Xibar

Well I found Ford Racing gears that are all 8.8, so I'm assumiing that's right. What do the other numbers refer to, 3.73, 4.10? I'm guessing gear-to-gear ratios?

And as far as the exhaust, I'm finding Full Exhaust Packages for like $800ish. Am I looking at the right products?

Thanks man.

luckythirteen13

the other numbers are the ratio from pinion to ring gear. the higher the number the more rpms the motor has to turn to make the axle spin one time. i dont know your stock gear ratio but most people go with 1 full extra rotation of the motor. in other words, if you have 2.73 now, 3.73 would be a good gear for you. if you have 3.27, 4.10 or 4.30 would be good. i would stick with 3.73 or 3.90 (depending on what you have now) since you plan to sc.

$800 for a full exhaust is pretty typical. it can be even more expensive depending on what you get. if you dont have to pass smog where you live, i would buy long tube headers because they will get you more power especially with a sc on the motor

Xibar

Well you talked me into it. I'm going to start looking into this more seriously now that I have a starting point. Hoping to get all Ford Racing parts.

Saw somewhere that once you change the gears, besides the retune you also have to readjust your speedometer. Guess that makes sense, though, if the gears come after the area the meter reads.

MU71L4710N

no need to stay with ford racing alot of great companies are out there (and most make better parts than fords aftermarket and net more horsepower).

nope. you do not have to tune your car for gears. you can change your gear ratio with a handheld tuner (which adjusts your speedo) or you can buy certain mods for pretty cheap that will correct your speedo (dallas mustang speedcal for instance). gear changes do not change anything about how the engine operates so there is no need for a "tune".

Xibar

Oh, and I also noticed Ford Racing has a "Mustang GT Power Upgrade Package," which includes a pair of exhausts with one or two other things. Any idea how that compares to the X Exhaust kits out there? Is it anywhere near the same thing, performance-wise?

Xibar

Is that the same as those little touchscreen devices that can store like 3 custom tunes? I'd wondered what those were for. Does that mean you can just tap a button while driving and have the computer change the car's performance instantly?

That would actually be really cool. Change your mpg or hp on the fly.
Is that possible, or am I going too far in my head?

luckythirteen13

you cant do it on the fly. you have to shut the car off, hook up the tuner, turn on the ignition (but dont start the car), let it load the tune for a minute or two and then your done.

when you do a gear swap your speedo will be off because the tranny is the place the computer calculates mph from which is before the rear end in the drive line.

i would stay away from any "package" that doesnt have the sc you want. i would also stay away from ford racing parts, most are out dated technoligy. they make good gears but after that, i wouldnt buy anything from ford. if you look at the motor in my sig, the only thing ford under that hood is the block, the distributor and the timing chain cover. no reason to stick with frpp.

if you can live with the speedo being off a few mph, just wait till the sc is on. when they do the dyno tune for it, they can fix your speedo as well. or you can **** money away and buy something that only corrects mph for it now.

you could buy an sct x3 tuner. it will have some basic performance tunes in it you can use now as well as fix your gear ratio. when you go to the dyno tuner, he can load the tunes he writes for you into your x3. if you dont have the x3 ahead of time, the tuner will see you one because some sort of tuner is needed to load the tunes into the car and no tuner that i know of includes the hand held. has to be purchased on top of the labor he charges for tuning.

Xibar

The only reason I lean toward Ford Racing is so I can order it right through the dealer (where I get all my car's work done anyway) and have them throw it all in for me. This way I know I'm not ordering the wrong stuff. I wouldn't even know where to start for other manufacturers.

Plus FRPP just came out with a new SC for the '10. How can that be outdated, and if so, how different can it be from anyone else? Will performance be so different?

luckythirteen13

the sc is fine to get from ford but a KB would be better. i was thinking about suspension and such for stuff id rather get from anyone other then ford.

Xibar

Ah, I see.

Ford actually now offers a "Track Pack" that changes the suspension, among other things. Even though it's obviously new, you don't recommend using Ford for that?

Also, with regards to the touchscreen tuners that are available... I'm assuming those stay more or less permanently wired to your computer, so that the user can easily switch to separate custom tunes (with the car on but engine off, as I understand it).

Would it be correct to believe that I could have a custom tune that improves the mpg over the sticker numbers? Even if it sacrifices performance and scales back on the SC, I could just pull over, shut off the engine, and hit a Custom Tune button to cut back on MPG and improve HP, right?