1991 Thunderbird 5.0 Ho, what can i do to get it to 225 hp?? Options

[ranger125]

hi there im new to this 5.0 ho engine but have done alot of research and i realize its only running 200 hp as my 89 mustang has 225 hp . so what can i do to make my t bird engine crank out them numbers ?
i can use the 89 engine for parts also

[Indianajo]

Mustangs have different exhaust and catalytic converters, if your good with mig or tig welding stainless you can adapt something to the bigger car. Mustangs have mass flow meters and their own computer chip, I don't know if your car is mass flow or speed density. At this point, just picking up a junk mustang setup with wire harness and computer is not very expensive. The problem with the mustang set up for a thunderbird is that the car is lighter, so you will be trading off torque (street acceleration out of a traffic light ) for horsepower (speed at the and of the 1/4 mile drag strip). The mustang setup worked very poorly in my 4200 lb car, you may find the extra 500 lb of a thunderbird is not such a handicap.

[ranger125]

i read and watched a video that the t birds have a more restricting exhaust at the cylinder heads compared to the mustangs , i have only botttles on the exhaust so no restrictions there i think . also to add i do have a mass airflow sensor behind the air filter so does that mean i have a maf engine ? is there anywhere else to look up this info?? all i have is the engine , wiring harness and ecm at this point and a rebuilt t bird engine out of a 91 that i dont have any history on . but what i do have is a 89 mustang engine thats got a burnt bottom end due to lack of oil so i can use parts off of it but its a speed density engine i belive . soo kinda in a pickle here and trying to collect some info on this engine and what my options are .


thank you for the reply , its hard to find info on these things

[Indianajo]

The intake manifold and the exhaust manifold will exchange between the engines, if they are both roller cam engines the heads will exchange. The intake manifold determines whether the engine will be speed density or mass flow. The computer and harness you have has to match the type of intake and type of fuel system. I found the 95 mustang head would not start below 25 deg F unless it had 60000 volt spark and a .055 spark gap- requiring a large diameter distributor to avoid sparkover. Good horsepower airflow does not have it's trade offs. I suggest you start by figuring out how to use the mustang catalytic converters and shorty header exhaust with the thunderbird car body. As I suggested, I had to cut the thunderbird cat converter built into the right crossover pipe off, and weld on a stainless down pipe with a flange that would match a 64 exhaust manifold, before I could get my 255 v8 above 105 hp. Get the car running without a lot of mods, time it 1/8 mile (like real driving) or 1/4 mile (open road western driving or dragstrip only) before you try the mustang heads in the heavier car. Change it. Then time it again. You may find the lower horsepower engine is faster on the street ( without a 9" torque converter slipping at 2900 rpm) because the low end torque is better. A surer shot for the heavier car is a power adder like supercharger or turbocharger, with heavier injectors. I find full race chevies with the 4.56 rear and the 2900 stall converter are funny on the freeway, howling along in the slow lane at about 50 mph and 4000 rpm. I've never passed a mustang screwed up that badly. Oh, how to recognize mass flow or speed density. Mass flow mustang setups have a big humped intake manifold that collects to a 2bbl casting on the pasenger side at the top with a big wire harness coming out of it. This is the mass flow meter. The butterflies are verticle pointed at the right fender. The air cleaner is a square box somewhere else entirely with a long plastic pipe. I've never specifically worked on a speed density engine, but I think they look more like a carburator setup with some stuff in the middle of a flat intake of tubes that goes where the carb used to go. Mass flow adapts to a power adder air pump easily because the meter just sees more air and adds fuel automatically. Speed density can take a power adder, but requires a custom chip without fail. The easist way, I think, to get street power at legal speeds, is to clean up the restrictive exhaust system on any car but a mustang.

This post has been edited by Indianajo: Jan 13 2010, 09:01 PM