I want my 5.0 to have more go. I don't want to get into it, but i have $1200 coming my way. I've already got a mac catback and cai. I figure i'm gonna install a 100hp wet nitrous kit. What else should i get with the other $600 to make the most of my time at the strip?
Buy slicks and reinforce your cars chassis. Suspension mods will allow you to put the added power nitrous gives you to the ground. That will help huge in the et margin.
i gotta agree with everyone else, tires, subframes and some sticky tires. make sure you do your torque boxes and you'll have a fun little car, torque boxes are the cheapest of the mods but worth the safety
You can have all the horsepower you can stand, but it won't do you any good if you can't make any of it stick. Focus on traction to make the most out of what you ALREADY have, THEN worry about throwing on nitrous; if you just go throwing juice at it on a totally stock setup and street tires, you're probably going to find yourself running into a wall, or at least getting some horrible times for the amount of time/money invested.
That said, start shopping for DR's or slicks, an extra pair of rims for those, upper and lower LCA's, and torque box reinforcements. THEN start saving up for the power adder goodies. You could try running nitrous on the stock gears and see if that works out better for you, as getting too much gear can actually hurt you in the 1/4 mile (hence my crappy 15.0 @ 98 MPH / 2.2 60' time with 4.10's on a fairly stock notch - I can't get diddly for grip, and I'm already just about out of gear when I hit the traps).
A stock H/C/I Fox with proper weight reduction and a good suspension/traction setup will probably smoke a Fox with H/C/I AND nitrous if he's running street radials and OEM junk suspension. Wouldn't it feel kinda embarrassing to get whooped by someone with about $600 in mods to an otherwise stock car when you've been pouring cash strictly into making power?