a few ? about performance parts

[duzy]

ok I have a 03 mustang gt with 3.73 gears, full exhaust(long tubes h-pipe flows), CAI, bbk 78mm throttle body/plenum, underdrive kit. I have a few questions of what I should do next. I was wondering out of this list what i should do next and why?

P.I. heads
a set of cams
nitrous
intake manifold
or something else

Give me your feed back and tell why I should do the mod or if I should do it at all. And also let me know what company and size cam and all that. thank you.

 

[sneaky98gt]

You already have PI heads.

Cams are nice, but may not be cost effective. You are looking at $600 for the cams, $150+ to get them degreed correctly, $400+ tune. And that's assuming you do all the labor. All of this for maybe 40 rwhp. BUT, the car will sound great and they will compliment any further mods.

Nitrous is very nice. Regardless of the stigma it often gets, it's a great power adder for a street car. 125+ horsepower at the turn of a knob, with absolutely no ill effects on any other driving. Hard to beat. And you can have a nice kit for less than $750.

Intake manifold is complete waste of money unless you are already making a lot of power.

Do you already have a programmer? If not, I'd recommend it. It will add a few horsepower, and it's needed for any big future mods anyway.

 

[duzy]

exactly what im looking for. No i do not have a programer what would be a good programer, and how much? I was looking at a 100 shot. what cams and size should i get? I got a tuner that can hook me up. Scratch the heads, cause their already good heads? And no intake mani?

 

[slayerripkdc]

How much are you looking to spend? Sneaky hit it right on the button. Trick flow heads and cams will give you really nice gains especially if you do all the work your self otherwise it can get very expensive. Personally I would say save for a supercharger and call it a day!

 

[duzy]

yea I want to eventually get a twin screw charger, but i want to do some work before that. A lot of people have been talking about the trick flow heads and cam. If I get just the cams what would I have to upgrade to the heads if I dont want to replace them, or would it just be easier to replace the heads? I am not the best with money right now, but want an idea of what to do when I do get the money.

 

[BlackArtemis]

Those trick flow heads and cam might cost you the same as a blower setup, a bit less since you want a twinscrew, but still big $.

What exactly do you want. If you are thinking heads, cams, twinscrew. You want over 600+hp? don't forget to build up the rest of your drive train and build the engine to handle it all.



If you state your goals ie:
an 11second car
or you want to do some Auto X
or just a mild street/strip car.

We could probably chime in on what mods are best and in what order.

If I only had $400 or so to spend, it would be on a tuner. You will pick up 10-20+ hp depending on what fuel you decide to go with. i believe bama tunes on AM got 23hp more just ona tune and 93octane.
I just did my headers and then tuned it, felt quite a difference even though i kept my tune at 87 octane.

If i had more money to spend, I would do some basic suspension mods, but i don't want a huge HP car. For you, perhaps getting the tuner and then saving $3k while you figure out what route to go is best.

 

[Sharad]

ok I have a 03 mustang gt with 3.73 gears, full exhaust(long tubes h-pipe flows), CAI, bbk 78mm throttle body/plenum, underdrive kit. I have a few questions of what I should do next. I was wondering out of this list what i should do next and why?

P.I. heads
a set of cams
nitrous
intake manifold
or something else

Give me your feed back and tell why I should do the mod or if I should do it at all. And also let me know what company and size cam and all that. thank you.

How about upgraded tires & suspension so you can effectively utilize the power you already have?

 

[Deleted member 38176]

If you are pretty sure that you will be going forced induction in the near future, I would hold off on the heads/cams until after you get a blower and get some blower cams and stage 3 heads.

If I were you, I would start looking into suspension. I too was the guy who was solely interested in raw power.....but then I began researching suspension. I have just about the same mods you do and I am done with power-adding mods for now. I am all about suspension. Upgrading the suspension will completely transform how your car behaves.

My input would be to look into shocks/struts and maybe even the control arms.

 

[txredgt]

Also a set of FLSC's cannot be overlooked. Shocks and springs will change how the car performs as well as the looks of it. That or the tuner would be the route I would go if it were my car. I'd probably choose the first two options vs the tuner as you won't feel that much difference int he tuner vs the other mods.

