Need advice. Would like to upgrade to 306-351
 

I was thinking of getting an ATI. I have 134k on the motor, so I was told that wouldn't be wise. I was looking into other options. I was thinkiong of getting a more powerful motor, and maybe add the ATI later. Which rebuild or upgrade would work best with my combo? It's a daily driven car. And about how much would the whole upgrade cost? And what parts would I keep from my combo. My heads are aluminum, but I'm not sure what brand. I was looking at some motors at DSS.

Stroker, no Stroker
Short block, Long block
306
308
331
351


Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Also, my water temp needle has been going a hot. I heard a 3 core radiator or a 160 degree thermastat would help? Any suggestions?

Thanks,

It's a 94 GT

any advice/suggestions?

Believe it or not, the 160 stat will not help you out. It will basically stay open all the time. Some here will tell you to get a 180 and some will say stay with the stock one. Me, I use the stock 192.

As for the motor upgrade; If I had the money, I would get a 331 or a 347. Or you could just rebuild your bottom end and then put that ATI on there.

Tuning Issues
 

Well coming from an all motor guy i would say keep it on the motor,but since you ask I will say this.

Any combo you get you will have to tune,some are just easier than others,if you have any friends that have put SC's(superchargers) on before pick their brains,to hear their up's and down's with going with a blower.

If you want to keep the look of a stock block but want some serious extra power then get a 331 or 347 stroker some on here will say 331 some will say 347 and then the die-hard will say 351,after all at night it is hard to tell the difference between the 2.

Do a pro/con of going with a blower against a pro/con of going all motor.

Do your homework on both and have fun with what ever way you decide on.

Hey,

I think that if your cars going to be daily driven you would probally do best with a 331 or 347 and put a girdle on the stock block and it should hold together so then you gain some HP, and then you could eventually upgrade your block and put a ATI on

Steven

If you want to keep daily driveability, go with the 331. The 347 is more for hardcore racing and has some bad long term piston ring problems. DSS Racing makes an excellent Bullet short block. I would also go with a 180* thermostat.

I have heard that a 331 is the best for a street/strip car. This is what i plan to do when i my car needs a rebuild and more importantly when i have more money :)

I would go with the 180 degree T-stat. That and my auto zone heavy duty 3 core radiator have worked very well for my car. It never gets hot even in the So-Cal heat.

Later,
Nick

Ok, 331 sounds best for what I'm looking for.

Now with the combo I have, what exactly do I need to do/buy/rebuild/upgrade to make it a 331 Stroker, and approximately what would the total cost be? I'd have to get someone to do the work.

Thanks a lot for all the advice.

I just finished installing my new 331 this weekend. I've also got a new Tremec 3550, King Cobra clutch, Fidanza aluminum flywheel and McLeod steel bellhousing. Next year, the ATI gets ordered. Probably a D-1SC set-up. After that, a set of Baer brakes.

Building up a solid motor (stroker, or otherwise) is not cheap. All the gaskets, head studs, new pan, new pump, girdle, upgrades, bearings, etc. gets expensive. Plus, having the block bored, honed, hot tanked and spin balancing the crank, flywheel and damper isn't cheap either.

You need to decide what the final product is that you're looking for. For me, its a 500 HP Mustang that I can drive on the street and to the track on nice sunny days and just when I get the urge to cruise around in it. It's not a full-on drag car, nor is it a bolt-on car.

If you're really interested in doing a 331 blower motor, send me an email or a PM and I can give you more details.

Good luck with your decision.
E

Try draining your coolant and refill w/ 90% water 10% antifreeze and 1 or 2 bottles of water wetter . This worked for me and a few others I know .

no replacement for displacement, that is my motto, by the time you spend all that money on a stroker 331, you could have a really stout 351 or stroker 351, especially still wanting to be a street car, the extra tourque of a 351 will shine oabove the other motors. and what are you doing when you stroke a 302, you are trying to basically get a 351, a 351 is a stroked 302, i know the added deck height but you get my jist, and the block will handle more power in the long run and have better parts in which you want to upgrade to. and go faster, hehehe.

281, 289, 302, 306, 331, 347, 351, 357, 377, 392, 408, 427, 460, 514....

Chose what's best for your application and for what you want the car to do with all things considered. tarmon8r is right, a 351 or 351 based stroker will generate more torque than a 302 or 331, but is that what you want?

NYC1, my recommendation would be to really think through what you want the car to be at the end of the day. Where will it spend most of it's time? Dragstirp? Street? Dailydriver? And how fast do you want to go? Corner-carver or full drag car? Maybe somewhere in between? What will make you happy?

Once you come up with a vision of what you want your Mustang to be, you can start planning from there. You may conclude that a 331 or 347 is not what you want. Maybe a 351 or 351 based stroker is the way to go for you - maybe even more cubes. Maybe you want to stay N/A, maybe not. Stroker408 brings up a good point by laying out all the pros and cons to keeping the motor N/A or supercharging or even using N20.

Take your time making your decision. Talk to others who have different combos. Visit your local race track. Keep you eyes out on this board for what people have actually used and what their thoughts are.

And most of all, enjoy the entire process. It's very rewarding, albeit sometimes pricey, but in the end I think you'll find it all worth the time and effort you put into it.

Good luck,
E

As my wife reminds me all the time, bigger is not always better. My little 306 pumped out 465HP and 415 ft-lbs on the engine dyno. That's with unported GT-40P heads, .500" lift cam and a Holley 650! That's on all motor too, no juice or boost here. It has gone 11.09@122 at 2900# with an AOD thus far.

jeff brought up a good point, a 306 will make just as much power as a 331 or other stroker. my 302 made 365 with stock heads and stock cam, carbed of course. there are many ways to do things. people like jeff and myself are bracket racers so we stick with guidelines, you need to decide what your end product is going to be. if you were just building a street motor to make loads of power then i would go 351w. its cheap ,easy, and will make the same power or more with much less work than a stroker. for 3000 you can get yourself into a nice 351 running 11s.

well, just to bring up a point that hasn't clearly been address yet, is that you might be able to make the same power with your 302 based motor but the 351 with make gobs more torque, and besides, horsepower is just a function of torque, the formula for hp is based on torque. so along that line i just can see why not build it, except in terms of money

A concern to address with the 351w though is with all that extra torque you will need to upgrade your tranny and rearend (not saying you won't half to with a 302 based stroker) but it all depends and what you want to use the car for, so have a plan with your build up

steven