I just bought a 2005 v6 and am looking to make it go faster. I do not know much about cars, but I have been researching the cold air intake, new exhaust, tuning, etc. A friend of mine mentioned headers as another way to increase HP. But articles I have read seem to discount them for a less-powerful car. Can anyone give me advice about getting headers for a v6? Will they out-perform the current exhaust manifolds? What about in the future if I step up the HP another 40?

Thanks.

 

Generally speaking, you don't add much with headers unless you have a turbo or super charger and go with long-tube headers. They are also a real pain to install.

I also can't imagine that there is a big market for headers or '05 V-6's yet. Might be hard to even find parts.

Headers are also expensive. Figure about $1000 for LT's with installation. All that $ for minimal hp gains. But, I guess it is all part of the deal. A little power here and a little power there.

It will cost you a lot more money to increase the cars hp by 90 hp then the price difference of a GT. The new v-6 mustangs are the best ever, but I am always a little shocked when someone with a V-6 wants to go to major lengths to add more hp.

IMO, if I were you, I would not get headers. Instead, I might add a dual exhaust and change your rear gear ratio. Changing gears if far cheaper than headers and it will be like adding 30 - 40 hp. Keep in mind, gears do not add power, but they make the car a lot faster.

 

hey thanks for the help...

I was wondering about the gear changes...how do I go about doing this? Do I just buy a new set of gears, and then get a mechanic to install them (or can I simply do it)? How do they make the car go faster...are they bigger gears? Will this affect my "overdrive" (5th gear) RPM, and will I get horrible gas mileage?

Also, what does the 4.10, 3.whatever mean? Is this a reflection on the diameter or something?

If I were to switch the gears, which should I get, and would I have to use a tuner for any reason to get my car to recognize the new gears?

 

Read this thread, it's a great info source...

http://www.mustangtuningforums.com/s...ead.php?t=4652

And yes you could buy them and have a mechanic put them in. The thread says you could do it yourself, but if you don't know anything and don't have the equipment...don't even try lol A guy here in my Mustang club said he got his gears put in for 300 installed...then again thats a GREAT price...

 

i looked at that thread posted, and went to the gear calculator (as you did I think), and also found that it said a smaller gear ratio (3.27) made the car go faster at both 3500 and 4000 RPMs than a higher gear ratio (3.93). What gives?!?

Also, why change just the rear gears?

Third, why do we say that by changing gears that the car does not become more powerful? The thread said that it is a "torque multiplier." Torque is a rotational force. Force X distance = work, and work/time = power. Thus, if torque is multiplied, power is increased. So again, how does the car not become more powerful? Do you guys just mean that the engine puts out no added power?

thanks again for all the help.

 

somewhat off topic, but what about headers (longtube) for a 2001 v6, are there any out there? and could i run a GT x-pipe off that and then slp loudmouth? finally have enough dough saved up for exhaust and wanna get it all at once, also with me being somewhat good with cars and my father restoring a few cars himself, think i could do this myself? or it better to leave it to a pro.

thanks a bunch, all info would be GREAT

 

youre essentially making it "easier" for the rpms to raise up high so by doing so, your top speed in 1st/2nd/3rd/etc gear will be lower with higher gearing. I dunno how much higher but I know there is a difference.

 

Think of it like a 10 speed bike and it will make sense.

A bike is like your car. There is a back sproket which has 5 gears. Those are just like the gears in your trany. Think of the front sprocket as your gear ratio in the back of the car. As you change to a smaller sprocket the bike is easier to pedal and you accelerate faster. You don't add more power, but you accelerate faster. Same thing happens when changing to 4.10's or 3.73's from stock gears. That is what is meant by a tourque multiplier.

Gears are about the best mod you can do to a mustang next to a blower.

 

I haven't really seen LT headers for any v6, they maybe out there though. The reason they may not is that when you change those out from stock manifolds you lose a lot of backpressure. I could feel so much difference on my GT. Downlow felt soo much slower, but when it hit 4k the car would lose traction on cold days and try to get sideways. I don't know if v6's could handle the loss of that backpressure, that's why you have to be careful with exhaust systems for those cars. When I dyno tuned my car we also found out it was 20% lean and by correcting that I gained around 35 rwhp and 45 rwtq at 3500 rpms (that's with some induction mods too though).

I would NOT recommend installing gears youself if you've never done it before. Me and my dad did it (along with everything else) and you need to be tenths of a number exact or you can mess it all up and cause your rearend to whine or the gears to wear.

 

Mac sells long tubes for the 3.8 i do not as of now know of any for the new 4.0L v6 six sorry.