iateadonut

I recently acquired a 2001 V6 automatic mustang with:

SR Performance cold air intake
Pacesetter H-Pipe adapter
Flowmaster American Thunder catback exhaust

All this seems to do is make it louder. What critical piece am I missing that should be giving this V6 more power?

Daehawk

You might have gained 8hp if lucky. A tune would help.

Mobiusone stang

Yea maybe a nice tune. Also maybe think about doing a major tune up if you just received the car. You know the whole lot, spark plugs, wires, all filters and oil changes, etc etc. These engines dont really respond that well to bolt on mods, as they are already almost at their max in stock form (not the best engine ford ever did imo lol). But just a simple tune up can really help the car drive better and perform better. Did just what i said to my car, and it made a nice difference.

jthorn9

Hey......10 years ago people were talking about how awesome the split port 3.8L was stock form compared to other vehicles on the market lol.

To OP: Yeah you didn't really do much to improve power, to make that 3.8L you have respond to anything you need to go big, and I mean $2000-5000 kind of big.

iateadonut

Tell me more...

BabyGT

Supercharger/turbocharged, gears, nitrous, major internal modifications, stripped out interior, LIGHT rims, you would spend a crap ton of money, make the car completely usless on the street, and still get walked by GT's with half the money invested.

I gave up making my v6 fast and have devoted time to being as comfy as possible to drive and look good.

massguy54

It's a 6 cylinder if you wanted fast should have went with an 8 cylinder

LilRoush

False.

Best way to make power is to boost it right off the bat. Spend a couple grand and enjoy it.
Most people will dump more than that into little parts here and there, and they don't really do anything.

You don't need to dump tons of money into them, you need to invest in the right parts. My car was high powered, very street friendly and showed tail lights to a lot of V8 cars with more money dumped into them. You just need to be smart about it.

iateadonut

For a 2001 V6, what would you start with?

LilRoush

Depends. What I want and what you want might be do different things.

I do brakes/suspension/wheels/tires first.
Y - pipe back dual exhaust.
Then supercharge it.

What do you want out of the car? Street car? Race car? What type of driving do you do most? City? Highway? What's your budget? Doing the work yourself?