More Power for stock 95 5.0

[Matt Ries]

Looking for opinions on Increasing h.p. on a stock SN95 5.0 on a limited budget, thinking like larger throttle body, some kind of tuner. Where should I start? It's a street cruiser that we have been having fun with auto cross!

thanks,

Matt and Mary

[Joee]

Noticeable power; heads and cam. Just increase in TB not noticeable, power comes from more air in through combustion chamber. The heads limit amount of air so bigger heads and a cam that leaves the valve open longer equals more power.

[Matt Ries]

Heads and cam, sadly out of budget:( any cheaper options?? think under 500.

[cgundermann]

A stock 5.0 responds well with a larger throttle body, larger MAF, higher flowing heads, larger fuel injectors & supporting higher flowing fuel pump, better breathing upper/lower intake and a more aggressive cam and either a tune to the Ford ECM or a entirely new aftermarket ECM. The upper intake on the 95+ Stang is different and has a bend towards the throttle body. I would define your budget and you can incrementally augment your motor almost in the order described above. The GT40 heads are a great value and often you can find them for sale used. Trick flow makes nice heads and intakes, but as you are probably aware - there are sooo many aftermarket parts for the “old” 5.0 that can be had at a value. Obviously, you’ll want to balance each upgrade with each other...

I have just souped up and hot rodded Fox body Mustangs and have tried a lot of different parts. But, I’m no engine builder and there are a lot more experienced builders that can offer a packaged approach to increasing your power.

But as Joe precisely pointed out, noticeable gains are heads & cam...

Chris

[Jeff Kleiner]

Heads and cam, sadly out of budget:( any cheaper options?? think under 500.

Gears if you haven't already done so. The butt dyno difference between 3.08 and 3.55s is huge (even more so if you start with 2.73), especially in 2nd gear.

Jeff

[cgundermann]

Gears if you haven't already done so. The butt dyno difference between 3.08 and 3.55s is huge (even more so if you start with 2.73), especially in 2nd gear.

Jeff

And that’s why Jeff is the man! We're thinking motor upgrades and miss the obvious...

[Matt Ries]

Jeff and CGunderman, when I built the car I put 3.55 gears in, so that's done. I was Looking at American muscle.com and their Bama 4-Bank Eliminator Chip w/ 3 Custom Tunes (94-98 GT), and SR Performance 75mm Throttle Body (94-95 5.0L). Is this stuff even worth the effort or expense? Last year was tires and wheels, this year bumpsteer and possible engine performance? Around 500. bucks where would you put that for engine performance?

[Mike N]

Matt. A lot of the benefit of a chip on a stock motor can be had by increasing the base ignition timing from the stock 10 degrees BTDC. Most people find they can run 14 degrees on premium gas. Best part is it's free. Another cheap power increase can be found by moving the air cleaner out of the engine compartment to inside the fender well to pick up cooler air. You should be able to do both for under $100.

[scottiec]

A cam and gt40p heads would serve you well. You will have to upgrade the valve springs on the heads. Should be able to do this for 500, maybe a little more

[CraigS]

I think they may be out of business now but keep an eye open for Thumper heads. They had a real good rep for upgrading iron heads. Also, don't eliminate a cam from consideration. There will be people chiming in w/ more knowledge than I but, if you have roller tappets, I think you can install another cam, just the cam itself. Might also need springs if you go w/ more lift.

[cgundermann]

Jeff and CGunderman, when I built the car I put 3.55 gears in, so that's done. I was Looking at American muscle.com and their Bama 4-Bank Eliminator Chip w/ 3 Custom Tunes (94-98 GT), and SR Performance 75mm Throttle Body (94-95 5.0L). Is this stuff even worth the effort or expense? Last year was tires and wheels, this year bumpsteer and possible engine performance? Around 500. bucks where would you put that for engine performance?

Again, horsepower bang for buck - I would save and go heads & cam. You would sense slight gains with a larger throttle body and tune, but - nothing huge. It’s when all those modifications add up and work together that really maximizes the potential of a standard bore EFI 302.

Chris

[GWL]

Find GT-40p heads from a mid '97 Explorer V-8 to 2001. Continue to check the salvage yards and craigslist. May take a while but I got a '97 engine once for $350. Use a Trick Flow stage 1 cam with the Trick Flow upgraded valve spring set that requires no head modification. You should be able to stay under that $500 but remember you'll have to also get a top end gasket set. This set up will give you upwards of 300HP plus or minus from the stock 225HP. This last statement is up to debate but it is a good basic dependable setup.

I had this set up for my engine until I found a Trick Flow Top End Kit for a killer deal on craigslist. Then sold all the GT-40p set up and ended up with an even better bottom line.

George

[Jeff Kleiner]

Stock 5.0 cam? You can wake it up a bit, say 10-15 HP, for a couple hundred bucks by going to 1.7 rockers. Then begins the slippery slope however---if you do that you should really replace/upgrade the springs which often means having to eliminate the rotators so that they don't bind...see what's happening...creep...creep...creep ;) Really though the 5.0 E7 heads are the bottleneck; might consider asking Mary to put that 500 away where you can't get it until you can add enough to it to pick up a set of heads and cam. Keep your eyes open and you may be able to find a used set through some of the Fox Mustang crowd. Then again, the flaw with this idea may be that from what I've seen Mary may well be more hungry and anxious for additional horsepower than you!

Jeff

[Joee]

I think they may be out of business now but keep an eye open for Thumper heads. They had a real good rep for upgrading iron heads.