 

[Stumbaugh]

Suspension is what you need to be looking into to.

 

[duzy]

k suspensions it it then were going to switch this into a suspension forum. give me a list of suspension parts and layout of what to get. name brand and where to get it

 

[Stumbaugh]

k suspensions it it then were going to switch this into a suspension forum. give me a list of suspension parts and layout of what to get. name brand and where to get it

What are your plans for the car?

Just a heads up, you are going to get a ton of different opinions about suspension stuff, mainly, the brand that you use.

You are going to want some full length subframe connectors, some lower control arms, and new shocks/struts/springs/caster camber plates regardless of what you use the car for.

 

[duzy]

i want to make it a fast street/strip car for now but once i get a dd that will be my strip car(later in the future)

 

[Sharad]

Obviously, I agree with these guys about the importance of suspension. I'm pretty enthusiastic about suspension setups on street/strip cars... then again, it's what I do for a living, so I guess it's a good fit for me.

Stumbaugh's list is pretty solid. As a site sponsor, I'm not allowed to make a brand recommendation, but I can tell you that you needn't look any farther than the forum sponsors right here on stangnet to get into a top quality suspension system that will work really well on the street AND the strip!

 

[Stumbaugh]

i want to make it a fast street/strip car for now but once i get a dd that will be my strip car(later in the future)

My car is the exact same.

This is a list of all my suspension stuff:

UPR single adjustable lower control arms with spherical bushings
UPR double adjustable upper control arms with spherical bushings
UPR spherical housing bushings
Stock rear springs cut 1 coil
air bag in right rear
UPR full length subframe connectors
UPR tubular K member
UPR tubular A Arms
UPR front coilover kit
UPR 3 bolt billet caster camber plates
Strange 10 way adjustable shocks and struts
No front or rear swap bars
UPR Torque Box reinforcements

Needless to say, my car hooks very well, on the street or at the track. I am a firm believer in UPR's products, they are the only suspension stuff that I will run on my car. The spherical bushings are a little noisy on the street, but after a day or 2, I got used to it.

If it was me, I would get the subframe connectors first, followed by upper and lower control arms, then shocks and struts, then get the K member kit, and caster/camber plates.

 

[duzy]

good deal man thank you

 

[BurningRubber]

I imagine this has already been said, but I skipped the posts.

Cheapest, most effective way to get a 2v to run hard:

Intake, exhaust, gears, suspension (good springs, shocks/struts, full length subframe connectors and lower control arms are really a good basic setup), nitrous.

Get a good tune, install an SVT Focus fuel pump (pre-tune, of course) and throw a 125 shot at it.

If you decide to go the nitrous route, don't bother with heads or cams. You can easily exceed the capabilities of the stock shortblock with a simple jet change and put that 1k+ elsewhere for the cams, associated parts, install labor, etc.


I spent $416 to my door on a Harris Speed Works wet plate kit a couple of Black Fridays ago. By far the most fun I've ever had with the car, and I'm running the kit bare bones as could be. Literally put it on the car, changed my plugs and fuel filter, adjusted some parameters with my tuner and let it eat.

 

[Sharad]

My car is the exact same.

This is a list of all my suspension stuff:

UPR single adjustable lower control arms with spherical bushings
UPR double adjustable upper control arms with spherical bushings
UPR spherical housing bushings
Stock rear springs cut 1 coil
air bag in right rear
UPR full length subframe connectors
UPR tubular K member
UPR tubular A Arms
UPR front coilover kit
UPR 3 bolt billet caster camber plates
Strange 10 way adjustable shocks and struts
No front or rear swap bars
UPR Torque Box reinforcements

Needless to say, my car hooks very well, on the street or at the track. I am a firm believer in UPR's products, they are the only suspension stuff that I will run on my car. The spherical bushings are a little noisy on the street, but after a day or 2, I got used to it.

If it was me, I would get the subframe connectors first, followed by upper and lower control arms, then shocks and struts, then get the K member kit, and caster/camber plates.

Thanks for the recommendation!