ricklmesa@cox.net

My exhaust was sent out today fed ex, they said it would arrive in 2-3 days. So hopefully by Saterday I can get it on.

But my main reason for posting is what should I mod next? I was wanting to do the gears and t-lok thing but I have a few questions cause Im all new to these type of mod's.

1. After my exhuast is installed should I get my car tuned along with my CAI? Or should I just wait and get it after my gears & t-lok? Will tuning your car for intake & exhaust void the warrenty? Will tuning my car at all void the warrenty? Once I tune it I dont want to haft to take it back and have it retuned everytime I go in for a check up is this something to worry about?

2. Second for the poeple who know and have done it, does it pretty much void the warrenty if you have different gears put in?

3. If I bought the Ford Racing T-Lok and had ford put it in would it void my warrenty. ( or is the whole warrenty good untill they found something that went wrong caused by the aftermarket part I had put in the vehicle

4. What is the difference between 3.10 & 4.10 gears? Will the gears actually go through the rpms faster? If pretty much building a 1/4 mile car which would I be looking into? Will it make all my gears shorter?Not sure what it actually does. What would my top out speed be about? ? I wouldn't be in 5tHighway drivingh gear doing 90 mph topped out not even crossing the 1/4 line would I? lol

Has anyone who has had gears or tlok installed ever had trouble with them?

How much is it about including parts & labor?

Should I wait till the warrenty is up to start these types of mods?

I think I about covered everything but I just want to know if anyone has installed a lighter flywheel in there car? Or an aluminum driveshaft. Or even a shift kit,

would love to hear the imput from all THANKS

rygenstormlocke

1. After my exhuast is installed should I get my car tuned along with my CAI? Or should I just wait and get it after my gears & t-lok? Will tuning your car for intake & exhaust void the warrenty? Will tuning my car at all void the warrenty? Once I tune it I dont want to haft to take it back and have it retuned everytime I go in for a check up is this something to worry about?

Yes, you should get it tuned along with a CAI for max gains. You will need the tuner to change the gear ratio once you have them installed, but a tune isn't required after them. It will only void your warrenty if they can prove it, but to be on the safe side I would set your tune to original before you take it to the dealer.

2. Second for the poeple who know and have done it, does it pretty much void the warrenty if you have different gears put in?

Not to my knowledge, I mean FR makes gears. My dealer didn't say it would. Now 4.30s I don't know, perhaps.

3. If I bought the Ford Racing T-Lok and had ford put it in would it void my warrenty. ( or is the whole warrenty good untill they found something that went wrong caused by the aftermarket part I had put in the vehicle

It wont void your warrenty if you have them do it, but it will cost a bunch to have them do it. Pretty much any significant mod will question your warrenty, but Ford does have to prove the mod did the damange. Only problem with that is while that is sorting out, it may take awhile and you will be left with an un-drivable car. But exhaust, professional tune, CAI, gears and tlok are safe mods.

4. What is the difference between 3.10 & 4.10 gears? Will the gears actually go through the rpms faster? If pretty much building a 1/4 mile car which would I be looking into? Will it make all my gears shorter?Not sure what it actually does. What would my top out speed be about? ? I wouldn't be in 5tHighway drivingh gear doing 90 mph topped out not even crossing the 1/4 line would I? lol

Your car comes stock with 3.30's, and your choices are 3.73, 4.10 and 4.30's though I havent heard of anyone running 4.30's. If your car is a manual, then I suggest going with 3.73's, if your car is a auto like mine you will want 4.10s so you get higher revs to keep up with a stick. Yes, you are right, you will go through the rpms faster. For example, at 80mph, I am at 2900ish rpm. Of all my mods, the gears and tlok are my favorite, makes the car take...OFFFFF.


Has anyone who has had gears or tlok installed ever had trouble with them?

I did have problems, the first shop that installed mine didn't know what they were doing, and I got bad gear whine cause they didn't shim them properly. Luckily I caught it in time and got it sorted out before I damanged the gears. Google for mustang clubs in your geographical area, and contact them. They should be able to refer you to a shop that does only mustangs. If you get to the shop and see a bunch of rice, leave!!!!! LOL, that is what happened to me, the first shop I went to did mostly ricers. Big mistake on my part. You live and learn.

How much is it about including parts & labor?

Gears and TLOK install should cost you between $250-324. Though the good "Mustang" shops quoted me $300.

Should I wait till the warrenty is up to start these types of mods?

LOL, you are on a mustang forum, most of us are fanatics about the performance of our cars. Sure we have some appearance mods only people here, but thats a loaded question. Most will tell you to do it. If you want to be on the safe side, then yes, wait. But I started with an appearance mod on mine, with no intention of modding my car now look at my list...and I got a major power adder on the way. Hell, look at Jimp and Scrming, they are running N20 already, and Scrming said he had no intentions of modding his car when he bought it.

Hmmm....so, just to lead by example...my vote is NO. LOL.

I think I about covered everything but I just want to know if anyone has installed a lighter flywheel in there car? Or an aluminum driveshaft. Or even a shift kit,

Flywheel, driveshaft or shift kit, nope don't know anyone thats done it yet. Though I am pricing out a C5 tranny. LOL.