I think I was one of the last customers in 2011, he seemed to transition to Mini Cooper heads. In the end they weren't that cheap with shipping back and forth to Fl I spent almost $1,000. They were good with a letter cam. The AFR 185 heads only bested my 1/4 from 12.8 to 12.6. Then my new cam addition to the AFRs got me to 12.14.

[Matt Ries]

Jeff, you crack me up, she will be faster than me soon, I'm sure of that. Thanks for the replies, sounds like heads are a sound direction, will try and find some good deals, sweet talk Mary, or brake the piggy bank! https://www.summitracing.com/parts/tfs-k514-350370b Trick Flow top end engine kit. Ouch! will have to do some searching! If you guys come up with some thing let me know.
Thanks,
Matt

[Jeff Kleiner]

That TFS top end is what I run along with 24# injectors a 75mm throttle body and matching Pro-M MAF meter. Couldn't be happier; pulls hard down low and keeps on to the 6,250 RPM limiter.

Sure is easy for me to spend YOUR money :)

Jeff

[TexasAviator]

I'm a mustang guy. I had the 5.0 and it's a great motor but until you do hci type mods there is little room for improvement. I had a bama tune and its worthless. Its just changing timing and not really taking advantage of anything on a stock motor. As others have said you aren't going to feel much with 500 in mods. Good luck.

[TexasAviator]

That TFS top end is what I run along with 24# injectors a 75mm throttle body and matching Pro-M MAF meter. Couldn't be happier; pulls hard down low and keeps on to the 6,250 RPM limiter.

Sure is easy for me to spend YOUR money :)

Jeff

I had a similar setup on my fox mustang and it made 300 HP to the wheels. That was a lot of fun and a great power band to play with.

[Joee]

FYI the Trick Flow top end is the way to go. I did the budget route for a little less ($1,865) from Forum Members all used parts.
Explorer upper and Lower intake (cleaned) $200
Accufab TP $250
Block off plate $15
Cold Air Pipe $50
Thumper Perf Ported heads $950
Roller Rockers $350
B Cam Craigs List $100
All gaskets etc $100

I already had big injectors and Maf $450.

[cgundermann]

FYI the Trick Flow top end is the way to go. I did the budget route for a little less ($1,865) from Forum Members all used parts.
Explorer upper and Lower intake (cleaned) $200
Accufab TP $250
Block off plate $15
Cold Air Pipe $50
Thumper Perf Ported heads $950
Roller Rockers $350
B Cam Craigs List $100
All gaskets etc $100

I already had big injectors and Maf $450.

Tried and true setup! Trick flow makes great stuff and isn’t overly $...

Chris

[GWL]

That TFS top end is what I run along with 24# injectors a 75mm throttle body and matching Pro-M MAF meter. Couldn't be happier; pulls hard down low and keeps on to the 6,250 RPM limiter.

Sure is easy for me to spend YOUR money :)

Jeff

Jeff,

What distributor and fuel rails are you running? I have not run my engine yet but have a bit of interference between the distributor and the Aeromotive driver side fuel rail. I've had the fuel rail modified and welded to fit but don't like it.

Thanks, George

[Jeff Kleiner]

Jeff,

What distributor and fuel rails are you running?

OEM Ford.

Jeff

[Sanford]

I had a 1994 Mustang GT with that same engine. My biggest performance improvements came from gears (2.73 to 3.55) (though the change later to 3.73 was a bit more impressive than I thought it would be..maybe a bit much for a light FFR) and heads (Aluminum weight savings and power). I didn't notice much from a change from stock to a Cobra intake with t-body (before head change), 1.7's..wont feel much. I never changed the cam though. On a chassis dyno I made 286 at the rear wheels after all mods (TFS heads, 1.7's, 65mm tbody, 75mm MAS, 24# injectors, chip, 1-5/8 headders and a h-pipe, underdrive pulleys. The stock computer on your and my model year pulled timing during shift changes..a custom chip improved performance.

[mburger]

You can check http://car-part.com/ and search your area's bone yards as an option. I found several sets of GT40P heads within driving distance of me but I'm not ready for this upgrade yet. Most of my searches returned prices of $150 or less for the pair.

[tisserda]

If you don’t mind playing and learning yourself on how to tune, I recommend the Moates Quarterhorse. Even if you have someone else tune, quarthorse gives you lots of flexibility and data logging.

[steno]

Gears if you haven't already done so. The butt dyno difference between 3.08 and 3.55s is huge (even more so if you start with 2.73), especially in 2nd gear.

Jeff

Jeff’s been after me about the gear change... finally did it, and second gear is AMAZING!

[Avalanche325]

On a SBF, unless going to aftermarket heads is in the budget, you really aren't going to get much HP/$.

I like the gear change idea. I'm starting to think this Jeff guy knows a thing or two. :-)

While everyone talks rear end ratios, 3.55:1 with a T5 and 3.55:1 with a TKO close ratio are two different overall ratios. Take that into account. Autocross is mostly about 2nd gear. The last thing you want is to be putting yourself into 2-3 shift territory several times on your typical course. Your groups typical course is likely different from what my group does. So, if you are not ringing it out, I doubt that you are with 3.08s, that would be a good option. If you have an idea of your top speed and rpms, you could figure out how low to go.

[Matt Ries]

I love 2nd gear with the 3.55 and T5. Currently saving for the Trick flow set up!

[conger]

I put a set of GT40 steel heads I got thru Napa performance catalogue. They are quite a bit cheaper than the aluminium GT40 heads. I rebuilt the engine with ARP fasteners & Felpro gaskets. One thing about those heads if you go that route is the valve seals are crap. Change them before installing. Heads and cam are part of building the engine. The rest of the stuff can bolted on as you can afford it.