High mileage dyno numbers

[daniel.drives]

Before the eventful weekend, I had paid for a dyno session just so I'd know what kind of numbers my car's actually putting down, and to give me a starting point for planning an engine rebuild. The tire wall didn't damage the power train, so I went ahead and showed up anyways:
52153

They advertised these as 302 crank HP stock. On the plus side I have the larger accufab throttle body, Stainless Works headers, a Marty tune, and good maintenance, on the negative side I have 209K miles, the headers dump into a stock catback, and the air filter is probably getting old.

In the balance, I got:
52154

A peak of 282, and I was frankly surprised how flat the powerband is between 4-6000 rpms. I also learned that I really like the way it sounds from behind at full rip, and that nothing sketchy comes out the tailpipes on full throttle.

With a refresh, I'd hope to break 320 wheel, with cams, fresh rings, and finally ponying up for the Stainless Works catback. I've looked into the Eaton swap, and for what I want from this car vs. putting that money towards a lighter more powerful track car, I'd rather keep this simple and reliable.

[the fat bastid]

nice. it is always good seeing more data.

[blazen71]

In my opinion by the time you spend the money on SW catback, cams, all the engine gaskets and the plethora of TTY bolts you may as well put a power adder on it instead and leave the motor and exhaust alone. I don't understand the idea of replacing just the piston rings? I've been thru 2 marauders and a million different mods and adding just a supercharger is the best bang for the buck. To each their own and good luck with everything, it's nice to see the youngins still modding the Marauders!

[Mr. Man]

Those numbers aren't bad for headers and a tune. 240-2 IIRC were the avg. stock RWHP numbers. If you dig into the engine replace the pistons and rods with better stuff than came from Ford especially at your mileage and goals.

[z man]

I don’t think you’d be happy with the return you’d get on spending ~$1,200 for the SW catback system. That’s a lot for negligible gains… plus, if you like the way the stock mufflers sounds, then I doubt you’d like the SW mufflers.


FWIW, I have SW headers bolted up to factory exhaust on my Eaton swapped ‘04. Sounds amazing and puts down 420 rwhp on a fairly conservative tune.

[justbob]

I’ve heard the SW headers with stock everything else and loved it. I absolutely hate my full SW catted exhaust. Way too raspy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[blazen71]

I too found this out the hard way. I put the stock tips back on for a huge improvement. Then replaced the x-pipe with an x-pipe muffler for another huge improvement. The car sounds great now but still too loud for me. Next year its getting the biggest mufflers I can fit.

[SilverPhoenix]

I too found this out the hard way. I put the stock tips back on for a huge improvement. Then replaced the x-pipe with an x-pipe muffler for another huge improvement. The car sounds great now but still too loud for me. Next year its getting the biggest mufflers I can fit.

Wow, that's a lot of muffler bearings you have to maintain...

;) :burnout:

[blazen71]

Wow, that's a lot of muffler bearings you have to maintain...

;) :burnout:
There's a whole lot of everything to maintain!

[daniel.drives]

Thanks for the input on exhaust, I've only ever heard a full SW car at idle, from outside, and I liked the way it sounded but that's obviously not a good way to judge highway drone or full throttle roar. My main issue with the current setup is that seeing the large SW headers bolted up to the much smaller factory pipes makes me sad.

As far as an engine rebuild, my goals would be to maintain OEM reliability, regain the losses from the last 200k miles of wear, and expand the powerband an extra 1000 rpm. I'd like that to be up towards 7000 rpm, but I'd take a split from 3500-6500. I'm thinking new bearings everywhere, bore the cylinders by the smallest standard amount just to get a fresh surface, new pistons and rings, reuse the crank, undecided about the rods. I think I'd like to aim for a 10.5:1 static compression ratio, but that might be too aggressive for my local 91 octane. upgraded oil pump, replace the valve guides, I'm not sure if I need to replace the valves and springs, it felt like a good idea until I acquired trust issues with aftermarket parts, valve job, gasket match port job, nothing too crazy. Some mild comp cams, and obviously a new timing set. I still have a ton of research to do, I've only really messed with chevy small blocks. I know DOHC and 4V presents some different opportunities for power, as well as some new challenges. At some point I'll start a thread over in the engine section.

[blazen71]

Thanks for the input on exhaust, I've only ever heard a full SW car at idle, from outside, and I liked the way it sounded but that's obviously not a good way to judge highway drone or full throttle roar. My main issue with the current setup is that seeing the large SW headers bolted up to the much smaller factory pipes makes me sad.

As far as an engine rebuild, my goals would be to maintain OEM reliability, regain the losses from the last 200k miles of wear, and expand the powerband an extra 1000 rpm. I'd like that to be up towards 7000 rpm, but I'd take a split from 3500-6500. I'm thinking new bearings everywhere, bore the cylinders by the smallest standard amount just to get a fresh surface, new pistons and rings, reuse the crank, undecided about the rods. I think I'd like to aim for a 10.5:1 static compression ratio, but that might be too aggressive for my local 91 octane. upgraded oil pump, replace the valve guides, I'm not sure if I need to replace the valves and springs, it felt like a good idea until I acquired trust issues with aftermarket parts, valve job, gasket match port job, nothing too crazy. Some mild comp cams, and obviously a new timing set. I still have a ton of research to do, I've only really messed with chevy small blocks. I know DOHC and 4V presents some different opportunities for power, as well as some new challenges. At some point I'll start a thread over in the engine section.I can get onboard with this. Before you said just rings. You've got a sound plan for the engine. Surprisingly the stock cast crank can handle a lot. Some of the best advise I ever got was to get the best harmonic balancer you can afford. If you're going to spin the motor that fast, get a good one!

[Mr. Man]

Replace the rods as they are a known weak spot.