mods for a mod?

[aar0s]

im kinda new to the modular engines, use to messing with the pushrod 5.0's and the mods for them. I know that some things that work well on the foxes dont work so well on the 4.6.
long story short, thinking of some easy, small mods for my wifes 01 gt. cars got a tick over 100k on it and holes in the mufflers so a cat back will be first. was thinking about doing a catted X pipe as well, are they worth the trouble?
also i was thinking about a CAI and some underdrives and a tune. not looking to run with newer mustangs but just give the old girl some more umph.

 

[slayerripkdc]

Catback, and off road X would be great. If you don't want to spend the extra $$$ on a cat back you can just purchase mufflers. To get some more seat of the pants feel upgrade the gear ratio to 373.s or 4.10's.

 

[Maxpowers]

...not looking to run with newer mustangs but just give the old girl some more umph.

I would say you will probably be happy with an exhaust, intake, and some gears.

 

[007]

Gears and a tuner are a must. Exhaust sounds nice. Obviously lowering is great.

After that a blower is the best way to spend your money.

 

[aar0s]

Wife's car = no gears. bummer. id like to lower it but i dont think she's going to go for that. she's not comfortable driving my car with the steeda sports on it, she thinks she's going to drag on every bump!
what brand of tuner is the preferred one for these cars? do underdrive pulleys do any good on them?

 

[N8Dogg98]

Wife's car = no gears. bummer. id like to lower it but i dont think she's going to go for that. she's not comfortable driving my car with the steeda sports on it, she thinks she's going to drag on every bump!
what brand of tuner is the preferred one for these cars? do underdrive pulleys do any good on them?

Underdrive pulleys probably won't be noticeable. I have them, but after installing them didn't notice a thing. SCT and Diablosport tend to be the more popular tuners. My suggestion, get the tuner that your local speedshop will program with just in case you ever decide to have it dyno tuned w/ a custom program. As for springs, the Eibach Pro-kit springs are progressive rate. If you install them w/o the spring isolators it should give you a nice drop and not impact driveability/comfort too bad assuming you also replace the shocks/struts. You say no gears, why not? 3.73's are hardly noticeable on the highway and provide much more oomph over the stock 3.27's. Other than exhaust, a nice set of cams would really wake it up, such as the comp cams 262AH's.

 

[ChillPhatCat]

Why are you wasting money on modding this car when your wife doesn't seem to even want it to be modified? Just curious. It feels like I see a thread a week about a guy wanting to mod his wife's car.

 

[N8Dogg98]

Why are you wasting money on modding this car when your wife doesn't seem to even want it to be modified? Just curious. It feels like I see a thread a week about a guy wanting to mod his wife's car.

It's an excuse to have another nice car in the stable. Wife and I had a kid about a year ago, so we decided to buy a nice family sedan. I convinced her to buy a Dodge Charger R/T and am now working on convincing her she "needs" new exhaust... hehehe. I have to drive her car frequently, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd rather drive a V-8 RWD family sedan than a stupid 4 cyl/v-6 FWD car any day of the week.

 

[GettinThere]

...so a cat back will be first. was thinking about doing a catted X pipe as well, are they worth the trouble?

yes

...but just give the old girl some more umph.

Wife's car = no gears. bummer.

Gears are the best way to give a car more umph, but that's out. Anything else (at about the same cost) is a distant second. Really curious why gears are not an option.

Be careful with the exhaust selection. Your wife may not like what you pick. My wife hates my car because of the exhaust.

 

[N8Dogg98]

Be careful with the exhaust selection. Your wife may not like what you pick. My wife hates my car because of the exhaust.

Word, this man speaks the truth.

If she wants something subtle that sounds good at WOT, get the Magnaflow catted x-pipe and a magnaflow catback. If she wants to rattle the china in the entire neighborhood, set off car alarms, and raise suspicion of the sheriff in the next county, get the Mac o/r h-pipe and Mac flowpath catback.

 

[trinity_gt]

Why are gears out? You needn't go to 4.10s or higher. A set of 3.73s would be perfectly streetable and highway friendly. Hell, unless I'm mistaken, the new Mustang GT has a 3.73 gearset as an option, from the factory.

And I agree: If the wife is gearshy she's quickly going to tire of just about every exhaust out there, especially if you start mucking around with the midpipe...

