How much horse power will the after marker manifold add to my "96 Mustang GT?

Answer 1

I'm going to cut through the BS and save you alot of time and trouble and MONEY.

Good mods for '96-98 GTs:

-PI Heads (from 99+ GTs.)
-PI Intake (from '99+ GTs)
-H or X Pipe (with or without cats)
- Gears (3.73s-4.10s)
- Power adders (superchargers, turbochargers, nitrous)
- Full length headers (you've got to upgrade the h-pipe too and I wouldn't put headers on an otherwise stock car.)

Waste of Money Mods for a '96-98 GT:

-Throttle Bodies (unless you've upgraded EVERYTHING else.)
- Computer Chips/Computer Tweaks (unless you're actually dyno tuning it.)
- Cold Air Intakes
-Catback exhaust (do it for the sound, not for the power)
-Intake Plenums (I've seen dyno sheets that say they add power and sheets that say they cost power, it wouldn't trust them.)
- Shorty Headers (have you seen the engine bay? if you're going to do headers do full length, either way its alot of work.)
- MAF sensor - the stock one is huge and very accomodating. Only upgrade this if you've switched engine mgmt systems and they require it.

The PI headswap is the single best mod I ever did to mine (followed by gears.) All told it cost me about $1500 bucks (I did the labor) and I dropped a half second off of my quarter mile times. With the gears I dropped a full second.

Don't listen to what people have to say unless they can prove it. Everyone has an opinion, of most of them have wasted money. Go to the track and ask the guys who run fast in similar cars how they got there. Or go on a good forum (Stangnet, Modular forum, etc) and read as many posts as you can. That way you can separate the BS from the fact.

Answer 2

If money is a problem and you want cheap power. You can get the GT40 heads, upper and lower intakes and the throttle body from a 96 or early 97 5.0L Explorer. You'll have to change a few minor connections but these will bolt right up and are a BIG improvement over what you have now. The Explorer parts are basically Mustang Cobra parts. Just make sure they are GT40 parts and not the later GT40P parts. The GT40P heads are slightly better but they require special headers, yours won't work on these heads. And the later lower intake that come with the "P" heads are not ready to be drilled and tapped where you'll need it, the GT40's are. You're much better off with the 96/early97 GT40 Explorer engine. Take off a valve cover on the Explorer engine and you'll see either GT40 or GT40P cast into the head between and just above the valve springs. Like I said, GT40P heads are slightly better but not worth the hassel and expense you'll go through to bolt up the exhaust. After that you can change the rear gears to 3.55 or 3.73's, that will help too. When you do this swap you use the EGR spacer that is already on your car but get Explorer gaskets and not Mustang GT gaskets for the TB and EGR. One quick way to tell if it's a GT40 or a GT40P engine is to look at the exhaust manifolds. If they look like they are wrapped with a thin gold colored material it is a GT40 engine. If the manifolds are bare cast iron then it's a GT40P engine. just double check under one of the valve covers before you buy. Good Luck!

Answer 3

Horse Power depends on which manifold and what fuel intake throttle body your going to use...

Intake Ford 397-M-9424-E46 Cost alot if you not going to change Throttle body also... check out the different throttle bodys...
129-1700 and the 129-1701
Found at: www.jegs.com

Exhaust... Sooooo Many choices...

1 is 397-M-9430-E463 is most costly... 370.00 HP depending on engine output would setup 25 to 50 HP
You can use many different Headers and exhaust packages.. with only 15 HP up to 75HP added... But you can get loss off power also if not matched with fuel intake system...

I like the Ford racing headers with the FlowMaster 50's

This is above the simple Air intake, Throttle body upgrade, and ECM PCM updates...

Good Luck....

Answer 4

It will be noticeable. How much depends on if you did any other upgrades on the air intake (throttle body, MAF sensor, etc..) and exhaust. There are other easy ways to get power. One of the best is to upgrade the engine control module for high performance. The module can be installed in minutes yourself. All those items and more can be found here http://painintheexhaust.blogspot.com

Answer 5

Exhaust manifold? maybe 10, thats a stretch though. Compliment it with cat back exhaust and intake to make the best of it...

Answer 6

Intake manifold or exhaust manifold?

Answer 7

Intake.... without changing anything else..... none, could even loose some.

Exhaust..... without changing anything..... none..... would need to change cat convertors and mufflers, H or X pipe as well.