The 5.0 Recipe?
 

I'm fairly clued-in on what it takes to get to certain levels with an LS1, but have no idea when it comes to a Fox body. And since it's been around for so long I know there is alot of misinformation floating around out there, especially on the local level.

In general with an LS1 you can put a cam and a stall in it and have an 11 second car. I'm looking through Summit as well as some Mustang retailers online and see so many different options for a build on a 302. What are some of the reputable manufacturers out there?

What is a good intake? What are good headers, H or X pipe, and exhaust? Intake manifolds, heads, and cams? What about aftermarket blocks and stroker assemblies? I know turbo and nitrous setups depend on the whole setup and are often custom jobs, but what about supercharger setups, which off-the-shelf SC kits perform?

When I say good I'm not talking about the absolute top dollar stuff that you're just buying a name, I'm talking about the quality parts available for Ford's little 302 that can really make a car move as long as the rest of the car is well put together and up to the task. Thanks for any help guys. Looking very forward to gaining some more knowledge on 5.0 performance.

One issue that I see with alota 'ford 302' people. Is the plethora of parts out on the after market. Alot more decisions have to be made than there is with an LS based car. Someone wants an intake for their LS1? Lets see here......you can buy an LS6, FAST or LSX whatever you wanna call it, or those new carb'd ones. Thats 3 choices......total :eek2: Trickflow alone makes 4 different intakes for a 302. Edelbrock makes about 4 different intakes. Ford makes 2. Holley makes one. Theres multiple other various 'box style' intakes you can buy. Theres 'spyder' intakes that resemble the new carbd intakes being made for LS1's. Thats a shitload of intakes to choose from.

AFR makes 4 different heads for a SBF. You can buy all kinds of different versions of Trickflow's heads for a SBF. Edelbrock makes numerious different head verations of their stuff. Then you have the beloved GT40 heads. Which come in multiple versions. Cast Iron and Alum. It goes on and on!

Heads for LS cars....just port ur stock ones or buy some ported LS6. Something along those lines. Wow...tuff decisions their.

The Problem is decisions! To really get the 'most' outa a 5liter, more than the average guy, you gotta dig a little deeper than LS car guys do. Prime example, earlier this year I helped out a real close bud pick out a cam for his 00WS6. We went to MTI's website. I said "hey look at that R cam. That looks freakin sweet!" He said fuk yea! Lets get it. He makes decent power, hes happy and thats the end of that story. Yea........it doesnt necessary work like that for SBF, for MOST people.
Skiming along the periphery of the 302 world, you might think that box stock GT40 heads and an E cam from Ford is the baddest shit ever made. This could not be farther from the truth.

Heres what I would consider basic info to an LS 'guy' and Im just throwin this at a wim so anyone else feel free to add/complain. I dont have a problem with good convo.
Heads- AFR, Trickflow,Edel (again dig deeper.......stock twisted wedge from trickflow on a 13:1, 347 with a solid cam would not be the best choice. But some stageIII tfs high ports from TEA would.) :drive:
Cam - This topic is so vast for 302's...start another thread. need more info on combo.
Intake - same as above. Combo, Combo, intentions for car, Combo.....did I mention combo?
Internals - Same as LS shit just minus Lunati. Dont think they make stuff for SBF's, but I could be wrong? Eagle,Scat JE and theres this company called probe that does good shit.
Stock production 302 blocks are highly debaited in some arenas. Some Have lived with high HP #'s, the majority has failed. Example, this is why I took the dope off my Small H/C car cuz its a crapshoot and I dont have the green for a 2k block from Dart or Ford at the moment. Check out their sites, good stuff. Once ur at/above 500fwhp....well.....Ill let you decide that one

Anderson Ford Motorsport makes good air inlet systems.

My advice, research..more than ur average person... before you randomly start swiping the credit card. Save up ur coin and spend wisely.

Thanks for the reply Thoroughbred, very good info.

