We just bought my son a 95 GT with 62,000 miles. It has headers and flowmasters now. The car has a very strong top end but it seems to build power slowly . We plan on a cold air intake next but was wondering if this is a trait for this year or what ? I have only built older , carbureted cars. Thanks

 

Nice low mileage stang man! Anyway the 5.0 is generally known more for the low end torque than its high RPM performance... In stock form that is... I have a feeling your probably just feeling the lack of putting the torque to the ground with those OEM 3.08 Gears! If you have no driveability issues and no codes , I'd suggest some street friendly 3.73 or 4.10s..They will feel like 50hp! Good Luck

 

Get it dyno'd to make sure everything is running good. It could also be as simple as plugs & wires. Id recommend a base 4 synthetic oil such as Mobil 1 extended performance (I've seen LS1 motors dyno 8 rwhp more than conventional oil running a base 4 synthetic. ). Your car should be putting down a little over 200 rwhp with a cold air kit, synthetics, and good plugs and wires. A set of 3.73's are a perfect combination.

 

Thanks for all the info fellas . I figured it should be way more torquey and I wondered about gearing and being choked by the factory air box. Thanks again

 

the older push rod motors are quite mod-able.

Like others have said, check vital first:

Tune up and oil change --
Service the throttle body and make sure they clean or replace the sensor at the air mass meter (this is one thing lots of people overlook that will directly affect performance).

If you want to qualify your baseline by doing a few dyno pulls -- then off to the speed shop -- or so to speak.

as listed before check the gear ratio for the rear end -- if you're still turning 3.08 then 3.55 or 3.73 will give you a little more umph out of the hole.

another low dollar bump in power can be had by running under-drive pulleys which will lower your parasitic loss from accessories at low rpms.

if you are still feeling frisky -- an E303 cam from FRPP and a TrickFlow lower and upper intake combined with a big throttle body.

that may be a plan of action, in the long run...
gears and under drive pulley not that expensive -- if you do go with the gears you will need to change over your speedo drive gear also -- it will read a little strange if you don't

cheers!!

 

You can also try adjusting the timing on it to. The old 5.0's you can do so much with. heads, cam, Intake, Thorttle body. but I would do like everyone else said. And just do a tune up and see what happens. Changing the gears is a big improvment.

Is the car a Stick or Auto?

 

Don't spend the money on a dyno. No gains on a OBD1 motor w/o major mods first off. CAI doesn't do much for the pushrod motor like it does for the newer motors. Your motor is just like mine so unless you want to spend the money on heads, cam and intake you are going to have to work around somethings. Our motors have E7 truck heads that are restictive and are rpm high limited, the lower intake also is a bottle neck. CAIs, larger throttle bodies, etc are only going to give a slight improvement but you are only going to push so much air through the intake and heads it will allow, peroid.

Your car is heavier than my fox so you have to over come the extra weight with almost the same motor with the tall gears. to improve how it pulls of teh line and it low end responce change out the gears. manual tranny 3.55/3.73 auto 3.90/4.10.

next bump up the timing. advance it 2degrees at a time at drive it each bump ( time it once it is up to operating temp) so 10* is base bump to 12 and drive it no ping bump to 14* run under a load no ping bump to 16* (I run 16*, this is good for the street) 18* is kinda high even though some motors will do it, this is my opinion though.

you already did headers, exhaust, etc. a chip or dyno tune is a huge waste of money at this point. gears and timing then it bolts on for the motor.

 

I agree with Skunk21 ... unless you'd really like a Baseline. A dyno run isn't going to do much for the mods. In my opinion I would give her a tune up with some quality plugs/wires etc.. And Advance the timing like suggested... And of course those 3:73s! Down the road when you guys really want to play , the good ole HCI ( Heads,Cam,Intake) swap will really bring her to life... That's when you should consider the dyno tuning! Hope you feel like your getting good info!

 

Budget H/C/I...GT40P top end and trick flow stage 1 cam, proven combo.

More $ $ most aftermarket intakes Holley, Trick Flow, etc. Heads: AFR, Trick flow wedge, Edelbrock,etc. Cam: Comp, Trick Flow, Ford, custom, etc.
Top end Kit: Trick flow.

Plenty of options out there.

Then supporting mods, injectors, maf, tb, fuel pump,etc.

Then, Dyno tune.