How to make the mustang 2000 faster?

You should get some a cold air intake , cut you mufflers off, and use a blow torch to melt your rear springs.


Seriously though if you find a wrecked Mark VIII at a junk yard you can pull the entire drive train and swap it in. I've never seen one that has 250,000 miles on it. Well they have digital odometers so that's not entirely true. Anyways my point is you can spend probably less than 1000 if you do the work yourself.

mhsamsim said:

okay well i drove the car today and it ran pretty good, it looks really clean and since it hasnt had any problems so far i dont even think the engine is that messed up, the owner really took care of it and drove it good, never missed any service, this is why I want to invest in the car, because 250000 may be a lot but this car is well taken care of.

So im looking into getting cool air intake, the exhaust manifold needs to be changed cause there is something wrong with it, everything else is in good condition according to the shop it was taken to (the breaks, wheels etc.). im gonna take the mufflers off, put some new exhaust and a tune up ?

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Every penny you spend on that thing is a waste of money, IMO. It's a "cold" air intake, not "cool" air intake, the exhaust manifolds might have a leak in it, but just sell the car. doesn't matter if you get 1-3k for it, just get out from underneath it before investing in it and pocket the rest.

Are you seriously going to start spending money modding an 11 year old V6 with 250k miles!?

I'm like everyone else, I wouldn't waste money on a high miles car. Especially a v6, better off saving up and keeping your money and find a v8 or something better. That's my opinion...

ok seriously guys your giving this kid way too hard of a time. some of you will take a completely good gt and drop all new suspension in it drop the motor build it up all that **** on a car that you atleast had to spend 7000-10000 for and he got pretty much the same car (minus the miles and v6 part) but for free!!!!! If this kid plans on keeping the car for a long ass time why not do wat the rest of you have as far as pretty much all new suspension. i do completly agree with wasting money on makin a v6 faster. but you can easily find a donor car for his 3-4 grand range and do the swap himself and have a nice gt for prob half the price the rest of us pay. ya the odometer will say 250000. but im sure the donor car will have half that and the supsension will be all new. so if i were this kid i would definetly make this a project car. so on that note good luck! and dont waste any money on the motor or switching to a manual. just find a donor with a manual

wheelyman19 said:

ok seriously guys your giving this kid way too hard of a time. some of you will take a completely good gt and drop all new suspension in it drop the motor build it up all that **** on a car that you atleast had to spend 7000-10000 for and he got pretty much the same car (minus the miles and v6 part) but for free!!!!! If this kid plans on keeping the car for a long ass time why not do wat the rest of you have as far as pretty much all new suspension. i do completly agree with wasting money on makin a v6 faster. but you can easily find a donor car for his 3-4 grand range and do the swap himself and have a nice gt for prob half the price the rest of us pay. ya the odometer will say 250000. but im sure the donor car will have half that and the supsension will be all new. so if i were this kid i would definetly make this a project car. so on that note good luck! and dont waste any money on the motor or switching to a manual. just find a donor with a manual

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Problem though is it can't be a project car he needs it as a DD so swapping this in for someone who was going to take the car for a tuneup to a shop isn't happening in a weekend. Shops are going to charge and arm and a leg for a drivetrain swap and it will probably be there for close to a week. I would still stick with sell it and get a V-8, no mod you do can can make up for the 2 cylinder mod without $$.

Well it's up to you man... Ultimately just remember the car still has 250K on it and it's going to be a ton of work.

Here's my suggestion:

Don't try to make this car fast. Not at all, not in ANY respect to the manner. 250,000 miles and performance DO NOT GO TOGETHER unless you're BEGGING to start breaking parts. The transmission would probably be the first to go, and if it hasn't already done it 3-4x, the head gaskets will probably pop. I guess they got better in the 1999 cars, but 3.8's are notorious for blowing head gaskets.

If you are sure you want to put money into it (it really is not a good investment of money), I would focus all of it on suspension, brakes, and appearance.

You can buy a good set of springs to lower the car and stiffen it up. I believe you can use a set of GT shocks/struts (aftemarket) to replace the likely WELL worn shocks/struts on there. That alone will make it feel like a new car.

Moving on, I'm sure the rear control arms (upper and lower) are probably well worn, and replacing these would likely tighten the rear of the car up enormously.

The ball joints, tie rods, and steering rack bushings are probably well past their prime as well.

The brakes are the same as the 99-04 GT brakes, so a simple set of new rotors and pads (if needed) will help. You can get a decent set of good looking slotted rotors (or cross drilled) for a good deal, and throw a set of better pads on there to help it stop quicker.

A simple set of wheels/tires will make a big difference as well. Any take-off GT wheel from that body style will make it look tons better than the V6 wheels. You can also find used sets of aftermarket wheels with tires for a pretty fair price these days.

That's just what I'd do. You'd literally have to be insane to try to make that car fast. I wouldn't consider a stock 99-04 GT fast, but you'd be spending several thousand dollars just to hit that level of performance. If the car had MUCH lower miles, I'd say go for it, but you're asking for major failure at that mileage.

mhsamsim said:

So its been 3 weeks since ive got the car, i forgot to mention that most changes i do i only have to pay for the part since my gf's dad knows a lot about cars and he has been helping me change things, he also can swap an engine.. however im not going to swap the engine probably, at least not for now.
so far i changed spark plugs n wires, put in a k&n CAI, new tires, new brake pads/ resurface rotors, change the broken exhaust manifold....
looking into changing springs and arms... any other suggestions as far as what replacements would make the car faster or feel newer?

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*sigh*