My 97 Mustang GT and my 98 f-150 both have the 4.6. I think the Mustang is 215 hp and the truck is 220 hp. Other than the year difference are the engines the same.. i.e.power, timing, intakes,exhaust. etc.. I know the Mustang came with true factory duals.. I wonder if the F-150 had been made with factory duals if the hp rating would have been higher? Just curious if anybody has some input

Thanks... Spotty

 

It's in the tuning.The Mustang in '98 was also rated at 225 hp-the truck just makes that power at a lower RPM and peaks quick then falls off due to the intake manifold and PCM tuning.
JL

 

Other than the intake manifold, are they about part for part the same? Why is the intake different, is it a physical problem or a performance issue between the two?

Thanks...

 

If the engine in the truck is a romeo,then the intake is the only difference. If it's a windsor,then there are differences,but they're just minor and won't contribute to the power differences. The truck intake is tuned for power and torque down low in the powerband,whereas the car intake is made for power a bit higher up.
JL

 

Thank you JL.. one more question and I promise I won't bug you anymore.(LOL) MY GT is 100% stock, summer driver only, still like new. I would like to leave it stock but would really like a set of Flowmasters, maybe a CAI, and a Diablo tuner. That whole CAI thing makes no sense to me with that filter in the hot engine bay. Would I gain any HP or is it just show with these 3 mods? I also hate to disturb that factory exhaust which is probably stainless? I promise I won't ask you any more Mustang question( I'm an older guy (53), I don't fit in real well on the Mustang site (LOL)

Spotty

 

You're not bothering at all..
CAI's are a joke-all of them. I've never seen a power increase from the CAI parts themselves-they typically skew the MAF lean and that's where their claims of 5-10 hp come from. The OEM air induction is more than adequate to feed the 4.6L with air-even at high hp and RPMs. Avoid the dronemasters-they're terribly loud and don't help any for power-it's all noise. There's more power to be made with the cat pipe on a '97-the OEM 6 cat setup is pretty restrictive. One of the biggest power gains for the '96-'98 4.6L's is swapping that terribly restrictive intake out for the later PI version,and you can also swap the cams for the '99-up for another easy,cheap power gain.
There's alot of discussion on it here:
http://forums.modulardepot.com/4-6l-2v-tech/2634-pi-vs-npi-data.html
And here's results from the intake swap on my car here:
http://forums.modulardepot.com/4-6l-2v-tech/3400-results-modified-pi-intake-npi-heads.html
Those threads are long,and somewhat heated at times,but they are a good read if you wanna make some decent power out of that '97.
JL

 

Just what I thought, that's why I leave it alone. It's a nice little muscle ride as it is, not the fastest, but always runs perfect, factory exhaust is throatty enuff..Thanks for the replies... I will read your links..


Spotty