Hello,
I am new to the SOHC 4.6 stuff. What are the popular mods and add ons to put on these cars. This car is a 2002 - automatic - with only mufflers being the only mod.
How much of a help are these programmers for these cars, considering it is an auto.
And is the bullitt intake a wise add-on? If so what throttle body etc...?
Thanks in advance-

 

get an sct xcal, valve body or jmod,and gears

 

Those^^^^anagrams don't help much if I don't know what they stand for
or are.
Thanks though-

 

oh wow. that new. ok. the xcal is a programmer, it tunes your car very effectively. gears are gears, they go in the rear . i suggest 4.30s . valve body or jmod, the valve body is what controls your trans, most importantly, the shifting, the jmod is a cheap modification you do to your stock valve body. if you arent comfortabkle, there are many aftermarket valve bodies you can buy to firm shifts. i, for example, use a lentech strip terminator valve body with brake. also, if you have about 7-9 hundred to spend, get a nice torque converter. i use a 2800 stall PI multidisk.

 

Thanks- how much of a help are the tuners on these automatic cars. My PS diesel was alot better after the programmer- I'm just not sure on the SOHC 4,6 stuff.

 

computer upgrades definetly help, sct is the best. you NEED the tuner after a gear swap, since our trannies are shifted via ecu.

 

"SCT X-Calibrator" - probably the best tuner/flasher currently available for our cars. I have the "Diablo Predator" which is also very good, and perhaps a little cheaper. Both units will give you control over the computer that in turn controls many functions on your car: Shift points (rpm where the transmission shifts from one gear to the next) - Tuning for premium fuel (allows more advanced timing for more power/torque but requires the use of premium fuel) - error code reading/clearing - allows the elimination of the extra pair of MIL oxygen sensors on many of our cars (a problem if you plan to replace the stock H-pipe) - disables the traction control function - disables the rev limiter (careful with this...) - etc, etc. The improvement is good, but don't expect the drama the diesel guys get - Ford left a lot on the table with their diesel engine tunes, but not so much with the mustangs.

"4.30 gears" refers to the gear set he's recommending for installation in your 8.8" rear. Ford Racing PP gears are available in a wide assortment of ratios, with 3.73 and 4.10's being the most common. The higher the number of the gear set, the lower the gearing and the more power you'll be applying early on in the power curve to the rear tires. At your current power level of about 200rwhp on stock tires, you will be somewhat limited by traction off the line with 4.30 gears (you'll definitely be able to spin the tires after this change). Most people go for sticky, wider tires at this poin (drag radials are popular with the more serious set, with Micky Thompsons the shortest lived but stickiest - more streetable tires available from Nitto and BFG.) Depending on your driving habits and intentions for the car (pure daily driver, 1/4 mile or road race?), your choice of gearing may change. www.allfordmustang.com has a site in its tech section where you can plug in different highway speeds, tire size and gearing and get an idea of what rpm your car will turn at a given speed. Stronger gears will necessitate more frequent gear changes in stop and go traffic, and higher rpms at highway speeds. I suggest you join a local mustang club and go for a ride in a friend's car who is running 4.10 or 4.30 gears before making your choice if you plan to campaign your car on a daily driver routine. The consensus for a streetable daily driver seems to fall somewhere between 3.73 and 4.30, but this is a variable and subjective call only you can make. I agree that this is a change that should be early in your build and which will make the most "seat of the pants" difference.

Firming up your shift points and upgrading to a good torque converter make excellent sense, and will cost you dearly depending upon how you get them installed and where on the street/vs/pro curve you choose to live. The items dom has suggested are good choices, but again I suggest you see if you can gain first-hand experience before making modifications of this kind. The SCT or Diablo can also firm up your shifts (this is a little controversial, given that they accomplish this by increasing the pressure in the unit, which some folks believe could cause failure or premature wear anyway - no opinion and no experience myself, since I have 5 speed). No doubt regardless that the SCT route is inferior to good professional install of valve body and torque converter.

Many other boltons are out there, with the most power coming formthe most expensive (superchargers, turbochargers, stroking, cams & 5 angle cnc head port jobs, P-51 instake from Fox Lake, SVO intake from Steeda, Nitrous kits from dozens of companies, etc, etc).

If you want to add, say, 100 naturally aspirated horsepower at the rear wheels, it can be done for about $4000 in any of a dozen methods. If you give us some idea of what you can spend, we can figure out how to spend your money for you, no problem!

tripleblack

 

^^ good write up.

 

Thanks for the write up triple black - I should have stated in my first post that I have been around the mustang scene for a while, but I am just new to the SOHC scene. My other car is am 89' that run's high 5's (1/8 mile) - 10.5" tire car. And we have owned 2 01- and an 03' Cobra's. As with most people that are new to the SOHC-DOHC scen I was just wondering the best add-on's to make this car (let's say: 8.00 ET's in the 1/8 N/A of course) faster.

Is there any advantage to the SCT over the Predator?

Thanks again-

 

i always favor sct over diablo.

 

Depending on if you're highway driving a lot and planning on getting an exhaust, 4.30 gears might be a little high. I might suggest the 4.10s instead. I think you'd be quite happy w/ the 4.10s - quite a noticable difference.

 

If I were buying today I'd go with the SCT. In 2003 and early 2004, Diablo had a slight lead in the technology race. Now SCT and its X-Calibrator are most modern and up-tp-date. The shelf-life of dominance in high technology tuning is very short and fiercely contested... If you are really focused on the strip, a FAST system may be the right way to go.

It is actually harder/more expensive to accomplish a given level of performance with the 4.6 (sohc or dohc) than the 5.0's or various Windsors. The selection of heads is non-existant (although there are persistant rumors about Edelbrock...) or suspect (a la Patriot stage III heads). Good cranks are very expensive (one keeps hearing that cheap Chinese cranks are coming, but I don't know if they are readily available yet - nor if they have problems, given that they are just coming on line), and largely limited to forged steel Cobra units which cost a great deal. The current hot na setup consists of a 5.0 stroker with forged internals, tool steel pins, PI 5-angle cnc port job, comp cams (other companies make good cams too - but comp seems to be spending a little more development time on the sohc 4.6 than the others), P51 Fox lake intake, accufab throttle body, DeMolet tuneable induction CAI, free flowing exhaust (I like Bassani, and SLP if tickets for noise is not a factor - combining their x-pipe and their loudmouth system is as loud as any non-pure racing rig I've ever experienced). Starting from scratch with a good crate motor from DSS, Coast Performance, etc. can be a good way to go.

 

i use to think the same thing but 4.30s are just 100 rpm`s more then 4.10s.

 

Comfort zone on gear choices all depends on what rpm you'll tolerate at what speed. One good measure is the rpm at cruising speed (say 75mph). My stock old 3.27 gears and 5 speed yielded about 2100 rpm at this speed, whereas 4.30 gears would make it 2700 rpm. "Will the extra 600 rpm bother me" is the question, or the lower gas mileage (roughly 10%, or the difference of 2 mpg or so)?

Everyone has to answer these questions and find a sweet spot they can live with.

tripleblack

 

if you can afford to modify your v8 car you can afford the small increase in highway gas usage. get the best gear for your car's 1/4 mile performance, and since you are NA, go 4.30

 

Since he told us he's looking at 1/8 mile performance (rather than street or road track) I agree that 4.30's would be a good place to start with a NA 4.6. He could also run more gear, even 5's for a pure 1/8 mile car.

tripleblack

 

oh yea. he did say 8th mile.