AK_Kayaker

Yes gone are the days of $200 Hooker headers, but of course inflation has a way of doing that to everything, but not only inflation but old headers were just mild steel, that tended to rust out in not very long on a daily driver.
New ones are almost always stainless steel that should last the life of the car, and it is about more than just bang for buck, at least for me, the sound of a car with a nice exhaust sends chill down my spine, which is why it is always my first mod.
And as I always post in any exhaust thread, for you listening enjoyment.

squishbang

@AK-Kayaker - we'll do a dyno pull before installing the headers and then after the tuning and everything we'll see where it ends up.


From my perspective I'm not worried about the power so much. I don't drag race or street race. Want respect - go to a road course and get within 10% of P1's qualifying time for whatever class your car falls in. Or go autocross and beat the AS class times without adjustment. None of that really requires more horsepower. Improvements to the suspension (which I've done) and massive improvements to the drivers skills is what is required. The rest - should have just bought yourself a Hell Cat and been happy going in straight lines.

mobb70

I'm going to disagree with people giving the 15 and 16 GT's little credit on power gains just for a catback and headers. I put on a JLT cai, MBRP catback and dyno tuned it at 415rwhp at dtp racing in VA. Brett who is my tuner, said for what I have and from what he has seen, it's not uncommon to pull 450rwhp adding headers. He mentioned a brand but I forgot. I have the dyno sheet and YouTube vid if anyone is interested in seeing.

scottmach

Headers yes, catback no.

99GTvert

What was the baseline figure before those were added?

squishbang

I think he was confusing the Mustang with an STi or EVO. Sorry, you don't get 50HP for headers. I wish. The shop that does the work on my car mostly services race cars so they can get away with all sorts of ugly **** and are tuning with 100Octane or better fuel. You get 10 or so HP from headers on an NA car.


The reason FI cars make such huge jumps in power is the free flowing exhaust allows for more boost. Which is why turbo cars also break things when their idiot owners fail to invest in upgrading their fuel system (injectors, rails, lines, fuel pump) - they lean it out things get ugly. NA cars don't do that.




What you have is a person looking to sell more parts and services. As Mr D said: PFY (pimply faced youth) comes in the shop hasn't does his homework but has seen Fast and the Delirious and wants his car to be like that. Ethical sales dude makes an attempt to educate the PFY, fails and then proceeds to max out his cards.


You have the further issue that dyno numbers are not horribly accurate really. Comparing my dyno to your dyno won't give accurate results. Even time of year and location affect results. Two mustangs, same mods, same mileage, same fuel one in Denver Colorado and one in Florid won't get the same numbers.

But it's your party. I'm just here for cup cakes.

Mr. D

I think you may have paraphrased what I said just a bit, but I agree! "Fishing lures don't have to catch fish, they only have to catch fisherman!"

I don't like headers. Frankly, I don't think there are any "bolt on" mods for the 5.0L that are a good idea "bang for the buck" wise. I decided to go with a supercharger or just stay stock, but some PFY & Old Pharts (as squishbang do delicately put it) are dying to do something with their ride to personalize it. I get that since mine is having a supercharger put on it right now .... that I need like another hole in my head! It's all about having something different! The problem is that Ford made the new Mustangs pretty damn nice as stock! We should ask Ford to detune them to about 350 HP so we get some real value out of a tune! Look at my GT below & you can see being 74 doesn't help avoiding wanting to personalize a car! When I go to the Cruise Night.... I'll be supercharged.... well at 74 maybe I won't be, but my GT will!

squishbang

Two reasons I won't be going to forced induction:
1 - Trackability. A supercharger might not be too bad but turbos with that amount of power deliver nasty surprises at bad times. Your throttle control skills have to be really on point or you find boost arriving right when traction is at its lowest and even the computer won't keep you from throwing it in the dirt.


2- resale. Who the hell is going to buy a 2nd hand tuner car? You're not going to recover even a fraction of the cost and you're going to massively shrink the market of potential buyers.


On the otherhand - holy@#$% I bet that will be an insanely fun car to just hooligan around town in. Every stoplight an opportunity for a burn out. And being an older gentleman: you just look the cop in the eye and wink as you leave a smoky trail down the street.