, my name is David but on the boards I'm know as Ruzman. I have a 2000 GT 5 speed manual and the only mods that I have worth mentioning are the following:
1. Bassani X-pipe w/Bassani quiet thunder cats-back (3" tips)
2. FRPP 3.73 gears
3. Diablosport Predator Tune
4. Suncoast Creations functional ram-air hood w/K&N filter (pretty much cosmetic since ram-air does nothing but allow a tiny bit of cooler air into the airbox. Doubtful if ANY hp gain.)
5. Bullitt suspension upgrade
These mods have dyno'd my Stang only 233hp and that was with a rich fuel reading at the time. Like said above for the most part the quickest, easiest way to gain 300+ hp on our engines is to supercharge or turbo charge them.
-Ruz
 
#30 ·
Aod?

Sounds about right for a stock GT with a 5 speed. Figure a 10-12% power loss in the drivetrain, 230-235 rwhp would be normal. With your mods, I would have been looking for more like 245 if the car were in tune. If you were running too rich, it hurt your power production a little. Must have offset the effects of the X-pipe, CAI and the tuner, unless you have an AOD (that power rating would be about right for your car with those mods through an AOD).



Hello, my name is David but on the boards I'm know as Ruzman. I have a 2000 GT 5 speed manual and the only mods that I have worth mentioning are the following:
1. Bassani X-pipe w/Bassani quiet thunder cats-back (3" tips)
2. FRPP 3.73 gears
3. Diablosport Predator Tune
4. Suncoast Creations functional ram-air hood w/K&N filter (pretty much cosmetic since ram-air does nothing but allow a tiny bit of cooler air into the airbox. Doubtful if ANY hp gain.)
5. Bullitt suspension upgrade
These mods have dyno'd my Stang only 233hp and that was with a rich fuel reading at the time. Like said above for the most part the quickest, easiest way to gain 300+ hp on our engines is to supercharge or turbo charge them.
-Ruz
 
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