Need Realistic Advice

[admdavs]

O.K. Here is my problem- I am fairly new to the mechanical side of owning a Mustang. My first car when I was 17 was an '88 GT which I loved to death- I am now in the process of picking up my new car- perhaps an '03 Mach 1 or a '01 Cobra- and I want real world advice about the mods list I have prepared:
1. off road x-pipe
2. underdrive pullies
3. K & N cold air intake system
4. 4.10 Gears
These are my first and foremost- down the road I would like to add more, but in my price range these would come first-
My advice stands as this: Will these mods send me into a sub 5sec 0-60 time-I not heavily concerned about cornering or course racing- I'm simply a straight line drag kinda driver. I want to attain a sub 5 second 0 - 60 time and a quarter mile in the high 11s to high 12s- nothing too crazy as this will also serve as a daily driver. Is this realistic with the above mentioned mods- or should I save, save, save and go another route???? Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

 

[Zinc03GT]

definitely go gears...4.10s are great...i might say skip the cai and get a short-throw

 

[Blue Mach]

I would start with the exhaust, catback and an x or h pipe.

 

[85GTlover]

To speak in reality I think they are great choices but I do not think you are going
to get that kind of performance with those mods. It is a good start but that (11's)
is pretty quick likely 13's is more realistic. Then again if the car is fast to start with
you have a better chance but I doubt it. Hope I am wrong, but i just think that
is looking for too much.

 

[kirkyg]

My thoughts on your planned mods:

1) dont go underdrive pulleys if you plan to supercharger because you'll have to remove them (waste of money and time all for 3-4 hp?).
2) Intake mods dont do much of anything on a near stock car. Intake mods aren't needed till your supercharger and/or get ported heads.
3) like above 4.10's will the best and most fun mod out of all of them even considering they cost a little more than your other mods. Very cost affective and should drop your 1/4 mile by .3 or so.
4) IMO i would start with a longterm plan on where you would like to go with your vehicle. Right now im not upgrading anything on my vehicle because I plan to go with a kenne bell supercharger. I dont know if im just going to supercharge it or if im going to do a 4valve engine swap and then build a blower setup for a KB supercharger. But mods like timing adjuster and pulleys would be a total waste of money based on where i want to go with my vehicle.

kirkyg

 

[StangLou]

I think your really overestimating what these cars can do. With 4.10's, full exhuast, chip with a custom tune, and a K&N with a intake on a '01 Cobra, you should be good for low 13s with tires, possibly very high 12s if your a good driver

There are guys on here with GT's that run very low mid to low 13's with minor bolt ons and good tires! A Cobra should give you a head start and a slight advantage

 

[twogts4us]

Get gears, cat back and short throw shifter. If you have more money after that, go with an aftermarket X or H pipe, noting that an off-road pipe will be very loud, and that cats will keep the sweet V-8 sound somewhat under control. This is personal choice. For some ideas of the sound combos, visit www.mustangexhaust.com . Work the exhaust from back to front, so next on the list would be (long tube) headers. I absolutely agree with kirkyg above regarding having a long-term plan...it may sound corny, but I've seen many people yanking all this crap they bought to add a S/C. Gears, exhaust and short shifter will work with just about any combo, but if you are thinking of a S/C in your future, you may want to consider 3.73 rather than 4.10.

 

[98cobra convert]

an off-road x sounds kick a**...but too loud for a daily driver...best for the track and on occasion, ... or for when you want your neighbors to think the world is coming to an end!

Later,
Enjoy your ride

 

[smokin'Red35th]

Im stationed in korea and my GT is sitting at home in wisconsin. So ive had almost a year to read up on all the mods that i want (or wanted) to do to my car. I have pretty much come down to this.

The first things you should do are Exhaust, short shifter, and maybe gears (4.10 or higher if your N/A and 3.73 if your going S/C is what ive read from other posts on stangnet) as well as a K&N filter.

Next (and this is just my opinion) i dont see the point in spending a couple grand on all the bolt on's available right off the bat. they dont give you nearly the HP that you would get if you saved a little more and went with a supercharger. So, what i plan on doing is getting ported heads and a Kenne bell supercharger. This is the most bang for your buck and only makes sense to do that first since some of you bolt-ons may have to be removed prior to installing the s/c. For instance underdrive pullies will have to be removed and the kB comes with a 75MM TB so if you bought one prior to the s/c you just wasted 200 bucks. I think you should start big and work around that. BUT AGAIN, THIS IS MY OPINION, BUT JUST SEEMS TO MAKE SENSE.

- My .02

Good luck with everything, lets see some updates with your mods.

 

[admdavs]

I should probably just wait an extra year, save my a*s off and just go with an '03 or '04 Cobra- its already charged- and I could slowly build it up over the next few years! Decisions, decisions!!!!

 

[stangman]

if your not gunna save for the cobra i'd get a mach 1. they are low, low 13 sec. cars out of the box, with a solid rear axle, which is a better axle for straight line acceleration. & as for the gears, 4.10 or 4.30's, they rev higher with their 4v engine so take advantage of it on a mach, imo you could still handle 4.10's with a s/c pretty easily. then do exhaust, but at best on street tires you'll have a mid 12 car with those mods