Trying to get my 98 mustang gt to 300 hp

[Clay Hughes]

Hi, I'm new and I was wondering if doing these things will get me to 300 hp for my 1998 mustang gt.

1. I have flowmasters and straight pipes
2. I have a bbk cold air intake
3. I just ordered some obx short racing headers (350$)
4. Am going to have it tuned.

will all this get me to 300 hp? or close, if not what will I have to do short of changing engines or adding a turbocharger or supercharger, which would cost more than the value of the car, which is ok with me but I don't have 4k right now and I want a good daily driver. maybe do the PI head swap?? any insight would be appreciated.

thanks,
Clay

 

[Frank.JD.Perez]

lwarrior1016

LOL i like your optimism Clay. But no. Nowhere close. Will shall school you

 

[lwarrior1016]

Pi head swap would be a start. Out of the mods you listed, the tune will be the best of them all. I would hold off on the tune until you do more to the engine and the ecu requires the tuning. I'll keep it short....your best friend is compression. If you want to do it on a budget, find a mark 8 engine, bolt on a set of pi heads, and a set of cams. If you're keeping the stock pistons then someone's stage 2 cam will be enough. Cushman motorsports, MMR, modular head shop, comp 270's, something like that. It would have been better if you got long tubes but the shorties will have to do. Then think about an intake manifold something along the lines of edelbrock or p51.

300 doesn't seem like much but it's kind of hard to come by in a naturally aspirated form.

 

[evilcw311]

I'm not a mod motor guy but is this a case where a bottle may be your best bet?!?!


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[lwarrior1016]

I'm not a mod motor guy but is this a case where a bottle may be your best bet?!?!


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If you dont don't want to put together an engine, then yes. However, this can be done somewhat on a budget if you source used parts.

 

[PinkieT]

Are you talking 300 hp at the flywheel, or at the rear wheels? A stock 98 is rated at 225 hp but a 2001 GT 2v with PI heads and intake is rated at 260-265 hp. PI head and intake swap for sure - the PI heads flow better than your stock headers and will raise compression if installed on your stock block. That alone should get you up to at least the 2001's 265 hp, probably more. I got some deals on used stuff so have an Accufab throttle body and higher flow plenum to go with my BBK cold air intake. I just picked up some used BBK shorty headers - long tubes won't fit my ragtop. All that, and a tune, should get me at to 300 at the flywheel, I think. I hope so, anyway! evilcw311 will correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure

 

[evilcw311]

Are you talking 300 hp at the flywheel, or at the rear wheels? A stock 98 is rated at 225 hp but a 2001 GT 2v with PI heads and intake is rated at 260-265 hp. PI head and intake swap for sure - the PI heads flow better than your stock headers and will raise compression if installed on your stock block. That alone should get you up to at least the 2001's 265 hp, probably more. I got some deals on used stuff so have an Accufab throttle body and higher flow plenum to go with my BBK cold air intake. I just picked up some used BBK shorty headers - long tubes won't fit my ragtop. All that, and a tune, should get me at to 300 at the flywheel, I think. I hope so, anyway! evilcw311 will correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure

Old fart ain't you figured out yet that I don't play with mod motors?!! Lol

I'm a one cam kind of guy!! The way I see it, if you need more than one boom stick to make her scream you ain't doing it right!!! ;-)

On a pushrod it only takes hci upgrade to surpass 300rwhp.


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[lwarrior1016]

Old fart ain't you figured out yet that I don't play with mod motors?!! Lol

I'm a one cam kind of guy!! The way I see it, if you need more than one boom stick to make her scream you ain't doing it right!!! ;-)

On a pushrod it only takes hci upgrade to surpass 300rwhp.


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On a modular it only takes a head cam and intake upgrade also.

 

[96blak54]

Modular hci nets over 400rwhp.

 

[Jakespeeds]

I have a dyno sheet from the tuner I use to prove these results.

Stock rebuilt 98 short block
PI heads with no porting and stock cams, cam gears.
Ford Motorsports plastic PI intake
BBK Throttle intake 1780, BBK CAI 17185, BBK 24lb. 86mm MAF 8014.
BBK Shorty headers 16150, BBK Off-Road X-pipe 1665, Roush factory side exhaust with original Magnaflow mufflers.
Full Throttle Kustoms tune 265.5 hp @ 5009 rpm & 304.1 tq @ 3995 rpm.

Give or take that is your 300hp at the flywheel.

Jake

 

[lwarrior1016]

Im talking about wheel horsepower.

Why would we use flywheel horsepower in this sense?

 

[evilcw311]

Flywheel horse is worth nada. It's what you can put to the ground that matters.


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[Jakespeeds]

I did not see anywhere where the original poster said he had an automatic or a manual transmission. If I missed it than its my bad. Without knowing that then the only way to make a direct comparison is to use flywheel horsepower. The other reason is that I build engines a lot. So I want flywheel horsepower first. The with wheel horsepower I can figure percentage loss through drivetrain. Quite often its a first time indicator that something is slipping or not working properly. But in this case the numbers I stated were at the wheel.

Jake

Im talking about wheel horsepower.

Why would we use flywheel horsepower in this sense?

 

[g36 monkey]

As others have stated, the mods you are looking at won't even be close. But they can help you get there.

 

[Jakespeeds]

Did we lose Clay!?

Jake

 

[lwarrior1016]

I dont think he liked the answer he got.

 

[Jakespeeds]

Fair enough. I will say this that yes my car does not put down what would be considered a lot of horsepower. But how it puts it to the ground and makes use of it is really phenomenal. I have a 73 SS Nova that is apart now getting some improvements but was at 562hp for a long time. I have a 70 Mach 1 428SCJ that is stock but tuned puts 361 at the tires. My little 98 SN95 is more fun than both of those cars and makes more use of its horsepower in that chassis than either one. It runs like a car with 150 more horsepower. That little 4.6 SOHC engine has been a complete surprise to me.

Hopefully Clay will come back and look. Be happy with what you have not disappointed with what you don't.

Jake

 

[Clay Hughes]

thank you very much for the detailed message,hell might as well pony up the 4 grand for a turbo, I've got a couple grand already, probably have to replace the exhaust i'm guessing to something bigger...

 

[Clay Hughes]

why would you say that, i'm 41 make good money and have no bills, other than my kids crapola. I can sell this and buy a new one if I want, lol. it's just for fun. I'm not going drag racing, ... or should l.... hmm

 

[Clay Hughes]

sorry I didn't know I had any replies, I thought it would notify my email. this forum rocks, you actually get answers!!!! I saw a guy who had a 5.0 mustang with a turbo and it only gave him 90 extra hp.... wow... my mkz is faster than my mustang right now.