I just made an account about 5 minutes ago looking to gain some more knowledge on the Pony. I have a 1996 Mustang GT 5 speed. Im looking to get some more Horsepower. I want to be able to eat newer mustangs, z28s, trans am and camaros for lunch.
Here are some of the light mods I have right now.
BBK CAI
Headers,
No Cats, True duals
with magna-flows
After market clutch with heavy duty pressure plate
4.10 gears (Not yet Installed)
SCT Tuner (No clue how to use it)

I don't want to spend a ton of money, but I want the car to be respectable. Maybe spend around $2,000. Not including labor! Let me know what you guys think I should do. Any help and tips are appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forums.

HP = major money on an NPI car (96-98) For $2,000, a PI swap (see below) (using aftermarket heads or maybe stock PI heads ported or non with a set of cams) and a ford racing intake from American Muscle. Other than that, I don't think there is too much you can do to a NPI 'Stang to "eat" the above mentioned...........not for around 2 grand anyway. : /

If you don't know what I mean by PI/NPI, 96-98 models were NPI, aka Non-Performance Improved - about 215(?)HP(96-97) and 220(98) at the flywheel in stock form. While PI is 260 at the flywheel.

Why the difference, you ask? The NPI heads don't flow worth a damn, they are very restrictive. NPI cams are VERY mild for emissions purposes(so I've heard). Also, the intake is again, you guess it! Very restrictive as well. So swapping these 3 items with bump you up to about ~270. There is a slight power gain with this swap due to a bump in compression, thanks mostly to the lack of a dished piston in 96-98.

However, you could add aftermarket cams and probably get CLOSE 300 RWHP (rear wheel horsepower) with a PI swap. This, unfortunately, does not put you at a level that can "eat" most of the other things you mentioned.

 

Would these upgrades be a good stepping stone for later upgrades, like a supercharger?

 

Yes, it would be. When you put supercharger on, the air is going to flow better with the PI H/C/I.

 

Nitrous haha..its a great bang for your buck..not cheap, but good power gains when you need them. Also the SCT is very very easy to use, did you purchase it? or did you just purchase the car and it came with it?

 

Your not going to be able to run a blower or turbo on a PI swapped car. It raises the compression to 10.5:1, which isnt boost friendly. You could do the cams and intake only, which will be an improvement, but if you plan on a blower down the road, dont do PI heads on a NPI bottom end...

 

You sure can, I did for a couple years using meth injection
Ran about 9 psi with PI swap and 10.5:1 compression

 

OK, nevermind...PI swap away

 

i have a 96 gt as well with a npi heads but a friend of mines has a 2001 with pi heads but also lightened the car with aluminum drive shaft he put 3.73 gears and a king cobra stage 3 clutch in from upr and also got rid of the rear seats to lighten it up more it pushes around 297hp and 311 torque hes thinking about a hellion single turbo at 9psi which will add about 135hp

 

So what's your point??