Bolt-on Question

[Bryan_D]

I am looking at doing some bolt on mods to my 01 GT but am a little lost on what order/importance I should do things. I am a bit new to the Mustang world, only had the car for about a year. So far I have put a K&N air filter and a Borla Stinger exhaust on my GT. I am stuck as to what to do next. There are so many things I can put on but what order should I go in. My plans are for as follows:
Throttle body BBK 73 MM
Tuner, leaning BAMA but still researching
Perfomance Automatic valve body with a trans cooler
Intake manifold but haven't even started looking at that.
H-Pipe and headers.
Somewhere in there will be a Baer big brake kit and suspension(lowering springs, shocks, etc). My question is what is the next logical step, I was going to purchase the TB today but realized that it may not be the best thing to purchase at the moment and there may be something that would be a more logical step.
Little more info.
4.6L V8
4R70W Auto Trans
100+k miles
Transmission is a concern because it is doing the shudder that I have read about and learned that a trans cooler will help. My thought was to do that first as it could help with shifting and still give me some oomph.
Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mineral4.6]

get suspension out of the way. Good suspension will support any and all other modifications. Most ppl jump to gears. 4.10 works best for an auto.

 

[Bryan_D]

Thanks for the quick reply Mineral.
When doing suspension is it necessary to do everything all at once, camber plates, shocks, struts, springs, sway bars. Or can they pretty much be done individually or a couple at at time?

 

[Sharad]

I suggest tires & suspension since they are the foundation to performance. It's okay to do the suspension a little bit at a time, but it's good to formulate a plan ahead of time so you don't end up buying the same type of part twice. For example, it's good to choose whether your goal is handling or drag and select the appropriate parts to achieve that goal.

 

[Bryan_D]

Thanks for the advice, Sharad.
I went ahead and ordered some parts to get me started. Lowering Springs and Bushings and threw a serpentine belt and gauge insert in with it, figured it was a good place to start. Going to do shocks and struts the next payday I have set aside for car parts and then sway bars after that and finally caster camber plates. Tires will be coming with new rims and I am saving up for those.
I plan on this car being mainly street/drag. Not looking to go too crazy but want to have some respectable times on the strip and be able to have an enjoyable ride on the street. I am still learning and love it, these cars are a blast to work on and my brother (auto restorer/sorta mechanic) helps a lot. And looks like stangnet is going to be a staple to my research resources.

 

[Mineral4.6]

If you are leaning towards a daily drag weekend car go for rear upper and lower control arms and some sub frame connectors and a good set of tires. That will help with launching and also help if your going for an autocross car. You don't have to do full suspension at once, but as you get in to it its smart to buy things that work together. When buying lowering springs pick up some caster camber plates. After lowering the car with stock suspension your camber will be off, and caster plates help that issue. Also think about struts and shocks, you going to be in there any ways. If you can afford to gather as many parts as possible so that when you do the springs you can tackle other things at the same time. But it doesn't have to work that way and believe me not all of us can afford to do these modification all at once. You can always save your money and buy a complete suspension kit from Team z. I believe there kits are $1500-$2300 but I'm not positive.

 

[Bryan_D]

Thanks Mineral.
Control arms and sub frame connectors are what I was forgetting in my list. I will have to move my caster camber plates up my list then as I just purchased the springs. I am definitely one of those people who can't afford all at once but will be doing it piece by piece. I will probably wait to put the springs on until I get the caster camber plates as it would seem they are better together.

 

[restomod66]

THE biggest bang for your buck in terms of "seat of the pants" performance gains will be 4.10 gears. The engines in these cars tend to be a little soft on the low end & even more so bolted to the automatic & its ratios. To be completely honest with you these cars don't respond all that well to bolt-ons & most guys will be hard pressed to even crack 300hp to the wheels with just about every bolt-on available. If you want to really make power you've got to open up the wallet & go forced induction to make real power here. That being said I would throw a set of gears in it, bolt up a killer exhaust system so it sounds good & do suspension work to truly enjoy driving the vehicle. These cars sound & look amazing to this day IMO but let's keep it real, a modern day V6 or even some 4 bangers will outgun our 2V's haha. Happy modding!

As a side note- I'm running H & R SS springs which offer the biggest drop & I never had to purchase CC plates b/c they were able to get it aligned to spec. I've had the springs for years now with no premature tire wear. I know lots of guys who never needed to do them either when lowering their New Edge.

 

[Bryan_D]

Thanks for the advice restomod.
Gear are something I hadn't thought about until recently but something that i have been reading people talking about and now the idea is in my head. I have yet to fully research and look into it but its there, nagging.
Forced Induction was one of those things that I have looked at briefly and was torn between doing it and not doing it. I have been talking it over from time to time with my brother as well and still on the fence. If I do it, most likely, it will be some time down the road after I get some of the lower priced mods taken care of, that and I'm gonna have to save for it as that's a big expense.
For the springs I went with Ford Racing ones and haven't ordered the caster camber plates. Might go ahead and install the springs and take it to a shop to get them aligned. If all is good then might not need to order them.

