Near stock 2001 Mustang GT, Are headers worth it?
 

Tried searching, couldn't come up with much. Basically I am buying a stock 2001 Mustang GT, I have been spoiled for power with my bike, but have always wanted a fast car. Are Longtube headers worth the money and PITA install? Or for a basic bolt on car (intake, maybe pulleys, and different mufflers) are headers not worth it? Are shorty headers any easier to install? Would you say just get an Xpipe (have to have cats on the car) and hook that up to the flowmaster axle back exhaust?


I would love to have a 13 second car, I absolutely will not put bigger tires or spray the car. Is this possible on 235 width tires with an intake, Xpipe, hi flow cats, short shifter, and flowmaster exhaust?

I have already done a ton of reading on here, you guys have incredible looking cars, makes me want to get a grill delete kit and chin spoiler.

Sorry if my first thread ever seems kind of brash, I have been lurking for a while and been on car forums/bike forums since I was 16.

Your car should have 245's on it. Anyway those bolt ons and a good driver should get you a 13.99. IMO don't worry about headers.

Save your time and money. Throw on a set of 3.73's or 4.10's, a short shifter, and remove your intake silencer.(see search function)

If your into exhaust, just get something that sounds good. Its not really going to help performance that much. I have a Bassani Catted X, and Bassani Cat Back. It sounds great.

Just those 3 mods (1 being free) should get you a 13.5-13.6.

Gears are sick if your looking for a quick gain.

With good weather a good driver these cars go high 13's stock. So with those mods and a decent driver you have a 13 sec car.

Catted X pipe, intake, and maybe those Steeda pulleys would be my plans for the car. Thanks for the help guys. a 13.5 car would be fine with me, i would love to make it handle good too, but thats another thread, elsewhere.

Thank you!

Worth it, most definitely. Just make sure you get a good set and a set of locking bolts. As for install, long tubes are just as hard as shorties, which is why for the work that needs to be done, you might as well go all the way. Plus, once you add cams to mix, that's when the gains start to really take off.

bassman hit it on the nail. I wish that I would've saved up money earlier to get LT's and done my exhaust all at the same time. Now that I've been looking at cams and a new intake, LT's are almost necessary to see the power gains I want.

I wouldn't do cams, already went that route with a car and wasn't happy with how the whole driveability with the car changed. Bolt on only car.

Then you chose the wrong cams. Cam selection is very application specific, and just about anything is better suited on a Mustang than the stock cams (PI cams don't even have 200° of duration, which is sad for a muscle car).

Are there any cams that are driveable year round? Yes when it is -10 degrees out in a Maine winter?

Not sure if mods are worth it without going forced induction....

Longtubes-20WHP
Xpipe with stock manifolds-10WHP
Fender Well intake-8WHP
Pulleys-8WHP
Tuner-no idea how many WHP?
Throttle body-5WHP

Am I way off in my estimation?

Go mild. Comp Cams XE264s can pass CA smog tests and should be fine for cold starts. Plus w/ the right tune, it should be same as stock. The old Crane 212s were even milder, but Crane unfortunately went out of business a couple months ago. The key is to look for something that doesn't have insane amounts of overlap and maintains a decent amount of vacuum.

As for your power estimates, the x-pipe is over-estimated, as well as the TB. Fender well CAIs are bad, as they screw w/ the MAF reading and unless you upgrade the intake elbow, a TB won't gain you much. A tune will net you only so much power, but that's depending on the combo you're running. However, if you want to stay NA, the Trickflow heads will really wake up the engine and even more so if you still want FI.

Wow, to go fast you really do need cams/heads or forced induction. Thanks guys

My opinion about the original question is that I would hold off on getting them if you're not planning on going FI or heads/cams. I have them without those things but the plan all along has been to eventually add boost. Also I have a couple of buddy's that had longtubes before me and they really change the sound of the car which I really like.

Also...if you select a cam that is not too much for your application and you get a good tune you should be fine and driveability should not be affected. I've got a buddy that has patriot stage 2 heads and comp cams I believe (not sure on the specs) that he can drive all day no problems with idle etc. Most likely if you had a tune it was built to make horsepower and not for driveability or your cam selection was not best for what you were looking for.

On a side note I would slap some 4.10's in there.

someone actually understands the point! w00t.

