2002 GT Planned mods

Hydraone · Jun 6, 2011

So I'm buying a 2002 Mustang GT. Bone stock, 65k miles, garaged, well taken care of, True Blue.

Anyway, I'm planning on modding it up a bit. I have a general idea of what I want, but I don't have much in the way of specifics.

So I want-

-Lowering springs for an aggressive stance (how much F/R is common?)
-18"x10" FR500 wheels in Black Chrome
-Shaker ram air intake
-Exhaust (Loud is good, possibly electronic cutoff?)

I don't know what brands are best for anything. This is my first project car, so I'm learning. What should I go with? Anything specific I should know or keep in mind?

Thanks in advance!

Deleted member 38176 · Jun 6, 2011

Gears should be in there somewhere. Best bang-for-the-buck mod.

superstang01 · Jun 6, 2011

If it were me my first mods would be
-gears
-full exhaust (long tube headers, midpipe, catback)
-Short throw shifter
-Subframe connecters
-Lowering Springs (if you wanna go real low get H&R SS or Eibach Sportlines)
-Rims

All of these things make the car alot more fun!

Dark04GT · Jun 6, 2011

Hydraone said:
So I want-

1.Lowering springs for an aggressive stance (how much F/R is common?)
2.18"x10" FR500 wheels in Black Chrome
3.Shaker ram air intake
4.Exhaust (Loud is good, possibly electronic cutoff?)

I numbered them for you, this is what I would do for each one:

1) Springs- the eibach pro-kit will give you a 1.5" drop all around- that is an aggressive stance. I already scrape on most speed bumps and I have a 1" drop all around with the ford racing C springs.
Eibach Pro Kit Mustang Springs at AmericanMuscle.com - Free Shipping!
2) Wheels/tires: FR 500 is a great choice. 17" wheels are lighter but they don't have them in black chrome. I would do no bigger than 9" wide in the front.
Black-Chrome FR500 Wheels (99-04) at AmericanMuscle.com - Free Shipping!
3) Air intake- I would nix the shaker ram air unless you really want it. You are not getting any gains and you are going to spend lots of money.
4) Exhaust- Start off with the basics- I would get a catback exhaust. I have the borla stinger catback (AM is having a sale on borla's too ) and I love it. There are lots of opinions about exhaust, find what works for you. Full exhaust (long tube headers, shorty midpipe, catback) will give you the most power from bolt-ons. You don't need and don't want a cutout in these cars- you can make the car plenty loud without a cutout and the cutout makes our cars sound horrible.
1999-2004 Mustang Catback Exhaust at AmericanMuscle.com - Free Shipping!

Summary (plus a little extra):
I agree with superstang's post above and would get most all of those for first mods. I'll add to the list:
-maximum motorsports CC plates to help with your alignment after the springs.
I'll subtract from the list:
-gears. Reasoning: I DD and hwy drive my stang daily and gears are not for me. Gears really are meant for if you want to drag race your car and you are looking for the best ET. I wouldn't say they are mandatory for our stangs even though many people will say they are. You need to decide if you want gears or not.

Hydraone · Jun 6, 2011

Dark04GT said:
I numbered them for you, this is what I would do for each one:

1) Springs- the eibach pro-kit will give you a 1.5" drop all around- that is an aggressive stance. I already scrape on most speed bumps and I have a 1" drop all around with the ford racing C springs.
Eibach Pro Kit Mustang Springs at AmericanMuscle.com - Free Shipping!
2) Wheels/tires: FR 500 is a great choice. 17" wheels are lighter but they don't have them in black chrome. I would do no bigger than 9" wide in the front.
Black-Chrome FR500 Wheels (99-04) at AmericanMuscle.com - Free Shipping!
3) Air intake- I would nix the shaker ram air unless you really want it. You are not getting any gains and you are going to spend lots of money.
4) Exhaust- Start off with the basics- I would get a catback exhaust. I have the borla stinger catback (AM is having a sale on borla's too ) and I love it. There are lots of opinions about exhaust, find what works for you. Full exhaust (long tube headers, shorty midpipe, catback) will give you the most power from bolt-ons. You don't need and don't want a cutout in these cars- you can make the car plenty loud without a cutout and the cutout makes our cars sound horrible.
1999-2004 Mustang Catback Exhaust at AmericanMuscle.com - Free Shipping!

Summary (plus a little extra):
I agree with superstang's post above and would get most all of those for first mods. I'll add to the list:
-maximum motorsports CC plates to help with your alignment after the springs.
I'll subtract from the list:
-gears. Reasoning: I DD and hwy drive my stang daily and gears are not for me. Gears really are meant for if you want to drag race your car and you are looking for the best ET. I wouldn't say they are mandatory for our stangs even though many people will say they are. You need to decide if you want gears or not.

Thanks man, very informative.

If you're scraping on bumbs at a 1" drop, then a 1.5" will be even worse, right? I plan to daily drive the thing, so I need a good balance of badassery and usefulness.

I only really want the shaker because the non-functional scoop on the stock GT hood really irks me. I suppose I could swap the hood and get a regular cold air intake and save some green.

Exhaust wise, I gather it's all down to preference. I think I'm going to go with Magnaflow Magnapack, unless there's any major objections. Based on the sound clips I've hunted down, it's my favorite sounding.

In regards to the gears, like I said it's going to be my daily driver, so I don't think a gearing tuned for drag racing is quite necessary.

BradleyMustang3 · Jun 6, 2011

STC Tuner from Bama Custom Tuning

if you really want all the potential out of you mods go with this tuner by Bama its super easy to set up, watch the video it explains everything

bigbird04 · Jun 6, 2011

If its a 5 speed i would do a short throw shifter first. I like my MGW , some will say tri ax or pro 5.0. Any of these will do the job. They are not too expensive, are easy to install, and greatly improve 2nd to 3rd shifts.

BradleyMustang3 · Jun 6, 2011

forgot the link

SCT SF3/X3 Power Flash Tuner w/ 3 Free Custom Tunes (99-04 GT) at AmericanMuscle.com - Free Shipping!

bigkeeko · Jun 7, 2011

Hydraone said:
I think I'm going to go with Magnaflow Magnapack, unless there's any major objections

You won`t be disappointed.

Also. Look in my sig pic. Thats an Eibach Pro Kit. Its about 1.5 inch drop. No camber castor plates and on stock shocks. My stock shocks had done 19k miles when the pro kit springs went on. Looks 100 times better than the old 4x4 look and drives fine with no bottoming out rubbing or knocking. A good compromise on a fresh car although I can see tired shock absorbers struggling with them so tread carefully.
Still, drives acceptably well considering what I want the car for. Not perfect mind as the right way to go is the full set up. No uneven tyre wear or anything noticeable after 1500 miles. Stiffer and admittedly a bit more harder over uneven roads but really an inch or inch and a half is your lot on stock shocks. My last car was a Type R Accord (I`m in the UK) so good handling wasn`t expected when I bought my Mustang.

Nightfire said it. Gears. Really. The stock 3.27s really hamper the nature of the 4.6 modular engine. They love to rev (the 4v more so) and pull well from 3000 onwards. You always read about 5.0 die hards knocking the low end pull of the 4.6. 4.10s or even 3.73s would change that. What they fail to mention is stock for stock theres no comparison in output or performance. On PI motors like yours the horsepower and torque IS there. The gears help you get it better.

2002 GT Planned mods

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