I completely understand what you're saying. I just finished my first year of college. My parents live about 30 minutes from UALR, where I go to school. My internship is about halfway between the two, so I decided I would save the money I'd spend on an apartment and just live at home for the summer. It's not so much a matter of having to live at home, I chose to so that I could save money for the future.

 

Don't waste your money on a supercharger....go turbo...lol

I have modded my stang beyond street use (how smart is that????). My accountant thinks I am being fiscally irresponsible...so you're not going to get any financial advice from me.

 

Personally I think with 85k miles already on the engine I would not risk adding a blower. It is my understanding that power adders shorten the life of the motor because of the extra stress on the stock internals. Since you have not done any mods to you car yet, I would suggest a CAI and tune, and possible 4:10 gears. This should wake up your car nicely. Then put a nice exhaust on it for the WOW factor. Maybe later on replace the cams.

Just my

 

It's worth it as long as it doesn't break the bank.

And if you can afford to replace the motor if it 'splodes.

 

fixed

 

OP I'm in the same situation as you. I attend FSU basically for free with scholarships and also use that money to play for food, groceries, gas and anything else I need throughout the year. I elected not to pursue an internship this year but I have two offers for next summer and I fully intend to use a large portion of that money for a major GO mod, either cams/lts/gears or supercharger.

In all fairness though, I have a large amount of money in savings and I believe that having a decent amount of savings to put a down payment a house or w/e after graduation is the way to go. If I were you I would sell the current stang (if its paid off) and put that money along with whatever you wanted to alocate to the supercharger towards a used GT500 or a new 5.0. If it isn't paid off, go for the intake/tune/gears, they'll keep you entertained for a while.

 

Save the money up and make the decision at the moment you have the folding notes in your pocket.
You might decide that once you're faced with a real choice instead of a hypothetical one, you will be able to balance your own wants with your priority list more easily.

DO NOT BORROW MONEY TO DO THIS

As far as F/I being worth the money, well that's only something you can decide yourself.

If you want more power then you can go two routes (I don't count NOS).

N/A - as many bolt ons as you can manage plus cams, aggressive tuning and even further, heads and rotating mass weight reduction techniques. What you'll end up ultimately with is a car which gets Hot, is a bitch to drive in traffic and a reduction in useable, practical low-end torque. It'll use more gas all the time. The car is in/out of the shop having all these things put on and tweaked.

F/I - Car goes in shop, car comes out of shop in One or two days. A one stop modification. Car has more power, more torque. it drives smoothly and you suffer no overheating or loss of low end tractability. Plus you'll have more power under your foot than your buddy and all his bolt ons.


Kinda sounds like a no brainer.

 

Put half in savings and half toward a blower? Probably what I'd do.

 

Well, putting the money in stocks is nothing but gambling, plain and simple. I know that irritates people with heavy investments, but it really is the case. Nearly everyone I know that owns any amounts of stocks has lost their *** by now. So if your choice is between stocks, and a blower, get the blower, lol.

Seriously though, it doesn't sound to me like you can afford another 6-7k on top of the blower if the engine grenades, so I would have to say that the blower isn't a smart idea. The real estate idea is a good one, but prices are still falling and unstable somewhat, so I wouldn't jump on that just yet, but maybe in a year or two.

My advice would be to simply bank the cash. You have a sweet deal going. Paid for college and living at home with a nice car? Sheesh, lol. I paid for my college 100% with student loans and worked full-time while going to school full-time, all the while paying rent for an apartment and eating Ramen noodles. You've got it made dude, take advantage of it. Slam as much cash as you can into a savings account, then when you graduate, buy yourself a home when the market is at the bottom...

 

Here's the deal. Going FI is ok IF you can afford a new engine right then as well. FI, no matter what boost and how safe the tune is will increase your chance of blowing up far greater than N/A. There's a cost that comes along with easy big power.

I love blowers, but I'm a huge fan of N/A myself. The only problem these days with N/A with a Ford is their small engines. The N/A route kicks major **** with large displacement. I'm seeing pretty awesome N/A figures from the Camaro SS or SRT8 (RT is ok but not as good).