97 tbird, want more power

[Ainline41]

hey, i got a 97 thunderbird lx 3.8l and want to add more power to it. so far all ive done is replaced the current air filter with a k&n. i plan on switching it to a K&N injection performance kit, which as far as i know just replaces the filter box with the k&n cone filter. in the future i also plan on getting a flowmaster catback exhaust system and getting a supercharger (supercharger wont be for a few years). ive also been told that new spark plugs and spark plug wires will give me a little more power (denso iridium plugs, and bosche platinum wires were suggested to me). im also considering getting a jet performance chip, but heard those can cause some big problems down the rode, is this true? also id appreciate any ideas for other ways to get more horsepower, preferably cheap ones. thx

[vtec78]

ok, I dnt know much about your car-thunderbird,,,because we dnt see it in australia.
Anyway, if you can advance the ignition timming before it pings. That would give you more power and make sure you run on high premium fuel eg 98 octane or higher. Otherwise there is no point to advance the timming. If you have a mechanical distributor like Hondas...open it up and clean all the silver points with a light sand paper and so as the rotar. Bu removing the excessive oxidation build up(oxide) it will give a better voltage transfer a better rensponse.

Your cai , make sure you have a good buffer lengths right in the front eg 3inch to 2.5 then 2.2 to the throttle body. this is what new AEM2 has come up with. IF you can make sure its build with black plastic rather metal; simply plastic insulate much better than metal in terms of heat transfer. The iceman intake is a good example.

I hope this helps...

[Ainline41]

thanks, ill try that

[Slanter]

New spark plugs and wires may give you around 1-3 hp if you get top of the line ones and your old ones are in OK shape. Denso's not a bad brand, but the main advantage of iridium plugs is longer plug life rather than performance. You might want to set the gaps to around 0.050". I've found that going from 0.040" to 0.050" in spark plug gap can make a measurable improvement in power.

Advancing the timing by turning the distributor is sort of the poor man's version of a performance chip. It's not quite as accurate, but you might want to take it to a dragstrip and play with the settings to see if one setting gets it going faster than the others. You'll have to adjust this again once you put in the JET chip. That isn't likely to damage your engine unless you try to run it with the supercharger or run it on the wrong grade of gas. JET's manual should specify what sort of gas you need to run with the chip.

Some other thoughts:

Have you thought about headers?

The Mustang V6 uses the same engine, but around '98 or '99, Ford gave them a bit of a bump in power. If you can find a good deal on a used, late model Mustang engine, consider swapping it in.

Consider running a performance camshaft.

[Ainline41]

thanks slanter

[chrishil]

If you want more power for your TBird, better purchase a throttle body to increase the horsepower of your car.

[kawasa]

If you want more power for your TBird, better purchase a throttle body to increase the horsepower of your car.

Bump. True. In a traditional spark ignition gasoline engine, the throttle body is the part of the air intake system that controls the amount of air that flows into an engine's combustion chamber. It consists of a bored housing that contains a throttle plate (butterfly) that rotates on a shaft. When the accelerator (gas pedal) is pushed down, the throttle plate opens and allows air into the engine. When the gas pedal is released, the butterfly closes and effectively chokes-off (throttles) air flow into the combustion chamber. This process effectively controls the speed of the engine and ultimately the speed of the vehicle.
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