Aixtreme89

I have heard different things. I know alot about the 5.0's and I know they can stand up to 600hp before failing... But I have a 2003 GT now and I was wondering what kind of power can I make at the crank before I have to get concerned about breaking something? I heard the stock long block can with stand 550 hp..... I may be wrong. Also what kind of interals are they. Forged pistons, or hypereutectic? What about the rods and the crank? I know it has aluminum heads. Any info is greatly appreciated.

mdvaldosta

hyper pistons, powdered metal cast rods and cast crank. block is good for 1000+ hp, crank good to 800+ hp, pistons are safe to about 500 with a safe tune and rods are good to about 450 @ 6k rpm. the more rpms you turn the less hp the rods will take. The rods are the biggest thing to worry about, crank and block are good.

Aixtreme89

Do the SOHC run with hydraulic lifters, or do they not even use lifters? It sucks that red line in my 03 GT is 6500rpm. My 89 LX can rev up to 6700rpm before I experiance valve float. If they eliminated the lifters then really you can rev these things up to 8000rpm. But if you say the rods are weak, mabye thats why they keep the redline down low.

neogenic83

it is more of a matter of cams. the stock cams power levels off at 5200-5300. at 6k u will be making the same hp that u are making at 4k. the valve float in these cars is because of the sucky valve springs. with cams and ported heads u will have no problem making poewr up to 7k with 2V's the 4v's make power to 8-9K with the above mods. but as MD said at those rpm's it starts becoming a rod issue.