Brian_Zinchuk

So if the rods are the biggest weakness can you change to forged rods and increase boost to get more power and be safe? Or is it one of those things that if you change the rods then you have to change the pistons which mean you have to port and polish?

one eyed willy

if you change the rods,then change the pistons,it would be worth it in the long run,you dont have to port and polish but you might as well get some head work done while its apart.

Brian_Zinchuk

so there are forged pistons and rods that can go in our stock block with out machining, that will make it so when can push more boost without breaking something?

Vcoat

525 rwhp for about 3mos now with no problems about 13psi boost. Whipple tune

zkiller

porting and polishing have nothing to do with pistons or whether youare replacing them in a shortblock. Porting and polishing is dome to the intake ports of the cylinder heads........

No- where did you come up with that? Forged pistons require a different piston to cylinder wall clearance. Needs to be honed at a minimum. When you change rods and pistons you have to do the machine work.

Brian_Zinchuk

Ok... I'm pretty clueless when it comes to the internals of the 4.6. I've tried to learn some stuff but I guess its just not getting to me. If I was to push the boost up with my S/Cer then I'm putting the internals in danger, right? What exactly needs to be done to my engine to be able to get over 500 rwhp and not put my engine in a crap load of danger if I put it in the high RPMs. I know everything else I need to do such as smaller S/Cer pulley and upgraded fuel pump, but to be safe with the internals I don't know. Help me out Zkiller, you seem to know your ****.

MustangGT0405

save yourself and buy a built short block. Check out Livernois or the new aluminator shortblock from FRPP.

Take your stock short block and sell it to make back some of the costs.

zkiller

+1 on that!
Brian the weakest pieces are the connecting rods. But when you need to upgrade the rods,there are also other pieces to replace too, like the pistons. So the main pieces that require replacement are pistons, pins, rings, connecting rods, crankshaft and all the rod and main bearings. That is a lot of work and requires proper machine work to install them. There are additional things you could do too.The easiest solution is to buy a pre-built shortblock or even a longblock (has cyclinder heads and cams) that has is available from Livernois, MMR, Ford Racing, Sean Hyland or JDM. They will have done all the hard assembly for you.
Forged rods wont guarantee you wont blow up it just raises the bar a lot. If you have a crappy tune and get detonation then forged rods can break too.

Brian_Zinchuk

well that could be something that I might do in the future, but I'm about to get cams put in and I already paid for all the parts and have the time scheduled to get them installed at a shop. Am I going to be safe if I have a good tune and raise my boost on my vortech to 12 psi with the stock internals? I really didn't want to go the route of buying an after market block until my next mustang. This is my first mustang now and I'm using it to learn, but at the same time its my DD so if I kill it i'll be screwed. I'm buying an intercooler today and will be installing that as soon as my cams are done, that will help with the longevity of the engine and S/Cer right? I've already made many mistake with even the littlest mods before now and I really want to make sure that I'm not screwing myself over in the future. So if that means I'm taking a big risk at 500rwhp with stock internals then I'll keep the boost down and settle for smaller numbers.[&o]

zkiller

Intercooler is good move, it will keep your IATs down which will help avoid detonation.
I think you would be fine at 12 PSI with the Vortechbut there are no guarantees, you know.
I am running 12 PSI but my 06 Mustang only gets driven occasionally, as I own a few other cars. Make sure you have good fuel, I run 100 octane to be safe but you can tune on 93 octane and just dont put anything less in there. Keep you air/fuel 11.3- 11.8 and you should be safe, but close to the edge.
I think "Grabber" had his Vortech at 12 PSI, he now has a Cobra but his girlfriend drives the grabber GT and still has the vortech running good.