I have a 2002 v6 and I was wondering what is the best way to go about matching a GT's power without going the route of F/I or nitrous. Any suggestions?

 

You've ruled them out.

 

the eastest way without that stuff? buy a GT

 

Yup F/I and gogo-juice are the only slightly economical ways. Maybe if you built your own with an all custom rotating assembly you could do it, but that would b more expensive than going F/I or juiced.

 

Okay so forced induction or NOS are the easiest 2 ways to either match the power of a GT or Surpass it depending on other mods. But if you want to go the N/A way then your best bet would be to get the 4.2 stroker kit, a heavy lope cam, have the heads and intake ported and polished, some stronger springs, ARP head studs and a multilayer head gasket, larger throtle body, some headers, nice flowing exhaust, new fuel pump and larger injectors, Cold Air Intake, iradium spark plugs (your gonna need something that burns hot to use all that fuel and these are the best on the market), either chiped computer or a stand alone unit, if it's a stick ur gonna want a stronger clutch, if it's auto a higher stall torque converter, and depending on ur application possibly a different gear ratio in the rear end. After all that you'd have a very sweet ride!

Now if you are trying to go for cost wise here is the order I'd go in to get the most bang for my buck from each mod.

$500 - 1500 range
CAI (cold air intake)
Exhaust
Headers
Pullys
around 15hp at the wheels.

Then next I would do the fuel system and the chip or fuel managment system (and to really get the tuning right a Air/Fuel Guage) $1000-1500
depending on how you program everything id say an easy 10-35hp gain

Then the ignition (300-700 but this step comes after the fuel b/c before then your stock ignition system will work fine)
10+hp gain depending on the system and tuning

right here depending on the tuning done u should about match a stock GT. I mean going from 190hp to somewhere around 230-250hp depending on tuning and the weight difference between the v6 and the GT that should about match a stock gt. now for the extra mods to push u over the limit...

The the head work (600-2500 depending on exactly what parts you purchase and how extreme of work you want done. a 3 angle valve job should sufice but if you wanna spend the extra dough for the perfection u may be able to find a good shop that will do a 5 angle)
45-65hp depending on the cam and the quality of the head work done.

I put the internal engine work last as this would be the most expensive but most HP gain you'll have. (2000 - 4500) Like the head work it just depends on what you want done to the block.
80-100hp gain depending on your other mods.

so if you've done everything I said here you should be putting out around the 400+hp N/A range and have fun takin out alot of ppl for about 7500 give or take. Or you can just throw a turbo w/ intercooler, some injectors, higher rated fuel pump, boost controler, a turbo timer, and a day at the dyno for about 5gs. just run the boost pressure at about 4.4 to 6 psi and you'll be makin around 250hp right there w/ that awesome bov sound!

Here's a site that might help you in finding some parts that you want.
http://http://www.need-4-speed.com/V6%20Performance%20Corner.htm

 

Not a chance. My fully built 4.2L only made 247 in N/A trim. Not a chance you'll see 230-250 with just bolt ons. If you get 3 hp from an intake and say 5 from a pulley, it doesn't mean you get 8 when using them together.

This highest I've seen is in the 260-270 N/A out of the V6 Mustang, and that was with a race oriented high compression motor built specifically to be an N/A quarter mile car.


Staying N/A is one of the most expensice ways to make power out of these motors. If you are staying N/A, you won't need to touch the fuel system. It's big enough. I wouldn't mess with ignition either. Go straight into the motor. New bottom end, with a higher compression ratio. It won't actually gain much power, but it will set you up better for making power with the improved top end. New heads with copper gaskets (no need for multilayer junk). A good valve train to get air in and out, ported lower, custom boxed upper, matched TB and a custom made air inlet tube to match the larger TB. I would step to an SCT mass air meter. Leave your stock headers and go to a 2 1/2" mid pipe set up and a two chamber muffler. Run 2 1/2" pipe all the way back from there. If you do all that (looking at about $7000), then you'll be almost equal to a stock GT.

Or........
You could drop $3000 on a super charger and be faster than one after a day's work. Your call.

 

All of this sounds great, but I'm a firm believer that if you have NO IDEA what your talking about you shouldn't give advice.

 

Dude, there is not way you're EVER going to get 400hp NA out of the 3.8. The 2v GT's don't even make that NA. The most I've seen with them is around 35-370rwhp.

 

Looks like a supercharger and supporting mods is the best route, eh?

 

Damn.........PWNED