TB spacer and other new guy questions
 

Greetings - new guy here. Bought my wife a 96 GT vert/Cobra clone with some mods. I am a Mopar guy but I'm hoping for some help from the experts on this site. Car has cold air kit, 70mm TB, SVO sidepipes flowing from a no cat x pipe exhaust. The car is not as quick as I think it should be. I've seen the throttle body spacers on Ebay ranging from 15 - 30 bucks. Are they worth it or not?

I've read the archives regarding underdrives and gears. Where's the best place to grab a set of 3.73's from? How bout pulleys...Steeda or FMS? Where?

Here's the stupid question of the day...the BBK cold air kit goes right into the fenderwell. Where is the air filter? There's not one in the fender well. Is it supposed to be like this?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Re: TB spacer and other new guy questions
 

I wouldnt waste my time on a tb spacer

summitracing.com and jegs.com are the places i go for parts but i wouldnt go as far as saying they are the "best" place to get things from - the pulleys is basically a matter of what you want to buy and how much you want to spend..

and yes you need a filter on the end of that cai ..im guessing it fell off? im not sure but the car has probably been suckin up dust and dirt and things you dont want it to w/out a filter

i do have some march underdrives that id be willing to part with (if i could find them)

Re: TB spacer and other new guy questions
 

oh and uh ..welcome to MWorks :cool:

Re: TB spacer and other new guy questions
 

Interesting post! The TB spacers work...they are good for 2 hp or so. So, they work, but not much. Part of your problem IMO might just be the 70 mm TB. You need to either have your stock plenum ported to work properly with that 70 mm TB OR purchase an after-market plenum. If you decide to port the plenum, then definately buy a spacer. Ported plenums and spacers work great together. After-market plenums do not need spacers.

With either of the above changes, you might free up as much as 15 hp especially if the 70 mm TB is costing you a few ponies. Car will have better throttle response and breath better at higher rpms.

UDP's and gears are great mods! Adding the plenum, a set of 4.10's, and UDP's will free up 15 - 25 hp and the 4.10's will feel like you added 40 hp. You will have a new car! Get Steeda UDP's.

www.mustangtuning.com is a great place to buy mods. They also have a forum.

BTW, the filter should be in the fenderwell as already mentioned.

Re: TB spacer and other new guy questions
 

Is the car a true clone? Does it have a GT motor or a Cobra motor? If it is a cobra, Ford rated it at 305 hp. If it has a GT motor, the motor had 220 hp. 96-98's were dog years for the GT. In 1999, Ford used a PI Head on the car that added 40 hp. You can do a PI head swap for about $800 (swag), or go all the way and get something like Steen or Foxlake heads and cams and net about 100 hp on that engine. Figure on $2400 for parts for that one, however.

If you shop around, a set of used PI heads can be found for cheap. Need to find a 99+ GT guy who is swapping his out and just wants to dump his for a few bills. Or just buy them from a junkyard. Sure, you take a chance, but money is money. Just need to be careful and smart.

So, if the car has a 96 GT Motor, for about $3,000 in parts, you could add about 125 hp+ and get gears. The car would haul arse, but that is quite a lot of money. Maybe even half what you paid for it.

Re: TB spacer and other new guy questions
 

Thanks for the tips so far. The car has a GT motor. I have a garage full of old big block Mopars, but this being my first ever Ford I am getting even more perplexed. I did buy a spacer and I will let you know what happens.

There is no air filter in the fenderwell. So I will grab a K&N and clean out the plenum and TB while I'm in there.

Here's another stupid question. Last night I bumped up the idle a tad and it seemed to help throttle response a little. Going along this path I figured I would advance the timing a few degrees to see what happens. I also know with underdrives you need to advance as far as 9 or 10 degrees to get it right.

Ummmmmm, how do you advance the timing? I did a lttle research and found the Steeda timing advance wheel. Is this how you override the CPU? This can't be right, I've got to be missing something.

Re: TB spacer and other new guy questions
 

Ok. Just so you know, by porting, I mean actual porting of the plenum and not cleaning it. It won't be dirty unless the lack of the filter has made it that way. To port the plenum it needs to be ground out. There are guys that do this for about $80 or so and do a good job. This would be a great match with your larger TB that you have on the car and the spacer.

Place a post either at www.mustangtuning.com or at modulardepot.com. You will find someone who does porting.

I assume you adjusted the idle by rasing the idle set screw right? To make sure the idle is set correctly, you can start the car and let her run. Then unplug the Idle Air Controller. It is located on the front of the upper plenum and has a hose running to it from the intake hose. The IAC allows air to bypass the TB when at idle.

With the IAC unplugged electrically, set the idle so that the car will almost die but does not. That is where the idle should be set. Then plug the wire harness back in. You should throw a code, but you can reset it by unplugging the battery.


Under Drive Pullies do not impact timing at all. Nor, do you need to change the timing with them. They are simply pullies that slowdown your AC and alternator etc... They will free up about 8 - 10 hp and they are safe to use. They require a little work to install, but they are not too bad.

To advance your timing, you have two options. A Timing Adjuster (TA) is aq mechanical way to advance the timing. You can safely advance the timing with a TA by about 3 - 4 degrees with 93 - 94 octane. You might get a bit more, with colder plugs.

Keep in mind, that the car's ECU changes the timing automatically across different rpms ranges, so it is not a linear setting. With the TA, the timing is bumped across the entire rpm band.

The second method is to use a chip or a programmer. There are mutiple options available out there. I use an SCT 4 Position chip with 3 custom tunes. Works great with my nitrous setup.

Re: TB spacer and other new guy questions
 

not sure if the k&n will fit in the fenderwell... i have a mac fenderwell intake and the mac filter barely fits in the fenderwell and its much shorter than the k &n filter. i have a 2003 gt not sure if theres much of a difference