Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

For anybody who cares, just traded my custom VQ '05 Altima for a stock GT except for K&N cone. Some initial impressions as Ive owned the car.........and some questions about stuff Im curious about. BTW....this is my second Ford product.........been driving modifed Nissans for 15 years. My first was a brand new 1986 Mercury Capri 5.0 that was a lemon and a piece of junk............

Firstly, after having a real stiff suspension for years, I like the ride. Not a real capable handler but enough to live with for now and the ride is just about perfect. The brakes? Outstanding I think..........and better under hard braking then the Altima ever was ( even with Nismo parts), especially from about 80mph to zero. The unit sounds awesome to me, even stock. Who needs the stereo, which by the way is the best Ive had in years. Its the stock MACH unit. I love the seating postion and the small windshield. The shifter? Much more connected when you're attached directly to the tranny....as compared to wrong wheel drive in the Alti. Shifts seem true enough and not real vague at all.........better as the car warms up. Tires are General summer tires......are sticker than I expected as I've owned alot of real good tires like S03's!! Working ciggy lighter ftw!!
Best of all seems to me to be this community = way cool people. One of the main reasons I went with a Mustang instead of a used LS1 GTO is because the GTO community seemed like assholes to me. Sh!t..........I always preferred Ford to GM anyway. Lastly, I know I only got a 2V but seems this engine has alot more when I get on it.

The Lows...............

Whats up with the damn seatbelts? = gay. And what about the damn wheel balancer ( I got '00 Cobra wheels ) on the OUTSIDE of the wheel?? The seats could use more bolstering but I knew that going in: you dont buy a 'Stang for interior comfort or quality. The antenea sucks and sticks up about 4 feet or so. Driver door doesnt like to stay open for the fail!!!

All in all, I friggin love this car.............but got some questions...............

1) I tried mounting some ROH DRIFT_R's last night. 5X114.3 but the wheel didnt line up with the hub creating about a 1/4" space. Whats the fix for this?
2) Since I will have my kids in two in a coupe for the first time, how is this car in crash tests?
3) Are pulleys worth it as a first mod? ( cost effectiveness the big issue.....wifey thing)
4) Do you need to purchase a tuner or can a dyno shop do a tune for you without the chip?
5) Some dick put a 40th Anniversay badge on the fenders ( mines an '03). If I ordered a 281 badge, would that fit over the area or would there be holes?
6) Is the H-Pipe real loud with stock muffs ( again, the wifey thing about noticing ) and could a dyno shop tune the car to delete the code that would be thrown? ( in lieu of MIL mod )??

I know this is a bit of a wordy rant...........but thanks in advance for any feedback and it is awesome to be a member here.............

RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

Congratz on your ride, and welcome. If you are talking about underdrive pulleys being your first mod, it really depends on your plans for the future. If you wanna supercharge it straight off the bat, (which everyone will recommend;)) no, they need to run on stock pulleys. If you are gonna stay N/A for now you might consider them, all bolt ons are not gonna yield a ton of HP, but they build up together. I like to start with a CAI and upper plenum/throttle body, or maybe exhaust first. Pulleys are not worth it at all to me for a first mod though. You will probably get more satisfaction and see/feel more performance with another mod. Also, I have not heard an aftermarket H pipe with the stock mufflers, an O/R pipe will be louder/more raw sounding since it doesn't have cats of course, in comparison to stock. In regards to tuning, usually a shop will make you purchase the tuning software/a handheld tuner and they do the tuning work for you, and yes a tuner can shut off the check engine light from the O/R pipe. \

p.s. a recommendation for a first mod would be rear end gears. This is a common mod. Many people like to change their stock 3.27's to 3.73's or 4.10's to get better acceleration and low end pick up. Make sure to use the search function to do some research on that topic. Short throw shifters also really improve the overall driveability if you have a manual. It gets rid of that loosey-goosey shifter and gets that good short notchy feel back into shifting.

RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

first mod that you do is 3.73's and CAI....then get a mid pipe and catback

RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

yeah....most people tell me go to 3.73's but thats going to run me $500 with install = too steep for me at the moment.
Ive always bought CAI's for my rides, but looks to me like removal of the silencer and now K&N cone plus my shaker hood is just about what I'd get with a CAI. Damn.........8 hp? My Nismo CAI provided 18 hp on the dyno with my Altima.

RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

Welcome Back! Don't do underdrive pulleys! Save that money for something else. Do the H-Pipe, you won't regret it and neither will the wifey!

RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

well man i will try and help as much as i can....i own a 03 gt as well....

for the badge, if you are for removal, take a hair dryer and heat it up as much as possible without tearing it off, and then take fishing line and try and get under the tape and slowly remove the badge..that tape is a real b**** to get off, trust me!

2nd off for the pulleys, BBK makes a good set, billet or black. that will set u back 150 sum odd bux...check americanmuscle.com, i order all of my stuff fromt them and shipping is free....

i got a black shorty antenna from auto zone, set me back a wopping 5 bux, but it looks good, only bout 12 inches

for exaust, well everyone is differ, i got strait pipes put on for 60 bux at my local speed shop, but its loud, it all depends how much u wanna spend without upsetting the wife! but my h pipe and stock mufflers b4 the straights sounded good man, not loud at all!

thats bout all the knowledge i can get ya man, hope this helps! but congrats on the pony, she wont let u down!





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RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

congrats and welcome to the Mustang world, i have always started modding in the exhaust because these cars sound sweet with good exhaust(doesn't do much for power though) and the shifter next. If u like the shifts with the stock shifter u will love them with a short throw

RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q...t=100_0082.flv

Here is a bad vid of my car with and O/R x pipe and dumped MAC catback

RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

One thing that surprised me is you think the Nissan suspension, even modified is *stiff* compared to the Mustang?
Surprising IMHO...
Most Asian cars I have been in do the Jap Squat all the time, even the modded ones....

