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Need more power!

4350 Views 23 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  1965FALCON
I'd like some more power from my little 289, but I can't spend a lot of money (going to college) I'd really like Nitrous and can afford it, but Im scared to run it seeings my engine has 3,500 miles on it, and I'd like it to run for awhile. right now my car is pretty much set up like this....
1965 Mustang with a 289 bored .030" over. The 289 has a Holley 600cfm 4bbl, 302 heads, tri-y headers, Elgin cam .448int. 204deg, .472 exh 214deg. Eagle connecting rods, and I can't remember what the pistons are, As for the drivetrain, I have a 4speed with 3.55 gears in the back. with 9:1 compression. Also any ideas on what I would run with a set up like this in the 1/4 mile? My rear tires are 245/60/14's and I can chirp going into second no problem if that means anything.

-Jeff
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You will find that NOS is not cheap. You can blow out a whole bottle in a couple of minutes when you are on it and then its $25 or so to refill it. Also, to be safe when on the bottle you need to run racing fuel($5.60 a gallon).
I agree, NOS isn't cheap. But, it is cheaper then a supercharger/turbocharger.

If you want to make the car accelerate faster....cheapest would be to change rear to 4.10 or so. It will kill fuel milage and cruising rpm.

There just isn't alot of things that you can add cheaply that will make noticable HP differences. Except NOS, forced induction, gearing and the mother of all, CUBIC INCH.
I would say the cheapest thing you can do for the most HP is port the heads and install larger valves (if you haven't already). You'll notice a big boost in top end if nothing else.
i'd love to get 4.10 gears, but I will be taking my mustang to college once and awhile, and thats all 70mph driving, for 2 hours, right now I am at around 3,000RPM at 60mph How much does the port job cost? Well thanks for the input.
Free if you do it yourself
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Just to be clear..at a 100 HP level you get about 8-10 passes on a full bottle. At that level you do NOT need to run $5.60 a gallon race fuel. When you start going up in HP level, plugs may get a couple of degrees colder, and you may need some higher octane fuel, but "bang for the buck" its the only way to go.

Ron
ok thanks guys, I have seen the port and polish kits in summit, is that what i'd buy? Also how hard is it, I'm sure things could get ugly in a hurry? As for the Nitrous, I'd start with a 50 shot and see how I like it then a 75 shot. Thanks again.
On 2001-12-26 19:42, JAM1775 wrote:
There is a guy, Jeff,who's tel # I have left at work: "Modern Cylinder Head ", 810 area code. He does ALL the warranty work for Ford Racing who recommended him to me. That is quite a good reference as when I called Jeff in early 2000 he had 11 sets of customer GT40 heads to be worked on by him.
His shop is very close to the Ford Racing Tech Line location. My apologies for being vague but I can tell you I have a 351W which produced [email protected] on the dyno. I shipped Jeff my GT40X heads for a total of $455, which includes $100 Round Trip shipping fees. For $355 shop labor he touched up my bowls, chambers and flat milled my heads from 64- 55 cc's. I port matched my own intake to the felpro 1262 gasket. My gain was 42rwhp which was [email protected] a higher 6000rpm. My RWTQ gain was from 337 to 361. Not too bad for a total cost of around $550 including head gaskets. I pulled and installed the heads myself. Otherwise the Edelbrock 70001 nitrous (50/75/100) kit will cost just under $600(with all goodies) if you install that yourself. So, I guess if you have $1100-1200 you could pick up some serious HP and not pull your motor. BTW, I just ordered the Edelbrock kit too!!
dammit, you have to drive upstate and give me a ride in that car! it is one NICE looking car, and as I can see it really backs the looks up with power. Head porting seems like a good idea, I'll have to look into it thanks!
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Your best bet is the cylinder heads especially if you have stock 65-67 heads. The cheapest way is purchase a set of 351 windsor heads ( the earlier the better) you should be able to use your springs but not the valves. Clean the combustion chamber and runners (massage the surface to a smooth finish)if you can afford it have a 3 angle valve job done and have the head milled for higher compression. just my 2 cents
I have late model 302 heads on it. Im not sure I want more then 9:1 compression. maybe 9.5:1. Sounds like gettings the heads worked is the way to go. thanks!
Try www.powerheads.com they do a good job of porting heads.
Also the cheapest way to add hp is go to spiralmax.com It will add about 15-30hp for like 70.00 It added about 15-20hp for me. Try that first before porting
Im not so sure about that Spiral max thing. But the head porting seems like a good deal, but I have only 3,500miles on my heads, so sending them out and getting different ones is out of the question, Id rather just send them out and get the same ones back.
Give Spiral Max a try read about it on there page. And the results people have had. It is worth 70.00 trust me.
Also another idea is to put a electric water pump you can get 30hp from doing that. Go to
http://fordmuscle.com/archives/2000/08/electricwaterpump/index.shtml

to find out more info. And you can get up to 20hp gain to change your oil to Roal Purple oil. You can buy it a Napa Auto Parts. And you can buy a winage tray that will gain like 12hp by less oil drag on your crank shaft. Also try to buy a Mac underdrive pulley's that will gain like 10hp. With like less than 500.00 you can get like 70hp. Like 90hp with spiral max
Sigh.
Please don't think you can just add up the makers claims for HP increases. That is just too naive...

JL

ps- I call BS! about the spiralmax increase. Show me data to prove it. We have asked for several of these things from different makers to test and report the results. Not one Mfr. has ever said yes...

_________________
Jim Langley

Technical Editor

Fordmuscle.com

'65 Mustang GT, 289 (Warp 65)

'92 Mustang, 5.0 T5Z (Green Machine II)



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: FasterDamnit! on 12/31/01 4:17am ]</font>
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On 2001-12-30 14:34, masterd wrote:
Also another idea is to put a electric water pump you can get 30hp from doing that. Go to
http://fordmuscle.com/archives/2000/08/electricwaterpump/index.shtml

to find out more info. And you can get up to 20hp gain to change your oil to Roal Purple oil. You can buy it a Napa Auto Parts. And you can buy a winage tray that will gain like 12hp by less oil drag on your crank shaft. Also try to buy a Mac underdrive pulley's that will gain like 10hp. With like less than 500.00 you can get like 70hp. Like 90hp with spiral max
What convinced you that the spiralmax thing worked for you? I'd also like to stay away from running electric stuff. I might swtich to an electric fan, But thank you for your input. I'll check some of the local machine shops once it gets warm again, I should be getting a inturn at Kodak for welding through my college, so I HOPE i'll have the money for some NICE mods!
On the ele. fan you dont have to have one you can disable the waterpump buy taking the blades off the inside of the waterpump caseing and use you belt driven fan. Read the article more. And on the spirlmax thing it worked for me i just thought i will give you some advise.
How do you know it worked? How did you measure? Track, engine dyno, chassis dyno?

JL
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