Going shopping, need brands

Hi Guys,
It's been a very long time since I have logged on here as I sold my sn95 5.0 over a year ago. Anyways, I'm back as my friend just purchased a '99 GT and has cash to spend on upgrades as the stock power isn't cutting it for him anymore.

We have a general idea of what we want which is:

-Cams
-TB
-intake mani
-Headers (shorties preferred as for ease of dropping tranny)
-x-pipe
-3.73 gears
-a tune (SCT diablo etc)
-Clutch (thinking king cobra but what stage for the power)

This is just the basic and I was thinking would put him just over 300whp tuned on pump. We were going to go all out and do heads etc but decided to tone it down for now to see how he liked just the "basics".

The car now, as far as engine mods goes, has just a h-pipe back (after the h-pipe) exhaust and from what I can tell is flowmaster and a K&N filter kit. It's only got 30,000 miles on the clock so it's a nice fresh engine to "wake up".

As the modular mustang is new to me as far as mods goes I was wanting your guys advice on what we should get in each category.

He is looking for a good mid to high range power so the cam grind would need to suit that goal. I was thinking a 270ish--280ish grind but then again these engines are new to me so thats why I'm coming to you guys.

We want the best options and price needs to be somewhat reasonable but if the difference is that big then he's willing to spend the extra bucks. Quality over quantity is what is wanted.

Looks forward to your advice and hope to hear them soon. Once we get a good definative list we will place the orders in fact he wants to do it now lol but I wanted to make sure we get the best bang for the buck so to speak. Also, if you think there is something missing for this list of mods please let us know. (i.e. fuel upgrades, larger MAF etc etc.)

Thanks guys!

Take care,
Josh

Oh and there are other goodies to go on the car but I got those covered. When it's finished we will post pics and a video to go with it. Hopefully even a time slip and dyno sheet.

Lastly, would you guys recommend an ignition upgrade such as the MSD 6al etc?

Eh, kinda wanted to stay NA for the moment. If he goes with forced induction it will either be a twin screw or a turbo. Centrifigals suck in my opinion as they are horribly inefficiant and have turbo-like lag. I've driven a centrifigal sc mustang and didn't like the feel of the power delivey. Pretty poopy even though the car made 350whp on pump. Too peaky in power delivery. I like to have as much power under the curve as possible. More performance based set-up rather than a numbers based.

I also want to keep things simple for the most part right now and not too much power as this is his first "powerful" car and I don't want him to wreck it cause he can't handle it. This is why I am having him take baby steps.

Kilgore Trout said:

What is your budget, what are your goals for the car, how old are you?

For intake manifolds Kenne Bell makes some real nice ones...

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lol yes those are very very nice! He does want to go supercharged or turbo'd but not right now. I'm thinking in a year or so when this power gets boring to him.

Price range is around $5000 for right now, goals I said above and don't see the relevance of my age for this matter but I think you might be thinking I am posting a dream list which I am not. I'm a do'er not a talker.

I am 20 for what it's worth but cars and mustangs for that matter are not foriegn to me. I have been literally working on them since I was 14 and I'm not talking about oil changes but engine rebuilds, turbo swaps, engine swaps (just finished one in my MR2 actually a couple weeks ago) and personally own a 320whp MR2 that I have completely restored from the ground up. If you can do it to a car I have pretty much done it. I also have a nice shop with a two-pillar 10,000lb rated lift, full range of sockets, air tools, etc etc. A little back ground info for ya.


Anyways, thanks guys for the recommendations on parts. I have read that long tubes interfere with the tranny removal is this true? I know long tubes will yeild the best sound and power gain but I was also looking at ease of maintenance i.e. clutch. Is this true?

Do you think we should go ahead and just throw on a nice set of stage 2 heads? I was looking at the stage 2 Patriot heads a couple weeks back and thought they would be a perfect suit. He could then sell his PI heads and intake and make some money back if need be. The cheapest I was able to find the patriots for was around $1100 brand new fully assembled minus the cams which is a hell of a deal IMO.

Thanks guys!

Kilgore Trout said:

Its going to be one hell of a car! Is it going to be for straight line racing or autocross or what?

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Thats what I keep telling him too! It's going to be an entirely different animal! This is mainly going to be mainly a street car but him and I will occasionally go to the track. I will probably drive it the first couple times down the quarter and see what it's got. If he wanted to auto cross I would tell him he wants as much lowend power and torwue as possible but he doesn't want to do any kind of autosport, just a fun car! It's not his daily so thats a good thing as well.

Green&GoldGT:
Stay away from BBK long tube headers if you want to drop the tranny without taking them out. Instead go with either Hooker, Hedman or Flowtech long tubes with the X pipe bc u can drop the tranny( i heard you can do that with MAC's too). Go with a JLT or Anderson N/A powerpipe for the intake. For manifolds go with Fox Lake racing's P51 or wait for the Trick Flow. BBK or Accufab for the throttle body. Ford Racing only for gears. Crower or VT for cams with Crower or Manley valvesprings. I'd stay away from the King Cobra clutches.

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Alright thanks for confirming what I had suspected. I would prefer long tubes but the interference with the tranny is my main concern. Do any of the brands you listed above have a ceramic coat option? Which ones would be the optimal as far as quality or is the difference negligent?

What is a good clutch (brand and stage) for his power goals?

Also, would it be wise if he upgraded his injectors or will the stockers be suffice?

I'm thinking VT NA stage 2 will be the choice cam and the crower springs. I have heard a couple issues with the accufab (some piece fall off and get injested into the engine) so I think I might have him go with the BBK. I actually have seen the new trick flow intake mani well a quick glimpse but it looks promising. I will have to research it more.

Thanks guys! Keep em coming!

Anyone?