Anyway, I went from German cars, BMW mostly, to my first stang 1.5 years ago.
I'm almost 50yo so I lived through the real muscle car era and have owned quite a few, but none from the time I got married (1985) till now so I am in effect living my teen years all over again.
I think they call it second childhood or something like that :D

As a comparison German cars= super sophisticated, smooth, fast, but boring.......
American muscle cars = crude, ballsy, loud, unsophisticated but a hell of a lot of fun to drive.
And you can actually fix the American cars yourself.
Try that with a BMW 7 series..........
Hell, try it with a VW Jetta which I have 2 of....
A new key FOB cut and programmed is like $300 alone...yea right....

Don't get me wrong, German's build the ultimate cars.
They really do....
I've had cars that will go 150mph all day long and stop on a dime at the same time....
So?
They are just not fun...
Why?

The Mustang, Camaro, Vette, Dodge etc give you FEEDBACK as to what is going on.
Exhaust sound, torque, noise, etc it's all fun...

One thing you will notice right away is the Mustang has torque...The Ricers do not...
Big difference in the fun to drive catagory.

My advice is get gears, get a nice exhaust like Magnaflow, Borla or Bassani, leave the stock H-pipe and then move up to subframe connectors and a strut tower brace.

A lot of people will say go O/R dump the cats etc.
I think they are crazy for a daily driver.
Who wants all that noise and the stink of unburned gas?

If you are a track junkie fine, but no way for a DD.


Just my 2 cents.

RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

imo... learn to drive the balls off of it now stock, then go ahead modding it... if its a 5 speed you should hit high 13s if driven right

as for first mods... my to do list is as follows... 3.73s, exhaust, vortech sc

RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

nissans and fords responds to mods totally different ! My cousin picked up a exhaust for his 350z roadster and it cost him about 1000 bucks not including install and he dyno'd about 12 more horses.

RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

you can get a shorty antena that looks a lot better imo...

1. you can order a set of wheel spacers off of americanmuscle.com if thats what you mean.

2. i crashed into a guard rail at 50mph head on and walked away just fine...and was able to get my car fixed.

3. honestly if you want something the wife cant possibly notice go with some gears, i like the 3.73's on a 5 speed they seem to do the car just right.

4. you will need a tuner, a lot of people go with the sct, i have the sct and i love it.

5. ^+1 and good luck with that.

6. if you get a catted h/x pipe with the stock mufflers it shouldnt be too to loud.

p.s. welcome to the community and you made a good choice in a mustang.

RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

as for crash testing...i rear ended a little civic about 2 years ago doing 50, tried to steer around it, went off in a ditch, up out of the ditch barely missing a light pole, and into a 7-11 parking lot. My airbags didnt come out the whole time, but i walked away spot free...my door wouldn't even open. i had to force it. my car got fixed though and im driving the same one. so i would say the crash test is good...the only thing im worried about is that the air bags didnt come out. but i walked away with not even a scratch with no air bags? id say its good......did lose my IPOD tho..so that kinda sucks.

as for mods. I have a 2003 GT also. The first thing i did was weld in flowmaster mufflers. made it louder but not too loud.. not loud enough for me. a few months after that i cut out the cats, now its loud. then i bought a CAI, which didnt do anything barely. then i bought the predator tuner and got it dyno tuned. the gears are a bit out of my price range right now...especially cause the 4.10's take some MPG away..which i need all i can get. my next mods im going to the suspension i think.

RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

Thanks for all the feedback here...............this community = win.

I can get high 13's with this car stock?? Really? I was at our local cruise area the other night and a GT owner told me that if you power shift and short shift 3rd, you can get in the 13's stock.............but idk, I got these General tires?

Have a ? though............what is the sense of getting an H-Pipe if you're going to leave the cats in?? Also........they have the shorty anteneas at Autozone?

RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

correct wheel pattern is 5x4.5

RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

you mean 14.5??

RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

Grats, Welcome to the 03 gt crowd man.

One of the first things I'd recommend is to look into a set of subframe connectors as the mustangs unibody is uber weak and flex's alot. Also the brakes may feel great but you can have better, buyfordracing has a set of mach1 brakes for less than 250 shipped. Pulleys are a waste of money if your going with a power adder, n/a they are still not the greatest thing to get as a first mod as you wont notice it as much. A tuner is not necessary to tune the car, but it is beneficial to have one on hand. Gears would also be one of the mods I'd consider first as they greatly improve acceleration.

As for exhaust, go listen to some clips on youtube, there are a crazy amount of different setups out there, I prefer the catted x and lmI setup. You will be able to turn of the o2 sensors with a tune, or get yourself a set of mil eliminators.

RE: Newbie with impressions of my 2003 GT............
 

Surprising that you think the brakes in your GT are good, they are actually quite pitiful, so that isn't saying much for your Nissan.

Everyone is going to piss and moan about what mods are worth the money and which aren't.

The bottom line is, everything you throw at the car is going to make a difference. If anywhere from 200-800 bucks is worth 4-5hp to you, start wherever you want with mods and have fun. IMO, underdrive pulleys are a great place to start. They are cheap, labor for installation is an hour or two, so it's an affordable mod that'll certainly make the car more lively.

I put pulleys on my 02 GT and the throttle response & butt-dyno results were excellent, it was only a few ponies if that, but it really made the car more fun to drive.

If you want the truth, no mods are worth it unless you go with a supercharger, because you will not get much bang for your buck naturally aspirated. If a SC isn't in your near future and you want to have fun with what you can afford...have at it.