raybroussard

I would like to make a list of the top ten bang for you buck mods for the 05 and up Mustang Gt's just to help people out on this forum. Please feel free to correct me or add something to the list: (I am trying to list only bolt on's and mods that are affordable by your average stang owner)

1 Intake and tune package by either Diablosport or SCT (good for approx 30+ hp) <--according to advertisement (auto tranny cars should go with sct)
2 Rear end gear swap, quicker acceleration, 4.10's seem to be the best compromise for the manual cars and 3.73 or 3.90 for auto cars (0 hp gain)
3 Underdrive pulley's, reduces accessory drag for quicker acceleration (approx 5-10 hp) <--according to advertisement
4 Headers, improve your exhaust flow (shorties headers give apporx 3-10hp) longtubes (approx 15-25 depending if you go with or without cats, brand,tube diameter...etc)
5 Catback or Axle back exhaust, gives your stang a great sound but horsepower gains are questionable (I have seen no hard evidence on hp gains here) Is it a mod? sure it is!
6 Charge motion plates, this mod is supposed to be good for (approx 10hp) I have no experience with it, but it improves intake charge and air flow rate) tune required
7 Offroad X or H pipe, this mod gives you a different sound (really loud) and hp gains (approx 8-10) If you want to wake up the neighborhood, this mods for you. beware of cops!
8 62mm Throttle body, this mod scares me because it requires tooling around with the throttle by wire system, I have seend advertised gains from (10-15hp)
9 Alumium Driveshaft, you will lose a little weight with this mod and reduce rotating mass and have less vibrations at higher speeds (this mod goes well with a gear swap.(0 hp)
10 Aluminum Flywheel, once again you are freeing up some rotational mass here for quicker acceleration. (0hp)


Ok everyone, feel free to alter this list and make other suggestions, I typed this up on my free time at work, so I know there is room for improvement, I did not list other mods that are available for the 05+ mustang so lets make this a good guideline for anyone wanting to mod their stang!

Stone

I would suggest that you add a line to #1, #2, #3

Intake
diablo for a manual and SCT2 for auto
the diablo won't let you change the shift points so is not worth it for auto drivers.

Gears also not that you can't put what ever you want in there but these work the best and maybe note
that motive gears seem to have more whine problems then the Ford gears.

3.73 for auto
4.10 manual

UDP are great but an electric water pump will do you about the same, I see people either go one or the other so might be a good side note.

the 62mm throttle body I belive most people who got these took them off and ebayed them <-- not 100% so extra info from other might clear this up.

Nitrous is about $500 or so and some colder plugs to go with it think there $50 will give you some nice bolt on power.

I don't see the leaf blower turbo listed here, God I love that LOL.

Timmay!!!

As far as gears go I belive shorter gears suck up a little hp. I saw a dyno chart showing a 2-3hp loss with 3.73s, 5-6hp loss with 4.10s. But I thought gears were supposed to help the engine work easier?

Aluminum driveshafts, aluminum flywheels, and anything else that reduces rotational mass should show more power to the wheels.

marlinmon07

thats correct, when you reduce the mass of a rotating object, you reduce its inertia(or tendace to not want to move) thereby effectively increasing the rate at which it will move

td1320

Although you may see a loss of HP on a dyno I can asure you gears don't cost you HP. It is easier to get a car goig in 1st gear then 5th gear right? Well thats what you are doing when you go from 331 to 410 gears. It takes off faster and gets the car in it's torque range quicker. The fact that it loses HP on the dyno is because the dyno operator did not punch in the corection factor. The dyno is optimized for a particular gear size.

lukoi66

Anyone got any info on how to determine the potential hp gains from long tube headers? I'm looking up parts on Dynospeed's website (as I intend to be a customer there in December) but they don't mention HP gains for any of the setups. Bottom line, I cannot tell where I'd get the most bang for the buck considering what they offer.

Thanks.

ps I'm going to try the search feature here as well, but if someone's just begging to chime in, lol!!

CrazyAl

All brands of longtube headers are going to have extremely similar performance gains--so similar it's no worth splitting hairs over. Your choice on which brand of header to buy should be based on price, completeness of the kit, header material, and so forth.


The charge-motion delete plates are good for a HP gain, but according to Brent at Brenspeed, they cost you some HP at the lower RPM ranges. He recommended them only in combination with a gear swap.


Do you want to keep this list engine-only mods? Becasue if not, you are missing some major ones: Lower control arms, panhard bar, rear sway bar, and so on.


I would drop the throttle body from the list. There are many horror stories on here of people having bought them and then ended up returning them or throwing them away because it is extremely difficult to get them tuned properly. They work on the top end but screw up your idle and throttle response. I don't really know personally--maybe those problems have since been resolved, but I've never heard about anyone using one successfully whereas I've seen several people saying they tried it, and it was a waste of $$$.

howyhowy

I was ready to buy a UDP kit and the dealer told me that they can cause long term sensor problems that may not go away when the UDP's are removed.
-howy

Stone

Howyhowy, there not wrong but don't belive everything you hear from the Dealer, it's like saying using the gas peddel can cause long term engine wear, alot of people have used UDP's for many years with no problems and I mean long before the 05's came out.

UDP's could cause drive train problems
Lowering car could cause suspention problems
CAI could cause engine problem
Gears could cause drive train problems

Don't mean they will is all I am saying.

EDIT: I just looked at your post again and I am not sure he was right after all I thought it said "he told me it cause long term damage" not "mess up a censor" if you put you old pulleys back on and unhook the battery it would reset the censor as well, I can't see it comming back on inless there was damage done. but either way if you mod your car there is a chance that you will do some unforseen damage down the road , thats just the risk we take.

howyhowy

OK, I figgered if he was telling me not to give him more money, he must have really been sure about it.
-howy