Modding an '11
 

What would be the best place to start? I want to add a sc down the road so I thing a forgrd bottom and top end is in the cards. Should I start by building up the motor before I add anything like a CAI or cams. I want this car to be fully capible of handeling some serious power without worrying about it becoming a major problem with having to fully rebuild/buy a new engine.

Full exhaust
Cams
Heads
CAI
KB or Wipple SC down the road.

I am pretty sure that this car will be able to get into the 600whp range easily with these mods but I also will be using this car as a daily driver.

The Bank :)

I'd imagine that exhaust kits will be some of the first things available, so that's where I'd start.

Other than that, aftermarket for the '11 5.0 is pretty much undefined at this point.

How about converting from speed density to MAF and throwing on a Cobra intake. Wait, the "new" 5.0L? Sorry, we haven't got a clue yet.

Don't forget the proverbial h/c/i :grin: Best way to get hp out of a 302. :jester:

Wasn't there a section in one of the many articles claiming that the headers were so free-flowing it would be pointless(other than to change the tone) to buy aftermarket?

Depending on how much Ford left for it to gain, I personally think tuning will be the strongest gain/improvement before you actually open up the motor and go from there. I'm also interested to see what happened with aftermarket F/I considering the compression is high. I'm sure we'll see a bunch of kits(eventually) with low boost(5, 6psi), but I want to see turbo kits going higher than 10psi.

what is a forged "top end"??

A little silly to be talking about this when the motor isn't released yet. We don't know how much performance various mods will yield.

The engine is high compression, 11.0 ratio right?

With that type of compression, FI on an engine with stock compression would be a huge waste of money. Bang for the buck wise, I'm pretty sure bolt-ons will achieve the best results and tap this engine out. I don't believe there's too much left to gain from this engine. Cams on an '05 are near worthless because the stockers were designed so well.

600whp is a pipe dream without forged internals. I hate to say it, but I think the 5.0 is near tapped out as far as power potential goes. The most you'll likely get out of it on stock compression, atleast this is what I think, will most likely be around 30-50 hp(50 is a huge stretch I'm trying to be nice), I'm ball parking it.

I'm as excited about this car as all of you are, but be realistic.

I would NOT touch this engine or even be thinking about modifications at this time since there is so much unknown. While the typical "hot rod" tricks are out there, it is too early to know the effects of any changes because of the following -

1) the twin cam phasing technology
2) the flow characteristics of the existing heads
3) the scavenging efficiency of the exhaust headers
4) the strength of the stock pistons and connecting rods
5) the tunability of the twin cam phasing system

Until these are known, I think it is very difficult to predict what combination of part changes or PCM changes will do or what power levels might be achieved. If one surmises that the Shelby GT500 of the future uses a twin-turbo 5.0L, then one might assume the power outputs would be at least 540hp and maybe some more, but it is not easy to tell.

I'd be doing full exhaust, intake, tune and then enjoying the car.

Evolution Motorsports said something along the lines of "wait and see what it does with a tune". So that'll be one thing to see before you start worrying about everything else.

The first order of business would be actually getting the car though.haha

I for one would only be interested in swapping my GTA's over to the '11 and to get a tune for it. With the introduction of a proper CAI from the factory on the '10s, I am dubious as to the benefit of an aftermarket CAI. I would like to see the results of just a tune vs. tune and CAI. Most of the 'tune and CAI' numbers I've seen for the 10's are so small I don't think getting a CAI is worth the $.

4.30 gears :rockon:

It's funny because people said the exact same thing about the 4.6L 3V when it first came out. I understand the compression is very high, but there are safeguards built-in from the factory that will allow you to run FI efficiently -- albeit at safe, realistic boost levels. Give it some time. There will be tuners making huge power with the 5.0L's in the not-too-distant future. I'm sure of it.

Look for JBA, Borla & Magnaflow long tube headers, cat-less x-pipes, cat-backs & axle-backs first... K&N will have a drop-in replacement. SCT, Diablosport, Superchips & Hypertech will all have tunes, removing rev limit & top speed limit... gain wise - unknown, but expect some peppiness on hard acceleration and lower fuel economy ;)

Turbos will replace Superchargers as the the preferred FI...
4.10s and taller gears...
Lighter weight wheels might make a comeback ;)

I'll keep an eye/ear out for aftermarket updates...

Gears and tuning will probably be the biggest bang for the buck.

The new 6 speeds have such a wide gap between 1st and 2nd that it'll launch hard in 1st, but 2nd will likely bog a bit, which can be remedied with 4.10's or 4.30's. Might even be able to get away with 4.56 FRPP gears now that we'll be getting a more generous overdrive in 6th gear.

Tuning is a bit conservative from the OEM's to account for a wide variety of operating conditions, so there will always be room for some improvement via aftermarket tuning.

Beyond gears and tuning, the rest of the normal bolt on's will be unknowns until more is known about the new drivetrain.

Aftermarket turbo's have a big problem: CARB certification. Very few ever make it because of the way they screw with the factory cat location. That's why you see weird kits with turbos after the cats. Blowers are easy to get CARB approved. Turbos are also much more involved and require a lot more work and tuning to get perfect. I don't think they will be replacing blowers as the FI of choice other than a factory turbo Cobra motor or something.

I think a lot of folks are going to be surprised at just how well supercharging will work on this engine. High compression does lower the total amount of boost you can run, but low boost combined with high compression has benefits all it's own.

Thats pretty good.:rofl2:

It was late for me and I meant ported and polished aftermarket heads. Sorry for the confusion

I know 600whp is not going to happen without forged internals. I asked if the best thing to do would be to start with forged internals before adding any more mods.

I will need to get the car first but thats why I'm asking. If the rumor is true about 468hp then a tune is gonna kick some a$$.

This is cool. I don't really want to run a lot of boost so this is good to know.

I know we don't see as much press on centrifugal superchargers as we used to but I am thinking this engine might be a good application for one. Should be interesting to see what Vortec, Procharger, etc. might come up with. The advantage of the Roots style and Whipple SC's has always been that they produce torque increases at low revs, something the 4.6 really needed. Now that we will have a few more cubes and, more importantly, TiVCT to handle the torque issue I could see where using a centrifugal to pick up the top end might work pretty well. If the new head design takes up as much space in the valley as the pics seem to show a centrifugal might also be easier to package than a blower/intercooler mounted on top.

with the 11:1 comp you can't run as high a boost as you could on the 4.6's but since the 5.0 are starting out life on 412hp this just means that instead of running 8 psi to get 500hp you are running 5psi... people who want to get serious can change pistons, if they don't want to change pistons then they aren't serious are they :)