And lastly, welcome to the club!!! There are a lot of good people on here so enjoy. So, how about a pic of your ride, what color is it, etc.

scrming

what he said!!! LOL!

The warranty question get raised a lot... No single mod will void your entire warranty. If my power window switch goes out they can't claim my warranty is void because I have Nitrous and not fix it.... The dealership (and Ford) have to be able to show that your specific mod caused the failure... Now here's were the fun begins... some dealerships are more of a pain to deal with than others.. I seen one guy posted that his dealership tried to blame his aftermarket exhaust for causing his front end popping, which happened to be a well known spring problem with a TSB... Then on the other hand I have a great dealership. I took my car in with my Nitrous completely installed in plain sight, helmet in the back seat and big numbers from the drag strip still on the windows and had them fix my defective Throttle Position Sensor.. was covered under warranty even though my Zex N20 kit was actually tapped into the TPS wire! Now if I blow the motor up that will be a very different story..... LOL!

I also see a number of folks say "I'm not going to mod until after my warranty is up...." hmmmm... I guess I don't understand that logic.... So you wait until 36,001 miles to put that big S/C on... and you pop the motor... It costs the same to fix whether you had 36,001 miles or you had 35,999...

Oh, an rygen is right... I had no intentions of doing much to my V6... a few little appearance mods and that was going to be it... LOL! The i came down with that horrible modification addiction... it's like an itch... once you scratch it... well... you know... LOL!

rygenstormlocke

LOL. Maybe he will get caught up in the arms race too?

ricklmesa@cox.net

Yea I already feel the need to keep moding this thing, especially after I saw what the outcome HP was 193 to 200. It already has me thinking about SC's. The zex thing is cool but lets face it that can't be good for the engine after a while and the fact that its not there all the time like a SC or TC kills the idea for me. But its very impressive 254 at the rear wheel!!! crazy, I want that all the time.!!

Now when I want to get it tuned what do you guys suggest? I was going to buy the SCT Xcal 2 for $400 but I read that some people had trouble doing it them selves. It just seems like nothing I want to really mess with, what if I cant get my car started after I try to tune it!! I trip out on stuff like that. Could I just take my car in somewere and have them do it? Or Do I still haft to have my own tuner? I heard that proffessional tune from a shop would be better than tunning it your self yea?

Thanks for the imput

rygenstormlocke

For the Zex, if you get the racers kit it comes with remote bottle opener, bottle heater, purge and pressure gauge. To me, that is always on, considering all the switches are within arms reach. LOL. The Zex kit is actually the safest kit I researched, and a good way to get power without dropping 4 k. But, my ulitmate plans are leaning towards Zex and turbo, LOL.

For a tuner, it depends on what the shops near you use. I originially went with a pred cause of the deal from rpmoutlet.com with the AFE, but come to find out the pred sucks on autos and no local performance shops in my area did them. Only SCT! If you can find a good local shop it's always good to go with them, because they can do a professional tune/dyno.

But, you can get by with a stock tune, I am at 193 RWHP with a stock tune, but ..... my TQ numbers are all messed up. So initially going with a stock tune is ok, but for the serious performance stang owner you need a pro to do it, so they can look at your AF levels and tweak you to the max.

Heck, if you want a pred for cheap you can buy mine for $100, but it won't do you any good if none of the shops do them. Though I hear preds are good for manuals.

scrming

Actually the 254RWHP is not all that great... it will easily be surpased by guys with the S/C units... what I don't think they'll be able to match is the 384RWTQ! LOL! That's the part that I love! Actually the Zex kit with the 100HP jets is a very safe setup on the 4.0. We've seen no problem what so ever with it... even looking at the spark plugs, they looked great... I've got about 30 passes at the track and a dozen or more dyno pulls... and if you look you'll find a bunch of guy running Nitrous in their 4.0 Rangers that are holding up quite well... I think if you take the precautions (like not spraying unless your WOT and the engines not bogging) and use something like the Zex (which monitors bottle pressure and adjust the fuel) you can get a lot of life out of your 4.0... I know I plan on it! LOL! Remember Torque is what sit you back in the seat! LOL!

So the thing is I could get a remote bottle opener... BUT... even 190RWHP and 4.10 gears gets me in trouble around here... I can't imagine what would happen with 300RWHP all the time! LOL!

Ok.. now don't tell anyone... BUT... i don't even know the right end of a screwdriver... but even I can use and X-Cal2! It is very very simple... I have never had any trouble... My X-Cal2 kind of hung the other day in the middle of doing my car... I thought for sure it would make my car unstartable... I was wrong... car started right up... If you plan on doing any kinds of performance mods a tuner is pretty much mandatory.. Most of here are using the X-Cal2.. Of all the mods i've done the X-Cal2 is a MUST HAVE mod! LOL!

chrisc

i know that a few of the shops around my area actually carry the xcal and will just retune the car there, so you dont have to buy one

but if you get two or more tunes it is probably worth it to buy the unit and learn how to use it, having each tune and dyno costing $250ish

rygenstormlocke

Are you sure, once a SCT/PRED is used, it is "married" to the code on that particular car. I.E. it cannot be reused on another car except for data logging. Because of this, anyone getting serious about modding must get a tuner of some sort.