I own a 2008 GT Conv, currently the only performance mod is that I replaced the stock mufflers with Pypes 409Violators, tested at a garage I saw a 9hp increase. I saved my stock mufflers just incase. So far the noise difference is minimal so I'm ok with it, so is my wife (more importantly). I did see an increase in off the line performance.

Yes, I know there are $1000 mufler sets I can get but I'm not sure it would be worth it.


I am considering the following mods:

1. Cold Air Intake (I'm thinking of the speeda CAI)
2. Aprogrammer/tuner (to go with the above)
3. 6 Gage instrment panel upgrade


Questions:

My friends tell me that if I buy and install an CAI it will invalidate my warranty and my car will be undriveable during wet weather. Is this true?

If I get the CAI and the tuner do I need to wait until my 6 guage is installed and my car is re-flashed to install it? I ask this because I heard that the reflashing would overwrite the tuning and my car would not operate with a CAI and no tuning?


Any help you guys could give is appreciated. I am a complete noob to theup to date modern mustangs, my last mustang was a 98 cobra and I had to sell it 6 years ago.

 

I would go with the CAI and tune it should only invalidate your warranty if they can prove that the part that broke was because of the CAI or tune. Plus you could just put it back to stock when you take it in. Also it is drivable in wet weather i live in hawaii and it rains alot and i drive everyday. I don't know anything about the gauges though. Good luck on your mods when you start its hard to quit.

 

A CAI and tune are the best first mods you can do to a 3v. Almost any brand is worth it, especially JLT and C&L. As far as the warranty, "Import Kill" already summed that part up. And the rain thing, the only time a CAI is dangerous during rain is if its a fenderwell CAI and if you are driving in 3 foot puddles.

 

9hp increase and an off the line performance gain from just axlebacks? Gain might of been from a cooler temp run on the dyno, not just a muffler swap.

 

+1 on the CAI and tuner. This should be the foundation for every Mustanger out there wanting to modify their Mustang. I know it dramatically changed my performance, felt like another car when I drove it. And for other Mustangs (buddies) that I drive now that don't have a tune or CAI they feel really sluggish. If you plan on doing any other mods then definitely go with a tuner and CAI. As for you question about being un-driveable during wet weather....that all depends on the driver...not the tune. I personally have my traction control disabled through my tuner...personally I think its a joke to put TC on a Mustang, but that's my opinion, and it only took me one time getting embarrased when I tried to smoke the tires in front of this ricer and the car felt like the rear end fell out of it, and it barely chirped the tiresto realize that I wanted the TC off!!!! and Im not going to reach up and hit a button everytime I think I'm gonna need to tear something up....

A tuner also has many other benifits to it; you can change the Rev. limiter, disable the speed limiter, electronically change the gears for your speedo to match a gear change, put in a high octane tune for optimal performance, among many other things. Oh yea, you can store custom tunes from the dyno on them as well.

 

I bought a Steeda CAI and I'm wating on my SCT Livewire tuner to arive, thanks for the advice.

I'm also waiting on my 6 guauge instrament cluster to arrive so my question: Since my ford dealer will be installing my 6 guage instrament cluster and reflashing my computer should I wait to install the CAI (and tune)until thats finished? I would imagine arriving with a CAI and a tune would cause an issue because after they re-flashed it would overwrite what I did and check engine light would be on.

Also, when my new mufflers were installed it was impossible for the installer to blance them, the passenger side muffler is somewhat off. I tried to adjust it myself but it dosen't seem like it will adjust. I bought pair of flowmasters and swaped them in myself and had even worse of a fit. Again, this is a 2008 GT conv. The flowmasters seemed louder at idle and slightly less louder on take off then the pypes. I noticed no difference in power from either, in fact, I even swapped the factory ones back on and now I acn say there is no noticeable difference in overall power between any. So my conclusion = just changing your muffler = no power increase.

I put the pypes back on since the fit seems almost as good as the stock and they sound cooler.

If anyone has suggestions on a quiet muffler choice that improves power I'm all ears. I figure that I don't want anything louder then the pypes violator.

 

Yea thats the general concensus, that axel backs alone really don't do much for performance.

 

Axlebacks = hardly any power
midpipe = 5-8rwhp with an off road application

Your best bang for the buck mod would be some 4.10 gears. So to really answer your question no muffler system alone is gonna give you a noticable increase in power.

 

+1 The same thing happend to me.. My TC locked up with really bad sounds in the rear I thought I killed my car. Now my TC is off all the time. Here's were I got my cai/tuner http://www.autoanything.com/?kc=affp...xid=performics. Good luck..

 

Congrats on the GT Vert!

Did you purchase your SCT with pre-loaded tunes? I have the Steeda CAI and SCT from Brenspeed and am running their 93 octaine performace tune. I saw a noticable improvement in throttle response.