engine building guidance

fellas, a bit of help please.

my car is punched out to a 306. i was thinking of slapping on a supercharger and calling it a day. i don't think the bottom end will be able to handle the stress. it could be de-tuned but who wants to do that?? engine wasn't built for boost, done before i purchased the car. the upper part of the engine is stock but she runs damn strong.

soooo, i've got my summit catalog and find the trick flow engine kit. it has the heads, cam, intake manifold-upper and lower, roller rockers and such. price is 2449.95 for street burner kit.

ive found a bbk 70mm throttle body, egr spacer, trick flow heat intake -upper and lower with a 1" spacer for a killer deal. i plan on buying, probably a used set of trick flow twisted wedge heads and probably a new trick flow cam to basically make up the trick flow engine kit saving me some serious duckets.

besides the 306 bottom my car already has the bbk shorty headers with flowmaster exhaust. the cats are oem but i plan to put in a h-pipe with high flowing cats.

so, am i going the right direction. how do you think this engine combo will go. i'm guessing i'll have to get a different maf sensor, injectors and fuel pump? negatives or positives lemme hear em. thanks, jc

Sounds like it would be a decent setup. What are your goals for the car? Power you'd like to be at? Performance level? What type of use? daily driver? street strip? Manual or Automatic?

Id not run the intake spacer at all, they limit the RPM potential of the engine by lengthening the already long runners of your intake. The cooling effect they are supposed to provide is negligible to say the least.

Personally, id go with an Accufab Throttle Body, much better quality than BBK, and can be found used on most Mustang sites like Corral.net. BBK TBs are known to stick open, ive had one that used to stick open at WOT, and i know others that have as well.

The Trick Flow heads and intakes work well, and ive heard good things about their cams too. Anderson Ford Motorsport also makes killer cams, and they work well with TFS products. They are usually a little better than typical off the shelf cams.

long tube headers and an x pipe would be my preference, they make better power and torque and they just sound better. You could run what you have for a while and throw an o/r x or h pipe on it, depending on your budget.

Definitely would need a new mass air meter (PMAS meters work well), injectors (24lb would work well), and most likely a fuel pump and adjustable fuel pressure regulator. Probably will want to go with some sort of a cold air induction too, i like the Anderson Ford Motorsport Power Pipe, and have had good results with them.

Depending upon what gears are in the rear, you may want to address those too, since a gear swap is a big improvement in performance and seat of the pants feel.

If its a manual tranny.....what clutch is in it? May want to upgrade to one that can handle the additional power and torque the mods will produce.

If its an Auto, might think about a converter..and making sure the cam will work well with an auto trans.

There are tons of little things, like underdrive pulleys, electric fan, etc as well.

Hope this helps!

thanks for the input.

i had planned to take on the suspension and chassis first but these engine part deals are popping up and i can't look away, lol. this will be a weekend warrior to start off with. eventually, maybe, just maybe, i may start racing at the track (roadracing, not the strip). oh how i miss racing.

-power, i'd like it to be there when needed. no specific number.
-t-5 tranny: clutch, replaced within the last few months by prior owner but he didn't recall what kind. i'll probably check to see whats in there once the weather warms up- no garage.
-gears: 3:55's
-bbk, i had read that some of their products aren't up to snuff. i'll be checking out what you suggested.

i'll start checking out the anderson site tonight. thanks again.

I agree with you on the suspension and chassis work. As you know with racing it doesnt matter what power you make if you can't get it around the track. I would do those things first, and then up the power.

One thing to think about is the F-303 cam. Makes huge power between 2500-6500. Thats the window you want to be in when racing as well.

As for the other power mods. What type pistons are in your bottom end? If you have Hypers, then that would be first onmy list to change, if you are going forced induction. Second the stock block splits between 500 - 600hp. Third road racing is up and down through the rpm range very quickly. A decent set of forged rods would be good to look at as well.

The t-5 is rated at 300ft lbs of torque. So keep that in the back of you mind as well.

I used to race motorcycles up in New Hampshire in the Loudon Road Race Series back in the 1990' s so let me give you some sound advice. No 1. the same principles that apply to bikes apply to Mustangs, you either have a street car or a race car you can't have both. Especially when it comes to road racing. So if you're gonna race go get yourself a single car trailer, a tent, a ton of spares and you know the rest. No. 2. if your gonna have a street car enjoy it for what its worth. Make it sound good and look good and be happy with the power you have. But, if the power you have now is not sufficient and you decide to do a killer build just remember that by the time you've done the engine top and bottom, supercharger, fuel system upgrades, suspension, brakes, etc., you probably could've bought an '03 Cobra for around 15 - 17 thousand. No. 3 nothing will fill the void of hanging off the side of a bike at high speeds. You'll never get the same satisfaction from a car's handling like you do from a bike. Not a sermon just a thought.

thanks for the input guys, all of it. so far i've gotten the following:
-ford racing 24# injectors
-pro-m 80mm air meter
-pro-m cold air intake w new anderson ford air filter
-trick flow track heat intake (upper and lower)
-70mm accufab throttle body w egr spacer

now, i'm on the search for heads, rockers and a cam. besides the tfs heads i was thinking of the afr heads. ideas or thoughts?? if afr which ones to get?

The AFR 165 would match up well with what you have thus far. They work very well out of the box, and with further porting they can flow quite a bit more should you want to step it up down the road. Be careful to make sure they are clean, inside and out, before installing if you do go the AFR route. They (AFR) tend to leave aluminum shavings in crevices of the head, which usually require disassembly to clean out thoroughly. Also, their stock valve springs are pretty crappy.

The TFS Twisted Wedge or Track Heat both flow pretty well also; I run the TFS Track Heat on my car and they have done well so far. I have run AFR 165's in the past as well, with good results.

ok, wife wants a deck, as do i. so i've downshifted from the tfs heads to a set of gt-40's off of a 93 cobra. they have just been freshened up and look good to go.

i'm gonna check with anderson ford to see which one of thier cams would go well with my combo.

once its all together i'll probably be selling this to buy a ford diesel.....to pull the new race trailer. going back to bikes next season. i love driving the stang but as mentioned above it can't take the place of racing a bike.

but then again, who knows.....they call me switchback for a reason.

picked up a set of gt-40s that were just freshened up. i'd like to get them port and polished. i live in the arnold area, who does good work for a good price? suggestions?