High Altiitude Tuning and Power-adder recommendations

[15GTPPinCO]

I have a 2015 GT 6MT that's getting pretty close to typical full bolt-ons, without forced induction or cams/heads. I live at a bit over 5,000 ft above sea level and routinely go to 7500+ ft above sea level with my Mustang. I know that adding any type of forced induction (+ tune) will be an immediate win, but can I get anywhere close to that without going with more displacement? A GT350 NA is what, 530HP (@ sea level)?

We worry a lot less about detonation up here, due to lower density air being available for the car to mix with the fuel. If I were to pay probably 2x what forced induction would cost, could I get to 500 HP@5280 ft from a built long block 5.0? I'm guessing that it would require at least full bolt ons, plus a cam with springs, and likely heads, possibly something like new rods and domed pistons as well. Does that sound about right? Should I just get the Vortec and be done with it?

Thanks!

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[NGOT8R]

I found the following info on another site. It appears that nitrous would be your very best friend at those altitudes. Here, have a look.

Ok, well I live at 5800 ft but normally air we race in is at 7500-8500 d/a and up. ive never seen a car at sea level pick up more et than it does up here with the same nos jetting.not to say it cant happen but alt def likes the bottle cause your adding pure oxygen not just more air.thats why up here blower cars dont run as hard as nos cars do. most small shots (125hp etc)pick up a car at sea level 1 second or so. ive picked up 2 sec with that up here so ,nos def works better at hi alt.friends mustang (fuel inj car)runs 12.40 on motor and runs 11.50 on a 75 shot . also when we raced heads up we'd run same nos jetting and carb jetting in pheonix,vegas etc, we ran up here, and car was within a tenth or so .it would mph better down there but we'd have to back progressive timer off to get car to 60ft .where as up in denver it wouldnt hit tires as hard,but youd be down at big end on power due to overall power loss due to obvious elevation change.

 

[NightmareMoon]

Turbos will automatically make up for thin air by working harder. Belt driven blowers (superchargers) you have to physically change the pullies out to get the same boost. The turbo will be less efficient working harder, but it will do a better job making up for thin air than other blowers.

Turbos are also a bit more efficient because they're driven off exhaust gasses, so the energy to drive them is nearly free (not entirely, exhaust restrictions have a cost too, but not like a pully system).

I had a turbo car a while back when I lived at 4k and drove up to to 7k regularly. At 9 or 10k the blow off valve wasn't really calibrated for the altitude, so it would make turkey gobble noises (which is probably fixable), but definitely would pull hard climbing up the mountains.

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