Newbie Upgrade Question

[gunting]

I have an appointment next week with the Dyno/Tune man and that's my chance to add the next mod. If sound, and "feel," are valued more than hp gain, what would you recommend for my next upgrade? I have a 2006, GT, automatic, convertible which is my day ride. I do not want to increase gas consumption or risk reliability issues. That is why I am shying away from gear upgrades (i.e., going to 4.10's). I should mention that the mods to my stock done to date include: a drop in K&N air filter, mustang racing technologies H mid-pipe with high/flow magnaflow cats, and magnaflow axlebacks. Would you recommend I have a CAI installed (i.e, Steeda or JLT), or an aftermarket short tube header replacement? I want to keep my existing exhaust set up and do not want to go to long tube headers. I value your thoughts.

 

[V8JamesGT]

shorty headers are not worth the money... they cost atleast $300 or more and only give you maybe 5 rwhp... I would go with an intake/tuner combo like the JLT & Xcal along with a tune from bamachips or brenspeed... then a nice set of steeda UD pullies will make you go faster and give you better gas mileage as well. I got mine today! Cant wait to install them!

 

[gunting]

What do the underdrive pulley's do? Some of the posts I read said that they take power away from other accessoires on the car and may create reliaiblity problems. With that said I read that Steeda's are like the best to get.

 

[V8JamesGT]

"Steeda's underdrive pulleys slow down accessory speed by about 25% reducing parasitic acccessory drag on the engine. This drag reduction results in an increase of up to 10 horsepower and increased gas mileage!"

So basically your redirecting some hp from your accessories to your rear wheels. And I havn't heard of anyone having reliability problems with the Steeda UD Pullies if the install is done correctly.

 

[ElCid2006]

I second what James said. I recently installed the Steeda pulleys and cold air intake with the SCT Xcal 2 93 octane tune and I havent had any problems at all. I noticed an increase in both power and gas milage.

 

[NastyStang113]

Definitely a tune and C&L or JLT intake .. After that get a set of UDPs and CMCVs.

 

[gunting]

I want to thank you guys for the advise. I went to Performance Auto Sport in Richmond , VA and had them install a Steeda CAI, changed the axle backs from Magnaflow to Boom Tubes, and had them do a custom tune on the Dyno with Xcal 3. Simply put, they unleashed the beast. The car shifts firmly and stays in a gear longer. Acceleration is brisk and the sound is monstrous. I will see if I can handle the boom tubes. I may have to go back to Magnaflow. I will give it a few days and see how I feel. I don't need to do a re-tune if I switch the axlebacks back to Magnaflow, right? Also, the Xcal 3 manual says remove fuses before returning car to other tunes (i.e., stock). Do you guys do that? I learned so much from you guys. Thanks again.

 

[kooldawg6]

No retune is needed for changing axlebacks.
Glad you enjoy the new found power of your car I just had mine dyno tuned several days ago and it was a huge benefit!

 

[NastyStang113]

I just noticed that someone said shorties aren't worth it ... That's very debatable. I think they are, especially equal lengths. If you consider the dollar per hp cost between the two they are nearly the same.

 

[ranger04]

Your really missing the boat if you don't put some gear in that thing. All the power in the world won't matter if you don't get it to the wheels properly, gears are a torque multiplier. I put 4:30's in mine and it really didn't hurt my mpg. It might if 90% of your driving was freeway at 70 or 80 mph. Actually, gears can help save you gas in city driving, as the engine isn't labored as much on take off between stop signs, I supose more so with us manual tranny guy's.

 

[dro]

I do not want to increase gas consumption or risk reliability issues. That is why I am shying away from gear upgrades (i.e., going to 4.10's).

Then stop right now and look no more. Any car modding you do does this. As far as gears no gas consumption issues when i had 4:10's on my 2002GT. Got the same amt of gas mileage before and after. As far as the 3:73 and 4:10 debate don't go there. 3:73's are for the old 5.0 days and a lot of people are still stuck in 1989. High revving mod motors are in, and they can get more out of the power band with a steeper gear.

And the previous poster before me is right, gears help out your car a ton in city driving. Makes it a lot easier to drive in my opinion.