Torque and horsepower vary from model, year and fuel type. But regardless of which 4.6 Mustang you own, chances are the speed of it doesn’t feel like a lot for you.
That’s okay! If you want to up the speed as high as possible or gain a highly-spirited jump from red lights, then increasing acceleration is all that you need.
So, if ‘How to make my 4.6 Mustang faster?’ is your concern, do not heat your head. Because, to make your racing easier, we will show you 6 effective ways to make your 4.6 faster, yep, we’ve got you covered.
Okay, that’s a lot of chitchats, let’s get into the main discussion.
To simply answer,
To make your 4.6 Mustang faster, you must upgrade the wheels and tires as well as the gearing ratio. Try a cold air intake and a tuner to boost your engine power. Don’t forget to switch to the Mustang aluminum driveshaft from the steel driveshaft. Lastly, use a better exhaust system and eliminate the excess weight from your Mustang.
6 Effective Ways to Make Your 4.6 Mustang Faster
To fly on the road with your Mustang, here are 6 effective ways to get incredibly increased speed.
1. Upgrade Tires & Wheels
The basic of fastening your Mustang is to upgrade its tires and wheels. Why? Okay, tell me one thing, you have installed every possible mod on your Mustang but you cannot put the superpower to road.
Will it be okay? Hell, no! Because things matter the most on the road. So, you should upgrade to better quality tires that offer better traction as well as the maximum grip. In this case, inspect the width of the tires, the larger one will add more traction while driving.
Upgrading to the ultra-lightweight carbon-fiber wheels provide a great result, but they are a bit expensive.
2. Upgrade the Gearing Ratio
Here is a go-to Mustang modification to have an improved acceleration. Generally, Mustangs contain very powerful car engines but at the same time, the engines are quite limited.
Therefore, upgrade the gears so that you can get the full advantage of your engine. Before you look for new gear rears, keep some things in your mind.
Such as, what gear ratio should you buy? Okay, the majority of the owners (racer in mind) choose a 3.73s or 3.90s for their Mustang. But as you are a bit more serious about the speed, you may go for 4.10s or 4.30s. So, the thing is, the higher the number/ratio, the more speed you will get.
This is not the end, there are other gear ratios to choose, pick one that seems the best fit for your intention.
3.Upgrade to a Cold Air Intake and Tune
Another important thing is to upgrade to a cold air intake. If a fair amount of air does not go into your engine, the motor will fail to produce the torque and the horsepower it is capable of. Moreover, the combustion process will not be that efficient.
So, if you upgrade the air intake of your Mustang, it will allow plenty of air entering into the engine easily. In detail, a cold air intake will let the cooler and denser air go into the motor.
If you can lower the air induction 10 degrees, it’s easier to gain 1 rear wheel horsepower. We admit that it does not sound like much, but if you keep decreasing engine temperature, eventually, it will stand up.
Once you upgrade it, the intake system will have an even smoother surface inside the piping that will provide a better airflow through the filter. After that, the airflow will spread throughout the piping, mass airflow sensor, and lastly into the engine.
We recommend a proper tune for having the best result of your intake. Why this matters is, using a tuner will increase the acceleration quickly. A tune-required cold air intake will:
- Let you have the maximum power from the new cold air intake.
- Increase gas mileage.
- Not leave a question whether the engine is running lean or not.
- Make a louder intake noise.
- Provide a better Throttle Response.
Installing a cold air intake doesn’t require a lot of guts, there are quite easy-to-follow steps to make it happen.
4.Install Mustang Aluminum Driveshaft
A driveshaft helps to transfer power from the transmission to the rear wheels. You may skip a driveshaft but in that case, your car will surely fail to transfer energy into motion.
Maximum of the Mustangs come with steel driveshafts which make it heavier and harder for the engine to turn. Switching from steel draft shaft to aluminum draft shaft will reduce the excessive weight your car carries.
Moreover, your engine will come up faster as well as reduce vibration. Though your Mustang will not technically obtain any horsepower for having a new driveshaft, you will have a smoother ride with faster track times.
Think about it as the lightweight wheels like how they reduce rotating effort and increase the acceleration. The same goes for an aluminum driveshaft, it does the same thing to increase your acceleration.
But the cons of aluminum is that it’s more breakable and much noisier than steel.
However, a lot of users switch from steel to aluminum because of its lightweight. Also, it is immune to rust, it never responds to weather negatively (which steel does). For the best result, inspect and maintain the aluminum driveshaft regularly.
5.Upgrade to a Greater Exhaust System
Upgrading the exhaust system will help to increase the acceleration because the stock 4.6 exhaust is quite heavy. You will find the exhaust kits available and installing an exhaust system is a simple DIY project.
For 1-4 engines, you can go up to 2.5” exhaust. But if the turbocharger is not equipped, then it can be up to 3”.
However, exhaust headers are a bit expensive and it will work the best if you exhaust other HP-maxing opportunities that are available.
6.Go through Weight-Reduction Process
This is a simple concept that the lighter your Mustang will be, the faster its speed will be. So, what you can do is to eliminate the excess weight from your Mustang. Things you can do are-
- If you need a monster-like speed from your Mustang, then leave the stereo (especially if this is a huge aftermarket speaker) at home. You can simply separate the stereo from the stock location using a screwdriver. This will make your car around 30 pounds lighter.
- Another way is to remove the windshield cleaner. You can drain the windshield cleaner into a container and tension not, you can always have it back when you want.
- Eliminating the compact starter can save around 10 to 15 pounds.
- If you are going for a drag racing, front-anti roll bar is not required. So, you may get rid of them. But it’s better not to leave it off during street driving.
- Feel free to remove the non-functional hood scoops. This will help you to eliminate around 20 pounds of the weight. The same goes for the stock rear wing. You can remove this heavy, huge, tank lid handle.
Bottom Line
Voila! ‘How to make my 4.6 Mustang faster?’ is not a big question for you, right?
As we left no stone unturned to make every relevant information easier for you, hopefully, you will successfully add much more speed to your Mustang now! one more thing you can try, in fact, you must try. The tuners, there’re some amazing tuners for 4.6 Mustang. We recommend you to try those. You’ll see the difference in seconds.
Sometimes you may face problems with your 4.6 engine, well, don’t panic, there’re some easy solutions to it.
The ways we talked about will not harm your vehicle. So, not fret to step forward. Good luck!
