Hello everyone! Ive been stalking in the background for several months now and with my new purchase decided it was time to join. Thanks for all the helpful insight throughout this sight that helped me decide what to buy.

I picked up my first Mustang on Monday and absolutelly LOVE it! It is a 2005 Mustang GT bone stock. I have not been able to narrow down if it is a delux or premium, but it has leather seats and so on. My last "hotrod" was my Camaro I bought new in 1989, a IROC, which was then sold in 2008 to support my new habbit... making children . After test driving everything from Subaru WRX to Dodge Challengers I kept going back to this GT. She was lightly used from the last owner that bought her new and basically kept her in new condition in the garage outside of sunny Sunday drives. I am very lucky to have been the one to find her. My dealer really came through.

SOOOOO what I plan to do now is modify lightly to get some more performance and sound out of her. Just my first run through my list which I am sure to change later includes axle back Flowmaster Hushpower exhaust, and CAI kit including the tune to wake up the motor. Im thinking the JLT kit from americanmuscle or latemodelrestoration will work nice. I just need to research some more to see which of their tuners is better if in fact it matters. My end result I am aiming for is something simular to what I got when I stage oned my Harley which made the bike a totally differnt animal but nothing crazy.

With what I listed above is just a shot in the dark with browsing here and reading other internet articles. I am new to this mod game since I didn't touch my IROC or any cars before that. I want to put the $ into the car so I am going to do the work myself if I can. My MAIN goal is not to kill the mpg since I do drive this as my primary to work.

Any helpful hints are welcome. Ill update with pics as my project progresses. Again, thanks for all the helpful info already on this site. Its amazing how a simple search will yield results for almost every question I have had to date.

Ben

My Camaro I sold;


And now my new lady;

 

Dont ask me why that picture is upside down. It isnt on photobucket... Sorry about that. She is one of those special anti gravity models!

 

Sorry everyone, is it possible to move this to New Member area? I just came across it after missing it prior to writing this.

 

You are on the right track with mods

Cai+tune for some power
3.73 or 4.10 gears for some giddy up (i run 4.10s on my DD)
Axle backs for sound
Lower Control Arms
Thats where i would start

Later-

Headers
Mid pipe
Lowering springs
Tires/wheel
Underdrive pulleys

Ill add to it that a new shifter will mak the car feel quite different, i feel like im driving a more aggressive vehicle since installing my hurst. Honestly had i not gotten such a good deal i would have bought an mgw.

Everything listed makes for a decent DD without killing mpg too much
I was averaging 22-23mpg stock, now im averaging 21 with a pretty aggressive 93 octane tune and 4.10s.

 

Welcome to the Mustang forums and Congratulations on the awesome pick up!

Please let me know if you ever have any questions or need some assistance in the future!

-Dan

 

Hi, congrats and welcome.

 

Thats funny as heck... Your first list is exactly what I formed from reading on here.

I went with FRPP exhaust/intake. Now I need to nail down the 4.10 gears, and lower control arms. Id be open for any input. Are both those installs something I can do with basic tools? I do have a guy with a shop but his along with every mechanic locally has an insane hourly rate. Like I said before, I want to put the cash into the car not someones pocket.

Thanks for the lists. Thats helps me see some sort of goal.

 

Thanks Dan. Ive compared prices between your company and latemodelrestoration.com, which both seem to be very nice in terms of finding ideas and making the purchase. I took advantage of the 7% off latemodel had for the holiday plus the full CAI/tune/axle back kit by FRPP they had marked down.

I will spread my money around though. I like your handling package video/parts and plan to head that way next since major HP gains are not my real goal. Just trying to wake the motor up, better sound, and then handling.

Im not sure what they are called but ive seen some Mustangs with an aggressive lower front bumper (lip?) that makes the car look plain mean. That may need to be first if I can figure out how to do it on my own and keep it nice.

Thanks for the response and offering great service.

 

Lca's (lower control arms) are a breeze, I bought mine from upr and love em. Prob 20-30 minutes to install

Gears require time and know-how. Id suggest paying someone. Youre looking at about 5 1/2 hrs of labor. 250-350 is average.

And the thing you are thinking of is a chin spoiler.

 

Congrats on the new ride. Love the color.