i am trying to decide on a supercharger set up for my 08 mustang. the car itself is in like new shape. it is a 5spd and has 6700 original miles on all original parts. i spoke with the folks that would be installing it for me and they said they have done plenty of stock mustangs with 500rwhp and have had no problems so far. I have done a lot of searching and most sites seem to say that stock internals will handle 450hp.

my question is:is that 450 hp at the rear wheels or at the crank? and if it is 450rwhp then what is the most the internals will handle at the crank?



i just get confused when people start throwing out a lot of numbers. if i understand correctly, most companies advertise what their S/C make at the crank. if there is usually a 20% loss between the crank and the rear wheels then a S/C that makes 550hp at the crank will be about 440hp at the rear wheels.

i have a few other questions but i want to see what information this one reveals to me before i go throwing out any more.

Thank you all in advance for your time.

 

As a GENERAL rule, 500 flywheel HP is usually considered the limit for a non forged 3V 4.6L. Notice I said GENERAL. Are there cars out there running 500 HP safely to the wheels? Yes! The difference is in the tune. A bad tune can blow up a motor with only 350 HP to the wheels. The supercharged cars out there with 500 HP at the wheels have been tuned by someone with tons of experience and knowledge on how to get A/F ratios and timing perfect across the board. Detonation is what kills these engines...if you can avoid detonation, then they will last. Now, 500 HP to the wheels is really pushing the limit...but can still be done, if it's done right. If you're wanting 500 HP to the wheels and will be supercharging a non forged bottom end, then do a ton of research and find out who has safely tuned other cars this way....and I would want some feedback from car owners with at least a couple of years with their mods and tune under their belts. Don't go by someone who has only had it for a month or so.

JDM Engineering and VMP Tuning are 2 highly experienced and recommended tuners...I would recommend you contact them and ask some questions before doing anything.

Remember....it's all in the TUNE!

 

thank you very much.
i was hoping to get around 450hp at the rear wheels. what would that roughly translate to for crank HP? i found an edelbrock S/C that makes 466hp at the crank (im assuming) on only 5psi. i was reading some reviews about it and alot of the people are tuning it so they are getting 510-520 at the crank and about 460-475 hp at the wheels.

also any recomendations for a set up running a S/C with headers and a cam? i really like the power of the S/C but i love the sound of a hot rod cam.

 

You'd need to be around 525 +/- at the crankshaft to net 450 HP at the wheels. Like everything else about these cars, there is even debate about what percentage of engine HP is lost through the drivetrain. I think 15% is a fair number to use for drivetrain loss....some think more...some less...I think 15% is a good, fair/average number.

There are HP gains to be found with headers and cams. However, you need to be aware that you need to have a tune that takes into account headers and/or cams. You can't put on an S/C with it's tune and then throw headers and cams at it, without having a whole new tune to reset all the parameters for that new hardware. If you do everything at once, a good tuner ( like JDM Engineering or VMP Tuning ) can write a tune for the whole package, eliminating the need for updated tunes, as you add mods. First step is to get in touch with them and explain what you're planning and ask a ton of questions.....they will give you all the straight info on what you can and can't do...what are realistic expectations and what aren't.

I agree that the cams make these cars sound awesome!

 

Get a hellion turbonetics kit and get forged internals. And have 750rwhp all day

http://www.hellionpowersystems.com/i...hellion-racing

 

sabre- thank you for your help. i think i am going to go with a roush phase 2 and have it tuned down so that it is not pushing full power right out of the gate. i plan on forging my internals in the near future but i wanted to go ahead and get the supercharger on it now. that way nothing that comes up in the future will prevent me from doing it then. i can always have it tuned for more power if i want after that.

metal- as much as i would love to do it all at once and have that kind of power, i just dont think it would be very smart. i wont ever ned that much power for street use. i just want enough to have fun while im driving it and smoke the occasional rich kid in his dads BMW when the chance presents itself.

im going to call roush and see if they would offer any advise on tuning the SC with headers and high flow cats.

one last question for you guys though. i currently have the roush axle back exhaust. if i tune my SC with them on and decide to go with the pypes mid muffler system later will i need to get another tune? i realize that for headers and stuff i do but does the cat back exhaust system make a difference also?

thank you again.