Would need to know what you consider budget friendly to offer ideas. Gears, a tuner with a canned tune, t-body/upper plenum, CAI and a cat back exhaust would be budget friendly to me but would still be well over $1k. Would give an honest 20hp bump, acceleration improvement you would feel and be needed upgrades for future modifications.
I would first start with exhaust installing a new mid pipe and catback exhaust. A cold air intake,plenum and throttle body,underdrive pulleys,gears would be the best bang for the buck,your car can always benefit from a tuner. Installing a new mid pipe would be a another best bang for the buck though because your four or six catalytic converters you have on your stock mid pipe is a big restriction.You have to decide what you want to do with your car and what direction you want to go with your car. Bolt on modifications will not gain you a lot of rwhp or rwtq.
Gears will make the car feel faster though it won't actually be. Cams can give a decent gain up top on PI-headed engines but the gains are coming at the top of the rev register. My personal opinion is that most bolt-ons are not worth it; the cylinder heads, small bores and generally tiny displacement (281 cubes...) work against seeing worthwhile gains with stuff like throttle bodies and plenums.
I'd avoid underdrive pulleys, full-stop. There was some evidence from years ago that the poor damping characteristics of some UDP cracnk pulleys could lead to oil pump failure. Simply not worth the 1-2HP you might see from them
Save for a blower. Make 281ci feel more like a good 351 for a few grand. The stock bottom end can take enough boost to make 400rwHP with reasonable safety. Also, think about suspension, chassis, brake and tire upgrades to make the thing handle and stop.
Thankyou guys for the tips but yes i believe ive got like 6 cats on it so i think a new midpipe would definitely do some good, if i put on a catted h pipe how much power could i expect and would it make me fail inspection?
Thankyou guys for the tips but yes i believe ive got like 6 cats on it so i think a new midpipe would definitely do some good, if i put on a catted h pipe how much power could i expect and would it make me fail inspection?
I have had underdrive pulleys for eleven years now with no problems or issues and I never had to replace my oil pump only my serpentine belt a few times and my idler pulley. I didn't fail inspection and I have a catted mid pipe and catback exhaust. The inspector told me before as long as you have two functioning catalytic converters on your mid pipe and two mufflers on your catback exhaust with the catback exhaust exiting to the back of your Ford Mustang you will pass inspection. The inspector was actually cool about the inspection on my Ford Mustang. You just have to make sure all your smog equipment is functioning properly when you go for your inspection and you don't have any check engine lights or warning lights on. The stock mufflers are also restrictive and heavy too and to see benefits from your new catted mid pipe you will need to install new mufflers or a catback exhaust.
Gears will make the car feel faster though it won't actually be. Cams can give a decent gain up top on PI-headed engines but the gains are coming at the top of the rev register. My personal opinion is that most bolt-ons are not worth it; the cylinder heads, small bores and generally tiny displacement (281 cubes...) work against seeing worthwhile gains with stuff like throttle bodies and plenums.
I'd avoid underdrive pulleys, full-stop. There was some evidence from years ago that the poor damping characteristics of some UDP cracnk pulleys could lead to oil pump failure. Simply not worth the 1-2HP you might see from them
Save for a blower. Make 281ci feel more like a good 351 for a few grand. The stock bottom end can take enough boost to make 400rwHP with reasonable safety. Also, think about suspension, chassis, brake and tire upgrades to make the thing handle and stop.
The car will definitely accelerate faster with lower gearing. If the OP is still running stock gearing, he would see a massive improvement and be very pleased with some 3.73s or 4.10s.
The biggest change you will see from stock is gearing; an extra 10-20hp running factory gearing is going to be uneventful, especially when you factor in the price.
Unfortunately there's not a lot of power to be had with basic bolt ons with these engines. I've seen people spend 2K over time on bolts and pick maybe 25-30hp. If they did little research they could have had a used SC set-up and picked over a 100..