Need HP now!
4th Gear Member
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 1,211
From: VA
Well owning both a 5.0 and an S197 GT I can tell you what it takes to just "hang" with an 09.
The 05-present all have amazing off the line traction (speaking of a manual here) and the power is consistent across the power band, much more so than the older 5.0s are. So to attack that here's roughly what you should do:
Like stated above you can spray it, but I'm assuming you wanna have long term power, not just when the bottle is full.
Swap out to 3.55 or 3.73 gears.
Long tubes with O/R mid pipe and your choice of catbacks
Lower the car
Add in lower control arms
Go with your choice of h/c/i combo (don't need to go all out racing, mild is enough)
Do all of that (which doesn't cost as much as one would think) and you'll be right on par with most 05-09 GTs in stock/near stock form.
The real advantage I noticed is the gearing in the T3650 transmission. That's where the S197s have an advantage, just much more smoother and broader than the T5 transmission is.
The 05-present all have amazing off the line traction (speaking of a manual here) and the power is consistent across the power band, much more so than the older 5.0s are. So to attack that here's roughly what you should do:
Like stated above you can spray it, but I'm assuming you wanna have long term power, not just when the bottle is full.
Swap out to 3.55 or 3.73 gears.
Long tubes with O/R mid pipe and your choice of catbacks
Lower the car
Add in lower control arms
Go with your choice of h/c/i combo (don't need to go all out racing, mild is enough)
Do all of that (which doesn't cost as much as one would think) and you'll be right on par with most 05-09 GTs in stock/near stock form.
The real advantage I noticed is the gearing in the T3650 transmission. That's where the S197s have an advantage, just much more smoother and broader than the T5 transmission is.
If you're looking just to hang with your buddy then 3.73's 3.90's or 4.10's a good hooking tire timing bump to 14* base drop in k&n e-fan and full exhaust and that should actually put you out in front of that 09 quite well if you can drive
5th Gear Member
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 4,103
From: Arizona
D.R. THE PATHETIC DORK
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 30,871
From: West Virginia
1st Gear Member
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 122
From: New Jersey
i can hang and have beat 05+ stangs on street... we got a few lights that are pretty close to a quarter mile and no foot traffic or homes around just open feilds on both sides and off the line they got me but half way down im flying past them....... i like the sleeper look i got...