OK now that the weather is somewhat normal here in NY(Although we have 50 mile an hour winds today.)and the 3 feet of snow is almost gone I am no longer depressed and I am starting to look into more mods this season.

Blue oval has the Boss manifold for 475.00 it say tune required. The Boss uses the same air-boxes we have in our 2011-2012 5.0's correct? My question is if a CAI is 350.00 and the Boss manifold is 475.00 why wouldn't you go with the manifold and Tune that supposedly gets you 50 or so HP with the stock air-box?,compared to the CAI Tune combo of 30-40 HP? Or do you need both the manifold and the CAI tune combo ? I guess what i'm trying to say is if you get the manifold is the 50 hp number with the stock air-box or a CAI ?

Paul

 

depends what your plans are with the car...both these mods make the car have 2 totally different personalities.

Boss manifold will put all your power up top

CAI Intake/tune will keep the power where it is, but add more

it really all depends what you want to use your car for and what your intentions are

 

To be more accurate it's 50 more HP at 7,500 rpm. They are almost identical up to 7,000 rpm, the rev limit for a stock 5.0. There's going to be an additional cost sooner or later if you rev your car a lot at 7,500 rpm.

 

Thanks guys you just cleared this up for me..... Steeda power pack here I come!

 

A proven winner. Good luck.

 

don't have a lot of faith in the valvetrain? or the clutch?

 

Look at the upgraded hardware in the Boss engines and then you tell me.

 

As I mentioned in another thread, once the intake manifold and CAI are paired on a Boss, and down to a GT, we should see some solid numbers all the way up to 7500 rpm on a normal 5.0. Shouldn't take companies like Steeda and Brenspeed long to get those tunes sorted out.

 

The valvetrain will be fine. Livernois (among others) have had no problems so far shifting at 7500+. Stock clutch...not so much.

 

Maybe, but for how long? Nobody knows for sure yet....but the Boss engines have upgrades valves, springs along with forged pistons and rods with race bearings. They also have an upgraded clutch. The Boss engines will rev to 8,000 but Ford limited them to 7,500 so they'll last 100,000 miles. If you're going to rev a stock 5.0 to 7,500 and beyond you need to be aware that you'll probably be shortening the life of the engine.

 

I won't 100% agree. Of course there are durability issues above what the OEM sets for a rev limit, but did anyone say that the valves aren't made to handle slightly higher levels? I read the Boss upgrades as a lighter valvetrain. It'll rev quicker and they allow it to rev higher with the manifold. They've never said that a 5.0 GT can't handle it the same way the Boss can, it just might take a bit longer to get to those levels. I know some of us will touch 7k+ on a stock motor, but it won't be for extended periods.

I'm sure Ford tested the 5.0 at higher than normal revs for extended periods. They know what it can do. The bean counters and lawyers also have a say in what the final numbers are, and there's always going to be a safety factor built into the motor.

 

The Boss has a 7500rpm redline because the factory pcm has a hard coded limiter that stop at 7800 rpm. At least that's what JPC found. I'll agree with you about the longevity of regular visits north of 7000. Eventally it will probably come back to bite you but so far the stock springs seem to be doing well. Unless you're going to track the car on a regular basis or spin it to 7500+ on the street the Boss intake might not be worth it. I will say the power it makes up top is crazy. These motors love to rev and this manifold is perfect for that.

 

Did anyone say they are? I'm not saying that the top end it going to blow up if revved beyond 7,000 but if you're thinking about these mods you need to be aware of the limitations.

 

Once Steeda and others get the CAI on a Boss, it'll be interesting to see if they gain power back in the lower rpms, and if they can keep it all the way to 7500. If so, it'll be huge.

 

The fun should begin in about four weeks if not sooner.

 

can't wait. I've got a CAI and Boss manifold en route, but waiting to see what the story is on tuning it before buying anything there. Means the parts will sit around a bit, but would rather have an awesome calibration than screw around.

 

Just judging from the design of the BOSS manifold, I seriously doubt you will be able to make up the lower end and midrange torque of a car that already has a cold air intake/tune combo with custom tuning for this manifold...HOWEVER

What nobody has been able to show until now is how a completely stock car with a stock manifold and airbox will compare to this Boss manifold with a cold air intake and tune.

I'm willing to bet you will have a huge horsepower increase with nearly stock torque. Every test done so far has been against cars that are already tuned, which have substantial torque increases over stock.

I bet any torque loss compared to a bone stock car could be tuned to the point where it will be mininal, then all you would have is top end horsepower. I think many people would be interested in knowing that, not just how much it does compared to cars that have already had the torque curve enhanced. You will definitely see a torque loss with that manifold compared to car that was already making more torque than stock due to calibration. But on a car that started out stock? I bet with tuning you could keep the torque and end up with huge top end horsepower increases compared to stock.

 

I'm going to try to get some dyno time and logs when mine comes in. Outside an axleback (which should be a total wash) mine's 100% stock in the power department.

I'm going to try to do stock, then modified and level out the variables as much as possible. I think you're right in that regard about torque loss being minimal to none against stock.

Also, this car has gobs of torque, I just don't see the loss being as huge of a deal as being able to rev further and for that much more power.

I have a road racer's mindset, where that extra rev-range will be of huge use as long as there's "usable" torque down low to pull out of a corner if in a bit low of gear (and even the initial graphs show that there is). Being able to save a shift here or there can make a large difference in lap times.