ACTUAL HP gain question? Heads, cam and intake, is it really worth it?

[zealot]

ACTUAL HP gain question? Heads, cam and intake, is it really worth it?

Whats up, I drive a 2002 3.8 V6 and I have some questions about gaining HP. What would be more logical, getting ported heads, cam and intakes on the existing 3.8 or picking up a 4.6 GT engine/tranny and making the swap? Through rpm-mustangs, the ported heads, cam, intakes, gaskets etc..it would come close to $2k. How much more HP would one expect from the P. heads, cam and intakes compared to dropping the 4.6 in there? Last thing, how much would the 4.6 GT engine/tranny end up running me total at the end?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

[5-SpeedStallion]

ACTUAL HP gain question? Heads, cam and intake, is it really worth it?

Whats up, I drive a 2002 3.8 V6 and I have some questions about gaining HP. What would be more logical, getting ported heads, cam and intakes on the existing 3.8 or picking up a 4.6 GT engine/tranny and making the swap? Through rpm-mustangs, the ported heads, cam, intakes, gaskets etc..it would come close to $2k. How much more HP would one expect from the P. heads, cam and intakes compared to dropping the 4.6 in there? Last thing, how much would the 4.6 GT engine/tranny end up running me total at the end?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Properly tuned, you could easily see 220whp with those mods putting you even with a stock Manual GT. Auto's put down significantly less (205-215whp). Oh, and you will weigh ~200lbs less. There are so many variables in how much the 4.6 would cost that it is hard to estimate. Expect to spend way more than $2k though unless you can swap it yourself. It all depends on how much you pay for the engine and how much you pay to install. Too much variation to make a good guess.

 

[zealot]

Properly tuned, you could easily see 220whp with those mods putting you even with a stock Manual GT. Auto's put down significantly less (205-215whp). Oh, and you will weigh ~200lbs less. There are so many variables in how much the 4.6 would cost that it is hard to estimate. Expect to spend way more than $2k though unless you can swap it yourself. It all depends on how much you pay for the engine and how much you pay to install. Too much variation to make a good guess.

My car is 5spd manual. With that said, would it be even better if I continued to mod after the heads, cam and intakes? What more could I do that would make my mustang see even better RWHP numbers? The only mod I have to date are flowmaster duals, so would it be ideal to get UD pulleys? 3.73 gears w/ tlok? Short tube headers? Once again, any feedback is appreciated.

 

[lexman84]

If your looking to spend less money i would mod the 3.8 there are companies out there that make a vortech supercharger that you can purchase for the 3.8 and you might spend a little over 2k. This would be considerably less than trying to drop a 4.6 in there. I just recently converted my 98 v6 to a 5.0 and we ran into some major issues. I was able to pick up the 5.0 engine with 13,000 miles from this guy in clearwater, fl. for $1300 but i got really lucky to pick that up. If you would rather upgrade the engine I would check out stangparts.com they pull engines from wrecked stangs and you might be able to get a good deal there.

 

[bjam2]

Hey lexman84, you just put a 5.0 in your 98, i just got a 98 and forsee that in my future, I hear it is recommended to put a 4.6 in because the motor mounts just line up, but i would rather have a 5.0.
Tell me about what was involved and everything please.
You can email me at [email protected] or add me to MSN if you use it, AIM is bjam272.

 

[lexman84]

v6 to v8

Hey lexman84, you just put a 5.0 in your 98, i just got a 98 and forsee that in my future, I hear it is recommended to put a 4.6 in because the motor mounts just line up, but i would rather have a 5.0.
Tell me about what was involved and everything please.
You can email me at [email protected] or add me to MSN if you use it, AIM is bjam272.

hey if you log onto aim i will tell you the steps that i took to do the conversion.

 

[5-SpeedStallion]

My car is 5spd manual. With that said, would it be even better if I continued to mod after the heads, cam and intakes? What more could I do that would make my mustang see even better RWHP numbers? The only mod I have to date are flowmaster duals, so would it be ideal to get UD pulleys? 3.73 gears w/ tlok? Short tube headers? Once again, any feedback is appreciated.

Yeah, once you have good mods like the heads, cams, and such, the gains from other things will be magnified. I would think that with heads, cams, P&P, pulley, gears & Tlok, Full exhaust, intake, and a good suspension, we could definately see some 5-speed cars in the mid-low 13's. Now if we only had money coming out our ears.