Just wondering what you guys thought of the new 06 mustang cobra. should be a good comparison to the ls7. for some of you who know nothing bout the cobra let me inform you. it will a 5.4l triton alum v8 supercharged with 450+hp and 450+ft lbs. 6-speed and a live axle. and will MSRP @ under 40k. in my opinion it will be one of the best mustangs and the fastest. for example with a pulley and a ecu reflash you could pull another 100+hp out of that with only $500. but im sure the ls7 is a little underrated at 500hp thanks for your time. and feel free to coment.

 

anybody

 

the power loss of a corvet compared to a mustang is so much better, yea the cobra may get 450 at the crank but what about the rwhp??

 

The Mustang will weigh a lot more, for one thing - about 400 pounds more minimum, so it will need about 550-575 HP just to match the performance of the LS-7 vette. The last SC Mustang had lots of power (425+ with a different pulley) but it weighed so much that it just didn't matter.

Not that its that important, but the LS-7 is rated at 505 HP, not 500. It was the first GM motor rated under the new SAE certification standard and that means this is a very accurate rating (the new standard doesn't allow any fudging one way or the other, as GM used to do by slightly underrating some engines, such as the "305 HP in the 98-2002 Z-28, which put out within 5 HP at the rear wheels of the "320 HP" Camaro SS).

Also note that it will not be that hard to get more power out of the LS-7 - maybe not as easy as changing a pulley, but not expensive.

I have a really good benchmark here. I put a C5R block engine in my '02 ZO6. This is essentially the same block as the LS-7, 427 c.i.d., aluminum, with all externals taking stock LS-1 or LS-6 parts (water pump, oil pump, heads, etc.), except it was custom cast by GM Performance parts rather than production like the newer LS7, with cast-in rather than pressed in liners (slightly better than the LS7) but not the new design for the crank bearing webs (less windage, -- much better). This is the block GM uses for their Lemans C5R racers and the LeMans series up to this year (now use the LS-7). This has been available as a GMPP's part since about 2000, but is and was unavailable as a complete engine: it was made for racing and you had to buy it ($8900 list price, I got mine discount for $5K), and assemble your own engine. That was expensive, but I had to have 427 cubic inches.

It bought it two years ago and had it professionally built up as a street version by a really good engine builder (this is Nascar country and I found someone -- Charle Hempfield in Apex, NC, who builds really good engines for Hendricks' teams and had it built in the off season): Crowler crank and rods, CP pistons, Jesel roller tappets and rockers, etc., Patriot III heads with further porting (flow 348 cu.inc at .6 lift), but with only 10:1 compression. With a Crowler stage III LS-6 cam and Koches 1 7/8 headers, it dynoed 492 HP at the rear wheels (6150 RPM) with 490 ft lbs of torque at 4K RPM. that's about 550-565 flywheel. That was done with air and all power steering equipment, etc. attached. It idles just about like stock -- just a little lope and attitude -- and will pull around town at 1,200 RPM in high gear (((the Crowler stage III seems wild for the street, but realize with that much displacement and big heads, it needs a much bigger cam, so it works out as "mild"). It passes emissions control, too: has cats in place and so forth.

Point is, this is essentially an LS-7 (same stroke, same bore, roughly equivalent heads (mine flow better, but have slightly smaller valves -- 2.08 rather than 2.2 inch, on the intake), just with a bigger cam and headers and re-programming, stuff you can do for about $1500-$2000 to the LS-7: the only thing I'd be worried about with the LS-7 and that budget would be the stock rocker arms (I have Jesel pro-line shaft-mounted rockers and double springs, which cost close to $2500, in order to handle the combination of really big valves, high lift, at high RPM). But the LS-7 has 11.25:1 compression ratio, so it will produce more power than mine with any cam, etc.


People always ask why I had mine built to only 10:1 -- that is so I could then put a supercharger on it with up to 8 lbs of boost. The 11.25 ratio of a stock LS-7 will limit a blower to about 3 lbs boost (next to nothing added). I put a Procharger D1SC on it early this year and gradually reduced pulley size. With 3 lbs of boost in dyned exactly what it did without a SC at all (ie., the Sc was adding just the power it consumed. And now with a midl 5 lbs of boost its at 594 at the rear wheels. This is a lengthy process as I have to have it dyno tested and re-programmed with every pulley change -- something to think about for any Mustang owner who just changes pulleys without that -- you can burn pistons if you make it go lean. I expect about 625 at the rear wheels before it is over))).

 

I just hope they look like the Roush Stangs I see all over now. Those things are sweet!

 

i think that this new stang is the best looking in a LONG time, but like Lee said, the weight is going to be the final measure. the new Z06 is so technologically advanced in its development, that the word 'mustang" should never come up in comparison discussions....names like ferrari should

 

The new Shelby will be a bad ***! With that being said it will in no way be a comparison car to the C6 Z06! Mustangs were never designed to compete with Vettes, and never did. Don't get me wrong I love Stangs(look at what I drive), but comparing it to the new Z06 isn't fair to either car.

 

you into the low 11s with the work that you have done slow?

 

I've had a slew of problems this summer, so no track passes. I have some 60# injectors, a Boost-a-pump, and a 6lb lower ring sitting here that will go on in the next weeks or so. When I get that done I'll hit the track! I am hoping for some low 11's or possibly some high 10's on 16" ET streets. That is if I can get the 60's down real nice.

 

WHOOHA..I SEE THIS OLDMAN(70 PLUS) RUNNIN AROUND MY TOWN WITH A ROUSH...LOL ...WHATTA SITE..GOTTA LOVE IT!