[frankenvette]

My son wants to upgrade his 5.0l Mustang engine for Xmas. What is the best bang for the buck upgrade for a stock 5.0l Ford engine.

 

[DeathRattle]

Nitrous. Not a super shot otherwise internals will need upgrading but for pony per dollar the bottle cant be beat.

 

[Timido]

How stock is it? 3.73 to a 4.10 gear wakes em up. You could hit up the junk yards for some gt40p heads intake off a 5.0 explorer. 1.72 roller rockers and a electric fan free up some power also

 

[firestone]

Nitrous is the most hp for the buck, but for something that he can use just putting around, I think a set of higher ratio rear end gears would be great. Headers are also a good idea. I had a car that originally had a low hp 307. I switched to a ~375 hp 355, and initailly left the gears the same. Then I replaced the stock 2.73 gears with 3.90's and a posi. The gear upgrade made more of a difference in how fun the car was to drive than the initial increase in hp. Look at the car below. This may be something you can look foreward to as far as upgrades go. They have a car that is very similar to yours that runs 8.3's in the 1/8th mile for really cheap. As a comparason, my brothers stock 2000 WS6 firebird ran a 9.1. How far to go on the gears will depend a lot on if he has overdrive or not

Scroll down to the "Pro Turd" 1986 mustang
http://www.revolutionaryperformance.com/racing.htm

Adam

 

[xntrik]

My son wants to upgrade his 5.0l Mustang engine for Xmas. What is the best bang for the buck upgrade for a stock 5.0l Ford engine.

I'm a Ford 5.0 guy.

1) Nitrous..... look to ZEX for a fool proof system $ 600

2) Cold air intake $ 150

3) Rear gear...... 3.55 max... more gets ridiculous using first gear on the street $ 200

4) Personally I prefer HEADS and exhaust next = they are the real cork in the system = this will give you more gain under 5500 rpm than all the intake upgrades $ 2000

5) Intake upgrades $ 1000

Cam change is a waste of money until other stuff is done.

On the average each horsepower gained will cost you about $ 30-35.... except nitrous

 

[49 Merc]

Is it a 5.0 or a 5.0 HO? http://www.coolcats.net/home/ this is some good info

 

[Timido]

You can pick up gt40p heads and intake for $300-400 at the junk yard. You can build an easy 12.50 car with those. I preffer a 4.10 gear for an AOD and a 3.55-3.73 for a stick car.

 

[farna]

I'd say a good cat back exhaust system will be a nice upgrade, and a cold air intake with free flow air filter. Those don't add a lot of power, but should be noticeable and easy to do at home. Any additional upgrades later will benefit from those two. You could go to a true dual exhaust, but that's a lot more $$$ since you need dual cats. What year Mustang? If you're in a state that requires emission inspections remember that mods can affect emissions. I don't think the cold air/breather or cat-back will.

Personally, I like the AMSOIL oiled foam filters over K&N. THe "butt dyno" says they work about the same, and the oilled foam is a lot cheaper/easier to maintain. Get any regular oil on a K&N and it's ruined -- been there done that, won't buy another one! Even the K&N cleaning kit won't help -- any spot that got regular oil in it is like putting a piece of solid material on that spot. Attempting to clean usually makes it worse (increases size of "dead" spot). Had this happen to an expensive motorcycle K&N. Don't recall how I got an oil spot on it, wasn't oil in the filter housing, maybe I put it down on an oil spot?? Was 5-6 years ago...

 

[xntrik]

Is it a 5.0 or a 5.0 HO? http://www.coolcats.net/home/ this is some good info

All 5.0 Mustangs are HOs if they are fuel injected. The early 80s carb 5.0 wasn't much of an engine.

He didn't say he wanted to build a drag car, just improve the performance.... which on the street means 2000-5000 rpm with snappy throttle response.

Edited: If you build a screamer from 4500-6000 rpm the low end will decrease significantly and the throttle reponse will get soft. Seat of the pants on the street will be really disappointing unless you want to drive around at 5000 rpm all the time.

