sneaky98gt
10 Year Member
hey hotstang, im talkin the the tf topend kit verses any s/c kit out there. the s/c kit would also need supporting mods also. KIT FOR KIT
I disagree with hotstang about these cars not making power NA; these Trickflow heads are proving that it can be done, and OP, those are some sweet numbers you made. Keep us updated on the track times.
But I do agree with him that FI is cheaper and will yield more power than NA, 99.9 times out of 100. Since you want to compare kit for kit, let's make sure we don't throw any used parts in there.
These prices are the CHEAPEST I could find with a few minutes of searching. I'd say they are pretty accurate.
Supercharger
Vortech Mongoose Kit-$3799 last time I looked. Can't find the link right now. I found a few similar kits in the $4100-$4400 range. And that is a COMPLETE kit, tune included, ready to go, going to make, at a bare minimum, 350 on the wheels. So we'll say $4500 for a S/C, brand new, complete intercooled kit with LOTS of potential.
Naturally Aspirated
Trickflow heads-$2100 Trick Flow 4.6/5.4L Twisted Wedge 185 Track Heat Cylinder Heads [TFS-51900004-M44] : Lethal Performance, Performance parts for Ford Mustangs
Head install kit-$120 Ford Racing 96-04 SOHC Mustang Cylinded Head Changing Kit [M-6067-D46] : Lethal Performance, Performance parts for Ford Mustangs
Aftermarket cams of some sort-$590 Comp Cams Stage II Xtreme Energy XE270AH Camshafts (96-04 4.6L 2V) at AmericanMuscle.com - Free Shipping!
Adjustable cam gears-$250 Comp Cams 4.6/5.4L 2V Adjustable Cam Gears at LRS - Same Day Shipping! I'm assuming this is necessary. It would be on my car if I put a set of cams in.
Long tubes-$370 (el-cheapos) MAC : Lethal Performance, Performance parts for Ford Mustangs
Matching midpipe-$150 1996-04 Mustang Gt/Cobra Off Road H-Pipe For Long Tube Headers by BBK at LRS - Same Day Shipping!
Throttle body and plenum-$270 BBK 78mm Mustang Throttle Intake (96-04 GT) at AmericanMuscle.com - Free Shipping!
Programmer-$380 SCT SF3/X3 Power Flash Mustang Custom Tuner w/ 3 Free Custom Tunes - 3rd Generation SCT XCalibrator - FREE SHIPPING! Was required by every tuner in my area.
Tune-$300 Was the cheapest I was quoted in my area.
Total-$4530
So the two are equal in price as far as parts go using the numbers I found. The NA car might make 330 rwhp. The supercharged car will make, at a minimum, 350 rwhp, with a lot more power under the curve. It also will not sacrifice driveability or fuel mileage.
We also ignored an import part of the pricing: install. Anyone with some very basic mechanics skills and tools can install the blower, probably in less than a day. I installed my own blower, pretty easily at that, and it wasn't even a complete kit. The heads, cams, headers, all that jazz...gonna take several days (at least), and a vast majority of us Mustang fanatics aren't going to be able to do it ourselves. I might could, but I don't trust myself enough when dealing the the internals of a motor. Install for the NA kit could easily exceed $2000.
Also forgotten is the upgradeability (yes, I made that word up). The NA car is at its limits. The only thing left to do would be a new short block with higher compression and/or a stroker kit. We're talking big dollars here, SEVERAL thousand at least, all in the name of, what, 400 rwhp? For the blower, a simple pulley change could yield 40, 50, 60+ horsepower. Not to mention the fact that the blown car is bone stock; an offroad midpipe, CAI, and TB/plenum would probably gain 30 horsepower at a minimum. Paired with a new pulley, the blown car could make 450 rwhp pretty easily. This would have to be tuned for of course, but that's not the point. The point is that the blown car can make power far above what is acceptable to the stock internals. The NA car can't say that without a serious motor build and lots of money, all in the name of breaking even with a stock, base-model blown car.
Bottom line: do what you want to. It's your car, and none of us online have a damn thing to do with it. But the fact is that you can't compare dollar for dollar naturally aspirated to forced induction. FI will win out every single time. But if naturally aspirated floats your boat, it floats mine, too.
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