Hello all. First post here, but long time online forum user. I have a question and I know that the forums are where the true enthusiasts hang so here goes...

My father recently purchased a new 5.0 convertible. The car is bone stock and he loves it but he's been bitten by the mod bug (thanks partially to me I'm sure).

So the question is, with an initial budget of around $2k, what mods would you perform first and why? He's looking for a combination of streetable performance and tasteful appearance upgrades. Also, keep in mind that this is his daily driver and will probably never see a track.

My initial impulse was intake, exhaust, and reprogramming but I would really like to see what the experts have to say. Thanks in advance for the responses.

 

Definitely a tune. I got a SCT tuner with 3 93 octane tunes and could not be happier. There are a few vendors here and each will probably net similar results.

 

2k to spend on mods, i would get an intake and tuner combo, catback, and springs for performance. cal. special front lower air dam, gt500 rear spoiler, and tint the lights for looks. its almost worth it to wait till next year, maybe the price on some things will go down and 2k would go further.

 

It may not be the very first mod you want, but if he is going to be getting on the gas hard and has all season tires, maybe some summer tires would be a good 'mod'.

 

A true cold air intake and a tune, that will make pop's really happy!!

 

Thanks for the responses so far. Looks like we're going to go with CAI, tune, and catback. I'm thinking the Magnaflow Comp catback. Any recommendations on intake and tuner? Thanks again.

 

JLT CAI, BBR 3" Off Road X-pipe, BBR Xtreme Tune 11 second combo package.

 

Take a look at Youtube and listen to the different axle backs currently out there. Depending on your dad's idea of 'loud', there are quite a few choices.

For loudest of the loud, as far as axle backs go (this is barring the assortment of X/H pipes and headers, of course) the Magnaflow competition axle back is pretty damn loud. This is what I run on my car.

For the quieter side of things, but still a definite increase in volume over stock, definitely consider the GT500 axle back. It is widely regarded as the best sounding axle back to date, and is a pretty decent bargain, comparatively.

You, like me, are probably in the mindset of louder is better! Consider what your dad might want over the long term, though. Convertibles are for cruising and road trips - the Magnaflow competition axle back has a LOT of drone at interstate speeds. If he ever plans on opening up the headers and/or X/H pipe, having the competition axle back will definitely exacerbate the drone issue, not to mention unwanted attention from the other five-oh's..

As far as intake and tune goes, you can't really go wrong with any company. Newer information has shown that JLT's intake flows a decent bit more than Steeda's, but I'm not sure if that was a manufacturer claim or an individual. I've only heard it once, so take it with a grain of salt. The tune is where the real power lies, anyhow.

For your tuner, any of the big-wig's will work well. Brenspeed, American Muscle, Livernois, Lethal Performance, Evolution Performance, Steeda, you name it, they can tune it. Livernois has recently had quite a big impact on the scene, as they have several people on this forum putting down 420+ rwhp running their tunes. American Muscle and Steeda, however, constantly show their commitment to the community, as you will regularly see them posting in threads, offering suggestions and diagnostic help.

So, if you were dead-set on any company in particular, hopefully I have thoroughly confused you into re-thinking it all!

 

I just put on the roush axleback it is pretty loud with almost no drone at highway. and if u are not on it it idles like stock i got mine for 370 dollars i am happy with it

 

I dropped 6 tenths of a second with just a tune from BBR on my 2011 5.0