Power mod for under $1,000
I did cams in the driveway by myself in about 4 and a half hours. It was a fairly easy job but a back killer being bent over so long. I would not like to do headers on my back in the driveway.
Chris the 5.8 and 5.0 are completely different engines, the parts do not interchange.
I would agree with some cams and gears but I think for the money I would get a new intake manifold throttle body CAI and a high octane tune and the cherry on top would be a good Axle back exhaust and a x pipe
Throttle bodies are useless unless FI. Intake isn't really worth it without cams. Axel backs change the sound. O/R h or x would be nice.
I live in Maryland and have emissions so I need cats. Confused because this is $130 and everything else is like double if not more. Would this give me more torque? I'm sure sound will definitely improve.
Something like this http://www.americanmuscle.com/pypes-0509-v8-xpipe.html?
I live in Maryland and have emissions so I need cats. Confused because this is $130 and everything else is like double if not more. Would this give me more torque? I'm sure sound will definitely improve.
Ford did a really good job with the stock exhaust on these cars, and really the only area where significant power can be gained on a mostly stock or bolt-ons car is ahead of the cats.
What I mean by that is that axle backs/ cat backs/ and catted X or H pipes are all pretty much sound mods only. Some of the better designed cat backs and least restrictive mufflers might be good for a single digit horsepower gain, which you're never going to actually feel in a car that already has 300hp.
If you want to gain meaningful power (meaning double digit gains in these cars) out of the exhaust system you need either long tubes and/or offroad midpipe.
As for the difference between X and H pipe, some will tell you that the X flows better, and it does, but that slightly better flow does not translate to meaningful hp gains on a stock or boltons car. On a really high performance boosted application the X is probably the better choice, but for 99% of us, the choice between X and H is going to be about personal preference on exhaust sound. X is raspier, H is more old school muscle sound.
What matters as far as gaining power is getting rid of the cats, not switching to X vs H.
Last edited by Kevin509; Jan 8, 2013 at 06:06 PM.
Do you know what gears your car has in it stock?
Gears CAN make a big difference in your ET depending on what else you have going on. If I'm not mistaken I believe they make like a 2 tenth difference in the ET for the new cobras.



