Just got a 1999 Mustang GT
 

I totaled my 1986 Mercedes Benz 190d, and it was a sad day. I had to get a new car, and a friend of mine offered me a 99 GT, tornado red, for a good price, so i took it. My other choice for a car was a salvaged/repaired 2001 bmw 325, but you can never trust salvaged cars.

I have about 300 dollars to spend on the car, i know its not a lot, but i want to know what I should do first to it. Chip it? Short shifter? gears? I dont know a lot about mustangs, as all my knowledge rests with the eurocars.

Can anyone help me out here?

Welcome to the club! :)

I assume it's a 5 speed. $300 is not much, but a good start. If I were you, I would want to get the biggest bang for the money. Is the car completly stock? I shall assume so. Don't worry about a chip yet. Wait for more mods and then consider a programmer (see my thread in tech about chips vs programmers).

For your $300 (or close), this is wat I would do:

OPTION 1 ($290):
- Steeda Tria-Ax Shifter ($180)
- Chin Spolier ($60)
- Grill Delete ($50)

OPTION 2 ($340)
- Tri-Ax Shifter ($180)
- Steeda Under Drive Pullies ($160)

OPTION 3 ($350 ish)
- A nice catback exhaust like an SLP or Flowmaster

What about a couple of weld in mufflers and a new midpipe like an off road Mustangtuning Xpipe, they sound amazing. Or you could get the midpipe and a triax. Buy the shifter first, such an improvement over the stock one.

My brother hated drying the grill on his 01 GT. I finally got him the grill delete. Saves you a bunch of time.

My first step would be catback. You will love it after you get that "Mustang" sound, way better over stock. If you can't afford a catback now, save up another $100 or so and get one. You could get a new shifter and all, which would be great, but you will have to wait on that classic sound.

The best mod you can do to your car is gears...if youre a 5-speed i'd go with 3.73's and if youre a auto go with 4.10's! :) ....it will run you around $250 to get them installed if not cheaper! :D


Miguel

for 300 bucks get a used offroad pipe, just look around i got mine for 70bucks, then gewt some muffler welded in, then get used pulleys around 100 bucks teh get a used tming adjuster and your set.

wow guys, thanks a lot for the help.

The car is stock except for the aluminum pedals that were put in, and yes, its a 5spd. I'm not a fan of automatics at all.

MTs#1Customer, wow, thanks a lot. That was just the response i was hoping for. Does the chin spoiler make it look that much better? I dont know, i havent seen one, but ive heard about them. I'll probably get the shifter, thank you. What about underdrive pulleys and gears?
whats the difference between the two, and what are the effects of installing them on the car?

Thanks everyone for helping me out, im ignorant about ponycars righ tnow, but hopefully i'll learn.


trout

The chin spoiler really makes the front end of the car look a lot better IMO. Since your car is red, it will look really good.

The combo of the chin spoiler an the grill delete will make the car look like a MACH 1 from the front, but not completely becaus eyou won't have the shaker hood. They loook really nice on a red car as already mentioned. Waring: I think they loose their appeal on a lowered car. The tend to scrape and do not look as good.

here the lowdown on the mods (brief version):

Shifter: A shifter like a Steeda Tri-Ax makes the shifting much more precise and rigid. The stock shifter is sloppy because rubber bushings are used. The Tri-Ax will make you shifts "click". Also, for racing it is great because the throws are shorter and it has "stops" so you can not over extend shifting and brake a shift-fork. It is a really good mod which should be done on every 5 speed whether you race or not. It takes about 2 hours to install if you have never done one before, reasonably mechanical, and have everything you need. 45 minutes if your good.

Underdrive Pullies: These pullies replace your existing pullies. Pullies are used to run you accesories. UDP's have less rotational mass and slow down things like the alternator and power steering. They "free up" extra hp. The gains are 5 - 10 rwhp and have virtually no side effects. Keep in mind, they do not add hp to the motor, but they add hp to the rear wheels.

Gears: Read this thread that I wrote. It should explain everything you need to know about them.

http://www.mustangtuningforums.com/showthread.php?t=25

cold air system.... or a keg of really good microbrew...... or crown royal...


just a thought


:EEK:

Dont waste your money on a steeda tri-ax get the MT shifter it is Exactly The same as the Steeda for Less Money, Trust me I know It sounds like it may be cheap but it's not i work there and there is no difference in the 2 except the price

I bought my Steeda before there was an MT or I would have gone that route.