427 all the way!

 

A boost friendly factory motor will be more likely in the 8.5:1 compresion range. Our Ford counterparts safely run well into the upper 500 hp on premium fuel with no problems (this is at the wheels by the way.)
Good luck running a 150 shot on 11:1 hypereutectic pistons for very long. Besides you would see alot more gains from an FI motor with only a 75 shot than you would an N/A motor with a 150 shot. Once again on the 03/04 Cobra's I have seen guys gain almost 140 ft/lbs of troque at the wheels with just a 100 shot.
From reading these posts I just don't see a valid argument for having a 427 over a S/C 6.2. The 6.2 is easier to mod and those mods will produce significantly better numbers than any N/A motor. The only downside is that it will add weight to the front of the car (but were talking 50-60 lbs over the 427 max!)
The main argument for the 427 seems to be that it just sounds cooler to say. Once the top dog Camaro comes out and we start to see some power numbers then I'm sure that this will be a dead issue.

 

To say the S197 chassis "wasn't designed to handle 500 HP" is a bit rediculous. In development of the new Mustang I'm sure they had a pretty good idea what the next Cobra (GT500) would be packing. This isn't some 30 year old chassis masquerading as the latest and greatest ('03-'04 Cobra), it was just done 2 years ago.

The GT500 is as heavy as it is for a variety of reasons, but a lot of which is because of the massive motor and supercharger. There is no question about that. Some estimates put the GT500 weight distribution at 58/42. You do the math.

 

58% fat.
42% not quite as fat.

 

The new mustang chassis that was introduced in 2005 had to be beefed up in 07 for the GT500, and because of the GT500 all Mustang chassis benefited from the beefing up with extra welds and bracing. Ford said this in several articles so the chassis had to be improved from the original 05 design so I guess it's safe to say the S197 chassis "wasn't designed for 500 hp" if it had to be strenghtened.

 

If this is true, it's a glimpse at why Ford is pretty clueless these days. If you're designing a brand new chassis for the Mustang, how could you not anticipate the higher horsepower levels the next top car would have? Especially since you already knew your old Cobra could make near 500 HP with a pulley and tune?

For this reason, I remain unconvinced. If all the Mustangs benefitted with extra bracing after the GT500 was introduced, why did the curb weights of Mustang V6 and GT remain unchanged from 2005-2007?

EDIT: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=115578

Whatever the "chassis upgrades" are, it doesn't seem that curb weights on the base and GT Mustangs are up any notable amount.

 

I'd guess it was for improvement not necessity....

 

I'm just telling you what was done to all 07 chassis, you can believe it or not. I doubt Ford cared enough to add the extra weight the extra welds and bracing added to the weight of the car to the specs. I know when I worked at BMW whenever we had a car that was picked for testing we welded the hell out of that thing compared to the normal everyday car.

 

The only way to know for sure is to put identically equipped 2005 and 2007 GTs on the scales at a track or something.

At any rate, the prevailing point in all this is that the stouter supercharged motor does weigh more than the N/A motor. So all that extra power potential does come with a penalty.

There's no doubt those 32v quad cam heads of Ford's make the package more cumbersome than the GM small block, but still.....extra weight is extra weight.

 

The ford engine is very heavy to begin with, it has an heavy iron block, it has heavier brakes, beefier drivetrain, this stuff adds up but tell me how many vette owners get nervous when an 03-04 Cobra pulls up compared to an 01 Cobra. Everyone knows the 03-04 Cobras are packing power even if they are heavy they still have a street rep not many cars have even the vette. The new Camaro isn't gonna be light, if you want a lightweight NA car maybe you should be looking at the Corvette. I want a torque monster, I could care less about auto xing, I like to go fast in a straight line with an occasional curve or two thrown in, Ford proved you can build a heavy car that can decently handle, I'm not too worried about the General. I doubt we will get the SC option anyway, it will probably just be a N/A LS3 with a slightly higher rating for the top model. I'm not holding my breath.

 

I'm sure a few do, but it has as much to do with the fact that the supercharged Cobra puts out at least 70 HP more than the NA one. We're talking about all things being equal, motors with identical horsepower from the factory, which would you choose.

Telling people what they should buy seems to be a reoccuring theme around here (when another person's view doesn't fit in with what they want to see, of course). I'm not asking for the world, I'd just like to see a 3500-3600 pound coupe with a simple, big power, NA small block. I fear that a supercharged beast will up that number considerably.

Gee, is this the point where I tell you that "maybe you should be looking at bolting a supercharger onto the next Camaro" because I think there's a little more to the driving experience than going straight? Ford did what they could to the GT500 to make it a more competant handler, but most reviews I have read on the car still do not praise it for its handling prowess. There's only so much you can do with a near 60/40 weight distribution and 2 tons of steel.

 

Rediculous? Stock1SC has got it right. Do a little searching around on any of the popular Mustang boards and you'll see.

 

As I pointed out with that quote from the article, the majority of the GT500's weight does not come from added structure but from added drivetrain weight. I believe that's the point here.

The GT500 chassis may have been "beefed up" to handle the power, but it isn't like Ford designed the car from the start to only handle the 300 horse 4.6 and then said "oh, crap, wait, we forgot we were going to do special editions! Now we're gonna have to add 300+ pounds of bracing!"

 

Well designing a chassis to handle a V6 or a 300hp V8 is a lot different than designing one to handle 500hp and almost the same in torque. Then you have to make it able to meet warranty requirements for 36k miles. My SRT4 can make 500 hp with the right turbo setup but my chassis couldn't handle it without a lot of work, same for the mustang. All that power and torque take a lot of heavy duty parts to keep the car from breaking and they aren't light either. I never said the bracing added 300 lb's but it did add some weight. Not my fault Ford used an iron block, doesn't mean it's law of the land for S/C use. I'm pretty sure Chevy isn't going to put a heavy *** iron block boat anchor in it's pride and joy supercar Vette. Do you think they would use a different block for the Camaro? I don't.

 

No, I said that, well in a way. I apologize for the way I word things. When I type things out I am thinking about 2 pages ahead already and sometimes alot of information gets left out by the time it gets to my fingers. Basically what I was trying to convey was what Stock1SC is saying. Sorry for the misleading previous posts.
On a side note there is no need for any smart-*** comments.