Increase Horse Power on 95 GT

[Mr 5 0]

Originally posted by RocDeb

I was wanting to know of ways to increase horsepower on a budget. What really increases horsepower? There are so many ads that say put this on and it will increase your hp by 15. Does a heat spacer between the upper and lower intake really help?

Join the thousands of other Mustang owners who are all looking to increase HP on a budget.

Here's a few thoughts for you:

Underdrive pulleys are worth 5 - 8 HP but you had better have a perfectly functioning cooling and charging system and no big amp drains like a oversized sound system or you'll need a 130 amp alternator which is expensive.
Pulleys run about $100.

Exhaust mods help some. 1 5/8 headers with a 2 1/2" pipes work best. on stock engines. Ditch the catalytic converters if you can do so legally - they rob power. An H-pipe (to eliminate the cats) is about $100. or less.

An electric fan can cool better, help cut drag on the engine and increase HP a bit.

A 65mm TB is a good investment if you intend to go to an aftermarket intake down the road. About $200.

A cold-air intake set-up is useful but frankly, just a K&N filter in the stock airbox will do fine and save you over $100.

Of course a total tune up including new, high quality plug wires, distributor cap and rotor, gas filter, PCV unit and a timing bump to 14 degrees initial are all very basic and should be the first step to better performance.

As for the ads...take them with a grain of salt. They are all trying to convince you to BUY something from them. A lot of those HP numbers are from fully modded engines (heads, cams, etc) or under perfect conditions that may not be normal for a street car.

Oh, that 'heat spacer' you mentioned is O.K. but won't make a huge difference.

As many will tell you, the very best 'bang for the buck' modification you can make to your Mustang is a set of rear differential gears; 3.55, 3.73 or 4.10. Immediate performance increase that you'll feel in the seat of your pants and highly recommended - before you invest in anything else for your car.