New Member ...94gt 5.0

Welcome new Stanger!

I am with you and just bought my 94 GT vert. I think the first thing I plan to do is a tune-up. New cap, wires, plugs, and an oil change to some Mobile 1 synthetic and a K&N oil filter. At which time I will probably install a cold air intake. I don't like the clutter in the engine bay so I want to start by moving things around. A battery relocation kit may be next, then get rid of the smog pump, and possibly the A/C depending on how much it is going to cost to get it working again.

Looks like you already gave it a bath. I would start detailing everything as best you can. There are lots and lots of things you can buy for the 5.0's. But for starters get it cleaned up. Your car, like mine, is nearing 20 years old. I am sure there are things that are worn out and needing replaced. Anything that just needs some cleaning and repair get to it. Hoses, wires, serpentine belt, look it all over. It doesn't matter if it needs a new paint job or interior. Get it clean first. Get out a toothbrush and go to town. Trust me when I say doing so will help you get to know your car. Because you will be looking at everything you clean a lot closer. You will notice little things that need attention. Loose wires, cracked hoses, etc. And in the end you will be much happier with the car looking nicer.

As far as mods, Underdrive pullies, cold air intake, exhaust, switching to synthetics all make an improvement. Some more than others. Most of these can often improve gas mileage as well as performance. Gears are a real big improvement, but they are just the opposite. With a 5 speed 3.73's really stick you in the seat. But plan to spend a little more at the pump. It is up to you, your budget, and how far you want to go.

Appearance mods are great as well. This is all a matter of personal taste. Just know that the big wings and body kits are out of style. In fact, as far as the Mustang is concerned they never were in style. I am only saying this because I assume you are a kid If your lights are faded or cracked replacing them will make a nice improvement. I am not real sure on all of the lights available, but I have yet to see an aftermarket light that is built with half the quality of a factory replacement.

My car already has an aftermarket cat-back which makes it nice to drive since it has a nice rumble to it. You might start there. If you have the factory cats they are probably due for removal or replacement depending on your emission laws. If your cats are plugged replacing or removing will make a noticeable improvement. Mustangs, in my opinion sound better than anything. And the best way to bring that sound out is with a cat-back. There are media files in the forums here. Listen to different setups before you buy.

Other than that it is all up to personal preference. I tinker a bit with my car every day. If you really love your Mustang you won't be able to help yourself.

Good luck, and again welcome. Great to see you younger guys starting off on the right hoof

I say NO to underdrive pulleys, they aren't near worth the headache they cause. I have 'em on my '90, the came with the car so I can't give you a before and after as far as performance goes but I can say that I had to buy a larger alternator due to slow turning crank, the alt helped some but the head lights are dim and they get even dimmer when I turn the a/c vents on. A/c doesn't even work just the fan blowing is enough to make er dim. Performance mods on the 90 are as follows, u/d pullies, cold air inake, bbk x pipe and flowmaster mufflers and she's still slow. If you wanna go fast save your money for a set of heads or some sort of forced induction. The bolt on game keeps the hobby alive but doesn't add much to the performance per dollar spent. I read an article from muscle mustangs and fast fords I believe it was and they spent around $3500 on bolt on parts (labor not included) and they gained 80 hp or so if I remember right. I'm not saying that 80 hp isn't a nice gain but for 3500 you could have a nice topend kit or a vortech and with either you should see around a 100 hp gain. Oh one more thing, gears: On the 95 gt I have I had 3.73 gears installed. I guess they're ok but without some power infront of em I'd save the money. 1st gear is way too short and it feels like it needs to shift once in 5th on the highway. Oh and after the addition to 3.73 gears- still slow, just have to shift sooner. I don't want to leave this post being a total negative nancy so here's a tip for a little free power. Remove the silencer in the air "box." It's a rubber cover on the fender side of where the air filter goes. It'll pick up as much power as a cold air intake it just wont look as 'cool' but its free

One more thing young squire, Start with maintenance items, belts hoses etc like ole boy previously mentioned, but don't remove the a/c that's just ridiculous. Did you even say yours wasn't working? Also I suggest doing suspension "maintenance" shocks/struts, springs etc. You can upgrade from oem parts that are sure to be worn out by now and I believe it'd be a more enjoyable "bang for your buck" modification vs engine bolt on stuff. I could be talking out of my azz since I don't know what kind of budget you're working with you might be able to go out and buy a kb blower tomorrow I dunno but that's just my .o2

I mentioned removing my A/C because it doesn't work. Mine being a convertible, I really don't see the need anyway. He should opt to keep his yes, since he lives in Florida.

