CG61

Happy New Year! I'm new to the forum and will soon be the owner of a bone stock '06 GT (4.6l V8, auto trans). My first mustang. I have a couple of rookie questions that I have not found yet in the threads.

1. I'm not planning on racing or spending any time at the track but I do enjoy some spirited driving. What mods should I be considering (after I get to know the vehicle a little better). I've done K&N air intakes before so I was considering this as maybe one of the first possibilities. Anything else?

2. I've only ever owned manual transmission vehicles so the Auto transmission will be a new experience for me on a performance vehicle. Is there a reference or a thread that explains what transmission tuning is - something very basic? Should this be something I consider as one of the first couple of mods? I guess I'm wondering how much fun I'll miss with an auto versus a manual, and what I can do to mimic the manual experience.

Thanks to all and I've already learned a lot about my new vehicle from reading forum posts. I know some of the answers will be subjective and a matter of opinion but I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Simon1

You would probably be happy with the following:

1. Cold air intake (CAI) not from K&N.

2. Tune from one of the larger tuning houses in the states.

3. Exhaust work. Either just a simple bolt on muffler kit or comeplete header back exhaust.


The transmission is controled electonicaly. It will be included in the tune you get for the CAI.

Congrats on the new ride.

06' is the best year by the way.

Diabolical!

If you're interested in a CAI and tune to optimize transmission shift points, I'd recommend a C&L intake and SCT XCAL from Brenspeed. It's a great first mod and will net you some serious gains and help you decide if you want to get more serious with future mods. K&N is a great company and I've used many of their products over the years, but they just didn't get their intakes right for the S197. You'll find that any CAI for this car that doesn't require a tune is pretty much a waste.

Blacksmoke

Yup you will definitely want to start with a Cold Air Intake and Tuner.
Tuner is a MUST.
Go to somewhere like AmericanMuscle.com and look at their CAI/Tuner combos.
They come loaded with three tunes. You just tell them what mods you have if any and a few other things.

The next thing to consider getting is a different gear ratio.
4.10's are the most widely recommended ratio for non supercharged or turbo stangs.
This will really add some seat of the pants pull to your car.

If I were you I would contact Chris Rose at American Muscle.
You can find him here on the forums as well.
There is a section for American Muscle underneath the sponsor section.

His username on here is AMChrisRose
Send him a private message.
He is a great guy and really cares about his work and Mustang owners in general.
His tunes are great too.

As for the gears... if you decide to upgrade them you will have to find a reputable shop in
your area that KNOWS how to do this and has EXPERIENCE doing it in OUR mustangs.
It can get a little tricky so they need to have plenty of experience so you don't run into
the dreaded gear whine or anything.

Congrats on the soon to be new Stang and happy modding!
Just a warning.
Modifying these cars becomes and addiction pretty fast lol!

baddog671

Why are you getting an auto if you've always driven manuals?

Nuke

What they said.

A stand-alone CAI is about uesless. a Good CAI & custom tune combo is your best bet for power unless you go FI. Check out the combos on the Brenspeed and American Muscle (AM) sites. The custom tunes will also modify your auto's shift points and improve on the common throttle lag these S197's have.

I also suggest you read thru the stickies in the 2005-2011 main forum and the sub forums, especially the TSB's, to get as much info as you can on these. The TSB's will identify some of the serious (and not so serious) issues these cars have.

BTW, whereabouts in PA? I grew up in Philly and also lived in the York/Lancaster area for about 16 years.

shad2009

CAI and tune(from American Muscle or Brenspeed) and exhaust, you'll never know you were driving manual(figure of speech lol) i've heard great shifting results with American Muscle & Bamatune...haven't heard nay from Brenspeed, but i'm sure they are up there as well. Congratulations on the soon to be purchase, and enjoy her

5POINTOH

I would have to agree with the above posts.

1. A CAI and a tuner from either AM or Brenspeed. The service from these two vendors is top notch.

2. Figure out what kind of exhaust sound you would like. A lot of guys seem to like the x pipes on the S197's. Personally, I prefer the sound of the off road H pipe combined with a chambered muffler like Flowmaster or Mac. To me it sounds more aggressive and closer to the old 5 point O sound that the 5.0L fox bodies are famous for. I am going to be adding shorty headers soon to my car....and apparently from the research I have done.....it should bring me even closer to the five O sound.

3. From what I have heard everyone seems to love going with the 410 gears. It is going to be one of my future mods as well.

4. Of course a nice set of wheels should be on anyone's list of mods. Personally I think 20's look really good on these cars because there is so much space in the wheel wells. For performance 18's will work better, but if you are not doing any drag racing or anything.....the 20's will do just fine. I noticed a trend in that the more senior guys tend to gravitate to the 18's and the younger guys are more attracted to the 20's.

5. FRPP or Eibach springs will lower your car to a nice aggressive stance as well. Something to consider.....probably best to get FRPP since it is essentially made by Eibach but retails for a lot less. CJ Pony Parts usually has good sales and they have top notch customer service too.

Happy modding!

Mudflap

Take it from me on the auto... I've had an 07 auto GT and this 2010 auto GT (and a manual 09 sandwiched in there)... get an intake/tuner package from American Muscle. I'd recommend the JLT intake for you. AM/Bama had the automatic tunes nailed cold years ago, and Brenspeed has never been able to compete on those. That said, I love Brenspeed in general, but for your auto... go with AM. The "Race" tune completely transforms the car...

I love the automatic in this car, and before this I had driven mostly manuals for 20+ years. IMHO, the auto suits this car really, really well once you get that race tune on there. I don't bother trying to shift mine, I just put my foot to the floor and wait for 2nd and 3rd gear to chirp.

Welcome and good luck!

alkemist

CAI/Tune is a good starter mod. The tune will remove the throttle lag you get from an automatic and wakes it up. Makes a big difference, the stock tune is mild.

Tuning is all done electronically and through the on board computer. You will need a reputable tuner such as Brenspeed or AM/Bama. They then load the tunes on a handheld tuner device which you plug into the OBD port and upload. Easy plug and play.

Exhaust, wheels, appearance mods...

4.10 gear gives some more fun factor.

You can drive your auto manually, but it will be different. Downshifting is more of an issue since you can't hit neutral. You do get 1st, 2nd, 3rd, D (4th), OD (5th). Still fun when you want to launch manually.