What's the best $1000 to spend....

JimTMich · Dec 8, 2003

95 GTS 99,700 miles
I would like to improve my 0-60 times.
Budget roughly $1000. could stretch a little if necessary.
Daily driver. 75 miles a day.
The easier the job the better, my time is limited.
Don't want the car to be loud either.

reading around it seems:
1. gears 3.73
2. intake: cobra?
3. tb 65mm

xsivpwr · Dec 8, 2003

id go with the gears and intake... but i dont think the TB is gonna net ya too much, id trade that off for an exhaust system. Pullies are pretty cheap too

Joes95GT · Dec 8, 2003

Gears definitely. I wouldn't get any lower (numerically higher) than a 3.73. Remember if your going to get an intake, you have to get the intake adapter (elbow) too. People are probably going to tell you to get a Performer, but I'm personally a fan of the GT40 style manifolds. They would be perfect in a daily driven application and when the time comes for expansion, they can always be ported to outflow a Performer. It's your choice, but your list seems pretty good.

Joe

tmoss · Dec 8, 2003

Explorer intakes will give yoiu the same performance as a Cobra and can ge found cheaper.

94Blue302GT · Dec 8, 2003

i'd definatly go fer the 3.73, a cobra intake sounds good, maybe port and polish your own heads? cold air is good too

jmuva44 · Dec 8, 2003

I think the most enjoyable things you could do for $1000 would be:

3.73 gears
GT40 intake
pullies
O/R H or X pipe

You will LOVE your car if you do those, I GARE ON TEE!!

BTW.....I want to get a GT40 intake for my car. I know it doesnt flow as well as the Performer and such but it gives you more low end torque than those fancy intakes which is all i care about. How hard are they to install yourself? What's involved?

Chris

stang_gt_1994 · Dec 8, 2003

94Blue302GT said:
i'd definatly go fer the 3.73, a cobra intake sounds good, maybe port and polish your own heads? cold air is good too

CAI intakes are a waste to buy. Know if you make one then that is ok.

WhiteDevil · Dec 8, 2003

I would say 3.73 gears, edelbrock performer, and an Xpipe. That would be a solid performer.

final5-0 · Dec 9, 2003

Gears first cause they give the most gain.

If you plan on the entire bolt on thing I would save up for a H/C/I all at once upgrade.

However, an intake is not a bad job by itself but if your gona do heads & cam then you will install that intake twice!

Just my .02 cents!

Later
Grady

mo_dingo · Dec 9, 2003

$1000....hmmm

Depends on who is installing the parts. People in general are afraid to install gears themselves.

Gears = $200 (definately get 3.73)
O/R X-pipe = $270 (basanni/magnaflow) Cheaper available (i.e. MAC).
The o/r x-pipe will increase the exhaust note. But with the stock cat-back, it might not be that much of a difference.

That's $470. If you pay someone to install the gears, add $200 (appx., call around).

That is $670 total.

Personally, I would do cat-back, but that won't give you much SOTP feeling, just that "Man, my car sounds good" feeling.

Short shifter = $170 (this is a must w/ 3.73's in my opinion). Shifting delay can really hurt E.T.'s. You will actually get to use 4th gear after the 3.73's, so you will need it.

If you have an AODE, you should consult someone that has one and see if it's worth it. AODE = 4.10 gears. T-5 = 3.73 gears

That is $850.
With the $150, I would save up and get cat-back. The car needs to sound good too!

But since you don't want the exhaust to be audible, you might be better off leaving the exhaust stock. If so, I guess some aluminum heads would be in order. Doing intake/cam/MAF/TB mods w/ the stock heads are a waste of time IMO. You will see an increase in power, but not enough to justify spending $1000.

That is why people do the heads/cam/intake all together. They work as a whole, and independently cam/intake/etc is not worth it. But since you only have $1000 to work with, I suggest saving up to $1300 and getting some AFR 165cc heads.

But gears and a short shifter will get you a nice decrease in 0-60 time. So I would do that first. Best SOTP feeling IMO.
Scott

mo_dingo · Dec 9, 2003

BTW, if anyone has articles about putting an aftermarket intake on the stock heads, please post a link. I would like to see some dyno numbers.
Scott

Joes95GT · Dec 9, 2003

jmuva44 said:
BTW.....I want to get a GT40 intake for my car. I know it doesnt flow as well as the Performer and such but it gives you more low end torque than those fancy intakes which is all i care about. How hard are they to install yourself? What's involved?

Chris

As long as you have decent mechanical abilites, you should be cool. Pick up a Haynes and Chiltons and start turning wrenches. If you run into a problem, come onto here and we'll walk you through it. It's not that hard.

Joe

JimTMich · Dec 11, 2003

Thanks

Thanks for the input!
Found a shop to do the gears.
Sounds like there is a little debate on intakes. That is to be expected. It looks like we have a lot of quality aftermarket parts to choose from! That is the reason I ditched my Grand Am and Got a Mustang many years ago.

Killercanary · Dec 11, 2003

Well, I have my own opinions here and they are similar, yet different that some. I think most people have sent you on the right track with the intake and gears. But, for the best kick in the pants improvement I'd do the following:
-Edelbrock performer intake (buy used if you can and save yourself some $$$, I got my intake and elbow used for ~$400 shipped 4 years ago when there wasn't as many around)
-4.10's (or get 3.73's if you wish, but I'm recommending 4.10's)
-ASP aluminum underdrive pulleys

As was said, a gear swap is going to run you around $400+ and if you can find an intake used for around the price of mine, your at $800. ASP pulleys will run you ~$100. The left over $100 will be needed for rear end fluid, intake gaskets, etc. You may even have enough left over to make your own CAI. I'd then do an offroad H/X pipe with a nice set of mufflers next mainly for the sound and weight reduction.

Mo_Dingo- Vib has dyno's from an intake swap. I went from 15.2 at 90 to 13.83 at 98.55mph with an edelbrock intake, ASP pulleys, 3.73's, shorty headers, offroad X, flowmaster mufflers, 65mm T-body, homemade CAI, bumped timing, and nitto drag radials. 8mph is a decent gain. I was running 14.6 at 94.8mph before the intake, headers, and t-body. After installing them I went 14.3 at 97.2mph, the nitto's and homemade CAI took me to the 13.83 at 98.55mph.

red94fiveo · Dec 11, 2003

jmuva44 said:
BTW.....I want to get a GT40 intake for my car. I know it doesnt flow as well as the Performer and such but it gives you more low end torque than those fancy intakes which is all i care about. How hard are they to install yourself? What's involved?

Chris

Its not that terrible of an install. This has been my first car that I have worked on myself and I've knid of had to teach myself everything as I went. Anyway, the GT40 install wasn't bad at all, hooking all the vaccuum lines and other stuff back into it was a PITA b/c not everything is in the same place. I had to call Ford Racing and they faxed me a diagram showing where everything goes on a GT40 in a 94-95. If you decide to do this PM me and I'll get you a copy of the schematic, it will make things go much easier. It took me the better part of a day when everything was said and done, but I usually take longer than most people. Hope that clears things up a little bit.

What's the best $1000 to spend....

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