bolt.com

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 ******** to me. ****..........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.............

handyandy

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.

BADSEED

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

bolt.com

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.

se8504

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!





[IMG]local://upfiles/94396/F06FA42A18FD4A958CF3ECADAAF056FA.jpg[/IMG]

02 Ninja

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!

Fuel

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

Fuel

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

undecided.steve

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

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.

dimebag

imo... learn to drive the ***** 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