cfr865

The tune gets rid of the throttle lag. When you get a tune from one of the above you will be amazed at the difference and will wonder why you didn't do it sooner. Do check into getting an Al. driveshaft, it will improve gas mileage and give you a good performance gain, gears are good but will effect mileage.

Nuke

The CAI & custom tunes is a definite must. With the remainder of your $$ with performance in mind, I'd do 4.10's, suspension and/or rubber.

Tarantula_Keeper

Appreciate all the help guys, really. I believe I'm going to go with the CAI & Tuner for now, and then if I end up liking it I'll just go from there as far as what other mods to get. I'm still not sure which CAI to get. I was looking at the JLT and Airaid one but didn't really see much difference between the two. Also, I shouldn't have to do any special type of regular maintenance other than checking the fluids and stuff like I already do right? And if/when things should start to wear out, what should i expect to go first? Wayne mentioned the spark plugs, that should be an easy fix. Anything else?

wayne613

Sorry...Ya, I lol'd. See this:
https://mustangforums.com/forum/4-6l...oval-fail.html

Mid-production year 2008's and below get the shaft for this...literally. Not a "huge" deal, but makes it far more interesting then it should be, and if this is a daily driver, you'll have to spend the $40-80 to have that on-hand. This might have been taken care of already by previous owner(s), I'd ask.

I would consider an oil catch can a must have even NA'd. Only $100 or so for a good one. So long as it's a JLT prefab, takes all of a single minute to do as well. Eliminates the majority of the oil and oil vapor that gets sucked back into the TB/intake/engine to clog it up and/or lower fuel octane.

I'd really go over the TSB section (under "articles".at the top of the mustang forums page here), specifically the water leak TSBs. They were especially problematic for 05-06's. It will eventually cause your SJB to fail, should you have it (which most 05-06s will unless brought in previously to seal the problem areas). Not a cheap part to replace should it get permanent damage, and the harnesses can also then get corroded beyond redemption, requiring replacing as well. Oh, expect your stepper motors on the dash cluster(speed, rpm, fuel level, etc gauges) to crap out if they didn't do so on the previous owner(s). Hopefully the previous owner already had that to deal with and replaced them all.

As to which CAI, not that much difference so long as you get one that states "tune required", although there was a comparison done a few years back I had the link to, JLT was a bit higher, and the newer gens are a bit better as they're not incorporating much metal (conductive surface on CAI = slightly hotter air). Not that it likely helps much.

HxCGuitars

Apparently the new JLT series 3 is pretty dang good. A few people switched from the old one and saw actual gains, which is part of why I bought it. I love it. Either way you go, as Wayne mentioned, just make sure it's a "tune required" intake. If you want to stay low in budget but want more sound, an axle back change is a great option for exhaust.

You'll love your intake and tune!

07CSstang

definitely do the custom tunes and intake. an o/r x-pipe will help it flow a little better. hope you like the pype bombs! i'm about to order a set myself.