Engine Suggestion On Shortblock Or Rotating Assembly

DJsZincGT

Founding Member
Aug 29, 2002
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I'm considering going ahead and replacing my stock engine with a forged unit in my '01 GT. It has a Vortech V2SQ with 10-12 lbs of boost. It's still running strong, but I know I'm on borrowed time. I have roughly 70,000 miles on the engine since the blower install (been on the car for roughly 10 years now). I would like something that would allow me to push the power up to 600 rwhp. When I first considered doing the swap years ago VT Engines was the hot name at the time, but I have heard that they went down hill and are no longer in business. Whose shortblock or rotating assembly are you guys running in your cars? I haven't kept up with the aftermarket for several years now and I'm just not up to date on who is doing good work. Any help is appreciated.
 
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I never trusted VT or whatever name they had before or after they became VT. The only companies I trust with cams for these cars are Comp, Crower, and Crane. Those guys know their stuff, they've been doing this a while, they know everything about every engine out there. Plus, with our engines, off the shelf cams are just fine. the newer GTs benefit from custom stuff more than ours. For a rotating assembly I would go with any of the companies that have likewise been out there...Scat, Eagle, DSS, etc. When I did mine, I used a stock GT cast iron crank, DSS pistons along with some no-name brand forged H-Beam rods from a company called "The Mustang Depot off of Ebay...but that company is not around anymore. That set-up withstood ported heads, stage 2 cams, and 15+ psi boost thru a S-Trim. Next time around I will use the same pistons and crank but with some different rods since that company is out of business.

And also, it has been confirmed by many on here that the Coyote rods and Boss 302 rods are the same length as the 4.6 rods. Therefore you can use them if your limits will be 600-650 hp. So basically, they will stand up to more hp than our fuel lines and returnless systems can support. So if you aren't planning to upgrade to a return-style system or run larger fuel lines, then Coyote or Boss 302 rods are the way to go as they only cost about $200 for a set of 8. Then just get some good pistons and reuse a GT crank.