Credit isn't even an option, and if I'm spending my cash, it will be wisely. So I'll definitely be digging deep to get the best combo for my buck. I know Total Engine Airflow knows their stuff so I thought about getting with them when the time comes and having them do a set of heads and a cam for my given goals (very good streetability, able to pass emissions, and I wouldn't mind a little lope), which ultimately is a 347ci supercharged setup (is there a standard rotating assembly like Eagle for this, and also is the Vortech SC pretty much the standard or does another company make a better one like ATI does for the LS1)?. I'm sure TEA could also recommend an intake manifold for the setup as well.

You are correct though, GT40 heads and an E cam are all I ever see or hear about 5.0s and I know there is probably much better out there, hence this post.

Obviously exhaust (mainly mufflers) are subjective, but are there any proven performers in the way of headers and H or X pipes (in the LS1 world most all headers are the same as long as you're talking long tubes, and there are a few quality X and Y pipes that are quality pieces). Mufflers are for the users to decide as we all like something different on that front.

Save up some money and get a combo from TEA or someone along those lines would be a good choice. They can get you covered.

Basic blowers would be without question an 'S' Trim from Vorteq. Then theres Vorteq's 'T' Trim. Prochargers P1SC and D1SC are awesome from what I hear but someone else is going to have to fill you in here, as I have never owned a blower.

I've had Bassani LT's and multiple Bassani X pipes on my car and they make great products. A little pricer then some but good stuff. Also have had your basic BBK shorty headers which IMO can not be beating for their price (on a weekend warrior/daily driver, not some all out 'race car') Had BBK H pipes too which are decent. Ive had friends use MAC exhaust parts that were good peices.

I know Eagle has 347 kits, but I do not know if they make a kit for a boosted app. Im sure they do, their 'assemblies' link isnt working on their site right now. Check around for that. Also look here http://www.probeindustries.com/

Ive done well with junk parts.

The main point I was trying to get across was research. From your sig you seem to have a well MATCHED combo. Unlike turds you see out street racing their stock 302 with mufflers and a TFS-R intake.

Like stated above, you have to do your reserch. I have a lt-1 and there are no parts for that compared to the 5.0 that I have. If you want supercharged I would go with vortech. For some reason the Ford is hard to tune w/ the blow though design or the ati. If you go N/A there are so many parts to choose from that you can get cought up in that "new part of the month" crap that happens and your car will run like crap. I love watching people come in and dyno with that hot new stuff that is going to make 500 hp and they lay down 280 hp. The combo has to work together. I personaly went with all trick flow and Im very happy with the end product. They helped me set up for all the right parts. It all depends on what you want out of the car. I personally have an all out drag car so that is what it is set up for but I built it to where I could put a smaller cam and have a nice street/stip car.

I knew in advance that research and combo was what having the end product be something nice is what it's all about. The question is, with so much misinformation out there where do I go to do the research? Just looking at a nice street-friendly stroked 347 build with a Vortec supercharger on it. Looking at Sukkoi's setup gives me some good ideas and I wouldn't mind having that kind of power at all. :) Getting somewhere between 450-500 rwhp and rwtq would be my goals (which with a 347 and a blower you wouldn't think would be that big of a problem). 500+ HP would be awesome if I could get the right combo, but again I'll give up some power for streetability (keep in mind I drive a 4000 RPM stalled & cammed Trans Am and consider it to be very streetable, but this 'Stang build will have to pass the tailpipe sniffer test so I cant go too crazy with the cam selection).

Get a good forged Bottom end(D.S.S.,Eagle,Ohio Crankshaft). Pick a head from one of the big guys ( Trick Flow,AFR,Ford racing) and take with which ever to find out what intake would work best with that head. Get someone to build a custom cam to meet what you need for the good old sniffer. Then bolt it together and tear ass though Nash. Tn

Good #'s can easily be made with a blower/turbo with a set up like Sukk's. One of the mods in this section wifes car used to be set up close to Sukk's and was getting close to 10's in the 1/4 down here in Tejas.

Theres alot of bogus info on some sites out there, but Im not goona get into that. IMO....the 347 you want with something like a AFR185/205 or Vic Jr head, good cam, decent blower blower 500rwhp is cake.