500hp reliably, help me build it...

[1bad95]

A forged crank is not needed for 500 rwhp. ARP main bolts, rod bolts, or head bolts are not needed for 500 rwhp. Aftermarket valve springs are not needed for 500 rwhp (depending on what cam you run).

The cheapest way to do it from your setup right now:
-Stock crank and block
-2012 Boss 302 rods (or 03/04 Cobra rods if you can find them cheap)
-03/04 Cobra pistons, or a cheap aftermarket set
-King OE replacement rod and main bearings
-Total Seal rings
-OEM main and head bolts (side bolts are reusable, and rod bolts are included with Boss 302 rods)
-PI heads
-MHS Stage 1 PI blower cams
-Nice blower of your choice (2.3 TVS, 2.6 Kenne Bell, D1SC, T-trim, etc.), intercooled of course

That should put you pretty close. You might could get away with stock cams depending on how much boost you're willing to push. But as the boost goes up, so too does the load on the valve springs, head gaskets, head bolts, and intake manifold. So you've just got to be more careful there if you're going big boost (15+ pounds). There’s other ways of doing it (higher RPM stroker with nitrous, or a turbo setup, etc.), but none of them as cheap as above. Of course, there’s a few other things involved as well.

Machine work. Hone and clean at a minimum. Only bore if it’s required. Probably resurface the heads while you’re at it. Contrary to what a lot of people will tell you, balancing the rotating assembly is not required so long as you are using a matching set of pistons and a matching set of rods. I know of a lot of very fast cars around my area running just fine with an “unbalanced†rotating assembly. But if it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, go for it.

Drivetrain. If it’s an auto car, you’ll need a converter, trans cooler, and J-mod at a minimum. A mild build is best. With a manual car, a clutch will be required if you’re going to be driving it hard at all. And depending on how hard you drive it, a set of 31 spline axles will probably be needed as well.

Fuel system. You’ll need injectors. 39 pounders will be fairly close to maxed out at 500 rwhp. 60 pounders would be better. At least a 90 mm Lightning MAF will be needed. And of course the fuel pump. Having a 98 myself, here’s the way I’d do it: get a 97-down tank, filler neck, sending unit, and fuel pump bracket from a junkyard. Then get an AEM 320 or Walbro 405 pump, and run it all straight return style. You’ll be good to go for way over 500 rwhp with those pump and tank setups.

Thank you or all of that info! Definitely helped answer all kinds of questions I had in my head. Esp the gas tank after reading about there being a difference in the 98 tanks

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[D3VST8R96GT]

A forged crank is not needed for 500 rwhp. ARP main bolts, rod bolts, or head bolts are not needed for 500 rwhp. Aftermarket valve springs are not needed for 500 rwhp (depending on what cam you run).

The cheapest way to do it from your setup right now:
-Stock crank and block
-2012 Boss 302 rods (or 03/04 Cobra rods if you can find them cheap)
-03/04 Cobra pistons, or a cheap aftermarket set
-King OE replacement rod and main bearings
-Total Seal rings
-OEM main and head bolts (side bolts are reusable, and rod bolts are included with Boss 302 rods)
-PI heads
-MHS Stage 1 PI blower cams
-Nice blower of your choice (2.3 TVS, 2.6 Kenne Bell, D1SC, T-trim, etc.), intercooled of course

That should put you pretty close. You might could get away with stock cams depending on how much boost you're willing to push. But as the boost goes up, so too does the load on the valve springs, head gaskets, head bolts, and intake manifold. So you've just got to be more careful there if you're going big boost (15+ pounds). There’s other ways of doing it (higher RPM stroker with nitrous, or a turbo setup, etc.), but none of them as cheap as above. Of course, there’s a few other things involved as well.

Machine work. Hone and clean at a minimum. Only bore if it’s required. Probably resurface the heads while you’re at it. Contrary to what a lot of people will tell you, balancing the rotating assembly is not required so long as you are using a matching set of pistons and a matching set of rods. I know of a lot of very fast cars around my area running just fine with an “unbalanced†rotating assembly. But if it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, go for it.

Drivetrain. If it’s an auto car, you’ll need a converter, trans cooler, and J-mod at a minimum. A mild build is best. With a manual car, a clutch will be required if you’re going to be driving it hard at all. And depending on how hard you drive it, a set of 31 spline axles will probably be needed as well.

Fuel system. You’ll need injectors. 39 pounders will be fairly close to maxed out at 500 rwhp. 60 pounders would be better. At least a 90 mm Lightning MAF will be needed. And of course the fuel pump. Having a 98 myself, here’s the way I’d do it: get a 97-down tank, filler neck, sending unit, and fuel pump bracket from a junkyard. Then get an AEM 320 or Walbro 405 pump, and run it all straight return style. You’ll be good to go for way over 500 rwhp with those pump and tank setups.

