Been away from the Svo game awhile Advise Please !

[GBR86]

Been away from the Svo game awhile had an 86 now I'm looking at buying a 84 I found.
I know the difference between the years.
My question is I want to make this car put down a reliable 300-350rwhp of course I'd like to do this on somewhat of a budget.
I haven't really kept track of the stuff that's come out over the years performance wise for these engines.
This car is going to be my daily driver so i want everything to work.
Things I have already waiting for it
Flaming River manual rack (so the power steering is going)
94-95 Front Brakes with tubular A-arm and coil-overs
17" 98 Cobra wheels - 8.8 rear with 3.73 gears - 2.95 spec V8 T-5
Serpentine Belts setup with new A/C compressor
MSD Digital 6 ignition box. - meth injection off my current car
and Borla Pro XS Mufflers from my 5.0
These are thing that will see the car soon after I get it.

I don't wont to put the wrong parts on or do more then I really need to,
However I want to make that power with out having to beat it to death trying
What do i need to do to make it to my goal.
Thanks for any advise.

[GAboySVO]

First thing I would do is send in my dues to get the club discounts. After that, have Boport put a stage 3 port job, big valves, etc. While you're at it get one of Bo's cams. I chose the 2.1 for myself. Then I would slap on a good after market header or a ported E6 and 3"DP. Contact Charlie at Evergreen turbo and have him make your stock turbo into a t3/t4 hybrid. Over 300 HP, you're going to need bigger injectors and a way to control them. SVOdad over on turboford has a megasquirt bolt in that is probably what you are looking for. And being in south FL, you'll need a good FMIC.

[TheViking]

Well, good news. Not a big aftermarket on these engines so you probably haven't missed much

#1 Head work and cam. No great aftermarket head choices on a budget. Boport sells a good selection of cams and ported heads.
#2 New computer(MS, Moates, etc), fuel pump and injectors. Then find a good tuner.
#3: Headers and exhaust. 3" downpipe and log/header from various sources (do a search).
#4 Intercooler. Buy a good core and fab something up is probably your best option.
#5 Turbo. Call Evergreen and spec out an upgrade.

Various builds have been profiled here so do a search. You can also find good info on the vendor sites (forced4, etc.)

FYI, looking for 94-95 brakes won't do you much good, it's the spindles you're after. Any 94-04 brake setup will work, just be prepared to change the MC and associated hard lines.

Again, all this stuff is detailed on various posts.

[TheViking]

lol, at least we're consistent on answers.

[GBR86]

Been scanning all the sites on here.
Bo's head and cam setup & Bob header, looked at turbo sizing too. bigger injectors.
I know the basic on what to do
But when it comes to tuning or swaping the computer or to a mass air setup.
I get kinda lost in my readings on whats works or what will be better.
My 86 was a tuning/wiring headach alot of it was because i did take care of the car like i should have and didn't know much then.

I just want to have a proven combo that fits my goal.
So if it was your goal to make it to just 350rwhp
What things would you do.

As for the brake setup I have the whole thing spindle and all and i'll have the lines fabed up.

[TheViking]

The big horsepower is in the head and tuning. I used a Moates chip/adapter on the stock PE to run 52lb injectors. This winter I'm hoping to switch over to a FAST EFI setup and scrap all the stock stuff altogether. As GABoy mentioned, SVODad is probably your best Megasquirt/2.3T resource if you go that route. I just personally wouldn't trust it to be reliable on a daily driver. I would also forgo any mass air setup and stick with speed density. Haven't see many (any?) get it to work reliably on our motors.

IMO, 350hp is pushing it for a stock bottom end. At this point a rod/bolt upgrade is a wise investment.

[Alex L]

ditch the MSD. dont know of a single person who's ran em successfully on these engines [with the stock computer]. stock coil is good well into the 300s. after that, you're looking at LS coils on a mega squirt or the like.

300hp at the wheels is very possible. much more above that and you run a risk of breaking stock stuff pretty catastrophically.

oh, and 84s are known for having absolutely horrible harness wiring. and the replacement harnesses are not quite ... right.

[GAboySVO]

If you are not good at tuning, I would stick with something that has good phone support or a qualified local tuner in your area.

As the 84's wiring is a week point, I would replace that first thing to avoid chasing gremlins when you start making other changes.

[GBR86]

The Svo I'm looking at has very low mileage.
So hopefully the engine and the wiring wont have any issues.
With the engine i will most likely put sportsman rods & good piston down the road with ARP bolts & studs.
I kinda have an Idea on parts i want to do.
Bo's Stage 3 head with the 2.1 cam kit
Swap to ported newer intake with SN-95 TB
40bob's log header and a FMIC

The turbo I wanted to use on my 86 was
T3/T04E 57 trim w/.63 a/r which i know was big then,
so i'm sure its way more then i will need now.
and on my 86 I was going to by a SDS computer system.
Now i just don't know which computer system to use now.
I really don't want the most expensive setup but i not going to buy the cheapest.
I want to do it right the first time.

[TheViking]

There is no easy answer when it comes to picking a computer. More people seem to use MS then anything else but that's probably due to cost. I started looking at FAST due to recent PR and local support in my area. This is the FAST XFI quote I recieved if it helps.

ECU
301000 XFI with Wideband O2 sensor, C-Com software, and communication cables $1649.95
or
301003 Same as above except with the internal datalogging option $1799.95

Main Harness
301100 Universal terminated harness $349.95
or
301105 Universal un-terminated harness $329.95

Injector Harness
301207 4 cyll injector harness $79.95

Ignition Adapter Harness
301300 IPU Ignition harness for use with a crank trigger $29.95
or
301308 TFI Ignition harness $69.95

Sensors
307003 Coolant Temp $9.95
307004 Air Temp $9.95
307008 2 BAR MAP sensor(up to 15psi of boost) $64.95
307009 3 BAR MAP sensor(up to 30 psi of boost) $89.95

Misc.
307022 Ford to GM IAC adapter $94.95
307014 GM

[TheViking]

FYI, the newer intake and SN-95 tb won't help much, if at all. Factory pistons are very good so don't waste your money there. The turbo is probably a good fit.

[SR71-SVO]

I use the SDS and MSD works just fine.

[gbeaird]

The Svo I'm looking at has very low mileage.
So hopefully the engine and the wiring wont have any issues.
<SNIP>

It's not use, but time. Check the primary ignition wiring, especially the wires to the module on the distributor and to the coil and starter solenoid. Bend it. If you see cracks, you'll be money ahead (of towing bills) replacing the stuff before the car becomes your dedicated DD.

It's such a common issue that Ford has (had?) a replacement harness for the distributor module.

[SVOJames]

My opinion as someone aiming for 300 HP in an 86.

It's a 25 year old car, it will never be reliable (reliable to me is 5K over 3 months without ever needing to raise the hood).

Plastic pieces (think wiring harness connector tabs, etc) tend to break after 25 year, regardless of use.

Once I do join the 300 HP club, I expect to spend a lot more money working towards 350, or give away even more reliability (that I thought I had, but didn't on my 86).

[GBR86]

Maybe I'm shooting myself in the foot, wanting to make 300hp in a 26year old car & make it my daily driver and wanting it to be reliable.
A man car Dream
The Svo I might be getting is a bone stock 84 w/30K original "old lady" miles
its not been beat on, But again it a old car.
So first thing will be to go over the whole car and see what it needs
With the 86 I had I did more error then trial to it and I'm not following that path on this car.
I will put alot of effort into reading the tech on here and asking question before I threw any parts at it. I like to do it right the first time.