As for the underdrive pullies - the SN95 has a 130 amp altenator vs the 90's 85 amp (if I remember correctly). I dropped an SN95 alt in my 90 with underdrive pullies and never had a problem even pushing a 1600 watt stereo. An underdrive pulley isn't going to hurt him at all and yes, they won't make a noticeable difference. But when it comes to bolt-ons every little bit adds up. The reason I suggested bolt-ons is he must be young as this is his first car. So he probably isn't a multi-millionaire. He also didn't go buy a $40,000 Mustang, so I am assuming his parents aren't going to buy him a supercharger just yet either. And he's here asking what kind of stuff he should do with it.

Suspension would be a good place to start, but it gets a bit more complicated and there are a lot of choices out there. Coil-overs or standard strut/shock and springs? Panhard bar or Watts link? There are so many combinations you can go with it's daunting.

Suspension, unless he's making a race car keep it basic. No need go coil-overs, panhard bar, none of that for trips to the sonic. Get a good set of shocks maybe some springs, rear control arms etc and it'll be "like new" or slightly better than new. No need to have a car that'll beat you to death as you cruise around town just for the sake of being able to list mods in your sig on the forums. Yeah you're right about the fox having a lower amp alt and I realize he is a first time fella and I assumed that he didn't have $ for a supercharger. The point I was trying to make was by the time one spends money on every "bolt-on" available one could have purchased a topend kit or a poweradder with far greater gains.

1 post and gone. Hope he didn't go wrap it around a tree.

If I had a limited budget and just got one of our cars I would do nothing more then exhaust and gears as far as performance mods at first. The rest does jack quite frankly and even if you do it the car will still be slow. With that said I would focus on it sounding good and looking good. Then down the road when you can afford it do a supercharger or motor build.

Nowadays I would do something like this:

1. Exhaust
2. Gears
3. Springs and wheels spacers (since the rear tires look AWFUL without them)
4. Wheels and tires
5. Hood
6. Cobra front bumper

The car will look sick and sound awesome. Let's be honest, these cars need 5 grand or more to be fast so who gives a crap about pulleys and a CAI.

I just looked at the pics of the guys car. #7 for me would be a paint job. That thing looks like it sat out in the sun its entire life with not one coat of wax.....ever.....

You are correct. Pulleys and a CAI won't do much for performance. But you can buy nicer looking pulleys than the factory black spun steel pieces of crap. So for me the addition of pulleys and CAI is more about cleaning up the engine bay than performance. And they are two of the easiest and cheapest mods someone with a small budget can do.

The very first time I changed my plugs on my 90 Fox body it was completely untouched. It took me over an hour to get the plugs changed and get all that crap back in there. The next time I changed them was to swap to Autolite #25's a month later and it took me 10 minutes because I had purchased a cold air intake that I could remove faster. Then I bought a set of March Aluminum pulleys and while installing them it was a good time to remove the smog and A/C. So those two mods alone helped me clean up my engine bay tremendously, and shed a bunch of weight. You could actually see an engine in there. To this day these are a some of my favorite mods just because of the difference they make in appearance and what they do to make the engine easier to work on.

The whole point of it all was trying to tackle multiple things at one time. When I installed the cold air kit I removed the thermactor tubing and plugged the holes in the heads. A week later I decided to do the pulleys and while doing that since I had the belt and stuff off anyway I yanked the smog and A/C and slapped on a short belt. So tall things considered, doing these mods made a pretty big difference in more ways than one.

After I get my Kenny Brown Extreme Matrix kit installed a couple weeks from now these will be my very next mods.

I agree w/ you for the most part except for numbers 5 and 6. You can make a gt sexy w/ out making it a cobra clone and by adding hood and bumper cover you have to figure in the cost of paint. Which he needs anyway I know but might one might as well wait until one has the money for a full paint job which we know aint that cheap.

I hear you 90lx, over the years I have just realized that looking great and sounding great is pretty sweet. Having 500 rwhp is only cool for so long then you just realize you are driving around an ugly car haha. I prefer to have all of it, but I think we can all agree the cobra bumper swap does wonders for these cars. Personally I think a hood swap, whether it be a 98 cobra hood or R hood, do a ton for our cars as well. Just my 2 cents. So people may rather have a 100% stock looking car that has 500 rwhp. I would just be embarassed to be that guy.

I like my stock bumper cover. But I like the Cobra as well so I am still at a toss up whether I want to swap to the Cobra or not. But I think I am going with this hood...


It even uses the stock side vents.