Bought my first V8 last month. It's an 06 with 50k miles on it. The car is bone stock aside from the new exhaust I just put on. My question is what should I be spending my money on to make more power? I'm new to working on cars and really don't know much about building them up.
There's two routes to achieving 400rwhp from a 3V engine:
1. Naturally-aspirated.
You'd need to just about throw the kitchen sink at a stock short block (CAI, 62mm TB, intake manifold, ported heads with upgraded valve springs, SPR cams with phaser limiters/lockouts, LT headers/mid-pipe, EWP, underdrive pulleys, plus a tune to get that amount of power, and it just isn't cost effective. Even then, you'd still need an aluminium flywheel and driveshaft to reduce the drivetrain loss in order to get to 400rwhp SAE from a NA 4.6 3V. AFAIK, nobody has pulled this off.
Some e.g. BBR claimed in the past to have gotten over 400rwhp from a stock NA 4.6 3V, but this was only with the higher reading STD or STP dyno correction.
It's far easier to get 400rwhp NA if you build a 4.9/5.0/5.3 stroker but the cost can be prohibitive. If you're nevertheless inspired to take that route, check out YouTuber Four Eyes build of his 08 GT (see images below). You can also check out these pages from my site:
Another alternative is a Coyote engine swap. With minor bolt ons, 400rwhp is easily achievable but you need to do your research and due diligence. This page from my site will give you an introduction:
I'd also recommend that you follow Matt Soppa on YouTube. He's performed several Coyote swaps and has solutions to multiple problems. He's also resident here under the username
@mattjames
2. Forced induction.
This is by far the easier and less expensive route to 400rwhp. Indeed 450-500rwhp is quite easy to achieve with a supercharger kit and there are different flavours (centrifugal or twin screw). I suggest you watch Brenspeed's videos on YouTube to get an idea of what's possible.
You could also opt for a turbo kit e.g. On3 Performance. It's probably the best bang for the buck of any full-time forced induction set-up. The only downside is the complexity of all the intercooler/exhaust pipework under the car.
Take your time to decide what you want and how much you're willing to spend. Don't forget to include suspension/braking/drivetrain upgrades in your budget, as you'll need to build the whole car around that elevated HP level.
