My brother has an '03 Lightning that is currently at 400 rwhp. He is looking to take it to 450 rwhp, where he will hold off and start saving fr a new rotating assembly. His mods right now consist of a 6# lower, C&L air intake, C&L 95mm MAF, Accufab TB, C&L upper plenum, Accel coils, NGK TR6's, and a custom SCT dyno tune. What do you guys recommend he do to get the extra 50 rwhp?

 

No2............

 

He's about tapped without nitrous, heads/cams, or different blower.Or He could always install every bolt-on know to man, spend a ton of cash and get close to that.

 

I was thinking he could get his Eaton ported, and then get a cat-back and be close enough to his goal. Once he gets a little closer to 450 rwhp, he's going to start with some traction mods.

 

nitrous is easy snd relatively inexpensive......

 

The cat back will do nothing for him in the power dept without going with hi-flows or even catless. As for the ported Heaton, I've seen good results on some. never in the 50hp range though.

 

He wants the power always there. No switches or refills.

I do know exhaust doesnt pull much hp on these trucks. He mainly wants a cat-back for sound, a couple rwhp may result though. He doesnt want to get a new mid-pipe though, because he has a mustang with full exhaust and he doesnt want another loud vehicle.

Porting the Eaton and have the plenum and TB port-matched, I would expect up to 35 rwhp. That will probably be enough, as with tuning and a tad smaller belt, he should be able to get it tuned around 440 rwhp.

Is there any power to be had in upgrading the cooling system, like electric fans and heat exchanger?

 

power gains in upgrading the cooling sys are nominal.....

 

Toss a whipple on there.

 

Water/Methanol injection.
Cheap, easy, safe.

Water and methanol injection kits offer chemical intercooling and power simultaneously to add power to your car or truck. Water, with its high latent heat of vaporization, cools the intake charge and combustion. Methanol also cools the charge and combustion, but also acts as high-octane fuel (up to 120 octane) and adds more oxygen to the combustion. These water and methanol injection systems contain everything you need for more horsepower, and are great in gasoline supercharged or turbocharged vehicles and diesel applications.

 

I wouldn't do a meth kit for a street vehicle. You need to have a place to mount the resivoirs and you have to plumb it in. Not a big deal, but still something to remember. The big thing about them is that you don't know when it is not working so you risk trashing your motor. You have to buy product which is around $6 a gallon. Also, it would require tuning if you plan on making big power.

 

So on my Fox....

The resivoir duty was handled by the washerfluid tank that already exits in the fenderwell. In the truck, there is more room....even in the front bumper, behind the grille....there are places....

Beyond that, the plumb is waaay easy.....much easier than N2O....even a "dry" system...

You are dealing with low pressure, with the pump drawing a minimal amount of current and a psi level around 150. In the intake runner post MAF but pre TB.....as you would a dry N2O nozzle...

There are add-ons you can get like a float switch to let you know when you are low on the mix....and that can trigger an led inside....alonlg with solenoids to activate the boost bypass valve....and even a boost controller..

The mix? Easy. Winter formula for windshield washer fluid. It really is JUST THAT SIMPLE. For around a buck a gallon, you can experience an increase in RWHP of a 100+......

The concept is to provide an atmosphere for you to better realize the potential power that is stolen from you EVERY time you drive due to lack of boost, charge temp, timing and detonation. Water/methanol fixes it....safely.

No tune needed....just increase your timing 2degrees at a time and do a third gear pull. No detonaton....go for another 2 and repeat. Once you detect detonation, back it down two and you're done....

Check out snowperformance (there are others as well) if you want more info...

 

Personally, I wouldn't risk my motor to a $1 jug of windshield washer fluid. Yes, you can, but its better to use an actual meth mix as you don't always know how pure the washer fluid is.

Yes, the plumbing is easy, I'm just saying that it is something to consider. More parts/complexity = more things to go wrong.

 

There are a few hp to be gained by switching to e-fans as well as going to a Cobra R water pump. Its all part of the bigger package.

 

What kind of add ons do they have for protection when the pump quits on you and you're way over timed and under WOT?

It all sounds great in theory but for me, I'll stick to running timing/boost that I have octane to cover.