Engine $$ question..

The sky is the limit. Everything.. and I mean EVERYTHING can be replaced with aftermarket products. How far you go is strictly a function of the thickness of your wallet. I built a naturally aspirated 331 stroker and the only stock pieces on it are the block, the distributor, and the front cover. Everything else is stronger, better flowing, better looking, etc. I did ALL the work (except for precision balancing) and the cost was (please sit down)... $8,800 for the engine alone. And believe me I could have spent quite a bit more. The place to start is with what you've got to spend.. that will determine what you can do with the money you have.

As for compression ratio, I'm running 10.5 to 1 with absolutely no problems. Of course if you're planning on adding a supercharger go with a low compression ration now unless you want to replace the bottom end later.

The cheapest solution is to build a strong bottom end with low compression ratio and add a supercharger. It's by far the best bang for the buck (other than nitrous) even though its not cheap. Building an engine to perform naturally aspirated is expensive.. believe me. But for me, getting the power NA is really neat. EVERYBODY supercharges.

LJH

95GT

What is the "bottom end" exactly? If I have $4k to put into the engine preparing it for a high-boost blower (14~15psi)... what should I be looking into doing ya think? Thanks, Larry.

-Mike

Bottom end... block, crank, rods, pistons, rings, bearings, bolts/studs, stud girdle, oil pump. Dont skimp here and your engine will live a long time (assuming you tune it right).

LJH

95GT

transmission)

What things primarily determine compression ratio? Heads? what else?

-Mike

ALL of the following.. crank journal offset, rod length, piston height and pin position, combustion chamber volume, head gasket thickness.

Sounds like you need to do a lot of studying OR trust your engine to a professional.

LJH

95GT

Yeah I wasn't planning on rebuilding it myself... but I would like to understand what I'm putting into the engine better than I currently do. No way in hell am I going to rebuild it myself.

-Mike

bolts/studs,

Mikey, your best bet is to dump your current ride and go out and buy a car that already has what you're looking for, preferrably with a warranty.

Based on what you've already posted, chances are fair to good that you'll either get ripped off or be severely disappointed if you have someone build up your current motor. Not a slam, just an observation.

Joe Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC

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I understand and appreciate your post, Joe... but i really wanna learn more about cars & I really wanna build up my current car.

-Mike

Cool. If that's the case, then you might want to find a reputable builder (that might be the hardest part) who'll be able to give you some viable options (and explain them to you in layman's terms) for what you want to spend. The best situation is if you can find somebody who'll let you watch and explain things to you as they tear down and rebuild your motor.

If you want to run a blower on a 100k-mile motor and still retain reliability and longevity, you'll probably have to redo the entire motor from the ground up, which can get quite expensive. If you "skimp" and only do heads or whatever, your chances of blowing up the motor increase dramatically. A viable alternative to this would be to buy a crate engine and use your current motor as a "parts donor".

Bottom line: In anything mechanical, the whole is only as good as the weakest link. As they come from the factory, the components in cars are pretty well "balanced" with each other. As soon as you start increasing the capability of one component over the others, problems are more likely to occur. IOW, if you suddenly increase the horsepower from 250 to 350, you'd better make sure the drivetrain (including the tranny) can handle the extra power and stress. Then you have to make sure the suspension (and brakes!) can handle everything as well. Guys used to power up their Fox cars and beef up their drivetrains and suspensions only to find out that the torque boxes (where the rear suspension gets attached to the unibody near the wheels) got ripped out after lots of runs. The cars were so powerful that over time the unibody simply couldn't handle the stress.

When you look at the big picture, things are a lot more complex than simply adding 100 or so horsepower to your engine. Last example: I'm running underdrive pulleys on my LX, so my battery is usually getting killed when I'm idling in traffic or at a light. The advantage is that the accessories spin slower (reducing parasitic drain), allowing power that would've been used by the a/c, p/s, water pump, etc. to go to the rear wheels. So I sacrifice battery life for a few hp. Everything's a tradeoff. HTH.

Joe Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC

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VERY good post. The last sentence says it all.. EVERYTHING is a tradeoff.

I have a buddy that had a very nice Corvette. It ran good, looked good, and had plenty of power.. a very nice car. He got it in his mind he wanted more power and had a "hot cam" put in. When he got it back, the idle was fast and he had very little vacuum to run the power brakes. Thus when he came to a stop he literally had to stand on the brakes to keep the car from lunging into intersections. He was VERY unhappy. His mechanic told him he needed a high stall torque converter and everything would be fine. So he followed the mechanics recommendation and had a 3200 stall converter installed. That fixed the lunging problem and the car went like a bat out of hell.. BUT he hated the way it drove when not under full throttle. After spending many thousands of dollars he dumped the formerly nice Corvette because he no longer liked driving it.

EVERYTHING IS A TRADE OFF! You can get a very FAST car but it won't be pleasant to drive in any number of ways. Be sure you fully understand all the NEGATIVE aspects of what you are going to do. That way you wont spend thousands only to be dissatisfied with the result.

LJH

95GT

A lot of good points... I knew I'd hafta put in a stronger tranny & better brakes (I wish I had better brakes *now*...).. I'll look around and see who I can find. I've got a couple good ideas... Kartech is a REALLY reputable guy & a real nice person overall... I'm sure he'll help me out. Thanks, Joe.

