yeah I am looking at putting hooker lers on my 97 cougar 4.6,then a chip and cold air induction, already have K/N airfilter, but need much more low end torque, got full posi, but hard to show off sometimes without brake torqing(cooch shiznit), like a lot of low end growl, plus my office is only a 1/2 mile from my house so everyday to and from work is like a drag race, and around here we got too many chevy jackasses and ricers beat a few so far but i wanna finish my car out so it is a silent killer if you know what I mean, looks normal on the outside (except for the 18" bling) but deadly under the hood, no N.O.S.
Any advice will help a fellow THUNDERCAT man,
oh yeah what happend to gtbird.com?? anybody know?
You should get yourself some JBA headers, aftermarket upper plenum, throttle body, underdrive pulleys, 4.10 gears, a shift kit/programmer and a nice converter with about 3000rpm stall speed....a converter advertised for a stang will stall higher in the heavier 'Bird than it would in a 'stang. That's just a nice start and might even get you into the low-14 sec. range on a nice cool day.
ditch the stock cam. It makes low torque up higher then you are used to.
Come on man, you cant say this and not hook us up with a pic. Got any?
Dude, have you ever driven a 4.6 powered 'Bird? They don't make much low end torque...that's what he wants...good luck finding cams to make more low end torque without killing power everywhere else.
You claim its deadly under the hood ( if i interpreted this right if not OH well), What exactly do you have done, a list of mods would help us help you.
That is what I was saying. I have driven a 94 cougar alot, its ed near impossible to spin the wheels.
The older SOHC 4.6's are not known for being torque monsters (neither are the 99-04's either however they ARE an improvement) Gears would help. So would a port and polish on the heads and intake. If your budget allows maybe some forced induction that would help in the low end department (perhaps a Kenne Bell or Whipple)
For about $600 , around here anyway, you can get yourself a set of 3.73:1, or 4.1:1, or even 4.3:1 rearend gears installed. You say your a 1/2 mile away from work so that's when you'll like'em! The best bang for the buck I ever got was swapping my 3.55s for 4.10s in my 95 F150. I don't drive on the hiway much so it didn't negatively affect my gas mileage. Probably helped if anything in the start stop traffic. You want bottom end without sacrificing the upper HP.....GEARS!~
Don't forget that on a 4.6, it's camS, plural, and cam kits for the 4.6L's are EXPENSIVE!
Really, the best bang for the buck thing you can do on early 4.6's is swap to 99+ (PI) heads. Just doing that will seriously give you something on the order of 60-90 hp, from what I've seen in the magazines.
Don't forget most of those swaps include a port and polish as well as the PI intake which I believe you must use with PI heads.
The PI head swap is more expensive than it's really worth...you're looking at about $1000 just for the heads, then you still need the intake and the ECM. If you're talking about heads, you'd be better off sending them to TEA to get ported. But, again, that will probably diminish low end torque slightly.
you should be able too get a 99+ mustang gt 4.6 engine pull for around a grand if not cheeper, id search one out and drop in a whole new motor....
A PI swap may be expensive...but hell I've seen '98 & earlier mustangs in magazines (and on horsepower TV) that they put a supercharger a several other things on and they couldn't even muster 300 hp out of the thing. That's just sad!
What were they doing wrong, A SC on the Grand prix we have it pulling over 300Hp with minor mods. less than 1000 in aftermarket parts. its a 3.8.
My 5.0 is pulling 350 to the wheel (Motor from a 92 GT) with no power adder at all. What kinda super charger where they using.
It's not the supercharger...it's the engine! More specifically...the cylinder heads.
If you want bang for your buck and seat of the pants feel. Change gears and then add a little shot of NOS.
Just my 2 cents. The head swap is not worth the $$. THe later model engine swap would be better
I love the way your car sits 5.8 fastcat!
If you were to do a motor swap on a car with a mod motor anyway why not search out a 4.6 DOHC or perhaps go bigger and hunt down a 5.4?
I have some pic's of a guy from TN. he put a '96 cobra(4valve) engine in a '96 T-bird.
He had it running on the stock 2V computer when he brought it to us. We burned him a chip an got alot more power out of it.
Thanks Paul, I love my AirRide suspion.
Because, a 5.4 wont fit under the hood of an MN12 properly. You have to add a taller hood, and rig spacer plates to adapt the 4.6 intake manifold.
Now you're getting picky:rollin: :rollin:
I know, but if you want to keep it a sleeper, ther is no way in hell you are going to put a truck intake under that low hood. I have a 94 Bird, I am not even sure everything would fit right with the manifold adapters, becuase they add about an inch to the height of the intake.
Why does everyone think the 4.6 has no torque. That engine has just under 300 ft/lbs at the crank. All you need is a set of 3.73s like I put in mine, and let it all hang out after that!!
I'm pretty sure that a 5.4 will fit in a mn12 aslong as you put the 99 or newer 4.6 van intake on it and aslong as you get the fuel rails needed.
Impossible. A 5.4 has a taller deck height, therefore it is about an inch wider where the intake mounts to the head.
It's not that it doesn't have torque. It's that the torque high up in it's RPM range.
I have to disagree on this, my friend and I did the PI swap on his mustang and the difference was like night and day. I'm sure if you asked him he would not hesitate to do it again on any non-PI 4.6.
Of course then he put the Kenne Belle on there and the car changed again :)
I seen a 351 cougar locally, around 96, with the stock hood. Dunno about motor mounts or anything, but its not impossible.
He's talking about the 5.4 SOHC, not the 351.
Anyway I have two points to make here.
First, I have an issue of MM&FF where they swapped a 5.4 into a '99+ Mustang and kept the truck intake on it, and it fits albeit under a cowl hood.
Second, I also have a couple issues where they had project "Frightning" where they put the supercharged 5.4 into an '86 Mustang. The engine fits in the bay, but the supercharger setup is so tall that they had to cut a hole in the 4" cowl hood they had on the car.
So, it seems to me that a 5.4 would fit as long as you had a cowl hood on the car.
Ok after researching and calling a guy, I've found that the 5.4 will fit, it just needs some greasing. The 5.4 van intake will fit under the stock hood of the 96-up mn12's along with the a machined cobra intake. I guess the cobra intake width differences can be taken care of at the machine shop without altering it drastically. The shock towers are the main problem. Can't be massaged out too well, and it isn't something that can just be cut out. Also, the lower K member has to be taken in to consideration for an exhaust. Out of the 3 guys who have done it, most say it was well worth it, but very hard and more involved than it seems. It would in all actually be easier to drop 351 in it, slap a blower on it, and strap in. Another thing about the 5.4 swap is that the valve covers can't be taken off until the engine is pulled.
I have seen that article, and agree that it can be done, on a Mustang. Mustangs have much more hood clearence than an MN12 does. I have an intake tube that I made for my 94 out of a 7.3 Powerstroke intercooler tube, and I still had to flatten part of it to fit under the hood right.
See my above post about hood issues, and then think about how easy the 351 option would be. All you need is a set of 91 to 93 MN12 V8 mounts, and drop in the 351, aftermarket intake for easy breathing, and use the earlier PCM and wiring. Or just go and put a dual plane manifold and carburate the thing, even more simple.