Put a Whipple High output on it at 10PSI and blow it up.
Put a Roush 445 on it and make 360-400 RWHP.
Put a Kenne Bell or Roush TVS or whipple with an appropriate pulley on it and you can make 400-450 -600+ RWHP, enjoy it, and have room to grow.
Do your homework, find a good tuner, and do it up.
What would I do?
I have a Roush 445 (got a great deal).
Doing it all over again I would go with either a Roush TVS2300 or a whipple...put a big pulley on the S/C (or a smaller pulley on the crank) to control the boost and make 450-460 RWHP since your internals are not forged.
Search for NastyStang's setup...that is how I would do it.
What would I do?
I have a Roush 445 (got a great deal).
Doing it all over again I would go with either a Roush TVS2300 or a whipple...put a big pulley on the S/C (or a smaller pulley on the crank) to control the boost and make 450-460 RWHP since your internals are not forged.
Search for NastyStang's setup...that is how I would do it.
Ok, big question: What would you do with a stock engine to beef it up, to handle max power from a whipple or KB? Then what happens with the rear end? All of these questions are keeping me from putting a blower on my car. I don't want to blow the engine and then wish I'd put 3K into it BEFORE I put the blower on it.
What do you think? I'm ready to pull the engine myself and have it shipped off for improvement, then put the blower on...my car does sit around in the winter, I'd have the time.
Doc
First of all, how crazy do you want to get? What are you planning on doing with the car? As long as the car is TUNED PROPERLY, these engines can handle nearly 500HP (425-450 being pretty safe). Detonation caused by poor tuning or insufficent fuel can kill an engine pretty quickly though. The newer TVS superchargers are much more efficent and have better cooling, resulting in lower intake air temperatures, and safer boost. Point being, that unless you want to get really extreme, don't be scared of using any of the proven, well engineered, kits that are available. Boost can be easily changed by pullies and a tune.
But, to answer the question, A rebuild kit using forged internals (make it a 5.0 while you're at it), ARP hardware and a stud girdle would be a good start. To make the really big numbers, balance is the key. Blueprinted & balanced bottom end, and a beefed up valvetrain to push the rev limit.
The rear ends are pretty strong. The only real improvement would be chromoly axle shafts. Good drivetrain investments would be a stage 2+ or stage 3 clutch and a one piece aluminum driveshaft.
There are also several companies that offer drop in, turnkey solutions with a built engine and supercharger as a complete package. If you have around $12K to spend
Any reason why you would go with the roush over the saleen at 5-6 lbs?
Dan
You are totally right about the trans. I have a SPEC Stage 3+ clutch and flywheel, 4 inch aluminum one piece driveshaft and a built rear-end. My trans lasted one day behind the Kenne Bell. I had it rebuilt by a guy I saw on eBay for $2000. EXTREME 3650 is what I got.
Saleen makes nice blowers, no doubt about that.
The reason I suggested Roush TVS, Whipple, and Kenne Bell is future upgrade ability.
If you are wired like I am...whatever power you make is never enough...so if you go with the three I mentioned you can later forge your internals (crank, connecting rods, and pistons) and maybe do a 302 bore / stroke while you are at it, and then turn the boost up on your supercharger via pulley swaps and make 500-600 RWHP.
The problem with a blower like I have ( Roushcharger - eaton M90) is that it is maxxed out and you are stuck around the 400 RWHP range.
The Saleen might net you low 400's and up to 450 or so with full long-tube exhaust, but I am talking about bang for buck blower only...so again I say go with Roush TVS, Whipple, or KB.
If you are only interested in drag racing you might also like a centrifugal (Paxton, Vortech) which makes great power for less money but they do have to spool up a bit compared to a roots or screw type blower.
The TVS and the Saleen blowers are both 2.3L, IIRC. The saleen should be at least as efficient, or more, being a TS design. With a pulley change on the Saleen you can make ~7, 9, 11, or more PSI, at 11 you'd push 500 RWHP with the right supporting mods, more with all of the bolt-ons. The most I've ever heard of is from JDMs saleen powered cars, they have pushed 700 RWHP with them.
I'm more of a corner-carver, so power isn't the most important thing to me, though like you I always want more... But I think all I would really want is in the 400-450 RWHP range, and the most complete kit I can find in that power range with the best price is really the Magnacharger, which I think is a 1.8 liter hybrid roots blower (similar to, but smaller than the TVS).
Dan
Nice safe setup is somewhat subjective.
If your engine is stock from the factory, you're throwing a big question mark into this. Ford rolls off an awful lot of 3v engines every year, and while I'm not trying to put down their fantastic build quality, the engine was meant to handle 300hp, and they do a damn job of getting out all of our cars to that off the showroom floor. More or less, most of the products inside the motor are the cheapest ones around, compared to the aftermarket, as Ford is building on a tight budget (which is one of the reasons why they're nowhere near as bad as Chrysler and GM). That's not to say you won't blow the motor up at 320hp or 350hp, because the parts have some room for increased power, but how high that goes is anybody's guess, and ultimately you're voiding your warranty. No matter how safe your timing, air fuel, boost level, fuel pressure, air inlet temps, ... etc are, you're leaving it all to fate.
Now I'm not saying that to scare you, but there are a bunch of things that could happen, some of them are within your control, some of them are not.
With that said, there are a lot of supercharger choices available to you, and the best depends on what you'd like to get out of the car, and what you'd like to do with your car.
The positive displacement (roots/twin-screw/tvs) blowers are fantastic cars off the line, with your boost only a mash of the gas away. If you're more of a street racer, you may be happier with this setup. They make great numbers, and acceleration is greatly improved, and if you love the sound of the 03/04 Cobras or 07+ Shelby GT500s, this will have that same screeching with almost no sound to give you away to your potential kills. The torque and power peaks earlier in the rpm band, and are right there when you shift into the next gear.
The centrifugal superchargers are also a great blower, which are (arguably) are better suited for drag racing. For the most part, boost for boost/pound for pound, these make bigger numbers, and their power is felt later on in the power band as the boost level is a function of the engine speed... the longer you stay on it, the more power it makes. If you're finding yourself standing on the pedal for highway top speed runs or 1/4 mile runs, this might be your guy since you're spending quite a lot of time at the upper rpms.
Pricewise, they're both similar (however centri blowers are usually a little cheaper), and the modifications they both need are also similar, so it's really down to what works for your budget. If you're on a real budget, it's hard to go wrong with the centrifugal blowers, with some people offering them for less than $2800 *cough* us *cough* There's also really no wrong answer, as whichever path you choose, you'll gain a lot of power.