Man I would love to see what the maximum potential these can do NA since they love to rev. A nice cam, intake manifold and heads(not sure if aftermarket heads are available).

-Alex

Jeff made 520whp na I believe.

It just takes more money and I'm afraid driveability would suffer.

$5k in NA??

$5k in blower= at least 550


When I get the money I'm going blower for once..

Boost is the best way to go with these cars. Yes these cars can make decent power NA if one was so inclined but its not as good of a return on your money dollar per hp.

This is true but I bet a 500whp NA 5.0 would be fun lol

Exactly.

I spent $6k on my GTO (longtubes, mids, axle back, cai, ported t/b, monster level 2 clutch, big cam) and made around 430 (appx. 100 more than stock)

I've spent $650 on this so far (axle back + tuner). With $5,500 I could throw on a Paxton, have it tuned and ride around with at least 550.

Just not worth it anymore for me n/a.

Did you have an ls1 car?

LS2- 2006 GTO

The $6k was:

ARH LT's w/ high flow cats- $1300
Mids and axle back- $700ish??
Level 2 Clutch w/lightweight flywheel- $1200
VX cam w/springs,etc- $1300
Ported t/b- $250
CAI- $400
Short throw shifter- $200-$300 (don't really remember)

That plus install/tuning was about $6k.

When I price a boosted car, I can't fathom slapping on a blower and calling it a day. Just not me. I always include a forged bottom end. If you're going to put a blower on, why not go all out for maximum potential AND reliability. Driving a boosted car is not fun when you can only do it a few times out of fear of bending rods or destroying pistons. So for me, a real blower setup is going to cost over $8k.

-Alex

Even if it's $8k-$10k...that's $4k more than I spent on the GTO.

Then you're putting down 600+ with no worries...compared to never hitting that and being afraid your engine will blow if you push the limits n/a.

I don't have a race car, I want the power when I want it, but it doesn't get driven a ton and it doesn't get driven hard. I'll save up the $5k for a blower and then when it's paid off I'll build the motor. :peace:

You only made 430 with a ls2 gto with those mods? I know some LS1 motors that have made that with less.

It's pretty much on par with others.

stock heads, stock manifold, no porting

They dyno anywhere between 330-350 stock. So cam/LT/cai for 80-100 whp isn't far off. I know plenty of guys that made the same or less.

Depends on your end goals. These cars can handle a small amount of boost and with the right tune be fine. I would say you never want to go above 600whp. To be honest I would feel more safe with it around 550. The horror stories we read are when people way over push the motors (we've had a few in our group). Take Josh Bishop or Ryan Knight's cars for good example. They make good power safely and aren't over pushing the motors.

I think a lot of people look at these cars and compare them to the terminators which have around the same amount of power stock. However, they are 2 very different cars. Obviously the terminators have way more potential due to the forged motor.

I'd say if you are trying to go for anything north of 600whp you better start looking into building the motor and full fuel system.

From what I have noticed about most people that chase power is that they always want more. So sure, 550 may be impressive for a few months but, then why go through the trouble of then breaking down the engine later and spending more money when it could have been much cheaper to do it the first time? It would be a lot cheaper to build it complete the first time, and if you want 550, go with that for the time being. When that becomes slow, simply increase the fuel delivery, tune and viola, have more power without having to open the engine up a second time.

I have a buddy at work that is debating between a new Evo and a 5.0. He's got a 2014/13 Dodge Dart that he JUST bought and was wanting to mod it for power. I said, why didn't you just buy an actual performance car? He started looking at newer cars and decided between the two mentioned. Now he's planning to take a huge hit on depreciation for his new car for an even newer car, spend all of his tax return plus any other money for a down payment AND have larger payments when he could have saved a ton from just buying the better car the first time. Juss sayin lol.

-Alex

I think we see where you're coming from but for me personally....I'd rather not wait until I have all $8k or however much to replace parts and build it AND boost it.

I plan on saving $5k and putting a Paxton on there and seeing what 550+ish feels like.

Then when I have more money saved up I can build certain elements of it and increase power. But if I want until I have all of the money to do both at the same time I won't be able to have fun with anything over near stock hp until then. So I'm adding at least a year or two of time with current power just because I wanted to "do it right the first time" when I could be safely having fun with 550 hp while saving up $$$.

I realize some of you guys can just go and do whatever you want, but you can't easily support a family AND dump money when you feel like it in the mustang on $50k a year.