Ok so I did a search and didnt find what I was looking for. I was wondering what it would take to get to 400hp N/A. Additionally assumeing all items are proffesionaly installed would it be cheaper to just go with a S/C. Thanks

 

WAY cheaper to get a supercharger.

 

You talking to the crank or to the wheels?Automatic or standard transmission?Either way, it is going to be a bit of a stretch.
I would start with a stroker kit, stage III heads, removing as much paracitic weight as possible ( i.e aluminum driveshaft, aluminum flywheel, electric water pump ), underdrive pulleys, long tube headers, no cats, offroad X pipe. That would probably get you in to the mid/high 3's. I don't know of anyone in the 4's yet NA. If you wanted to juice it on top of all of that I would say you could get there.

 

I was meaning to the crank

 

you could get 400 at the crank without a stroker kit, and you could make some monster power with it. Some good flowing heads, some valvetrain work, and a good set of cams will get you 400 at the crank without a doubt.

 

Agreed. Then add the exhaust to back it up and you have a mean Stang.

Although the CAMs will be a very important choice.

 

Long tube headers, off road X-pipe, good air intake, cams, ported heads with larger exhaust valves will get you approx. 400 hp at the crank.

 

don't forget about the tune!!!!

 

It does not make any sense. You will spend as much money as a supercharger and end up with a cammed out motor that has no street manners or gas mileage. A supercharged car purrs like a kitten, then bites like a tiger. It gets 20+MPG on the highway to boot.

 

The last poster has a valid point although there's more to be considered. First of all 400 hp n/a IS possible from these motors while retaining stock like driveability. You don't need really wild cams to do it. Not long after the S197 came out Livernois motorsports got 380 hp from a 3v 4.6 using long tube headers, off road H-pipe, a good air intake and ported heads on stock cams. This isn't too far off the 400 hp mark and even mild cams combined with the other changes would get the additional 20 hp to make 400 hp at the crank.
True, for not much more than the mods listed above you could have super charger but with the piston ring lands being so close to the top and the compression ratio being as high as it is you have to keep the boost pretty low or you will grenade the thing. (as many already have)
I won't be going to a supercharger until I can rebuild the engine with forged internals and lower the compression ratio to something better suited for super charging.
The other advantage to going the NA route is that you can slowly build it up as you can afford it. Then if you ever do go with a super charger you will get the FULL benifit from it. You will never see the full effect of a super charger with the stock exhaust manifolds, cams or heads. Many of us don't have several thousand bucks to dump into our cars all at once such as you do when you buy a super charger.
So yes initially it may be more cost effective to just slap a supercharger on an othwerwise stock engine but anything more than 5 - 6 psi and you are asking for trouble.
I dunno I am no expert on supecharging but these are my opinions, take 'em or leave 'em.