I have a 94 GT 5.0 H.O. and I want to ditch those very restrictive exhaust manifolds. What were they thinking? They are like square almost! anyway what headers can I get that will bolt up to my stock exhaust system? Shorties?

 

Stock headers are shorty headers.

Not much difference. Any gains by aftermarket shorty headers is negligible at best.
If your looking for an honest performance improvement just ditch the whole exhaust and go with long tubes and an off road mid pipe. No other bolt on short of nitrous or FI will see a better gain.
Long tubes, offroad mid pipe, cam and a gear will wake the car up. Your only teasing yourself with shorty headers vs the stock exhaust.

Hurst

 

first time i've heard power adders considered bolt ons

 

Would I be doing myself any good by installing a small cam without heads, rockers ect ? I am looking to wake this car up so I may go with the long tubes and such. Getting the clutch, flywheel and some flowmasters dumped on it this weekend so it may be another week or so before I can do the headers. Been thinking about a cam though. Idles too much like a grocery getter right now lol

 

Last I checked a simple plate kit bolted right in. Little bit of wiring,.. viola. (shrug)

Hurst

 

Opinions, you know what they say. But there are gains to be made with shorties on a mild set up. Honestly the difference in gain from long tubes and shorties isnt worth the investment if youre going to keep it mild

 

You can see good gains with a cam and stock parts. But to get the most from a cam you would want to have parts on the car that would not hinder a cam. I would do your exhaust and gear before doing a cam. There are so many cookie cutter recipes for building up a stock 5.0. Read up on some of the builds on Mustang specific forums to get some good ideas to follow.

If you want to go big all at once,.. you can do a single turbo and that alone should take you to the extreme limits of the engine. Unless your building a serious NA motor,.. there is no reason to build a forged 302 based block. With a turbo ,.. the stock parts will hold enough hp to split the block. That alone makes spending the money on forged parts pointless in my opinion.

Hurst

 

Do like Frank and use a shortblock that comes with the factory forged.

 

^ I've sprayed PLENTY on Explorer short blocks with hyper pistons...never an issue. I wasn't in block splitting territory hp, but respectable

 

Only the pistons are forged. The crank and rods are not forged. While the 85 - 92 are more desirable,.. I have seen 93 motors pushing 13 PSI and they have hyper pistons.
And to be honest,.. Frank did bend a rod. For the money you'd spend on exhaust and bolt ons,.. by the time your done you will have spent very close to what you would doing a turbo set up.
I'm not against NA or nitrous. I have a lot of respect for guys doing NA set ups. But if your a penny pinching cheap bastard like me,.. the turbo looks more appealing.

So many ways to get a 5.0 in the 10's. Frank had a nice set up too. Cant wait to see his Maverick hit the track. Pinto tail lights and all,..

Hurst