you don’t gain that much on a
mostly stock engine.
To make big power out of that
car, you will need to upgrade the
heads, cam, and intake, or add a
supercharger. But even with that, it
still won’t equal a brand-new
Mustang.
UNDERDRIVE PULLEYS
Underdrive pulleys are a decent
bang-for-the-buck. We’ve seen 5-8
hp on the chassis dyno with them.
Some worry that underdrive pulleys will cause overheating or
charging issues, but we’ve not
found that to be the case. Unless
it’s a 105-degree day and you’re
stuck in traffic, or you have a large
stereo system, we’ve never had
any issues. Most often an overheating problem is due to a
clogged radiator or worn-out
clutch fan, not a larger waterpump pulley. The March pulley kit
is the one we use the most.
EXHAUST
Commonly, people over-size
their exhaust systems. They use a
3.0-inch exhaust on cars that
really only need a 2.5-inch. Unless
your 5.0 has big heads and cam
or forced induction, it won’t make
any more power running a 3.0inch exhaust. The bottlenecks on
a stock 5.0 exhaust are the factory
manifolds and cats. On a stock
car, removing the cats is worth
around 4-5 hp, but every car I’ve
ever owned, except for all-out
road race cars, has had catalytic
converters.
BRINGING UP THE REAR
The other big bang-for-the-buck
part is to put a numerically higher
gear in the car. Most Fox
Mustangs came with a 2.73:1
rearend for highway cruising. If
you got lucky and someone
checked the option box, it could
have a Z-code gear — a 3.08:1.
We recommend a minimum of
3.55 to as much as a 4.10:1, if
you’re really looking for fast
acceleration without too much
highway driving in mind.
WHAT DOES A GOOD 5.0
MAKE AT THE REAR WHEELS?
A good-running 5.0 car will
make between 195 and 200 hp at
the rear tires. We saw less horsepower variance between 5.0
cars in their day than
we’ve seen in the modular
motors. They were much
more consistent.
ARE THE DERATED
205HP 5.0S REALLY
WEAKER?
The ’92 and ’93s that they
derated to 205 hp — we’ve
never seen any horsepower
decrease in those motors. They
make just as much power as the
earlier cars.
T-5 TRANSMISSION MODS
People give the T-5 a hard time. I’ve owned hundreds
of cars, including several supercharged versions, and
the only T-5 I had a problem with was one in a road-race
car where someone had run the fluid low and it overheated. But I don’t powershift any of my transmissions.
That’s asking for trouble.
FOX 5.0 VS.
NEW COYOTE 5.0
It’s amazing how slow the
Fox Musta