The jack screws are only reusable in 96-98 blocks. 99+ are tty.... 60$ peace of mind, same with the other fasteners. The OEM tty stuff will last though,as long as you don't reuse.

 

[sneaky98gt]

Thank you or all of that info! Definitely helped answer all kinds of questions I had in my head. Esp the gas tank after reading about there being a difference in the 98 tanks

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

No problem. The 98 cars are a little weird. They have a return style hat and lines (like the 96-97), and the pump is a dual speed (pretty much just like the 96-97), but the tank is like the 99-04, where the fuel pump sits inside a basket. While you can make the 'pump in a basket' style work (drilling holes in the basket, etc.), the 97-down tanks have the pump sitting in a baffle-like contraption, which actually works very well. As I mentioned, stick an AEM 320 pump in an older tank, and you have a very simple, very dependable 500+ rwhp fuel system for less than 200 bucks. Not too bad.

The jack screws are only reusable in 96-98 blocks. 99+ are tty.... 60$ peace of mind, same with the other fasteners. The OEM tty stuff will last though,as long as you don't reuse.

Agreed. For no more expensive than they are, I wouldn't reuse main, rod, or head bolts (or any TTY bolts), although there are more than a few that claim you can with no issues. My main comment above was just pointed to the fact that ARP hardware is completely unneeded unless you're making a LOT of power (600+ rwhp).

 

[TanTop94]

LSX swap

 

[BigBore96]

Fuel pump wise don't forget about a Walbro F90000262 400lph pump. They can be had for about $100 and will support everything you need while dropping after 1 small modification to a 97 and down tank.

I've got one in my 96 and its a kickass pump.

 

[eesjunin]

looking at above...cheap sounds like about $8-10K....half in parts half in tuning...
I would also recommend, on contrary to above, to spend money on quality balancing the rotating assembly.
my 347 is getting it done to <1g... $2K pricetag

 

[rz5.0]

looking at above...cheap sounds like about $8-10K....half in parts half in tuning...
I would also recommend, on contrary to above, to spend money on quality balancing the rotating assembly.
my 347 is getting it done to <1g... $2K pricetag

This is a 4.6..

 

[eesjunin]

^ so educate me, on how that might be different?

 

[rz5.0]

You could spend 8k to do it N/A and not get 400..

 

[D3VST8R96GT]

^ so educate me, on how that might be different?

Well he won't need a new block lol

 

[sneaky98gt]

looking at above...cheap sounds like about $8-10K....half in parts half in tuning...
I would also recommend, on contrary to above, to spend money on quality balancing the rotating assembly.
my 347 is getting it done to <1g... $2K pricetag

^ so educate me, on how that might be different?

Because a 347 isn't going to get to 500 any more cheaply than his current 4.6. And it most definitely won't do it with the wide powerband, smooth driveability, and nice fuel mileage the 4.6 will.

Also, the "tuning" costs should be fairly small relative to everything else. The majority of the cost will be in the power adder. The bottom end build will be around $1000. The new heads and possibly cams will be in the $1000 range. Rear end build will be in the $600 range. Transmission/clutch will be in the $1500 range. All for a total of about $4000. Any new power adder will be $6000+ the time you add in the extras that you need. Tuning should only be a programmer and the dyno time, which shouldn't be more than $750 or so.

If you're resourceful about it (buying used parts, doing the labor yourself, etc.), you could probably do everything for less than $10,000. Should net a car that will reliably go WELL into the 10s, all the while keeping completely perfect street manners. It's really not a bad deal considering you can find these cars (96-04 2-valves) in the $5000 range these days. $15,000 for a turn-key, mid-10 second street car that'll get 24 mpg is a pretty good deal for us Ford guys.

And as I said, there's nothing wrong with balancing the rotating assembly. But if you're really strapped for cash, there's nothing wrong with doing without it either. Unless there's something WAY off (piston way off from others, or rod way off from others, etc.), the external balancer will do just fine making sure everything keeps in check. The crank itself and flywheel itself should already be balanced, so the only things you're worrying about are the rods and pistons. Throw them on a scale and make sure they're within a gram or so of each other (both of the sets I've checked have been +/- half a gram), and it'll run just fine.

 

[eesjunin]

^ i see...well yeah you can build it whichever way you want...
What i have seen, in my stroker kit came balanced....balanced to 4 grams...which all in all is ok for daily driver...if you going to operate above 4K rpms you want that to be balanced down to 2 grams..and 8K rpms and above down below 1 gram.
Remember the stroker kit will give you tornque...your top will give you the HP....$1000/set be ok depends what you want to achieve and how...
i end up getting the AFR Z heads...$1500 each... and banking on them delivering just as projected close to 500 hp...

 

[eesjunin]

And need not to forget that if you are jumping power bands you will need new fuel system...probably frame reinforcement...girdles...and the list go on...