Bottlenecks in a stock GT

[Teh stallion]

I've been trying to figure out what mod to do next my 01 GT (not that I've done a whole lot to it anyway -see sig), and I'd like to go with something for performance rather than appearance. I'm a poor college student so I don't have a lot of money (going to have to stay n/a for now). I'm curious from people who know the car a little better than I do what the bottlenecks are, what the restrictive components are on a stock GT where there is a lot of potential for improvement. Hypothetically, for example, if the throttle body is restrictive, then it might do me some good to get a better one, whereas if the stock air intake is pretty good, going with an aftermarket CAI is pretty worthless. That's the kind of information I'm looking for.

I know a lot of people highly recommend underdrive pulleys to regain horsepower from accesories. Does anyone know what all of the accessories are that run on pulleys? The only one I know of for sure is the water pump pulley, because Steeda points out that the design of that pulley changed in the middle of my year. Also, has anyone noticed adverse effects of reducing the power to the accessories using underdrive pulleys that would for some reason not make it worth it, or is the reduction pretty safe and adversely unnoticable?

Anyway, I'm open to suggestions. Thanks!

I think every one is forgetting to suggest subfram conectors, if hes going to be taking it from a dig he needs gona need that or he will be seing to ground through his floor pan!! after that, i don't know what to suggest. i don't have the v8

 

[Graham052]

I would also agree with what most are suggesting, gears, shifter, and midpipe are where you want to start.

:OT: where do you go to school?

 

[DrK MrK iV]

Don't bother with the Plenum and T/B... I got a C&L plenum with a 70mm TB and didn't notice anything. I know Im going to have to get more mods to open it up... But for now it isn't doing too much.

 

[GTsleeper]

I called my local Ford Service Center to find out about the speedo calibration after putting in 4.10s and when he quoted me the price, he was telling me that the engine would be turning about 3500 RPMs at 50mph in 5th

B***Sh**
Dealers will always tell you a bunch of BS. They don't want to work on your car when a problem happens under warranty. They try to blame the situation on the mod you have changed when it has nothing to do with the problem you have. You still have warranty on that product even if you changed another part, do you understand what I am saying. Such as I changed the pulleys but my exhaust is faulty. They have to change the exhaust because its leaking or what not because I have warranty but they try to trick u by saying well you changed the pulleys here we cant do that. BS they have to as long as u don't take the vehicle in for the actual part u worked on.

 

[twogts4us]

Don't bother with the Plenum and T/B... I got a C&L plenum with a 70mm TB and didn't notice anything. I know Im going to have to get more mods to open it up... But for now it isn't doing too much.

That's hard to imagine - when I added my Accufab TB and plenum, it decided it absolutely wants to scream above 3K - definately more kick in the pants. Do you have gears? Maybe that's the issue? Totally woke mine up above 3K, pulls like never before now.

And GinoGT, I'm not a big fan of CAI either, but many have raved about (and have dyno pulls to prove of the gains they got with) the K&N FIPK GEN 2 setup. That 'stupid pipe before the throttle body' DOES suck in it's OEM form. If we're talking bottlenecks, that's definately one of 'em. Agreed that there are bigger bottlenecks, but this is MUCH cheaper and MUCH easier to replace than heads, cams and intake manifolds. The thread starter is working with a basically stock GT. There are some things that he can do for moderate amounts of money, which is what, I'd guess, he's looking for. If I was new here and you came to me telling me to forget all these bolt on parts, you spend thousands of dollars if you want to 'do it right', I wouldn't come back.
Face it, bolt ons are the bread and butter of the industry.

 

[jrc_03_gt]

I called my local Ford Service Center to find out about the speedo calibration after putting in 4.10s and when he quoted me the price, he was telling me that the engine would be turning about 3500 RPMs at 50mph in 5th and that's why I got concerned about gas mileage. If it's only 2 mpg lost, I could live with that. After all is said and done though, the whole operation sounds expensive. I'm still up in the air, though.

I probably won't race it on a track too much. My basic concern is, coming back to the college student thing, being able to beat everyone else in town driving a ricer. Stock, I've probably got at least 90% of the people beat because it's Iowa and if you have a fart cannon, CAI, window tint, alteezas, and a aluminum park bench wing, you've got a fast Honda. I just want to edge my way up the other 10% and I could get most of the way up with the right direction and some $$$. I'm not too worried about the other American muscle cars, either...college students, most can only afford a v6 stang or camero or firebird and after student loan debt, there's no money left to do anything to them. Unless their daddy bought their car for them, then they're driving a Lexus.

I have 4.10's and I can go 90 MPH in 5th gear and only tack 3000 RPM'S. That guy at the dealership is very stupid.

 

[mcmmotorsports]

Not to really sound like a noob, but what is the definition of a Bottleneck?

 

[DrK MrK iV]

Something that is holding the rest of the engine up. An example would be. Having a fully built motor running a supercharger, but running totally stock (restrictive) exhaust. I was thinking about getting an ebay CAI and using the MAS-TB pipe. The piping there looks to be restrictive.

 

[twogts4us]

Not to really sound like a noob, but what is the definition of a Bottleneck?

