HP increase porting and P.I. cams in Ford 4.6?

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: 02SE
There are too many variables to give a definitive answer. Just saying "porting heads" doesn't really tell us anything either. Whoever is doing the work, has to know what they are doing, and understand how the various parts in an IC engine interact. Every aspect of the engine needs to be taken into account when attempting to increase a given engines output. Not to mention the power characteristics that are desired for the finished engine.


Agreed. The place comes recommended from the guy that does some of our machine work. He does almost nothing but race stuff. From sprint car engines, some modified/late model engines, to lots of truck pulling engines. A look around his shop will turn up lots of forged cranks, billet cranks, Donovan and Kieth Black blocks- the whole nine yards. They probably don't do much with fuel cars, but it's Harry's Heads in Sioux City.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: HemiHawk
Originally Posted By: The_Eric
Totally agree on the gears- they can take a car from zero to hero pretty quick! I want him to go 3.73 or 3.90.

He already has all the hard parts bought, we're just mulling over the cost effectiveness of porting too, since the heads will be off.


So even with a port job, they won't be as good as P.I. heads?


Depending what the port job would cost on the non-PI, I would say hold off for PI heads.
Here is a nice run down from American Muscle on the differences.

http://www.americanmuscle.com/upgrading-1996-2004-mustang-cylinder-heads.html


Thanks for the link! I'll look through it when I get more time.

 

[JustinH]

A guy I know who was really into these mod motors of this vintage, told me that the NPI heads were able to be ported to flow more than the ported PI heads.

However if you aren't doing any porting, the PI head swap is the way to go.

The big money heads for this car would be the SVO heads.

You will want to have this thing dyno tuned by someone who knows that they are doing. When I was into mod motors, there were a few guys that did a nice job with the SCT software.

Either way the PI cams are worth doing for sure.

If this car is an automatic, gears and torque converter are a great bang for the buck, that will require tuning as well.

 

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted By: emmett442
If you are looking for reasonable power at a reasonable cost, the only way to go with a 2V modular is some sort of forced induction. The architecture just doesn't flow well by itself, no matter what you do to it.

He'll break the bank chasing his own tail if he tries to get anything significant out of it NA style.



I'm going to have to agree with this guy...... Boost is ONLY Replacement for Displacement! Except for Nitrous.....I really don't care for nitrous.

There will ALWAYS be someone who can out run you!!

 

[JustinH]

On anything close to a stock 2v motor, the blowers are a good way to get into spun rod bearings, etc.

The stock 2v rods are like twigs.

I had a vortech car with a 99 GT motor and it spun the rod bearings once.

 

[The_Eric]

LOL, so what you're saying that he has a very poor base to build from?

I think I'll steer him away from porting and have him save his money for gears. Not sure if I can convince him to go with a converter, but I'll try... Any recommendations on one?

 

[slybunda]

could he not use a haltec ecu along with 290 degree lift cams and raise revlimiter to 9k rpm?

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: The_Eric
LOL, so what you're saying that he has a very poor base to build from?

I think I'll steer him away from porting and have him save his money for gears. Not sure if I can convince him to go with a converter, but I'll try... Any recommendations on one?


I use Precision of New Hampton only. They make a beautiful converter, I had a custom built high stall 10" fully reinforced one built for a friend of mine with anti balloon plate, extra heavy duty triple clutch plates, billet cover, drain plug, all hardened internals and splines from higher grade material and more. Its a work of art and works flawlessly.
I have a similar one (smaller, higher stall) in my GP turbo car that takes a real beating and keeps coming back for more. Highly recommend them.

http://www.gopnh.com/Racing-Stall-Torque-Converters.cfm







Edit: BTW I blew up the internals of a B&M retail unit in the turbo car.

 

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted By: The_Eric
LOL, so what you're saying that he has a very poor base to build from?

I think I'll steer him away from porting and have him save his money for gears. Not sure if I can convince him to go with a converter, but I'll try... Any recommendations on one?


I use Circle D Specialties in Houston TX., Not saying anything bad about Precision at all!! In fact I used Precision a lot before switching to Circle D for logistics reasons.
https://www.circledspecialties.com/c-53-4r70w.aspx

 

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted By: JustinH
On anything close to a stock 2v motor, the blowers are a good way to get into spun rod bearings, etc.

The stock 2v rods are like twigs.

I had a vortech car with a 99 GT motor and it spun the rod bearings once.



Probably a Tuning issue, To many stock bottom end 2V engines running 5-8 psi without issues!

 

[JustinH]

Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Originally Posted By: The_Eric
LOL, so what you're saying that he has a very poor base to build from?

I think I'll steer him away from porting and have him save his money for gears. Not sure if I can convince him to go with a converter, but I'll try... Any recommendations on one?


I use Circle D Specialties in Houston TX., Not saying anything bad about Precision at all!! In fact I used Precision a lot before switching to Circle D for logistics reasons.
https://www.circledspecialties.com/c-53-4r70w.aspx


Yes I had a circle D 4r70w converter, it worked very well.

Mine was a 3500-4000 stall, and it was perfectly streetable when tuned correctly. 373 gears was the optimal ratio for me.

Honestly you can make the car a lot faster and fun to drive just on converter, gears, and tuning alone without even getting into the heads or anything.

Plumb in a proper trans cooler at the same time, and keep the fluid clean.