The road to 500 RWP (kinda long)

[boomshack]

Okay so 500 RWP is the long term goal for me on this bad boy of 2V 4.6L. Now I'm positive that I will going with a twin screw blower, KB or Whipple, I'm not sure yet. And most likely it will be intercooled. So now for the question :

Obviously, which such power level I have listed the parts of the car that will need to be beefed up or updated in order to make it a daily driver or at the very least a super reliable occasional driver. Let me know if I'm missing anything and if my ballpark pricing is anywhere near the actual prices I would be looking at.

1. Twin Screw intercooled supercharger - $4000
2. Forged Pistons - $900
3. Forged Rods - $700
4. Race Block (may not be necessary if not going over 500rwp) - $900
5. Forged Crank (may not be necessary if not going over 500rwp) - $1500
6. Full lenght Sub frame connectors - $120
7. Upper and Lower control arms - $500
8. Mach 1 suspension - $300
9. 17x9 265/40 F - 17x10.5 315/40 R - $1600 (okay this would be for looks and extra grip)
10. Upgrading to better brakes, perhaps the Cobra brakes front and rear - $1400
11. Beefed up rear axles - $1000 ?
12. Porting the heads - $700
13. Shorty headers - $400 (CA smog, gotta keep it street legal)

Grand total $14000. And that's not including labor an a good tune. Pretty depressing to look at these numbers, but let me know if I'm close to actual costs and if I'm missing anything. Thank you very much!

PS: This won't happen tomorrow but over the years. I'm guessing that if only shop does all this work it would be cheaper since they have cheaper prices for parts and could combine their labor costs.

PPS: Would a 03/04 Cobra be cheaper after a solid axle swap than all of these mods?

 

[WhiteDevil69]

PPS: Would a 03/04 Cobra be cheaper after a solid axle swap than all of these mods?
yah, unfortunately it probably would be. You wouldn't need all of that stuff right away though. I'd say, you could do the blower/IC first, then add the pistons/rods, then i'd get the rear end built up, and you'd probly be fine for a while. The tranny will probly go with 500rwhp relatively quick, so that would be next, as for the rest, they would be on a as needed basis really.. IMO, good luck,

 

[WhiteDevil69]

The main thing to realize is, you wont need the headers, ported heads, and all that to get going. You can get to 500 with a KB blower without any of that. As long as you kept the boost down initially, until you got the internals, you would be fine. Then when you get them, pulley up and crank the boost, maybe cams would be needed, but that would be all to get to 500.

 

[SteveoGT]

if ur lookin for 500 wheel horse, get a 03 blower cobra, and for 2000$ u get 500wheel. through just a cat-bat, cold air, chip, smaller pulley. its definitly worth it.

 

[Dave00GT]

Everytime I see someone ask what can I do to get xxx horsepower, I always ask the question - Why?

500rwhp is nice, but how practical is that? What is your primary goal for your car?

I've said it once and I'll say it again, horsepower is great but it doesn't do anything if you can't manage it on the ground.
Are you looking for a certain 1/4 mile time? Or do you want to Bracket race with your car?

My theory -

If you're just looking to get overall fast and lets say maybe run low 12's, then spending 14k is not necessary. A 9psi intercooled kit from KB will get you low 12's with drag slicks on a stock suspension with proper driving. Too often I see people wanting more horsepower, more horsepower - when they can't manage the horsepower they have now. Example:

2004 Mustang Cobra at the track. Nice cool night, runs 3 times. Best ET was 14.45. I was there and witnessed this marvel. I ran a 13.8 with a basically stock GT.

My point here is, if your goal is low 1/4 mile times, then leave horsepower out of the equation. At least for now. If you ran your car three times in one night and had inconsistent times, then horsepower is not your problem. With racing, particularly stock car oval track racing, one thing you hear experienced drivers always telling inexperienced drivers is this :

"Learn to drive you car before you learn to build your motor"

Just a figure of speech pointing out that a great car is only as good as the driver and likewise a great driver is only as good as his car. But the place to start is the driver. Go the track frequently and run as many times as you can. Practice a technique and stick with the technique until your track times are so close to one another that each run you KNOW what you will get at the end. From there, make a modification to the car. Go to the track several times and again work on your times. Eventually you will reach a point with each modification where you track times will not improve because of the cars performance level. Thats when it is time to make a modification. But again, only do one modification (if applicable) at a time. That way you can re-learn the car's performance all over again at the track.

I am in no way trying to knock you or say you're a bad driver. I'm just curious why so many people set a horsepower goal? I can tell you that a car with 300hp could very well defeat a car with 500hp in the 1/4 mile. And should that happen, how much horsepower will be needed then? Catch my drift?

 

[boomshack]

Dave00gt, I ain't even gonna try and lie to you and BS it...I just want it to have it...simplest reason of all. I may race, or I may not. But to me the idea of getting an engine to push its power level gets me excited. It's the same reason why hot rodders build 600hp big blocks and drop them into polished resto models they only cruise with (i'm in Cali here and the car scene is bigger than life).

Also the sheer smug factor of knowing I have the power on tap should Mr./Ms. Fancy Pants show up next to me in a Ferrari or turbo Porsche and know that I could piss them off with a $40K investment compared to their 125+K import...don't get me wrong I'm not dissing the European imports, a Porsche is in my future (hopefully not too far future ) but don't matter if I gots a Lambo in the garage (dreaming?), I'll always have the american muscle sitting there in its lowered stance and its V8 growl and its "I don't give a s**t" WOT exhaust note...that's just me...

But I do appreciate you bringing up the practical side of it.

 

[Dave00GT]

Well thats a good reason too! But if she's your daily driver, then reliability, gas mileage etc. should be considered. But I hear ya on the power option.

 

[ZaC851]

Well thats a good reason too! But if she's your daily driver, then reliability, gas mileage etc. should be considered. But I hear ya on the power option.

Yeah, reliable and 500 rwhp dont go together well.

 

[ADRENLN]

well im looking at a kb blower in the future for my car also. i dont think you have to spend that much to get it going at all. leave all the extras till later or you will have nothing left to do
my mod order is this

3.73 and aluminum d/s

fox lake p&p heads

dss built engine

kb blower/ intercooler

honestly that line up right there will put me right your $ figures, but fact of the matter is i could skip the gears, d/s and heads if i wanted to save money

do the rest later.

 

[boomshack]

Thank for the comments so far everyone!..anyone else? Oh I beleive I forgot to include the fuel system which will need to be upgraded as well.