where should i start beefing up?:

Corner Carving>Drag Racing

depends, what setup/goals do you want?

"Beef up" as in weak points of the car?

The stock shifter should be the first thing to get swapped out because if you start speed shifting and banging gears you could bend a shift fork using the stock shifter as it does not have stops as the aftermarket shifters do. All the aftermarket shifters are just about as good as the next. I have the MGW and like the progressive springs.

The next weak link has to be the upper/lower control arms that hold the rear end in place. Have you noticed the side to side action from the rear when you get on it?? Pick up an adjustable lower control arm. Also you may want to install a set of Subframe connectors to stiffen up the body.

Next would be a brake upgrade.

Happy modding,
Fast02

beef up your wallet first, youll need it

urban96 said:

beef up your wallet first, youll need it

Click to expand...

truest statement ever to be told on stangnet

CAI
Mid pipe (h or x)
short throw shifter
gears
lowering springs
cams
tune

forget the CAI... and also, the TR3650 in your 02 GT has integrated shift stops so you dont have to worry about bent forks when bangin the gears with the stock shifter. i would definitely recommend a set of gears, some sort of x/h pipe, and a catback. look on mustangexhaust.com for sound clips of various midpipe and catback combos. I can tell you from experience that an O/R H and 2 chamber flows sounds like retro-muscle, and my current catted X with SLP loudmouth 1s is very loud and racy, and makes people crap their pants

yep, I was ass backwards when i worked on my car. I didn't know much when I got it. I just had the gears installed which I should have done first. I did the catback, K&N, TB/plenum, then the pullies, then the h-pipe, and finally the gears. That was mainly because of when I had and didn't have money, and what I could find for the best price at the time. It's all done now, but I would have probably went with gears, mid pipe, catback, and tb/plenum last. The K&N and pullies could have went anywhere in between. I've got a tuner and springs in the mail.

Ok based off what you said. Get an Offroad midpipe, and Mils. and some dumps (either flowmasters mac's something along that line) The Magnaflow's sound great with an OR xpipe, and not lot's of people use it. The 1 chamber flows are stupid loud so is the borla stinger series too loud IMO for a streetcar.
Now for mods that will help you. gears for sure, I'd suggest at least doing a bearing kit when you do them and if funds allow go ahead and build the rear end, good axles, better diff, cclip elim's. You don't want to be the guy who snapped his axle. For drag tires get some 15" Dr's or slicks and have fun.
For more power nitrous is cheap and easy, but a blower is always there.
Anything on the chassis helps, IMO SFC should be the first mod everyone does, then gears. Control arms also help tons.
Also search the forums you can gain lots of wisdom and hopefully spend your money wisely.