Recommended Mods for Mustang??

Hey guys, im lookin to purchase a mustang here in the next month or so and I am def planning on doing some modifications to it. I'm lookin for a sweet V8 roar, some performance mods that wont kill the car, and preferrably cheap :grinyes:!! Let me know what you think. Thx!

lol wont really find any mods that are cheap these days for performance purposes that i know of...but if yer lookin for a roar really all ya need is some headers and a good exhaust system =] cheapest thing ull probably find is a CAI (cold air induction) and some good spark plugs n wires =] hope that will help ya some =] "Rusty"

so prolly go with
headers
exhaust system
plugs n wires
CAI kit

What year is it? I'm assuming its EFI? And how much are you looking to spend? A ebay CAI, pullies, a xcal2, exhaust/headers, and gears would be good. Thats just about everything you can do without going into the engine or F/I.

im open for any kinds of modifications except F/I. Ive heard alot about these pulley's and im not sure what they are but ive seen drastic increases in power when people use them. Pretty much im lookin for what its going to cost me to get the car roarin and the tires spinnin :sunglasse !! Im going for a year between 2001-2004 and my price range for modifications can be up to around $5000 to start...let me know! Thx.

A H/C/I swap, gears, and bolt on's would work. Pullies are just smaller underdrive pullies that make the engine work less giving the car more power and a little better gas milage.

im open for any kinds of modifications except F/I. Ive heard alot about these pulley's and im not sure what they are but ive seen drastic increases in power when people use them. Pretty much im lookin for what its going to cost me to get the car roarin and the tires spinnin :sunglasse !! Im going for a year between 2001-2004 and my price range for modifications can be up to around $5000 to start...let me know! Thx.


Oh wow, research, research, research.

I beleive you are thinking of F/I as Forced Induction. If so, pulley's are smaller blower pulleys/larger crank pulleys to drive the supercharger faster making more boost.

Anyway, for an '01-'04 GT to roar like you want, go for a high-flow H or X pipe and some Flowmasters or Magnaflow's, and get some lower gears for the rear and you'll be happy with that start!

Good luck! -AJ

gears to start for sure........

thx for the pointers guys...i'll see where that takes me...i'll probably be back soon!:grinyes:

if you buy an 01-04 theres no point of doing a head cam intake swap. you already have the PI heads and cams. you can get upgraded heads and cams sure, even an intake like a RR or bullitt...but it wont help you very much for how expensive it will be. pullies, as in underdrive pullies are a good start. it slows down the alternator slightly and water pump to free up some power for the crank pulley by way of two slightly larger pullies and one smaller one.

for 5k, i think you should consider f/i because the 2v motors are much slower than the competition.

if you get a 5spd dont worry about buying an expensive handheld tuner it wont benefit you much: 3.73 gears, dallas mustang speedcal (to correct speedometer), pro5.0 shifter, mac 3" catback, off-road hpipe (or catted depending on your local regulations, steeda underdrive pullies, steeda timing adjustor, and a dropin k&n filter (a cold air intake wont really give you any hp its just to look pretty).

be careful on forums theres a lot of mis-information you have to sift through; dont take someones advice seriously unless you hear it from a few people; some guys talk like they know what theyre doing and they are just talking out their ass

if you buy an 01-04 theres no point of doing a head cam intake swap. you already have the PI heads and cams. you can get upgraded heads and cams sure, even an intake like a RR or bullitt...but it wont help you very much for how expensive it will be. pullies, as in underdrive pullies are a good start. it slows down the alternator slightly and water pump to free up some power for the crank pulley by way of two slightly larger pullies and one smaller one.

for 5k, i think you should consider f/i because the 2v motors are much slower than the competition.

if you get a 5spd dont worry about buying an expensive handheld tuner it wont benefit you much: 3.73 gears, dallas mustang speedcal (to correct speedometer), pro5.0 shifter, mac 3" catback, off-road hpipe (or catted depending on your local regulations, steeda underdrive pullies, steeda timing adjustor, and a dropin k&n filter (a cold air intake wont really give you any hp its just to look pretty).