 

[Mineral4.6]

If forced induction is in your future might as well start saving money now, and if you really want to buy parts just focus on suspension. You don't want to waste money on headers and other bolt on if it's not going to work with a turbo/supercharger.

 

[Bryan_D]

After restomod mentioned it, I checked out prices and what would need to be done to throw a turbo or supercharger in there. The first thing I noticed is it costs more than my car, that was a tad scary. Second, it looks like the engine needs to be reworked beforehand. Its a bit much and I really don't know if its something I want to do at the moment or anytime in the near future, far future maybe.
Right now I am going to shoot for suspension and get that all worked out and then probably go for the gears and valve body w/cooler. Those are things in my price range and are fairly easy to do or have a shop do.
So far springs and isolators are ordered, I'm shooting for shocks and struts after that, sway bars and control arms after that. Should give me a good start. Once that is all done, sometime this summer, I'll get the transmission stuff done. Sometime next year or sooner, tires, rims and brakes. Figure once those are done I can go with and H-pipe. Figure that will be the next year of parts and should keep me pretty busy and give me some nice upgrades.

I have to say this forum is so far rocking it, I was pretty lost before I came here. Now I have so many things to look at and figure out. I look forward to the next year of working on my car and sharing with this community and any advice that is given.

 

[Deleted member 38176]

I've got a 4R70 on mine as well. An auxiliary cooler is ALWAYS a good idea. Heat is what kills these tranny's. Run it in series with the stock cooler (stock cooler is in the radiator, run it as follows: from tranny to stock cooler, from stock cooler to aux cooler, from aux cooler back into the tranny).

Seeing as you're an auto like me, GEARS GEARS GEARS! Gears were the best bang-for-the-buck mod on mine. Do not go 3.73, our auto's need 4.10's

Next, full-length subframe connectors. Weld-in style, install somewhere that has a drive-on lift. Suspensions needs to be loaded while they are welded in

Forget anything intake-wise except a CAI. TB and/or plenum wont do a thing on your car

As far as exhaust, O/R mid-pipe or bust. Cats are a big restriction.

I bought my 02 GT in the stage much like yours is. Now Im full bolt-on with forced induction and just about everything else. I went through the trials and errors and know what works and what doesn't. Im in the process of installing a COMPLETE Team Z suspension and swapping over to an 04 Cobra longblock. If I can be an help, PM me

 

[Mattstang04]

Call me crazy but I would look into that transmission shudder you originally spoke of. Hate for your to get a nice suspension setup just to watch your car sit in the driveway with a busted transmission. That aside, happy modding.

 

[Bryan_D]

Thanks Nightfire. Question along the lines of CAI, might sounds stupid but here goes. What is the difference between a CAI and the stock intake if I change out the filter to a K&N? I am a bit confused as to what they exactly do if you are already pulling in air through the filter from outside and I thought it was already a straight pipe to the engine. I am guessing I am missing something about how a CAI works, maybe?

Hey Mattstang. I am a bit concerned about the shudder but have read a bunch of posts and the consensus seems to be split between getting a trans cooler and a problem with the torque convertor. I am being optimistic and hoping it just needs a trans cooler. Going to be taking it into a trans shop and get them to flush it and then I'll be installing the cooler. They aren't too pricey so could do it at just about anytime. It would suck greatly if it was just sitting there as this is my only car at the moment and the motorcycle is in disrepair after a bad accident I had on it. But that's a whole other project.

 

[Mineral4.6]

True CAI are longer, placing the filter into the fender/bumper area taking it out of the engine bay. they also won't be made out of plastic, and one have flex tubes with ridges that restrict the flow.

 

[Bryan_D]

That makes sense. Some recommend the type that go into the wheel well, but I live in the far northwest corner of Washington State and, well, it rains like 90% of the year, so that is a no go cause I don't want to be sucking water into the engine. Are they still as effective if they don't sit outside the engine bay? Looking at the design they seem to have a port that leads out to the wheel well if they sit inside the engine bay.
Sorry if some of these questions are obvious, just want to do this right.

 

[Mineral4.6]

I live about 30 minutes from Seattle, I was worried at first, but I haven't had an issue. And the car has been a Washington car before I bought it. It came with the CAI.

 

[Bryan_D]

Awesome. Thanks Mineral. Glad to have someone who understands Washington's weather and the rainy pain it is.

 

[Bryan_D]

Had a little extra cash this week after paying bills so I ordered a CAI. It's the SR Performance one on American Muscle. Read a bunch on it and its got a bunch of good reviews and it was only $80. The rest of them are all above $200 and that's just a bit much.

 

[Mineral4.6]

If it comes with filter oil, buy some MAF cleaner and spray the MAF a few days to a week after the filter is on. Even when it is dry oil will blow back and build up on your sensor. I'm considering switching to a dry filter.