 

[chevelle4542speed]

nitrous nitrous nitrous nitrous

 

[frankenvette]

Great ideas guys, thanks. Should have told you guys, this is a stock 5.0l, 140,000 miles, but still a tight motor, no leaks, plenty of power. I think we'll wait until spring, then decide how much we want to spend, then apply it based on best gain for the buck. Looks like nitrous may be favorable, but I know you really have to watch how much you use on a stock motor. We have heard the cold air intake, larger throttle body, better intake all work pretty well.

 

[Blazin72]

How old is your son? If he's still in H.S. then nitrous might not be the best choice... Also, it does have to be refilled and if he really enjoys it he's probably going to go through a bottle fairly quickly. I don't know if this is true but I have also been told if you're pulled over and the officer discovers the valve on the bottle is open then that's one more thing he can get you for.

Why not just start with the same initial upgrades most people do to their vehicles? Intake and exhaust upgrades always work. Maybe later, if he's been extra good, get a set of heads.

 

[49 Merc]

All 5.0 Mustangs are HOs if they are fuel injected. The early 80s carb 5.0 wasn't much of an engine.

Did you read the link? The only thing that is the same is the block. Everything else is different. Cam,heads,firing order, throttle body, Hp.

I have a 88 5.0 out of a t-bird & was going to put a roller cam & lifters in it. What i have found is that you can't build them up like it was a 5.0 HO unless you do the whole motor from the block up. I'm just getting into the 5.0 so if I'm wrong please inlighten me :thumbup:

 

[xntrik]

Great ideas guys, thanks. Should have told you guys, this is a stock 5.0l, 140,000 miles, but still a tight motor, no leaks, plenty of power. I think we'll wait until spring, then decide how much we want to spend, then apply it based on best gain for the buck. Looks like nitrous may be favorable, but I know you really have to watch how much you use on a stock motor. We have heard the cold air intake, larger throttle body, better intake all work pretty well.

Check out this issue on the news stands NOW until end of February.

HOT ROD ENGINES, Fall 2006, page26, "Junk Yard Jewell 5.0"
Step by step progressive buildup and dyno tests on a junk yard 5.0 fuelie.

Sorry I cannot locate this article on their website.

When you see how much heads help, and how little $$$$ intake stuff helps, you might agree with my earlier post. Unless you have $4,000 to spend.

Cold air and 1.7 rockers gave 21 hp for $ 450.
Intake, etc. gained 13 up high and lost 13 down low for $ $1300.
Cam barely did +16 for $ 300 even AFTER the big heads were added.
Heads were $ 1300 (with the small parts) but gained 79 AFTER all the intake stuff was added. Heads first will kick up 40 hp and lots of torque below 5000 rpm and everything else is down hill from there.

I think that you will find it veeeeeery interesting. :thumbup:

FYI GT40 "P" iron heads require special headers.

The regular 93 Cobra GT40 iron heads are just the early 69-74 Windsor heads with hard valve seats, later model rocker arms, and small spark plugs. Same 144 cc ports and valve sizes. I'd pick up early heads for $ 50 pair and redo them before I spent very much on factory iron heads. Twisted wedge or AFR aluminum heads are still the best, but more money.

 

[ChevelleSS_LS6]

gt40p heads intake off a 5.0 explorer. 1.72 roller rockers and a electric fan free up some power also

anything else they're on? I wonder if it'd be cost effective to strip the local yards of em, rebuild em myself (well machine work would be done by local shops) and ebay/swap meet them off.

btw: this is my post no. 1000. After being here since 01 it took a long time but im not a postwhore. Thought it was a pretty neat small milestone here fyi.

 

[Timido]

early 5.0 explorers had gt40 heads later ones had gt40p heads. The explorer intake is close to the cobra intake. They are great upgrades from stock. You can even use the 65mm throttle body if you modify it. My old mustang ran great with them.

 

[xntrik]

early 5.0 explorers had gt40 heads later ones had gt40p heads. The explorer intake is close to the cobra intake. They are great upgrades from stock. You can even use the 65mm throttle body if you modify it. My old mustang ran great with them.

Heads, intake, throttle body, mass air meter, special P-headers......

$$$$$$$$ ?? for 35 hp ??