thanks, guys... it has 60k miles, so I don't think the switch to synthetic will really hurt anything, I just wanted to make sure there weren't any problems with the engine and synthetic (coming from a honda background, I know on some honda engines vtec won't engage with synthetic oil).

Right now I'm making up a little shopping list (felt gasket material, plastic tubing, hose clamps... yup, IAC restrictor trick and throttle cable trick (my first attempt at the throttle cable trick failed the other day when I floored it with a little too much force))... I'll probably pick up everything tomorrow and change the oil along with my little cheap mods tomorrow evening... I might cut down the radio antenna too... I hate how tall it is.

 

id only use 520 if your car is still under warrenty, no warrenty and 75k and over 530 will be more suitable, 520 IMO is just way to thin, switching to synthetic wont hurt anything, but it wont really help either, i used syn blend oil and a motorcraft filter, changed every 3-5k and never had a problem

 

Ill check into 5w30 in that case. I just like synthetic for the longer change intervals (synthetic + extended use filter = 5k change interval with no worries )

 

what "extended use filter" are you using

 

probably a Fram x2... they're supposedly good for 7k miles... I'm not looking for anything incredible, I just don't like changing my oil every 3k lol

 

I definitly don't care for Fram. Motorcraft or Mobil1 are very great filters, not too sure on how much they would cost you though...

 

I jsut run the motorcraft filter, it's inexpensive and works great.

 

Out of curiousity, how much do you pay for the MC filter? I use Mighty products becuase I get very good discounts...

 

I'll check into the MC and Mobil1 filters... I just always used Fram because they're cheap and it's what my dad always used, I never really had any complaints with them... but oh well, I can't see a MC or Mobil1 filter being all that much more expensive.

 

You must be in the Altoona area, right?