808muscle

Cams are gas guzzlers for sure. With my setup I am averaging 13 MPG city driving.......and it's worth it too. I love my car!

JCON

My drive to work is 4 blocks or less than .5 miles... I burn more gas revving my engine drive under low over passes

outceltj

I wouldn't get caught up on numbers from a dyno. U can get different numbers from different tuners. The only true way to gauge ur cars performance is at the track. Dyno is a tool that allows tuners to get ur tune right (a/f). U can have a dyno queen and get stomped by somebody that has less.

Just saying dont get caught up in the hype of dyno numbers and even the expected gains from different mods can be over hyped

breathegood

+1
Even with an aggressive cam, heads, and OR long tubes, I think 350 is a stretch for N/A....especially if you actually want to drive it to and from the track. I've got the heads and stage II NSR cam from comp. I don't think a set of OR long tubes would get me the extra 20whp over my JBA shorties and x-pipe. While my car pulls like a mother up to red line, it lost over 50ft-lbs below 3000 (see before and after dyno below). I have to drive it wound up pretty good to really enjoy it. I can't imagine what a more aggressive cam and more open exhaust would do to drivability.

Gears help with drivability, but are really only a bandaid over the issue of low end torque loss. They just get you into the power band at a lower speed. I just don't use 5th gear and rarely drive below ~2700.

I've come to the conclusion that the stock heads and cams are the most cost effective option for N/A performance until you start doing more extensive engine mods. Save the coin for F/I or built engine.

Frantz 2010

I didn't quite get 350 N/A but pulled 340/320 (HP/TQ) with a dyno tune and maintained great drivablility and about 15 - 16 mpg..... My stang is a weekend driver not a DD but it wouldn't be a problem to drive more often.

JLT CAI
American Racing X pipe with hi-flow cats
American Racing Long tubes
BAssani Axle-back exhaust
Rausch UDP's
Custom NSR comp cams
Steeda motion Delete plugs
Coastal Aluminum Driveshaft

3.73 Gears
Pro 5.0 shifter

*Sounds great without being overly loud.....idles great with just a little lope...pulls out smooth with just a little extra throttle over stock...tons of fun to drive!!!!!

JCON

Here is something from Livernois:

"Livernois*Motorsports Stage 3 CNC Cylinder Heads
Livernois*Motorsports Cam Phaser Limiters*
Comp 127300*Camshafts*
Kook's Longtube Headers and X-Pipe w/Cats*
Corsa Axle-Back Exhaust System*
C&L CAI*
Tuned by*Livernois*Motorsports*

Stock - 262 RWHP, After - 370 RWHP / 340 RWTQ.

I have a mail order customer with a set of stage 2 heads, Comp Stage 2 VSR cams, Kooks Headers and X-Pipe and Magnaflow Catback that said his car made 364 RWHP / 342 RWTQ and ran a best ET of 12.2 @ 112 mph."

If doing nothing else, cams and heads will run you $3-4k in parts. Pretty close to a new supercharger set up.

rdsx18

Even if those numbers are true (which most from companies aren't), you would have spent 3k on heads, 1k for cams, another 1.5k for headers and midpipe, and 300ish on the intake. So that brings it to roughly 5,800, which is right in supercharger territory that will put you to 500 if you want to. Also, where does it make 370 hp? Notice how they don't say that, because my guess is you have a big spike starting at or just before the factory redline and it probably only stays there for a few hundred RPM's. Don't mistake this post as me trying to rip on you, I am just backing up the fact that it is much more cost effective to get a blower.

JCON

My original post with that had what you said above but then I decided not to beat myself up. I already have the intake and full exhaust and no intentions of FI right now. I spent less than $1k for my full exhaust installed. The stage II's are $1,900 I think. in either case, I'm in used blower territory. assuming that since I started with basic bolt-ones, I've already well spent half of a blower. Op needs to decide how much money he wants to put in his car, and build a plan sooner than later. My plan never involved 500hp or FI though. I am more worried about torque than horsepower, which takes hits with both heads or cams which are too agressive.

pterrell

I'm really enjoying all the feedback guys. I've been thinking of shying away from FI because I'm nervous about blowing it up to be honest. I've never messed with a blower and don't know what it entails as far as fine tuning so that I don't turn my engine into a giant bomb. That's why I was sticking on the N/A side.

Hypothetically though, what would be the advantages of a blower over what has been discussed here? (Other than the obvious hp/torque gain)

JCON

Blowers make more power than any other single mod (except maybe a 200 shot of juice). Superchargers are very safe provided you know your boost level and build an engine for it. Our stock blocks commonly run 11psi with no problems. Every other mod you do will be a multiplier. As has been said, for new retail prices, you can spend $4000 on NA parts or $4500 on a blower and make more power. Once you start getting in to higher boost levels, thats when you worry about stuff blowing up. supercharging with a vortec, procharger, saleen charger, or any number of other common kits is more common than building an NA block, by far. Stick with a reputable name and you will be fine. AM is running a special on Vortech kits for under $4k and they make 420rwhp. That's the entire kit with programmer. Superchargers make power from the second the belt turns (granted not full boost until higher RPMs). You can change power/pressure with the change of a pulley. And for that kit in particular, will likely take less time to install than all of the mods I am about to list. They sound cool and every addition mod you do to breath easier will net you bigger gains than say adding an intake to a full exhaust system on an NA car. One day I'll get around to finishing a small booklet on how mods affect engines (I started this in a post a few months back HERE).

By comparison, after the AM show, I will have installed on my car: WMS high velocity intake with 95mm MAF, ported and polished TB, Steeda CMDP, Steeda UDP, ceramic coated Mac longtubes, offroad Prochamber, and Boomtubes, 4.10 gears and a custom dynotune. Shopping around for that cost me $2,015 (doing most of the labor myself). I hope after the tune to be in the 340rwhp range (after reading most responses about NA). I spent roughly half on the parts (most new, some used).

So in the end... same expenditure (assuming you can install the SC, which should be fairly easy for the kit named above) and a supercharger will net you more than 80rwhp more. Now, with my mods, if I add a supercharger... hold on, it's about to get crazy!