302 quest to 300hp where am i at???

  • Sponsors (?)


Heads, cam, intake, and throttle body. Or you could go the Nitrous or Boost route.

What kind of budget you workin with?

You're biggest restriction NA right now is your intake manifold. You can get Tmoss to port the lower or buy an aftermarket one. Then the restriction is the heads. Once you get those, you can get a cam to match. Somewhere along the lines you'll want injectors and a tune, but you would need that with boost as well.
 
budget isnt to extreme looking for a budget build. what is the biggest cam i can put in stock heads? looking into gt40s should that be my next mod to go with my current set up? what ballpark hp am i in? thanks for the help LethalInjection.
 
As of right now the mods that you've done to free up HP are, exhaust and pulleys. The cold air will help a LITTLE.. You're probably somewhere between 190-215ish rwhp depending on your car and the dyno at the moment. The gears help get the car moving quicker by mechanical advantage. They also allow it to rev into the higher rpms faster to take advantage of better breathing components.

Here is a dyno from a setup similar to yours. Stocker Dyno


That being said, the factory heads on these 5.0 don't breathe very well. However, the intake manifold feeding them is even an airflow restriction to them. Right now it is the main breathing bottleneck. Have your lower ported or get an aftermarket intake manifold and you will notice quite a difference. Once you have that replaced, you're stock heads will be your bottleneck. Replace them with a better breathing set of heads. GT40's with some work on the exhaust port or a set of GT40P's. (The 40P's require attention to the type of header you use but make a little more power due to exhaust port design and the spark plug being relocated to the center of the combustion chamber to unshroud the valves and provide a more complete burn.) I would wait until you get heads and an intake to select the cam. That way you can match the cam to your heads flow characteristics and intake manifold rpm range. With either set of GT40 family set of heads, you're gonna have to be spot on to make 300 or over hp to the wheels. It has been done many times though. And of course there are many aftermarket heads that will get you to 300+ easier as well, just ups the cost more.
 
so in your opinion i would next need a better intake. would a whole cobra intake be worth installing to then be matched with gt40s or should i look to a after market set up such as a trickflow intake or something else. would a cobra intake allow me to rev into higher rpms? or is it not worth the money? my main goal is to someday after i have a strong set up is supercharge it but no where near at the moment i dont think lol. what kinda hp do you gain from a intake? how would installing a new intake effect my coputer
 
1995 mustang gt 5 speed

mods:

373 gears
o/r x pipe
bbk shortys
cold air intake
underdrive pulleys
msd ignition

what should be my next mods to up :lol: the hp
thanks guys

Not sure if you mean 300rwhp or 300 crank HP but you'll have about 25rwhp more than stock at the moment. Since stock is 190-195rwhp (220-225 crank HP), you'll have about 215-220rwhp (roughly 250 crank HP).
Heads and intake manifold should be next on your shopping list. The choice will depend on what your ultimate goal is and how much you're prepared to spend. An unported GT40 set-up could get you to ~270rwhp while an unported GT40P set-up could get you to ~280rwhp. Port the heads/intake in both cases and 300rwhp is within reach.
Whichever way you go, you'll definitely need to upgrade the stock fuel pump (good for ~300 crank HP or 260rwhp) and you'll probably need to upgrade to 24lb injectors as well.
 
thanks guys. what am i gonna have to do to my computer to install all this im sure imma need some kind of computer work done. i do have a budget and have seen cobra intakes for pretty cheap on craigslist and ebay would that intake be worth persuing? say i did get a cobra intake manifold i'd need a bigger throttle body and mafs correct?
 
Since you are planning on a supercharger down the road, I would go for a higher flowing intake at the moment. The cobra is very well matched to the gt40 and "p" heads. It will make great low end and midrange torque. It would extend your rpm range higher that the unported stocker as well. The cobra (which is a cast version of the GT40 intake like the explorer), is FAR better flowing than an unported stock intake. As far as aftermarket goes, the higher flowing intakes make higher power up the rpm range and with boost in the future, you will need all the flow you can get. A Professional Products "Typhoon" intake can be picked up fairly cheap and are fairly easy to find. It is a copy of the original Edelbrock Performer RPM efi intake manifold and flows very good. It will make very good power on a set of good flowing heads even without the supercharger. I would wait until you get the heads, cam, and intake that you want before getting the computer tuned. Then, at that point, take it to a dyno and get it dyno tuned. That costs a bit but is the easiest way for someone new to the game.
 
Oh, and I just saw the last part of your post. You don't necessarily HAVE to get a bigger TB with an intake, however if you go with an aftermarket intake that has a 70mm opening, it is best to have a TB that is matched to it. It allows air to flow more uniformly and ensures that you don't have a bottleneck in your intake tract. May not make a TON more power, but if your goal is 300rwhp, then you're gonna need every last hp trick you can get in order to get there on a GT40 based setup. The stock MAF sensor is in a 70mm case which is far better than the foxbody 5.0 setup. I still have the stock one on mine for the moment as well. It however has a bar running through the middle of it attached to the sample tube. Not sure how much that effects airflow. Maybe someone else will chime in on the power potential of a swap here. The aftermarket ones are supposed to have better sampling, at least that's what the manufacturers say. Take that for what it's worth though. lol
 
ha ha thanks ya pretty sure imma do a gt40 set up what do you think of the explorer intake does it require extra work for fitment what ive read seems to me to be no. they go a bit cheaper then the real gt40s off mustangs on ebay? also would this be easy to put on myself they prob charge crazy if i go to a mechanic.
 
A combination for you to look at

Hey Midnight 95,

I did the H,C,I combo to my 94 almost 5 years ago now. Before the work, with a Mac Cold air kit, a prochamber exhaust, a fresh tune, and 3:73 gears, my car put down 205 H.P. and 271 TQ to the rear wheels on the dyno. You can see my mods in my signature and the power that it makes. Those numbers are after a dyno tune with an SCT chip. Before the tune it made 234 H.P. and 268 TQ so the tune is DEFINITELY worth it! The car makes nice power and is fairly well manored. I am definitely pleased with this set up. As a comparison, before I did the H,C,I, I sprayed the stock set up with a 125HP Zex Dry Kit. It made 295 H.P. and 420 TQ to the rear wheels for a LOT less money. Just something to think about. The biggest problem...empty bottles. I do have to tell you that you definitely notice the difference between 310 TQ and 420 TQ. Hope this sheds some light on your situation.

By the way, the heads that I am running are the old school GT-40 Y-303 aluminum heads because I picked them up dirt cheap. Even the Aluminum GT-40 X's will flow better and give you more power.

Good Luck!!!
 
The Cobra intake off a 1993 Mustang Cobra, Explorer Intake off the 96-98 5.0 Explorer or Mountaneer, and the GT-40 Tubular Intake (off a lightning i believe?) are all essentially the "same" intake. They all have the same lower, its just the uppers that vary in design. They all flow pretty much the same. Heres a dyno graph showing all 3 intakes on the same engine.
68141d1240926450-official-explorer-gt40-cobra-intake-thread-intake5.jpg


The explorer intake managed to reach a higher peak hp than all, but the gt-40 tubular made better overall power and torque than all 3 of the intakes. The Cobra intake performed excellently as well. I am on the same boat as you midnight95 (similar mods) and am planning on buying a tubular for my 88 5.0 by the end of this year. Theyre a little more pricey but they look sweeeeeet in the engine bay!