Head Swap or Supercharger
 

Hey guys I'm a new member and I love the site. I have 2 questions, I would like to swap 99 and up heads on my 98 GT, is it worth the money or should I just get a Procharger? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I live in Northern Cali.

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98 Blk Conv GT
Bassani X-Pipe, 70mm T.B.
Cold Air Induc.

Well, of course a blower will make a lot more power, but it will also cost alot more too. Since you have a Convt, an intercooled prochager running 9lbs should put you in the high to mid 13's, and with a bigger MAF, gears, and slicks, your going to be closing in on 13.0's, maybe high 12's. But I think you really would need a good fuel system and 11lbs of boost to get 12's on street tires.

Now the head swap is also another great choice, especially if you want to stay N/A. Now, I am not sure if the 98's pistons are the same as the 96/97's, but when you add the PI heads to the 96/97, you are also bumping compression up to about 10:1, where as the 99+ GT's are running about 9.4:1 because of diferent pistons. So, assuming the 98 have the same pistons as the 96/97's, you should see at least a 40HP gain, but maybe more, especially if you do some very light porting and add a 3 or 5 angle vave job. Because of the higher comprssion ratio, you really should be making more power the a 99+ GT w/ the same mods. But, a 10:1 compression ratio is not too blower friendly, so if you are doing the head swap, make sure you do not want to put a blower on w/o making other mods.
You could of course change and upgrade the pistons if you plan on adding a blower in the future, of you could have the heads worked to lower the compression. Hope this heps.

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1997 Thunderbird 4.6L: Dynomax exhaust, Lightning 80mm MAF with 7" powerstack cone filter, B&M 24,000GVW trans cooler, Inject-Tech chip, KVR Brake upgrade. 15.2 @ 91. Not bad for a 3800lb auto 4.6L

No Longer own: 91 LX 5.0L 5 spd

Frequent question fromthe 96-98 GTers.

Best Answer depends on your end goal.
Do the headswap!

If you want to go for a 12s timeslip and low ETs then be ready to spend some money and the 99+ HS is a good starting point.



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K!
Personalized Black 98 SVO Blown Stage II ROUSH
without the side exhaust but some other cool stuff
Dyno 303rwhp 338rwtrq
Still working out the kinks!!!

do the head swap first. the 96-98 heads are crap! they will choke the blower down. it's like 10lbs of chit in a 5lb bag. most guys are gaining anywhere between 45-60rwhp from the head swap. you can still boost your motor but make sure you get a real good dyno tune, keep the boost down(don't get greedy), and use a intercooler, preferably.jmho. one guy on the net is running a 10lb vortech on a headswap car and is making 454hp & 457tq at the rear wheels http://www.mustangworks.com/msgboard/smile.gif i pesonally would rather run between 6-8lbs on 10-1 compression but thats jmo. good luck.
leon

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96 stang,ported 99 heads, 99 intake, 99 cams,Steeda power pullies,Kirban adj.reg.,Pro-m 87,24#inj.,70mm t/b,BBK longtube headers,Bassani x-pipe w/cats, Dynomax ultraflow catback,iat mod, home depot ram air, k@n,373's,cobra brakes,fms spings, tri-ax shifter.
best et 13.80
best mph 103.3
bfg street tires,bakersfield, ca

Hi guys, I'm also a new member. Seems like everyone is all for the head swap. This was a major question I had as well. How do you guys feel about the intake swap? Claims say it'll add another 35+ hp with the new heads.


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Black 96GT Coupe
BBK H-pipe Flowmasters K&N Air March Underdrives

Thanks for all the advice everyone. 46Stang who did your head swap and did you buy the heads straight from a Ford dealer. I understand the labor time to do the head swap is about 20 hours.

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98 Blk Conv GT
Bassani X-Pipe, 70mm T.B.
Cold Air Induc.

CountZero
Are you talking the FRPP intake?

yea i work at a dealer, so i bought the heads at work and i did all the work my self!if you get a good manual a backyard tech. could do it. it's not hard, just time consuming. if it's your first time expect a week. it took me 2 1/2 days to do it. but well worth it. also shop around you can get it done for around $800. it's well worth every penny though http://www.mustangworks.com/msgboard/smile.gif

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96 stang,ported 99 heads, 99 intake, 99 cams,Steeda power pullies,Kirban adj.reg.,Pro-m 87,24#inj.,70mm t/b,BBK longtube headers,Bassani x-pipe w/cats, Dynomax ultraflow catback,iat mod, home depot ram air, k@n,373's,cobra brakes,fms spings, tri-ax shifter.
best et 13.80
best mph 103.3
bfg street tires,bakersfield, ca