-Mike

Well what are some things I'd need to do to make this car blower-friendly? I realize everything is a trade-off, but I don't know to what extremes ;).

-Mike

Realistically, you should do the brakes and drivetrain first, then the engine last. If you start with the engine and do everything else later, you risk blowing a tranny or worse, not being able to stop.

Go talk to the Kartech guy and let him know what you want to do. If he's good he'll be able to tell you what you can/should do for the amount of money you want to spend. A good mechanic not only turns wrenches, he/she also knows what mods to do and when to do them.

Joe Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC

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@newssvr22.news.prodigy.com..

a) Fuel delivery. The stock fuel system simply won't handle anything about a few psi. You'll need to upgrade the fuel pump and injectors, maybe the lines and whatnot.

b) Detonation. I forgot what year your car is, but the timing has to be backed off big time when you're running a blower. This could be as simple as twising the distributor, or as complex as having a new chip burned. At any rate, if the car starts to detonate, you can kiss your motor good-bye.

c) Water injection/intercooler. Almost a must in order to keep things under control. With the increases in pressure and temperature, you'll need to cool things off as much as possible.

That's just for starters. Best thing to do is to hit a few of the blower web sites and start reading. There are also some guys in here who are very well versed on blowers. Michael Johnson has a Kenne Bell Blowzilla (I think) on his Fox 302 with something like 175,000 miles (could be more than that). He's spent tons of cash getting things just right on it, but he says it runs like a bat out of hell.

Joe Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC

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Actually man... I was thinking real hard on it today. I've got $4k saved up... a beefed up motor & blower would be a helluva lotta fun... for a while. Insurance would go up, I'd have a hard time keeping my foot off the gas.. speaking of gas, prices are steadily rising... if something did happen like a wreck I"d lose all the hard work I put into it, etc etc... just something I'm not totally ready for at the moment.. too many expenses & too much risk involved for right now.. hell I'm in college & within the next year going to propose to my current girlfriend (almost 2 years been together..).. so I think what I'm going to do instead of dumping a crapload of cash into the car.. is beef up the brakes & suspension... maybe get a Hypertech Programmer... and that's about it. The car's very quick as it is... with better brakes & suspension it'll be even quicker & safer... and the rest of the money is gonna be saved until I get about $10~$12k for this really beautiful 2 carat diamond ring I saw.. I don't think I'll get that exact one, but it gave me a good idea of what I'm looking at price-wise. Clarity was best & grade/whatever was next-to-best.. it was a really beautiful ring. I think I'd rather put my money towards my girlfriend who I love rather than just my car. *sigH*... torn between the things I love..

Thanks for the help.

-Mike

No way I'm going to comment on the girlfriend/ring/marriage/etc. thing, but you can turn your GT into a full-size slot car with absolutely great handling by putting the money into brakes and suspension.

I discovered that I enjoy my suspension mods a lot more than the engine mods because I feel the suspension mods all the time; you only feel the engine mods during acceleration. Every corner I take is lots more fun than when the car was stock. Going over rough roads and bumps, the car feels totally solid, not like the rear end has to catch up to the front end.

Personally, I'd take the $4k and go for brakes (upgraded rotors/pads), lowering springs, some beefy subframe connectors (welded, not bolted), and some real good struts/shocks (Tokicas, Konis, etc.). Depending on how the car comes out with the new springs, you may want to get adjustable caster/camber plates so your alignment isn't wacky. Also, you can consider polyurethane bushings all around. That'll get rid of steering/suspension slop.

After those mods, your car will feel totally different for the better. And the best part is that all of the above can be done in a day or two.

Joe Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC

wrote in news:XfKic.21576$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr22.news.prodigy.com:

@newssvr22.news.prodigy.com..

Sounds like a good idea to me. I'll start looking into some good suspension parts. I will *probably * go with the JD Adams recommended GT Bullit package. The steering is pretty sloppy.. I'd like that taken care of.. thanks, Joe.

-Mike

No problem. I think once you get the suspension and brakes done you'll kick yourself for not having done it sooner - the car will feel that good.

FWIW, check out

- click on 'Mustang', 'Suspension', then look at the G-Trac packages. They have prices so you can get an idea of how far you can go. I got the Stage 1 with subframes and Tokicos; the improvement over stock was incredible.

Joe Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC

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Probably a better choice. Personally I like to upgrade when the factory part(s) wear out.

$10K-$12K on an engagement rock? Whoa, Mr. Bill Gates, who are you trying to impress?!

What happens if you get her the ring and later for whatever reason the relationship goes sour? You could end up saying good bye to her gift/your $10K-$12K. Don't think that's going to happen? Consider that currently about 50% of marriages fail. So what do you think the chances are that your engagement will result in marriage, AND that your [future] marriage will last more than a few years? I say save the big money gifts for anniversaries like your 10th, 15th, 20th, etc.

And if she truly loves you, she shouldn't want a $10K engagement ring, AND should tell you that you were crazy to buy it, AND demand you take it back for something less expensive. Then if she's good spouse material, she should suggest you spend some of the money you save on the ring for the honeymoon, a nice place to live, on investments, or save it for a rainy day.

Lastly, trust me, a few years after you've been married you'll find the engagement rock isn't anywhere as important to her as much as how well you treat her day in and day out.

Patrick (Happily married for more than 20) '93 Cobra '83 LTD