No thanks.

 

I sometimes forget about the 03-04 Cobra. That was an amazing car. When I ran autoX in Chicago, my roommate would drive one as her race car. The owner never drove the car on the road. It had 15k miles, all on the track.

 

I still for the life of me can not understand the aregument that it is bad for a motor to be nearly maxed out from the factory. I mean, if the LSx can slap on 50hp with a good set of headers and an intake... why didn't Chevy sell it that way?

All Ford did is save you the hassle of spending piddly money to free up hidden power. They already unlocked it.

 

First, you can't add 50 hp with a set of headers and an intake. Maybe 30 with a tune. That is with long tube headers not shorties. Shorties have shown no gains on the LS1. Long tubes are not practical from an emmissions stand point on a factory car. Could they haven gotten more out of cast manifolds? On a vette probably not, F-body, maybe a little.

LSX motors have good flowing heads and are there for limited by cam specifications (read emissions). That is why cam swaps make good gains on LSX motors with stock heads.

AS far as maxed out from the factory being good or bad, that depends on what kind of car guy you are. If you like to modify your car to increase power, it's not an attractive thing. If you like to buy a car and just drive it, it is a good thing for you. It all depends on your point of view. Personally, I can't leave anything stock so I look at it as undesireable.

 

sarcasm.....sense it......

 

Sarcasm sensor not calibrated on this computer

 

The only sarcasm was the 50hp number with intake and headers. The rest of my statement wasn't meant to be sarcastic at all.

I just think, in my opinion, Ford wins this round pretty clearly. Being the "type of car modding guy" I am, I like the fact that Ford has taken care of all the small stuff. Good headers, high flowing heads, high compression, high revs, etc etc. They've taken care of all the small stuff and left big upgrades (Cams, forced induction, etc) in the hands of the consumer. I also like the fact that this motor appears to have been built with future factory forced induction options in mind.

Now... If they could only put this motor in a smaller, more nimble chassis, and make a vette competitor, they would be full of win.

 

Dumbass.... I know the stupid retro mustang GTs are 3V cars.... but the '96-'98, '99, and '01 Cobras are all 4V as are the Mach1's, 2003-2004 cars and the GT500s too. Please show me where you can get heads, cams, and botons and a tune for $3000... I'm calling BS on that.

And LOL @ anyone who thinks a 2003-2004 Cobra is an "amazing car".... the car has a great engine setup from the Factory, but it's hardly an amazing car.
Quit being a moron and go back and read my initial posts in this thread....
See the bottom part of the thread below... some people like to be able to tweak/change w/o doing a full overhaul or a $10k FI build.
I disagree w/ your first part... LS3 Corvettes are gaining 40-50 rwhp w/ a CAI, Lt headers and a tune. They make around 380 rwhp bone stock and 425-435 w/ the basic bolt-ons.

@Flite - Part of the reason the LSXs respond so well to mods is that GM has to make them pass emissions and EPA of course, make them easy to service/assemble, and validate them to run for 200,000 miles in all conditions. Thus... you can't put LTs on from the factory because they make the clutch/driveline harder to work on, you can't run a CAI because it doesn't filter quite as well for that old lady who lives in Arizona and drives in the sand, etc. etc.

They've changed this some w/ the LS7 as the stock air intake and manifolds are really nice bits, but there is still about 50 rwhp on the table via intake, headers, tune.

 

I guess I was thinking more along the lines of the smaller displacement LSX's. Impressive for the LS3's geting that kind of stuff out of bolt ons.

 

That's the beauty of having 6.2 liters and L92 heads.... a moderate cam that makes 430 rwhp in my LS6 would make 460-470 in the LS3 w/o ever taking the heads off the car.

But anyway... I really like the new 5.0 and it's good that Ford has stepped it up finally. It'll probably sound amazing w/ some exhaust spinning 7000 rpms.