be careful on forums theres a lot of mis-information you have to sift through; dont take someones advice seriously unless you hear it from a few people; some guys talk like they know what theyre doing and they are just talking out their ass Even on split port v6's a stage 3 H/C/I swap will add almost 100 hp, and as im sure you know split port v6's got PI heads and intakes(not technically, but they did) just like GT's did. Someone on 3.8 that has a GT got 25rwhp and 26rwtq(up until 5250) with stage 1 cams with stock springs and stock heads/intakes. http://www.3.8mustang.com/forum/showthread.php?t=149956

If was was to consider F/I would you guys recommend a Supercharger or a Turbocharger? Ive known both to go into mustangs...although usually its a supercharger because the turbochargers are much harder to maintain and can cause a lot more problems. If I was to go along this route how much would that cost me? Thx...

Turbo

They are more expensive but well worth it

Can you give me all the maintenance tips you need to do to keep a turbo in top condition. I know there are quite a few things that you have to do to keep the oil from settling in the turbine and other small things that will increase the life of the turbo. What kind of turbo is good for the 4.6 engine and how much does it cost??

The kit itself would probaly be around $3000-3500, Then you have to upgrade your fuel system and get a dyno tune. It would probaly be a little under $5000.

A turbo for a mustang is $4500 CDN installed and tuned. 5 pounds with welded piping.

Will look like this: www.turbotech.ca in Canada thoug

I recomend not to invest $1000s in the car- since $3000 can buy you a done up engine.

half of the people here will recomend whole bunch of stuff that give a little perfomance gains for big bucks. Only a few upgrates actually save fuel, the rest will lower MPG very very significantly and vaste the motor.
I remember there was one guy who said he was getting 30mpg with a built Ls1. What a bustard! I think it was more like 12mpg

So are you recommending that I get a new engine instead of getting modifications to the 4.6 already in place?

Ok...so besides getting a newer engine...what brand of turbo would you recommend....and what about a blowout valve? I live in North Carolina so if theres any place to go to near here...that would be the best...thx guys!

I recomend not to invest $1000s in the car- since $3000 can buy you a done up engine.

half of the people here will recomend whole bunch of stuff that give a little perfomance gains for big bucks. Only a few upgrates actually save fuel, the rest will lower MPG very very significantly and vaste the motor.
I remember there was one guy who said he was getting 30mpg with a built Ls1. What a bustard! I think it was more like 12mpg What are you talking about? Almost all mods with the exception of power adder's increase fuel economy. And what "done up" engine would you buy for 3k?

Keep the 4.6 thats in the car if its been kept up and the miles are pretty good. a $3k engine isnt much once you start adding things up. I've got about $10k in my motor, but its built for low 10's in the 1/4 if things pan out like I'm hoping. Looking at what others have done with less motor (cubes, H/C/I, ect) I may very well end up putting 600 hp on the ground. But it all depends on what you want to do with the car.

If I had a 01-04 GT I'd probably keep the 4.6 thats in there, and put a turbo kit on it. Go to turbomustangs.com and look at the turbo kits for sale there. The prices arent bad and you can make alot of power if you want to. You can get a twin turbo kit with smaller turbo's pushing maybe 8-9psi and make 400rwhp easy. Then upgrade your tranny, fuel system, and ignition system. Get a tune and have one badass street car. If you dont want that much power get something smaller like a little single kit that will cause less underhood heat than a twin kit, upgrade the neccessary components and still have a potent street car. A 12 second street car is nothing to shake a stick at, 300rwhp in a heavier car like the newer mustangs with a 5speed tranny can be alot of fun. I've said all this basically because you dont need all the bolt-ons ect ect to go fast. Save some money and skip the little stuff. Go straight to a turbo, back it up with aftermarket exhaust, a good tranny (or take it easy on the stocker), add the stuff thats a must (fuel/ignition) and have fun with the car.

