So i went to a local shop today to have 3.73 installed and started talking about my car project to the shop owner (very experienced guy who dealt with justin at JPC. He knows his stuff). I told him that i wanted to start with:
tune, cai, udp, differentials, and cmcv (I have those mods)
and that my next step was to get a lca, uca, driveshaft, and k-member+ a-arms. He grinned, which gave the idea that he thinks im going the wrong direction. Told him whats funny and he replied:

What do you want the driveshaft a k-member at this stage? I said this is the direction stang owners are taking, and that i want to improve my suspension,reduce the cars weight and then put the exhaust system + supercharge. (SC was my last step)

He said spendyour money on stuff that will giveyour power and not stuff the reduces weight. Dont get the kmember and driveshaft now. those are stuff that people should do after they reach the maximum hp. Then its time to put your car on a diet to improve your timings.

He conculded by saying that if one day you plan on getting a supercharge,dont waste your money on stuff that will be replaced when you get the SC like cai and pulley.

Hedidnt convice me yet but he got me thinking if what he says is better for me.

What do you guys think? Is he right? or are all those stang owners out there in all forums right?

 

I think he has a good point. I have reached the engines HP limit without forged internals. I am now woking on driveshaft, suspension and longtube headers.

 

the driveshaft is a great mod......2-.4 reduction in the 1/4 since it weighs half the original shaft and is alot quieter than the stock 2 piece...i probably wouldnt do the k member though either....sway bar panhard bar and brace are probably something i would look into first but it depends on your goals. I see nothing wrong with enjoy the CAI tune right now while waiting for the s/c either......depending on how far down the road you are looking.

LTs should be taken into consideration though....1 5/8 for n/a cars and 1 3/4 for FI sometimes.....you can even do 1 5/8 with FI and be fine bu 1 3/4 for a n/a car is not going to get the best gains.

 

I think most of us are not going to get a charger/turbo so I think were going the right way. If you are going to do it, he has a point... but how long will you be waiting before you get FI. Do you really want to wait to have some fun?

 

i think the drive shaft is a good mod at any point but he does make a good point

 

I totally agree with the guy! If you're definitely gonna s/c the car, put the money you would spend on those parts in savings. It will add up fast and you'll be supercharged sooner
But honestly the weight reduction you'll get doesnt make you any faster unless the car is fast enough.

 

There as many different answers to that question as there are uses for the car, i.e. road course, autocross or dragstrip. Since you mention timings, let`s assume your focus is the dragstrip. There is no doubt that horsepower can win races, but only if you can hook up and transfer that power to the track, perhaps the best gain for the money in the all important 60' foot time is drag radials and properly set up rear suspension that doesn`t waste all your power boiling the tires. Your guy is not "wrong", but, your ultimate goal plays into the "right" answer.

JMO

 

I think ill do the LTs, dragradials, SC, rear end suspention, and last but not least weight reduction

 

yeah,i think along those same lines as he does.thats why im holding off on the CAI and tuner,why spend that $600-$700 ,id rather put it towards my turbo system down the road.i actually have no more mods planned until i get the turbo on,then i will worry about the other minor things.

 

That is a smart start. Although IMO, I wouldn't buy drag radials until you supercharge the car. Mickey Thompson ET streets only last 2500 miles<---you don't wont to replace a set of $400 tires every month or three.