Options for Minor Power Gains

[Roady68]

So my Mach 1 is the first performance car I've owned and driven that wasn't built in the 60s. Old school me says things like cam changes, exhaust headers, carburetor all worked in the past to wake up old engines. But with the new stuff I am not sure what changes can be made that will have any huge benefits. The exhaust on the Mach 1 is worlds ahead of old-school cast-iron logs. So, is there a huge advantage in going to headers? I am not interested in blowers or turbos. Looking for more smaller bolt on.

I am thinking of H or X pipe. I don't care about increasing sound, more just for flow and pulse balancing. Are there any tunes that can coax out a little more power. Combination headers, X or H pipe and tune? Anything on intake side? I haven't removed carbon trap yet. That's this winter. I'm interested in what folks have done for improvements for relatively smaller amounts of money.

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[laffman`]

So my Mach 1 is the first performance car I've owned and driven that wasn't built in the 60s. Old school me says things like cam changes, exhaust headers, carburetor all worked in the past to wake up old engines. But with the new stuff I am not sure what changes can be made that will have any huge benefits. The exhaust on the Mach 1 is worlds ahead of old-school cast-iron logs. So, is there a huge advantage in going to headers? I am not interested in blowers or turbos. Looking for more smaller bolt on.

I am thinking of H or X pipe. I don't care about increasing sound, more just for flow and pulse balancing. Are there any tunes that can coax out a little more power. Combination headers, X or H pipe and tune? Anything on intake side? I haven't removed carbon trap yet. That's this winter. I'm interested in what folks have done for improvements for relatively smaller amounts of money.

Roady68

i own a 21 Mach 1 (Chassis M4925) Fighter Jet Gray, with 700 Equip Group A, HP Pkg, Appearance Pkg, Eite Pkg, Cup 2 tires, etc.
The few minor mods i made are as follows; resonator delete replaced w/ an X Pipe (Steeda Dyno indicates more HP with X pipe than H pipe - check out Steeda Dyno on both H and X pipes), Steeda Tune specific to the Mach 1, Steeda Blue filter for CAI Sys (Steeda actually posted a dyno on the HP gain by use of the Blue Filter), Oil separator - no more power but it eliminates oil being returned back thru the system. i am sure there are many other mods you could make to the suspension and motor performance.
i typically keep mods to a minimum to preserve most of the originality. this could be subjective on my part. hope this helps

Laffman

 

[allfivefifty]

I'm in the same boat. I'm coming from a 1969 Mach 1 and Ford 1989 Taurus SHO. Honestly, the engine is meant for boost. Which i don't want to do. Lighter drive shaft will make a difference. Cams, not worth it, gen3 intake and heads are pretty good so don't mess with them.

I'm going with an E85 advanced fuel dynamics flex fuel kit that installs on the car to avoid having to pay for an ECU tune. The kit also accounts for variable ethanol content.

Headers are minor gains for how much they cost and the pain to install. You can get the same benefits from the removing the CATs... changing the stock cats already violates the EPA regs even with aftermarket high flow CATs and headers that produce a check engine light.

If you take your car to the track a set of 100 or 200 tread wear tires will give you the best bang for the buck. It's about 3 seconds faster per lap over street tires.

Lighter wheels and brakes will also make a difference.

 

[SheepDog]

So my Mach 1 is the first performance car I've owned and driven that wasn't built in the 60s. Old school me says things like cam changes, exhaust headers, carburetor all worked in the past to wake up old engines. But with the new stuff I am not sure what changes can be made that will have any huge benefits. The exhaust on the Mach 1 is worlds ahead of old-school cast-iron logs. So, is there a huge advantage in going to headers? I am not interested in blowers or turbos. Looking for more smaller bolt on.

I am thinking of H or X pipe. I don't care about increasing sound, more just for flow and pulse balancing. Are there any tunes that can coax out a little more power. Combination headers, X or H pipe and tune? Anything on intake side? I haven't removed carbon trap yet. That's this winter. I'm interested in what folks have done for improvements for relatively smaller amounts of money.

Skip all of this stuff, and do an E85 or flex fuel tune. Good E85 and corresponding calibration will make more power than all of those bolt on's combined.

 

[steathv]

Laffman’s advice is what you want

 

[Schwerin]

I say remove the carbon filter, get a more free flow air filter, pick a H or X pipe depending on sound preference as the power change between the two is a moot point, one usually makes more HP, other more TQ. If you want to go louder get some headers, then pick up a tune from a solid well-known vender.

 

[Joe Gonsalves]

You can spend big money getting modest gains out of headers and exhaust mods. The car already is a stout piece. And passes emissions. Like others have said rip out the carbon filter to get like 10hp. Albeit 10hp at the top of the RPM scale. The put it back in to pass inspection. Then call it a day.

 

[MontiCristo]

Skip all of this stuff, and do an E85 or flex fuel tune. Good E85 and corresponding calibration will make more power than all of those bolt on's combined.

@SheepDog how are MPG's effected by the E85 / flex fuel tune? is it a substantial drop? Yes I know I didn't buy the car for MPG's, but it's my daily and I'm in outside sales / drive a lot. Averaging 21-22 now, could live with 17 or 18, but not 14-15.

 

[beefcake]

If looking for a boost in power throttle response and depending what transmission you have an improvement with the 10R a tune is the way to go we offer a few different tuners here I can help get you setup with a device and a tune Let me know if I can help out in anyway

 

[skinnyb]

I did a resonator delete (Borla Switchfire), a Steeda filter (Mach 1 already has a cold air intake factory), and I did a Wengerd 93 octane tune. Woke it up by the ole Butt Dyno pretty well. I am happy with it.

 

[RNM]

@SheepDog how are MPG's effected by the E85 / flex fuel tune? is it a substantial drop? Yes I know I didn't buy the car for MPG's, but it's my daily and I'm in outside sales / drive a lot. Averaging 21-22 now, could live with 17 or 18, but not 14-15.

I average 13 mpg driving in the city on e85. I filled up my tank last night with about $24.

 

[Zrussian13]

@SheepDog how are MPG's effected by the E85 / flex fuel tune? is it a substantial drop? Yes I know I didn't buy the car for MPG's, but it's my daily and I'm in outside sales / drive a lot. Averaging 21-22 now, could live with 17 or 18, but not 14-15.

If you're averaging 21-22 now you'll probably get around 17 on e85. I do a lot of miles too and when I was NA I averaged very similar to you on pump gas and got 17 on E. If I did city only miles it would drop to 13-14.

I will say e85 is the best bang for the buck mod on a NA car.

 

[SheepDog]

@SheepDog how are MPG's effected by the E85 / flex fuel tune? is it a substantial drop? Yes I know I didn't buy the car for MPG's, but it's my daily and I'm in outside sales / drive a lot. Averaging 21-22 now, could live with 17 or 18, but not 14-15.

on E85, you can expect about a 30% reduction in efficiency, even more if your foot is always into it. On my car, I get around 160 miles of range. lol

A flex fuel tune might be a better option, so that when commuting you can run gasoline, and add Ethanol for weekends or more spirited drives

 

[Schwerin]

Skip all of this stuff, and do an E85 or flex fuel tune. Good E85 and corresponding calibration will make more power than all of those bolt on's combined.

Assuming there is e85 in that area, and e85 tune would do me no good as I cant FIND e85.

 

[MontiCristo]

on E85, you can expect about a 30% reduction in efficiency, even more if your foot is always into it. On my car, I get around 160 miles of range. lol

A flex fuel tune might be a better option, so that when commuting you can run gasoline, and add Ethanol for weekends or more spirited drives

Wurd, thanks

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