[spiritsavage]

Originally Posted by 5.M0NSTER

I have learned a lot going down the track specific tuning rabbit hole with my 2014 Mustang. The car had 420hp/380lb-ft from the factory so I went after suspension and brake upgrades first. Then more sticky rubber, then 101mm MAF and tuning to ~460hp/410lbft.

A year after that last step I started overheating the car on the track. I overcame the already up sized radiator and oil cooler capacity which came on the Track Pack model, on a naturally aspirated car. With more brake power, more grip, and more driver mod I started to be on the power earlier and for longer. Along with the tuning this simply overcame the cooling capacity.

I think if you want to track the car reliably for years to come AND you want big power your rabbit hole is way deeper. N55 M2s already loose power on a hot summer day due to IATs. And if you make big power you will also make big heat and this is what you need to manage to pull off 20-30 min track sessions.

I'd say go for DP, stage 1 tuning and upgrade the FMIC, radiator, oil cooler and aux cooler, plus brake ducts. If you bias your mods towards cooling you can squeeze out decent power out of the N55 reliably.

Or Ger S55 and do the same for 50+ HP more.

My $0.02

Yeah, reliability would definitely be more important. I plan to also do coilovers, spoiler and LSD if I track it even at low HP. Ergh. I guess you can't have it all sometimes. Honestly best answer I've seen about mods for me yet! Thanks!

Edit: Could I do more with a rebuild though? I think I've heard about there being good N55 rebuilds out there that technically could get the engine 800+, just not the rest of the car.

[5.M0NSTER]

I think it depends on how far down the rabbit hole you're willing to go. If you tear the motor down and rebuild you can go for bigger turbo, bigger manifolds, more fueling, more cooling so sky is the limit as long as you have the budget.

But on the flip side if you're targeting 500hp the S55 would be able to get there with less work.

[spiritsavage]

Originally Posted by 5.M0NSTER

I think it depends on how far down the rabbit hole you're willing to go. If you tear the motor down and rebuild you can go for bigger turbo, bigger manifolds, more fueling, more cooling so sky is the limit as long as you have the budget.

But on the flip side if you're targeting 500hp the S55 would be able to get there with less work.

Yeah. I just like my XDrive too. I just want to get up to around 600 because the front diff wouldn't be able to take more than that. I'm waiting for the new M5 to do its casual depreciation, but that'll take 6-7 years. There's not another XDrive at all in between the two.