looking to upgrade my motor

[madness410]

i have a 99 ws6 six speed with 146k miles. i am interested in upgrading the motor. what i want from the car is to be a streetable 400-450 horsepower weekend ride. i dont drag race it but im not counting that out as a possibility for the future. i also dont plan on forced induction for the future.

what id like to upgrade are the heads, cam, and intake, and possibly new parts while everything is apart, possibly an under drive pulley, timing chain, etc. my concerns are putting new performance parts on the top end of the motor and running more horsepower through a stock bottom end that has already clocked 146k miles.

my budget is around $1500-$2000 for parts possibly more. i just want to hear comments, concerns, recommendations, what to look into, what to stay away from, cam sizes, anything you guys could recommend to achieve what im looking to get out of these upgrades. thanks in advance.

Jon

[NJ Torque]

Are you doing the work yourself?

A cam only swap could be done for $1500-2000 incl. tune, heads and cam is pretty optimistic

A basic cam, 243/5.3 head and a LS6 intake job would net you 410-440 depending...

[madness410]

it depends what route I decide to go with parts. I'm trying to gather as much info as possible into these bolt ons and either bring it to a shop or have someone who knows what their doing help me out. I'm mechanically inclined but know my limits I know I won't be able to tear a motor apart just yet.

[MDSheds_SS]

Search the classifieds for better deals, lots of people start and then stop projects. You can get new **** for 1/2 price. However not sure $2000 is gonna cut it if you wanna do heads/cam/tune + installation.

We did a cam/converter/electric water pump on the SS and the car has been 11.3s at Atco. On DRs of coarse.

[TaKid455]

Recently sold a TA with the 5.3, ls6, cam, bla bla bla set up. 440 to the wheels. It was nice. Street manners were ok. Noticeable idle lope. I felt it needed more. You will need to upgrade the clutch & exhaust if you havent already. Based on receipts 5-7k is more realistic by the time you will be done. PM if you need help.

[MDSheds_SS]

Originally Posted by TaKid455

Recently sold a TA with the 5.3, ls6, cam, bla bla bla set up. 440 to the wheels. It was nice. Street manners were ok. Noticeable idle lope. I felt it needed more. You will need to upgrade the clutch & exhaust if you havent already. Based on receipts 5-7k is more realistic by the time you will be done. PM if you need help.

440 to the wheels on a dynojet or mustang dyno?

[NJ Torque]

Originally Posted by MDSheds_SS

440 to the wheels on a dynojet or mustang dyno?

has to be a DY... you need 500+ HP to make 440 on a MD.

[BonzoHansen]

Seems like a lot of miles on that engine and chassis to start simply adding power parts. You have to look at all the supporting parts. Oil pump, valve train parts, drive train parts, rear, etc.

[TaKid455]

It was on Tunetime's Dynojet

[xrelapse13]

With 146k I'd stay away from any aggressive cams that really spin the motor high. A mild cam combined with a set of 5.3 heads to bump compression either now or down the line will give a broad torque curve and a peppy responsive car that will be fun on the street and won't require changing gears or winding the motor high to make power/take advantage of the powerband.

Things you'd need are cam, valvesprings, pushrods (can be purchased in a kit), if you're in there i'd recommend changing out the oilpump and putting on a new timing chain (i'm a fan of the IWIS chain)

[MDSheds_SS]

Originally Posted by TaKid455

It was on Tunetime's Dynojet

Last time I checked Tune time has a mustang dyno. If your talking about TTP in Lakewood.

[TaKid455]

This was when he was in north NJ before he moved.

[NJ Torque]

Originally Posted by TaKid455

This was when he was in north NJ before he moved.

Ah, the other TTP, and the other Matt. IIRC, that was a Dynojet he had.