Think of a full Coke 'bottle', turn it upside down so the 'neck' is pointing downward and you'll see where the term comes from. The inability of the liquid inside to flow freely out is caused by limited size of the "bottle-neck". (The inability for it to flow freely is also caused by the inability for air to get inside to replace the liquid, causing the burping and splashing effect, but that's a whole 'nother issue!)

 

[01mgvert]

That's hard to imagine - when I added my Accufab TB and plenum, it decided it absolutely wants to scream above 3K - definately more kick in the pants. Do you have gears? Maybe that's the issue? Totally woke mine up above 3K, pulls like never before now.

And GinoGT, I'm not a big fan of CAI either, but many have raved about (and have dyno pulls to prove of the gains they got with) the K&N FIPK GEN 2 setup. That 'stupid pipe before the throttle body' DOES suck in it's OEM form. If we're talking bottlenecks, that's definately one of 'em. Agreed that there are bigger bottlenecks, but this is MUCH cheaper and MUCH easier to replace than heads, cams and intake manifolds. The thread starter is working with a basically stock GT. There are some things that he can do for moderate amounts of money, which is what, I'd guess, he's looking for. If I was new here and you came to me telling me to forget all these bolt on parts, you spend thousands of dollars if you want to 'do it right', I wouldn't come back.
Face it, bolt ons are the bread and butter of the industry.

I agree, and the dyno tests are there to back it up. Short of major mods like heads and cams, we must rely upon bolt-ons to improve the performance of the Mustang. Although I have become convinced that the stock MAF is sufficient for a slightly modded 4.6, the same is not true for stock air filter, inlet pipe, throttle body, and plenum. By changing out these parts, you can add 10-12 rwhp. Put on an o/r x-pipe for an additional 8-10 rwhp, and you now have added 18-22 rwhp for under $800. With a manual transmission, you have potentially gone from 260 bhp (218 rwhp) to 286 bhp (240 rwhp). Add 4.10 gears for $350 (installed), and you have made your stang much more competitive.

 

[fellamansteve]

I called my local Ford Service Center to find out about the speedo calibration after putting in 4.10s and when he quoted me the price, he was telling me that the engine would be turning about 3500 RPMs at 50mph in 5th

B***Sh**
Dealers will always tell you a bunch of BS. They don't want to work on your car when a problem happens under warranty. They try to blame the situation on the mod you have changed when it has nothing to do with the problem you have. You still have warranty on that product even if you changed another part, do you understand what I am saying. Such as I changed the pulleys but my exhaust is faulty. They have to change the exhaust because its leaking or what not because I have warranty but they try to trick u by saying well you changed the pulleys here we cant do that. BS they have to as long as u don't take the vehicle in for the actual part u worked on.

Well, of course they bull****...$$$

I thought the numbers sounded kinda ridiculous myself, but I know bigger gears will have some affect on that, just wanted to see what people who had done it were actually noticing rather than take his word for it. He quoted me $450 for install and calibration...seems very very steep.

 

[twogts4us]

I agree, and the dyno tests are there to back it up. Short of major mods like heads and cams, we must rely upon bolt-ons to improve the performance of the Mustang. Although I have become convinced that the stock MAF is sufficient for a slightly modded 4.6, the same is not true for stock air filter, inlet pipe, throttle body, and plenum. By changing out these parts, you can add 10-12 rwhp. Put on an o/r x-pipe for an additional 8-10 rwhp, and you now have added 18-22 rwhp for under $800. With a manual transmission, you have potentially gone from 260 bhp (218 rwhp) to 286 bhp (240 rwhp). Add 4.10 gears for $350 (installed), and you have made your stang much more competitive.

Thanks for backing me up, 01mgvert!
Hey, I see you have Hookers! What kind of cat-back are you running. How do you like the headers and X pipe? I've heard there were some fit issues with them at one time. How much was the install? I'd really like to have a set put on mine. (That's the only sticker I could ever see myself putting on my car "I love my Hooker headers!")Sweeeeet!

 

[01mgvert]

Thanks for backing me up, 01mgvert!
Hey, I see you have Hookers! What kind of cat-back are you running. How do you like the headers and X pipe? I've heard there were some fit issues with them at one time. How much was the install? I'd really like to have a set put on mine. (That's the only sticker I could ever see myself putting on my car "I love my Hooker headers!")Sweeeeet!

Last week I started a thread on stagnet entitled, "I gained 23 rwhp with LT headers." In the thread, I described how my automatic transmission limited my choice of headers: MAC, Hooker, or Kooks. I chose Hooker because they are well known for their quality. I decided to go with the ceramic coating since the headers will last longer and the engine bay will not get as hot. I bought the headers (6230-1) from Thunder Racing for $699. You also need to purchase Hooker's matching o/r x-pipe since other mid-pipes do not fit (at least not without significant modifications). The x-pipe cost $139. After reading about the difficulty of installation, I decided to have them professionally installed. It cost $920 for labor ($115 @ hour for 8 hours). I know that's a lot of money but it was worth it to me. I kept the stock catback exhaust system because there is little performance to be gained from aftermarket catbacks. Nonetheless, the sound of my stang was greatly improved by the LT headers and o/r x-pipe. It sounds more like a real muscle car. Along with the increased horsepower, this has been the best modification that I have made.