Alright, I really didn't want to make another post like this but the search brought up so many different things I was a bit confused... A sticky with different starting mods would be kinda nice if we could put something like that together. But anyways...

I've got a little less than 1k to put into my as of now stock stang. It's a 2000 V6 5-speed and I'm not sure what I'd like to do. Ideally I'd like to do all the work myself so I was looking at gears and differential but I think that may be a little too difficult, even with my dad's help (he's a mechanic who would be helping me with all of it). So... some of the things I considered were short shift kit, tires and rims, CAI, Chip, Throttle Body, pulleys... Dunno what else, but I was heading more towards the performance area... I'd really like to do those gears and differential because I hate that one wheel wonder thing I got going on, lol, but I just can't justify spending $200 on labor at best, and I'm sure my dad wouldn't hear of it! So... are the gears all that hard? Anyone here actually done it themselves? Or would I just be better off going with bolt-ons and such for now? Thanks

 

Dont forget to go Dual man, its so worth the money. =]
and im hoping to throw a short shifter on my baby soon

 

Here is a good starting list.

CAI - not the best mod for making more rwhp, usually good for only 3 rwhp, but can improve mpg ever so slightly, and does noticibly boost upper end throttle responce

Exhaust - also, not that great at making rwhp, only good for 3-5 rwhp, but the sound is oh so worth it, and nicly improves both off the line, and upper end throttle responce

U/D Pullies - good for making more peak rwhp, but not much else, they are good at improving mpg and making those dynos look better

Short Shifter - a must for any manual driver, they're 10X better than stock, and can really help out with that 2nd to 3rd shift

Tuner - only good for 5-10 rwhp on 96-04 V6s, but the differences they make, and the things they allow you to do are worth the price

Gears/Differential - very good mod, the parts are cheap, but the install will drastically vary depending on area, this is also a mod that you "SHOULD NOT"attempt to do on your own because there is a special tool needed to set the correct gap space between the differential and the gears, this mod will noticibly improve accelleration, but rememer, this will not make more rwhp, just allow you to move faster using the hp you have

Nitrous Oxide - yea, it's a dirty mod, but it's the best/cheapest way to get instantanious massive amounts of hp for a decent price

Also, if you're really serious about your car you should look into ported and polished intake systems, they are a little pricy, but remember, you get what you pay for, and the gains with these types of mods are very noticible.

Things you should "NOT" get:
Throttle body - this isa good mod if you have a high performance car, but on a stock car, they're totally worthless as they need your intake to be port matched so that they can allow the added airflow to enter the intake, and even then the gains will be minimal because your stock cam is only going to allow so much air in

MAF - also a good mod for highly moded engines, but useless on stock motors

 

If you have an auto, your gonna want that shift kit. I have one and it has been my favorite mod this far.

 

jmod if your an auto

gears/lsd/tune and exhaust

 

Hey i'm looking to sell some of the stuff off my car. I got a JET Proformance Chip that I bought less than a year ago that i'll sell to you for $150 if you want it. It just plugs into the back of your ecu.

 

First off, why are people tryin to tell him bout crap for an automatic? He said 5-Speed. Read people. You NEED to have a professional put gears in. Someone put 3:55 gears in my girlfriends 5.0 (I know this is the V6 section just tryin to help) and because the instal was crappy at around 100 the shifter is leterally bouncing around so much I have to hold it in gear... www.supersixmotorsports.com may be outta your range now, but it works. So you might wanna wait until you have a LOT of money before you do that. Just throwing it out there.

 

here u go read this it should help with selecting some mods

http://3.8mustang.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113280