Hi i just bought a stock 1998 mustang gt and i'm looking to get some more power out of it. I only have around $ 3000 to $4000 dollars to work with, can any one tell me what parts i should purchase first that would offer the best results.

 

supercharger!!!!

 

PI head/intake/cam swap.

 

Welcome. Supercharger.

 

If i go with a supercharger would i need to change any other parts??
And where could i get one for 1998?

 

American Muscle, and yes it would very wise to get new cams, and possibly gears. And definitely a ecu upgrade....I would anyway.

 

what is a PI head and intake?

 

power improved

 

I always thought that stood for Performance Improved... I could be wrong though.

 

I always thought that too. I looked it up just to make sure, and power improved came up the most....so........yeah

 

The 96-98 GT's came with non PI heads. While the 99-04 GT's came with PI or Performance Improved heads and intake, these flow a lot more air and gave the power boost from 215hp to 260hp that the 99-04 cars have.

Its a pretty straight forward swap where you take the heads with stock or aftermarket cams and intake manifold and swap them over to your 96-98 motor. This gives a nice boost in power and also raises the compression ratio up to the 10.1:1 rang so you get even more power then the 99-04 GT's have with our lower 9.8 or what it is compression ratio. You will have to get a tune if you do this mod.

Or just do a power adder like nitrous,turbos,supercharger.

 

So where can i get these PI heads and how much do they go for?

 

American Muscle....as for price...$194.99 on AM for the intake manifold

 

People sell swap kits with everything for around 1500-1800 dollars depending on where you look.

 

5.4 swap. You can build a stout 5.4 for that kind of cash. You might not be able to afford the new TFS heads outright but save up and that could be a nice final touch.

However, this all means nothing unless you tell us what you want. Just wanting more power is too general since specific applications have specific needs.

 

2nd the 5.4 swap. The extra torque gained even in stock form would be worth it. I'd probably be going that route myself if I wasn't concerned about voiding my warranty.

 

I'm only 18 and i wouldn't be able to do any of the complicated work my self, so i'm looking for something that would help me gain some HP and not be that expensive because keep in mind i would have to get someone to install all the parts for me.

 

and i'm not looking at swaping the engine either.

 

Why not? The swapping a 5.4 is like swapping 4.6s, just the 5.4 has a tighter fit.

Regardless, all the suggestions are shots in the dark until you tell us what you want from the car. Just saying you're in college and can't install the parts doesn't help. Are you looking for street/strip, street, drag only, street/road race, or road race power? Remember also that power isn't everything and money will need to be saved for other tidbits like suspension, chassis, and drivetrain.

 

Well unless you know someone that will cut you a deal on labor, it will probably cost more in labor to swap heads than to just swap the whole motor. I think somebody said they were quoted around $1500, in labor, to change heads.

Personally I did the 5.4 swap in my '97 GT but if you're set on not swapping the motor, a supercharger or nitrous kit is probably your best bet.

 

what you really need to do is be adventurous and start learning **** about your car, little by little. makes routine stuff and even more in depth stuff a little bit easier. and if you plan on getting new headlights, the 94-98's have the worst adjustment bolts.

on topic, to add a tiny bit of hp and good looks, get a CAI. if you want big power, then go with a charger, cheaper than nitro in the long run i think.

 

In the long run true, like over a few years. But nitro for the first year can be around 600 dollars but NS how much for install.

 

This car is going to be my DD so i dont want nothing crazy like nitrous and i don't want to swap for a 5.4 litre because the 4.6 has better fuel econmy. If changing the heads is going to be to expensive then i'd rather get a supercharger, but if i get a supercharger wat other parts will i have to change?

 

S/C is pretty dam pricey, gotta end up changin allot. If i were you id stick to some nice *** bolt ons, and make your car look sweet. Especially since its your DD, if not save up for more.

 

Look around online, you want a superchartger kit, it will come with just about everything you need.

maybe the non-pi guys can correct me on this, but if you go with the whole PI swap yer going to bump up 45hp or so to the power level of a 99-04 GT..

a supercharger on the other hand you should be able to push out maybe another 100hp.

My vote goes for the supercharger hands down.


another alternative would be to sell the car you have now, buy a 89-92 mustanjg 5.0, put in the anderson motorsports wuickkit 1 and 2 whch is a full upper end rebuild plus exhaust, cams, etc, and will pump out 345 HOP or so on a Dyno.

that would be one badass, and it is well within the price range, but you would be out a car while yer doing the work.

so...

supercharger!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Not necessarily. Remember, the huge gains in torque allows you to keeps the rpms down down, as well as the load, giving you better mileage. While city was marginally lower, highway in most cases improved (check out the swap thread). Regardless, you will loose mileage w/ most performance parts. A blower will most likely yield worse mileage than a 5.4 due to parasitic losses thanks to the belt. In fact, the only performance upgrade that will not decrease mileage are the PI head swap and long tube headers.

 

I second this!

Don't become a dummy and rely on a mechanic to fix/build your project.

 

With this new info about you it changes things alot.

With a blower on a non Pi headed motor at a safe 8-10psi is barely gonna make over 300rwhp. However since you are new to cars and working on them then I would start with a few basic mods that YOU can do to learn how a car works. Or you can go straight to a supercharger, nothing wrong with that either. And used kits can be had for super cheap such as used Vortec supercharger kits.

I would swap the exhaust out first even though there is not a whole lot of power to be had in the exhaust. It does make the car sound a whole lot better and is a good first mod for someone who is new to working on cars. You can also pull the intake silencer out and toss in a used high flow filter like a K&N or those new Spectra filters which are also high flow and super cheap even new.

 

My 5.4 gets the same mileage as my 4.6 did on the highway. In town it suffers a bit from my heavy footed approach to driving in general but, it could get 17mpg in town if I stay out of the gas. All the tq makes the slightest use of the throttle very effective at motivating the car forward (or sideways).

I'd go with a PI swap. You'll have a nice long running engine that you're not asking much from and it'll make a LOT more grunt than it does now. A blower will give you a little bit more grunt than a PI swap but asks a lot more of the bottom end and you'll eventually pitch a rod and be all pissed off at us. So... go with the PI swap. Do it yourself, it's actually not hard and requires only 2 special tools I can think of (balancer puller and a tq wrench).

 

i really hate when i see people repeating the same nitrous myths over and over.

nitrous is the safest mod of all, because you only use it when you want or need it. there is nothing dangerous about it...and it will not blow up. even if hollywood thinks it does.

a couple of hours install time, and you can get 75hp in a safe usable bolt-on package for $600.00.