 

[aar0s]

The exhaust will be magnaflow, catted x and cat backs. the car dont sound bad from the outside but the holes in the muffler are right under the seat and drive ya nuts going down the road.
im still trying to talk her into a small drop, its got new struts on it and i have a set of shocks around here somewhere for it, just havent put them on yet. if i can find a set of springs that drop it about 3/4 or 1 inch then i might just buy them and she'll have to deal.
Id like a tuner that has more than one tune in it. maybe like a street tune and a stock tune or something like that. no speed shop within 200 miles that does dyno tuning so that will probably be out. tuner is an outside shot anyway.
gears are out cause she said so and its her car.

It's an excuse to have another nice car in the stable. Wife and I had a kid about a year ago, so we decided to buy a nice family sedan. I convinced her to buy a Dodge Charger R/T and am now working on convincing her she "needs" new exhaust... hehehe. I have to drive her car frequently, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd rather drive a V-8 RWD family sedan than a stupid 4 cyl/v-6 FWD car any day of the week.

this says it best.

 

[N8Dogg98]

The exhaust will be magnaflow, catted x and cat backs. the car dont sound bad from the outside but the holes in the muffler are right under the seat and drive ya nuts going down the road.
im still trying to talk her into a small drop, its got new struts on it and i have a set of shocks around here somewhere for it, just havent put them on yet. if i can find a set of springs that drop it about 3/4 or 1 inch then i might just buy them and she'll have to deal.
Id like a tuner that has more than one tune in it. maybe like a street tune and a stock tune or something like that. no speed shop within 200 miles that does dyno tuning so that will probably be out. tuner is an outside shot anyway.
gears are out cause she said so and its her car.

this says it best.

If you don't have a local tuner, both SCT and Diablosport seem to be the most popular hand held tuners. They come with canned tunes that are alright, and if you buy them from a speedshop online many times the speedshop will send the unit programmed with a custom tune based on your mods. Some even offer free mail order tunes/discount price on mail order tunes as you add additional mods.

Regarding the springs, I bet she wouldn't notice much of a difference in driveability if you installed some eibach pro-kit springs. You could do it on the sly and she'd probably be none the wiser, she'd probably like the increased handling capability.

You could also get her a pair of MM LCA's and some MM FLSFC's. The LCA's and the FLSFC's are probably my favorite upgrades. Made the car feel much more solid and connected to the ground as well as getting rid of some squeaks/rattles.

 

[aar0s]

i didnt even think of sfc's.
some of this may have to wait till after it gets painted this winter. im going to do the magnaflows and maybe something else this fall. gotta try to finish what i want done to my car and get it painted sometime also.

 

[Dark04GT]

If your are looking for less of a drop consider the ford racing C springs. Typically 1-1.25". Will go over 90% of bumps with no issues.
Ford Racing Mustang C-Springs (79-04) at AmericanMuscle.com - Free Shipping!

 

[3ponyshow]

If she said no to the gears, then it's no....which means just do it and don't tell her.

Seriously, they're definately one of the best mods for the money.

Underdrive pullies is one of the first mods I did to my car and one of the best improvements for the $. I netted 8 rwhp on the dyno and you can easily do it yourself.

Consider a Dynomax cat back. It's completely mandril bent yet really not much louder than stock even with the turbo mufflers, but certainly pushes out some notable db's at WOT. The x pipe is definately worth it.

For suspension, the Koni's dropped the least of the big names for ride height while still offering adjustability. She may go for those and you get a sport suspension.

 

[Maxpowers]

Underdrive pullies is one of the first mods I did to my car and one of the best improvements for the $. I netted 8 rwhp on the dyno and you can easily do it yourself.

What brand did you use to get those numbers?

OP: If this is gonna be a winter car as well, you may want to keep it looking like a 4x4. Will help out in the winter.

 

[3ponyshow]

What brand did you use to get those numbers?

Steeda. The other mod was a Magnaflow catted X pipe into a Dynomax cat back. I netted 242 rwhp on a stock '02 w/an auto. Combined with 3.73's really woke up the car without breaking the bank.

 

[tikibeast]

Id like a tuner that has more than one tune in it. maybe like a street tune and a stock tune or something like that.

SCT Ford Mustang Tuners and Chips

An excellent product sold by a shop with an even better reputation. Besides, who can go wrong with free tunes for life?

 

[aar0s]

na this car will probably never see a snow or rainy day again, thats the scion's job now!