evildoersepiroth

I am about to get a $2000 bonus check and I am forced with these two options. I have almost every bolt-on and its time to get serious. I am on a budget but as far as installation cost and other parts necessary which one would be a better investment? With the AFR or even Ford Racing heads I know I need to get 24 pound injectors and a new fuel pump not to mention I would get a cam too. I am not sure with a low PSI supercharger I need to change any of those things yet.

94ford5liter

honestly I would go with a supercharger if I had a chance to do it over again. Changing the heads, and cam is a really serious job. I would just get a new vortech off of ebay for like 1800 bucks or a paxton. You might have to change the injectors and you might not. If the supercharger keeps you under 300rwhp, then your good, otherwise you got to change to 24lbs and a bigger MAF.

stangman94

whats your goal?

if your looking for around 300 hp total you want the heads with an intake and cam

if you want your car to have be a strip car you mine as well do heads intake cam (A.K.A. HCI )then a S/C since the heads will constrict the motor so much.

if want a whine and do a S/C

evildoersepiroth

I appreciate the responses I am in school and looking for the least expensive way to make as much power without having to buy and upgrade more parts

94ford5liter

I would go with the supercharger for sure then. Unless you want to just go get some gt40 heads and manifold off a junkyard explorer for really cheap.

doc_phibz

personally i'd go with the heads and other engine additions before adding a s/c. All the upgrades will help the supercharger perform better if you choose to add one later on anyway. Plus if you go with the s/c you'll want to upgrade thge internals. So while the engine is apart by adding the new heads, cam, or whatever you'd do to the engine itself, you'd probably want to spring out some extra cash and upgrade the pistons as an investment for supercharging in the future. good luck with your decision.

I3atR!ce

think about it this way, if your go with a supercharger first you are going to have to get all the supporting crap (MAF, fuel pump, injectors ect.) for it and then get a tune, then when you want more (and you will) you will have to take the blower off and upgrade your HCI. that mean your going to have to install a supercharger twice... in the long run... i think 5.0 monthly did an artical on this a while ago and they basically said do the HCI first... then if you want more power you can just install a blower, instead of going through all the work plus the cost of a tune to do the blower twice.

94ford5liter

If your just going to put a basic 6-9 psi centrifugal supercharger on a 5liter, there is no reason to upgrade the bottom end. The 5 liter shortblock is a lot stronger than most people give it credit for. Unless your making a lot of horsepower the stock 302 bottom end will go for a long time.

militarymustang88gt

i would go ahead and do the heads and a cam because you are gonna be pissed at the power you get for the money spent on a supercharger cause you wont get its full potential till you do heads cam fuel pump chip pressure regulater all the goodies

you would really only have to end up spending like 1300 for heads cam i am guessing you already have an intake get a set of D0 heads or C9s take them to a machine shop and let them do their work would could easily get about 70-80 with the heads reworked and cam prob 45 and spend the rest of the money on maf(80)injectors (250)fuel rails(140 from summit)regulator(90) msd box(259ish)

if you do the heads all that now you will get the same amount of power and no one will laugh at you with heads and a cam out running you not to mention you have to have all that even for a 6 lb boost then next year when you check comes around you are already set up to get the big boy supercharger aka12-14psi

86 GT 5.0

Ever thought of goin to nitrous??? Very cheap and get lots of power....