grandpajay

With spring/summer right around the corner I'm getting less interested in tinkering with the computer and drooling as I take the cover off the car for the season!

I'll start with what I have and my goals!

Steeda 90mm CAI
Pacesetter long tube headers
Pacesetter catted H pipe
Flowmaster outlaw series
Ford Racing K-type (progressive spring rate) 1.5" lowering kit
Ford Racing 4.10 gears
SCT 93 race tune
(EDIT: Steeda Under Drive Pully)

my goals this summer are is to bolt on some more HP, keep the tires from spinning out of control and just have some fun working on the car! so here is what I'm looking at - let me know if my money would be best spent else where!

Ford Racing high performance intake manifold ($670)
BBK twin 62mm throttle body ($320)
Accel Super coil on plug kit ($270)
SR performance black strut tower brace ($150)
J&M rear lower control arms ($100)
Battery relocation kit (can someone suggest a good one? can't find anything... $150)

New wheels and tires are coming, 17s with street radials

thanks for your input everyone!

danzcool

If you're staying NA for the long term, I'd pass on the intake and throttle body. The strut tower brace is pretty much just a dress-up item, aftermarket COPs tend to be problematic for some reason.
I'd look at cams (claims either better curve performance or top end depending on type), charge motion control plates (claims 10HP), electric water pump (frees up 11-14 HP), & aluminum drive shaft (frees up some HP).

drewsky

Ignore the throttle body and just keep yours maintained and clean. Cams and gears are good as well as the lowering kit! The best mod I've ever done on my car has been a nice set of tires !!

Ford_Dude

Skip the TB (and if you do it anyway don't get the BBK, get the FFRP)
Skip the manifold (unless you plan to do a stroker setup with heads and cams)
Skip the coils (and if you do the heads and have to get the newer coil design then get the FFRP ones, as they're basicly the same as the stock brown coils on 08+)

grandpajay

okay, I've read everyone's thoughts and here is what I've come up with.

Cam's - either going to call a shop or try it myself over a weekend or two. $730 for parts, 30hp gained. any install kit or extra (expensive) tools I'll need to consider?

Intake manifold - I looked up the install for charge motion delete plates and it looked much more difficult then the intake manifold that had them built into the design. I figured the money i'd save paying a shop would make up for the cost difference. weekend project, 25-35hp gained.

electric water pump - swapping looks pretty straight forward, i'll read over a guide a few times before buying. saturday morning install, 11-14hp gained.

I looked up Alum. driveshaft and saw a lot of mixed reviews, install seems easy enough but $700 for almost no gains to the wheels like some claimed was enough to turn me away.

any more input from everyone?

JFitz

I'm considering the intake just because it looks pretty shmexy under the hood. However, I see some people (even Steeda) mention that it slightly reduces low-end torque.

I'm not going to race. This is my DD. Low end torque is my range.

Am I going to really notice an issue here?

Sorry for the slight thread jack...

grandpajay

allowing the slight thread jacking because I'm also curious. this is not my race car, just my weekend warrior mobile that i use to scare the ricers off.

breathegood

Cam = Yes, but read my comments below
Intake Manifold = wait until you are ready to go big with the motor
Throttle body = wait until you have the intake manifold
CMDP = Maybe. They'll get you most of what the intake manifold would with the other items you already have at less than half the price.
EWP = Maybe. I doubt you will actually see (or feel) the claimed 11-14hp, but it should, in theory, be more effiecient than a mechanical pump.
Driveshaft = Yes. It doens't actually increase HP, but is worth a couple tenths in the 1320, and again, should be more efficient than the stock shaft because you aren't using as much HP to turn it.

Think hard about what you want out of a cam. Especially if you are dead set on the intake manifold. That old school rumble is great, but if you really want to see the 25-35hp the intake manifold has to offer, you need to look beyond any of the NSR (no-springs-required) cams. Hot Rods, Detroit Rockers, and Thumpr's, aren't going to make the most of the intake manifold's ability to flow large volumes of air at high RPM, but will retain a little better low end drivability than the VSR (valve spring required) cams. The VSR cams will really take advantage of the high RPM potential of the intake manifold, but will require more effort (read $$) for installation and tuning. Also, keep in mind that the gains you will see with a bigger cam, intake manifold, and/or throttle body are primarily going to be above 5000rpm. Below 5000rpm, HP is going to stay about the same and you will likely lose torque. This may be great for the track, but not-so-much for a daily driver. You already have 4.10s so the low end torque loss may not be too noticable for you. I don't know how you use your car, but it's worth taking into consideration.

How far do you ultimately want to go with this car? I hate buying or installing something twice. Think about how the items you put on your car today will work when you decide to build a 600+ HP monster. That FRPP manifold will make an expensive garage ornimant when you decide to put a KB or Whipple on top of your motor. If I had it to do over again, I would have saved the coin I spent on heads and cams and applied it to either a fully built motor or forced induction. Having the heads already done will be nice when the time comes, but I'm likely to go with a different cam, and in the meantime, my car makes 50ft-lb less torque below 3500rpm than it did completely stock....my car does not like rolling accelerations from low RPM, and 5th gear is virtually useless unless driving on a long flat (not in CO) at 75+mph.

If my car was where yours is right now, I would put my money towards a one peace driveshaft, suspension goodies, and weight reduction. There is more to going fast than just HP. At the track, a lightweight driveshaft will improve your times for fewer $/second than anything else you can bolt on and stay N/A. All the other items you have mentioned may produce the claimed HP numbers with a stripped down engine on an engine dyno, but you aren't going to get near that to the wheels on a fully dressed car.

grandpajay

I'm taking that long message to heart Breathe, 1pc driveshaft (I'll look further into them), suspension and weight reduction. honestly all those sound a little easier then everything else I was considering anyway.

thanks a ton!

hootie_john

At this point, I'd look to suspension enhancements to put the power to the ground (plus the improved non 4x4 look!). You're wanting to drop some pretty decent $$ on performance mods it seems. Why not just go FI?