What bolt-ons

first things first, get some gears.

everyone always says gears,yes gears are good and cheap but then u have to pay for labor and all together ur lookin at around $600. save that for last. best "basic" bolt ons would be cai, 65mm tb and spacer, 73mm maf, pullies, new ignition to make ur car more crisp and finally a good exhaust. thats ur preference but go with a good set of shorty headers and like i said exhaust is ur preference because everyones never goin to be able to agree on the best exhaust. after that ur n e other ur gonna do will be more involved and cost more money. i.e gears

You want opinions, right? CAI is a waste of money. Ditch the intake silencer and get a K&N panel filter for your factory air box. Ignition won't buy you much either until you really start to make some HP. The 65mm TB and 73mm MAF are good upgrades. You need to do pullies for sure. Headers are nice too. Do a good tune-up on your car. Set timing at around 14-15 degrees btdc. Change 195 degree thermostat to 180 degree. For hp makers, that will get you started. There are lots of things you can do that don't affect horsepower, but will make your driving experience much more fun. Gears are the best seat-of-the-pants upgrade you can do shy of a supercharger or nitrous. Fox bodies need full-length subframes. Get 'em. They're cheap and your car's creaks and groans will go away(especially in the hatch area). Handling will improve and the car just feels tighter. Tweak your TPS to read .99 on a digital voltmeter. Throttle response will be better. Get the shifter of your choice. To please the ear, get a good exhaust. It may not get you a lot of hp, but you'll like driving the car more. Brakes on these cars suck. Upgrade to the lincoln 73mm calipers up front. Change brake fluid and adjust rear drums as needed for best braking.

Definatly start with the gears. Depending on how much you drive the car will indicate how tall of a gear to go with.Pulleys are also a good starter choice. While you are ther, get a shorter belt from a parts store of your choosing and bypass the smog pump. Make sure to advance the timing, pull air silencer,set TPS voltage. After that start looking into exhaust. I hate doing things twice so if money allows, go full from the headers to the tailpipes. When all thats done start looking into suspension work and tires. Power is no good if you cant plant it! Feel free to IM me if you have any questions. Good luck!

cai=no HP..stock box and k&n is best. Don't touch the TPS it's a ricer mod will do nothing but give you headaches with idle quality. Pullies are good but may stess alternator if its older. Exhaust is good...LT's if you can go non emissions and a good Hpipe or prochamber mid pipe. Timing up to 14* is nice topper, and pull the intake silencer. Pull the jack and spare for some weight. Bigger TB with a ported stock intake is nice for a mild mod car. Tune up...tune up...tune up..is the secret to a strong runner. Pull the codes and check to see if all is running well sensor wise too. Subframe connectors to stiffen up and help launching. A/C can come off but really doesn't help much and you will miss it and will give you less than 2-3hp for pulling it. Next look to a H/C/I combo as you move up..read lots and figure out what you want to do with the car. Again it's not your first stang since you have a 2000 so you know keeping her maintained is the key to performance and longlevity.

3.73 gears; long tube headers and full exhaust (including high flow cats); remove the factory air box silencer in the fenderwell and put a K&N flat panel filter in the stock box; have tmoss (pm him on the site) port your stock lower intake -- it's the most restrictive piece on the car; set the timing from 10 up to 14 degrees btdc. Those changes will NOTICEABLY liven up the car without affecting drivability or emissions. Instead of porting the lower, you can add an Explorer intake with it's 65mm throttle body (takes a little work to make the throttle body work), and the 70mm maf off of a 94/95 Mustang. Those parts are available used for decent prices. If you have to pass emissions be sure to get the early Explorer intake that has the same egr set up as the Stang.

I'd start with a good tune up if it hasn't been done recently, pull the diagnostic codes to see if there are any system problems/issues. If the car has lots of miles on it, you might also want to run cranking compression tests on all 8 cylinders just to be sure the bottom end is solid before you start asking the engine to make more power.