If you want to go the boosted route but dont want to fool with the install of a turbo then buy a supercharger kit thats made for the car. Vortech for one makes complete kits for those cars that includes the fuel system. They are a bolt on and drive kinda thing. Some people shy away from these kits because you have to punch & tap a hole in the oil pan for the oil to return from the blower. But you have to do the same thing with a turbo or turbos. If you are going to do all the work yourself, and your not real familiar with these cars I'd suggest looking into maybe an S-trim kit for your car. Put a couple grand in the blower kit with a weekend or so of work and you can be making great power with the stock motor. Try looking at summitracing.com or vortechsuperchargers.com and see what you think.

Alright ive been doin some research on the Turbo kits out there for Mustangs and I found the company Pro Turbo Systems. They are offering a turbo system for the 99-03 GT for $5,549. That does not include the price to install a D+D tubular K member, A-Arms, Coil over Conversion and Caster Chamber Plates that are also required. Does anyone know how much these parts are and it also noted that I would have to get a custom A/C line to recharge the A/C system. The site claims that you can get around 430 rwhp with this set up minimum. With that much power in the engine...can the stock 4.6 take that kind of power? The car im lookin at getting has 30K miles on it so its a fairly new engine but that kind of power sounds like it might overload the 4.6 and I def dont want that happening. Let me know....thx

Check around on what a stock 4.6 can handle. You may wanna try corral.net. 430rwhp thrue a manual tranny would probably be around 550fwhp.

What are you talking about? Almost all mods with the exception of power adder's increase fuel economy. And what "done up" engine would you buy for 3k?


I dont know what kinda money you guys spend on your motors, but where I live you can buy a street legal 11-12 second car for $10k

And rebuilt engines with all the goods on them go for $3000-5000. 450-600hp
cause there are whole bunch of guys that dump lotsa $$ in their cars and can get only fraction of money spent.

IF you are looking at a really low mlg motor then you should be fine. I though you were gonna put stuff on already well broken in motor.
Modes that increase mpg are: any sorts of intakes,free flowing exhaust,ignition and other small things like oil, etc

The rest just lets the motor suck more air - which in turn takes more gas.(it's exept vortec heads thoug- which i recomend)


I have seen whole bunch of people with a big-ass exhaust and huge TBs burning way too much gas with a barely noticable increase.

Like everyone says: get the headers, and the what? A pain in the ass to change a plug. leaky gaskets,warped flanges, and increased underhood temp.

Also think of gas: there is an ever decreasing resale value for gas-hogs + you can blow so much money on that gas, that you could go to Hawaii twice.

With a new car that your not used to driving this is what I would do.

http://www.vortechsuperchargers.com/products/yourcar/00-04mustang_gt.html

430rwhp is alot, in a car your not used to driving I would not suggest it. But do whatever you want to do or can afford to do. If I understand the 2000-04 GT kit in the link said that it makes 8-9psi and adds 104hp on a completely stock motor. To me that means stock ignition, fuel, exhaust, ect. The blower with exhaust and gears would be a real fun car.

I know I promoted the turbo thing but your gonna wanna drive the thing, with the turbo kit your gonna spend a while with the install. But, to each his own.

I didnt know Vortec heads fit the 4.6. Better wake Henry Ford and let him know that chevy started makin heads for his modular motors.

By the way, all the headers I have installed made it easier to change the plugs. Also they vent heat better than manifolds, somehow that just doesnt seem like a heat increase to me. I will say that some of the cheaper headers are known for thin warped flanges and are constantly blowing gaskets.

Sure I have put alot for hard earned cash into my car. But my car is a hobby, its what I do for fun. Also how many people can say they have a easy 10 second daily driver? Oh and by the way, there is a difference between a daily driver and a street legal car.

So if I go with the vortec supercharger, should I get a computer chip as well to help with the system as well? Since this is a cheaper mod than the turbo, i can also go with the exhaust i wanted and possibly gears. I looked at the Vortec site and they said that you needed to move the battery for the installation? Where would I go to get this thing installed...cause im not to savy with cars right now...im still in the learning process. Thx for all the input guys...

What part of NC are you in? There may be somewhere in the mooresville/charlotte area if your in wnc that can do it. Ask around at some local shops and talk to people who live near you that may know of a shop worthy of the install.

