GTR21

So I'm fairly new to the forums and Mustang's in general.. and I have a question that might sound foolish, but I have to ask anyway. I was reading somewhere that someone didn't want to put on a Boss 302 intake in their 5.0 because they said something like "The extra horsepower would be nice, but I don't want the loss of torque". This is interesting to me and raises lots of questions..

Is this legit? Do you lose Torque with certain products?

1) What would the extra horsepower and loss of torque do to driveability and1/4 mile times. I'm guessing slower off the line, quicker at the end? Less pull right off the bat?

2) How do you know which products will hurt Torque while increasing horsepower?

If this all sounds stupid I apologize, just trying to figure everything out I'm still lost and spinning with all the manufacturers and what websites give the best deals, yadda yadda yadda..

Thanks in advance!

SilverHoss

Some mods are more efficient at adding power in the higher RPM range, rather than the lower end. Such it is with the Boss302 intake. It has shorter intake runners than the regular 5.0 intake. Shorter, wider runners let the engine breath better at higher RPM, longer runners give more intake velocity at lower RPM range which gives better low RPM torque. So with the Boss intake you will gain some extra horses with a very slight loss in torque in low RPM range. From what I've seen most folks say that don't notice the small loss of torque, but you could and that might make the car feel slower at take-off. That's what makes some leary of doing Boss intake mod.
Cams are another mod that can give some really nice gains, but most of it is at higher RPM and does sacrifice some low-end torque to get the gains.
You can always put some gears in the rear end with like 3.73 or even 4.10 ratio, and that will give you back your off-the-line power and keep you in the upper rev range which makes up for the torque loss and then some.
It's all in what you want and whether you are willing to make the trade-offs with some of these mods in order to get the most power.
Some mods such as CAI, exhaust, or a custom tune will give power through the entire RPM range.
hope this helps

GTR21

It does, thanks a ton! With an auto, for occassional weekend driving, which would work better? 3.73 or 4.10? How much does a 4.10 affect gas mileage?

Nuke

Expect about 1-3 MPG loss, depending on driving habits. But I always wonder why people that spend $30k+ on their car and hundreds of $$'s in power mods are asking about fuel mileage.

scottmach

Neither would be better. The best gears for the autos N/A are 3.31's. Not much different than your 3.15's. In fact the stock 3.15's were a smart choice from Ford as the 1st gear in the auto's are 4.17's. Plenty of gearing to get you off the line. I have the stock 3.15's with some suspension work and if I don't feather the car out of the hole the tires just go up in smoke.

2k05gt

I had to read this a couple time to be sure but your information in not correct.
First off, Ford Stock Gears in the Automatic are 3.31:1

Second; the question really should not be what gear is better but what gear is better for my intended use of the vehicle.

If you are going to use the car as a Daily Driver then 3.31 are the best
if you are thinking about modding and doing some drag racing 3.73s are the best
If you plan on heavy Mods, converter, CAMS and maybe boost then 4.10s would be the best choice.

remember that Cams with the Auto require 4.10s and a higher stall converter to maintan low end power since the cams tend to reduce torque.

scottmach

You're a moron. Stock gears in the autos are 3.15's. Cams? Good lord. I'm not going to even comment on the rest of your thread as I believe you've posted in the wrong section.

Mishri

yeah, they are 3.15s in the 2011+, 3.31 for '05-10.

For optimal trap speed and good ETs in the 1/4 mile i've seen 3.31s work well (I think because you clear the traps at the top of 4th) for the best possible ETs something more aggressive than 4.10s are needed, but that being said. I really like my 4.10s.

I went CAI+tune+DR and ran 13.1@108mph, I went back the next year with O/R X, Boss Intake and 4.10s and ran 12.6@112. Can't tell you exactly what helped the most on that but dropping .5 and gaining 4mph shows i picked up a good deal of power/acceleration off those mods. My track is at 4000' so generally we run a second slower than sea level folks.


I didn't notice much of a difference at low RPMs, maybe slightly, but that is putting around town, I dont need muchpower. and if I'm racing im basically never under 3000RPM anyway. You gain so much up top (50+hp) it's worth it to me.

As far as the feather the throttle thing goes, I had to under every tune i've tried, throttle was too touchy and i had to be careful to launch on the streets. I just got a Steeda tune on Friday and it is amazing, driveability and ease of launching is so, so much better, I highly recommend them, you get back the stockish gas peddle. Other tunes half the pedal down is 3/4 throttle and just touching the pedal is 1/2 throttle. with steeda it's back to a normal useable sensitivity. still tons of power at full throttle. I can't recommend their tune enough. If I had been using their tunes the whole time I might have noticed the low end loss, instead I've always been blasted with too much throttle when touching the pedal.