getting some cheap power out of the 5.0

[InterceptorXR7]

Dont get me wrong, its pretty powerful already, but i would like to get some "bolt-on" crap that would bring out even more power. I've already removed the air silencer, seemed to add some power, and thats about it right now. As for air intake kits, havent really came across something that goes down into the wheelwell. I was gonna use the one off my silver one, but because of the air flow sensor, i couldnt. Hopefully i can get matt flowers to get me some resonators to exchange out for the cats (if anybody can get ahold of some cheap, i need 2 of them, 2.25 pipe diameter, 14-16 inches in length), and maybe soime kind of an exhaust, havent really decided there either because i want something loud, but not too loud. Just something with a light rumble to it. Jay would prolly be the best at this 8)

[Racerx300zx]

You might want to look into the air silencer, many fords actually lost torque, dyno proven, with the air intake silencer removed, the Escort Gt lost 4 ft/pds of torque, and gained nothing by removing the silencer.

[daveb91]

resonators, how about glasspacks? cheap! Is this an auto? Shift kit. Change rear end gear. Dont the 5.0 get a power upgrade by using half of the truck intake mani? K&N drop in?

[InterceptorXR7]

I need to fab a pipe to the opening in the wheelwell, then ill put a K&N cone on the end of that. Those Thrush Turbos I had on my silver car sounded pretty nice, 20 bucks a piece too. Theres a dynomax kit ( 2 mufflers) i found on ebay i might get, meant for 94-96 mustang, but all the mounts are the same, so i might go that route. It has 140k, and it has the orginal wires, probably will change those out when i get a chance, along with the plugs. it has 3.80 gears, which is a little high I think, the 94-97's have 3.27, but that won't be until i get all the rest of the crap done to it, aka paint. I wish the weather wasnt so crappy, or to have a garage

[daveb91]

You should be happy you have 3.80 instead of the 3.27. 3.80 is lower, better acceleration in case you didnt know.

[Jay]

Dave is right 3:80's are alot lower than 3:27's. Im actually suprised it came with a gear that low from the factory to be honest. 3:55's is the lowest I have seen in stangs from the factory, but Tbird's I dont know much about. I wouldnt change gearing in my opinion it's geared low enough unless youre wantin a stoplight racer. Removing the air silencer doesnt really help unless you are going to just do away wit hthe whole setup and either buy or fab a cold air intake of sorts. BBK make's a nice fenderwell kit for stangs, not sure about bird's. You could prob go on ebay an find i/c piping w/elbows an make your own then just buy a k&n cone filter an put on it, take a peice of sheet metal an cut it to fit then cut a hole for the piping to go thru ect. ect. If youre confused look at a stang kit you'll know what im talking about. As for exhaust Im a "bigger badder louder faster" person. If youre wanting something with a mellow tone tho stick w/dynamax mufflers. Or if youre going to use resonators you can use flow's because the resonators will muffle the sound quite a bit. But remember these cars have 4 cats on them, you should remove the other two. If youre wanting to see a significant power increase however take everything from the manifolds back an throw it in the trashcan. Get some equal length shorty headers, and go from there. I know for a bird' the exhaust systems are a tad pricey so I would put the headers on then take it somewhere to have an exhaust ran out of 2 1/2". You can buy the flowmaster mustang style tips from Summit as well as many places such as ebay im sure.

All 5.0's run better with the timing advanced from 3 to 5 degrees. Dont advance it too far though or it will run like complete shit. I failed to see what year you said it was, but if it's an 89+ it will be a MAF car vs. the Speed Density 5.0 of the prior years. Like all 5.0's, well like all Mustangs in general, they run rich. I suggest once you get those above mentioned things done you take it to someone who can tune one. Scott Shaddick (spelling on that last name?) works at Warner Pontiac and can tune one. He leaned Mike's out and it made a world of difference. Honestly it is my belief that the way ford has them tuned fromthe factory is what has kept so many 5.0's alive for so long. It's nothign to see one with 150k miles and still run extremely well.

Im sure your dist. cap and rotor button need replaced w/out even havin to look at them. Accell makes a nice one for the stock dist. that they keep in stock at Advanced. Use some good plugs, NGK ect. will work just fine. DO NOT USE ADVANCED BRAND PLUG WIRES! Spend a lil more money an buy good ones. Besides the fact they dont last very long they look like shit cause theyre sized all funky. They do however produce the same ammount of resistance as high end wires tho according to some test's I have seen. So if you feel like changing wires often go for it, if not then dont I guess.

Yank the throttlebody off, remove the upper intake, go buy some sandpaper and carb cleaner. There will prob be gunk in the throttlebody but it comes apart really easily. Take it apart and get to cleaning. I used a dremel w/wire brush but if you dont have one at your disposal sandpaper will work fine. As for the intake you can buy a gallon bucket of Gunk at Advanced. I would get that, flip the intake downside up and fill it full an let it soak for a day or two. You really cant get into the intake because of how they are made. And to polish them they have to be "cracked" open and then rewelded. It's just easier to buy a dif one alltogether. Summit sells an intake spacer to go inbetween your upper and lower, I suggest buying it before you reassemble.

There's just a few ideas.. most are just little things but from previous posts I kinda figured you were wanting somewhat cheap methods of a few more HP. If youre wantin to drop some cash tho buy an intake upper/lower, many dif places sell them an they all have good/bad points. You can even catch factory polished ones on ebay like the one I had from time to time. ACTUALLY.. If im not mistaken I have 2 of them at my Dad's house. I'll have to look when I get back in town. Also MSD ignition system, yada yada.. There's a million things you can do to a 5.0 the only limit is your budget.

[ramrod]

http://www.tccoa.com always has some nice things about getting power out of thunderbirds, i was always there when i had my tbird lol.

[InterceptorXR7]

yeah, already a member :P It a really awesome site, nice people good help. I changed the oil today (yes i got both drain plugs) and noticed that it does have 4 cats. I just looked it up at advance, and it pictured it with only 3. I think what im gonna do is take out those 2 cats, and put in a dynomax super turbo, or even a regular dynomax there. As for the intake, I think i might grab some tubing and fab something up this week.

[Jay]

yeah, already a member :P It a really awesome site, nice people good help. I changed the oil today (yes i got both drain plugs) and noticed that it does have 4 cats. I just looked it up at advance, and it pictured it with only 3. I think what im gonna do is take out those 2 cats, and put in a dynomax super turbo, or even a regular dynomax there. As for the intake, I think i might grab some tubing and fab something up this week.


So.. youre doing pretty much nothing to try an gain any performance then. All youre going to acomplish is it will be a lil louder

[InterceptorXR7]

cheap power, as in yes prolly. It having four cats and a dumb intake, and freeing it up that way :P