You could do what I did... slap a 5.4 in it. With stock cams and stock drivability you'll have a crapload more power and you can still use 87 octane. Cost varies but you could do it for less than 2K. A few guys have breached the sub 1K cost point which is easy if you do all your own work. The HPS intake fits under the stock hood and bolts on just like stock and it'll be just exactly like your stock car but have probably 40hp more and 80lbs more tq and be a shitload more fun to drive. Remember, that's on stock cams and stock heads and a mild tune that still gets 25mpg highway and 17-19 city.

but yeah, otherwise, it's H/C/I or a blower. A blower is the most cost effective route in bang for the buck but carries added stress on the motor and additional fuel requirements.

Thanks for the help guys, with all this money to spend and no gains to be had, I bought a 2004 Honda Civic 5 speed.

giggle

Have fun in the 15's.

now there's someone with no idea of the difference between 300hp and 130hp.

I guess my comment came off as offensive to you guys, my apologies. What I should clarify is that I am looking for a platform that responds well to cheaper, easier to install mods. I really have been trying to get into a 6 speed LS1 car, but they are all beat to crap around here. I am mostly surprised it takes cam/forced induction to go real fast in the 4.6L engine platform. If anything I am thanking you for the help and allowing me to realize the 4.6L is not for me, I am going to hold out and wait for a 6 speed LS1. I simply picked up a cheap civic for the meantime.

If I had the cash (supercharger) or know how for real IN the motor work (cams) I would have felt better about going with the Mustang.

Sorry it seemed that I tried to storm out on a bad note, happy modding and stay safe everyone.

Joke is on me in the meantime, this damn civic is 115 horsepower, NOT 130.

Have you considered an old 5.0 Mustang? Parts are cheap and plentiful.

I thought you just wanted to run 13's? Thats what these cars can do bone stock (With a good driver).

and they make 66-83 to the ground and nealy 90tq. See the next post. BTW, the clarification in your previous post showed class. Nice touch.

This is the single best post yet. Smart muddafugga that bassdude. I'm tellin you what, you can make an absurdly powerful car on the cheap with an old 5.0. If you ask the 5 litre guys they'll be able to tell you off hand which car came with forged pistons (IIRC it was 87-88 5.0's). It's ludicrous easy to make power on the old pushrod motors and upgrade parts are cheap and fairly easy to install. I mean anyone with a Haynes manual and a tq wrench can do it for real. There is no cheaper car to mod for serious power other than maybe a F-body which have some serious design flaws that cause unending reliability issues.

That's what I thought. I mean if you want 12's after that it's a 100shot of nitrous away and your car can live a very long time eating a mellow shot of giggle juice like that if properly maintained. A bone stock Mach1 could net you low-13's or high 12's with a tune and a couple bolt on bits.

Just don't (FOR THE LOVE OF GAWD PLEASE DON'T) consider a honda a performance car. Even if it's one of their race cars... it's a honda. Not a muscle car.

F body cars are a nightmare to work on, no doubt. I would only buy an unmolested fox body car...kind of an oxymoron around here.

I PROMISE my Honda is not a performance car, my Honda bike is certainly a performance/sport bike. I do give some serious props to the guys running high 12s NA with little civic hatchbacks, but the exhaust tone alone turns me off of them.

I will look into the older fox bodies more seriously and try to find a stock one around here.

This is correct. I am running 515RWHP/445RWTQ on nothing but long tube headers, full x pipe catless exhaust and a procharger running 15psi on a all stock motor. My rear end is a 3.73 gear set and I can pull 11's and beat a Z06 corvette all day long on a non-top speed run. Keep in mind though my car has been lightened and is a full tubular frame and all BMR racing which for sure helps but since you are asking about engine power a supercharger and long tube headers will usually make any performance junky happy...for a while...hehe ;)

I am so proud of all of you for being so civil about this thread, alot of info was transfered and no one got ugly. Mr. Jones, you did a fine job!

Everyone and their dad has a fox body mustang, but they all have cc306 cams or a gt40 intake. Seems like It is very hard to find a stock fox body. I would absolutely not consider an automatic, so that does make things a bit harder.

Too bad the 2005+ are just out of my price range.

Still great info and I have been lurking craigslist for a 5.0. I would love a 5.0, 5 speed, LX notchback. What an awesome car to gut and put a full racing suspension system in.


Procharger and a 1999+ mustang is also out of my price range or I would be posting right now about how much I love the car and how much my transmission hates me.

I don't think foxes are that common especially not ones that are mint and built as tits.