Yeah you should get a flasher, you need it for a dyno tune(and you need a dyno tune with F/I).

Need a tune with most major mods. H/C/I, blower/turbo/N2O, ect. Anything that will cause a drastic change in a/f, timing curve needs, ect. Thats for carb or EFI cars.

dont know about Mr. Ford turning in his grave, but doesnt Ford have any similar vortech technology application at all. Dont know ford . Iam a GM person. Iam here cause ford blocks fit other cars better than GM ones when doing Euro-trash conversions.

Ford's GT40 heads are probably close to the Chevy Vortec heads. But the GT40 head is for windsor based engines, 289/302/351w. The best 4.6 (281) head out there is the stock PI heads on the 99-04 GT's. Also the 96-98 Cobra had a good motor, but the GT from the same era was pitiful.

I live in Raleigh NC, and I would def make that kind of a drive to get this work done. I didnt get a real straight answer on if the 4.6 engine can take 365 hp. Does anyone know for a fact that I need to upgrade any parts to take this kind of power. The engine im looking at is low milage so im not worried about regular wear and tear. What kind of computer chip do you recommend to flash the ECU. And where in the world is a Dyno near Raleigh...i've looked for one for my Mark VIII and ive had no luck what-so-ever! Let me know guys...thx.

I have family in Durham but have never heard of a dyno local to them.

first thing i would recommend is registering on www.stangnet.com www.corral.net or www.modulardepot.com that way you know people know what theyre talking about when it comes to major upgrades on a mod motor car. who's worried about mpg when theyre talking blowers and turbos??? why would putting headers on a car make it harder to change a spark plug??? geez...

look seriously, ive been around mod motors for 7 years, ive owned 4 and theres about another three dozen in my area. i recommended bolt-on mods because theyre cheaper and easier and will produce proven gains. throttle bodies and cold air kits aren't worth the dollar you spend on a bolt-on 4.6. if your going to do some heavy stuff id start off easy. like 351wstang said just a base vortech kit will probably give you more power than you know what to do with for a good while. i would recommend going to www.coolblueperformance.com and piecing together a base tuner kit so you can pick your options and choose what you want if you are going to buy other parts elseware. OR you can go with their standard kit (8psi) the one you read up on with moving the battery was for the aftercooled system. at base psi on a stock motor this will actually produce less hp for more money. it might be a 'bit' safer, but 8psi isnt going to break your motor. it comes with all the bells and whistles (maf, fuel pump, ecu chip, etc) bolt it on and go. the vortech chip isnt the best, so maybe a dyno-tune would be a wise option, but its not going to blow up your car. i ran one for over a year. its not the best tune but you dont need to spend a fortune on a handheld programmer either; some ppl swear by them, ive never seen or been around anyone who used em on a 4.6. we have kauffman motorsports 35min away if anyones gonna tune a car id have them do it. theyre a little out of your range though so ill check into some local shops in your area and get back to you; theres always a performance shop nearby. goodluck.

If you can figure out where a chassis dyno is in WNC I'd like to know lol. I have googled and asked around and havent found anything decent.

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Tell them that Will at MM Performance Sent you

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http://www.fastlanemotorsports.us/UHome.asp
am i in the right area? benson, nc?

YES....Benson is fairly close...thank you soooo much for this research guys...I've got two mustangs that I see for sale...so I am getting closer and closer. I am have decided that I am going to go with the Vortec Supercharger system and possibly the intercooler system to add the extra 40hp. If you get anymore information I would greatly appreciate it! Later!

You dont need the intercooler system. On a stock motor with those kinda boost numbers the intercooler will more than likely cause you to loose power. General rule of thumb is that anything under 15psi doesnt need an intercooler. I'll be making 12 or more lbs of boost with no intercooler and probably 600rwhp. If you went turbo I could maybe see a front mount air-air intercooler. But for the V1 S-trim kit you really do not need the intercooler.

haha...alright then...no intercooler it is...thx for that! I'll catch up with ya when I get the mods done...later guys

yes at such low boost the intercooler is only going to hurt you. and honestly id just use the chip vortech provides @ 8psi personally.