I have a 97 gt with almost 100,000 miles on it, and my mpg have slowly been going down. I was told by a friend that also has a couple mustangs that it would be worth it to sea foam the engine. I wanted to know what ya'll thought.

Also my dads machanic told me that i shouldn't put a K&N air filter on because the oil will adventually build up in the engine and i will have to rebuilt it. i was also wondering what ya'lls ideas were about that. I had one on my last mustang and i felt more power at wot.

and finaly i have an auto and really miss my old manuel and was wondering if it would be worth it to make the converstion, my future plans for the car is to pi it and the probly get a procharger.

sry i'm a newbe here and just had a lot of questions and didn't know what to do.
thanks for ya'lls help

 

The K&N will not cause problems. There's a reason why all performance enthusiats use it. The biggest problem that you will get is possibly a clogged MAF in which rubbing alcohol will fix that very quickly.
To convert your car to stick, you will need a flywheel, clutch assembly, pilot bearing, throw out bearing, bell housing, trans, cable, pedal assembly, adjusting mechanism (stock or fire-wall style), shifter, boots, and all the little things that go along w/ it. It can be done, but will cost you and will take time.

 

would you think its worth the money if i find everything to change mine to a manuel??
Also would it be cheaper if i found a totaled mustang and got all the trany stuff out of that or to buy new??

 

Your best bet is to buy everything out of a junk-yarded Mustang. Otherwise, the cost is going to be relatively high. Used is the way to go, for cost.

 

ok,
and as for the sea foaming should i do it or not,
and another question i know ppl probly ask all the time, i want to get better performance out of my car, should i got 4.10 gears, exhaust, or find a used pi set first?

 

Dont recommend using sea foam on a car with a lot of miles.

 

OK, thanks
i have been reading up on the 5.4 swap and was wondering do you have to have a certian type of 5.4??
and would that be better than going and procharging my 4.6,
which would ya'll say is a better deal?

 

I think you no idea what your in for.

 

I have been reading alittle on it, but still am lost on what is all involed and all the information like that.
like i said i have read but am not too clear about it and would like to know which one will be a better upgrade when i get the money. but first there are a couple other things i want to do, like gears, but i'm unsure what i want to do first.
I want the power soo i can race it nicely, but i also want it to be dependible, and last me sevral years

 

Power and race do not go well in the sentence with dependable and reliable....lol

 

Actually, you can follow this theory:

In terms of Horsepower....you can have Economical, Reliability and Power........but only two at one time.

or something like that.

 

Here are my thoughts:

1 - What's wrong with an automatic? It's not worth the pain to swap it to a manual. Just get a better converter and program that thing to shift better. The car will be faster then a 5 speed. The work and parts involved with the swap will cost almost as much as the car is worth. Spend your money on better heads and cams.

2 - Seam Foam? Just because it smokes, people think it works. I have NEVER seen an independent study that this stuff does anything.

3 - K&N Filters causing a motor to get re-built because of sucking in oil? That guy should have his mechanics credentials removed. That is about the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Putting aside the fact that just about every performance car in the world uses this design, do you have any idea how much oil you would have to suck up to ruin a motor? Sure, it can happen....just ask Procharger - lol. I am shocked that that mechanic apparently does not realize that your motor is already burning oil...blow-off from the PVC which is being sent into the intake. You burn 100 times more oil this way then you wuld from a K&N filter.

 

What would i have to do to make my auto stronger?
and what would cause me car to be getting really poor gas milage. i'm getting about 180 miles on my tank, and if i couculated that right its about 12mpg i can't figure out why its soo low, on my old manuel (one of the reasons i liked it more) i could almost get 19 in city driving the same way, one of the reasons i'm guessing is it had 40,000 less miles. what could i do to improve mgp without having to change too much about the way i drive?

 

wow and you have a gt? damn i only get 240 a tank with my v6.

 

Wow, that is low. Have you done the 100k tune-up?

 

no, but i'm almost at 95,000 and i just rounded it up to 100,000. I know this is stupid but what is all done at the 100,000 tune up, i have never had a car go that high.
also i was going to go fully synthetic oil on the next change because i jsut bought the car from one of my moms uncles, and he just changed the oil soo i was going to wait the 5,000 before going synthetic.
what can i check on the engine to make sure everything is ok without having to take it apart??

 

And just now thinking about it, i was sagging my rear tires bad on my other stang, the only diffrences where its was a 98 it has 58,000 a K&N, manuel, and i dumped the exaust right after the cats. i drive them both the same, and i'm only getting 180 miles on my 97 gt convertible, while i was getting 150-175 on a half tank in my 98 coup i know a convertible adds about 300lbs but it shouldn't hurt the fuel econimy that bad would it??
and i still would like to know waht i need to do for a 100,000k tune up

 

dang i get 24 mpg on my gt

 

What The Crap i wish i got that milage, would putting a k&non iwth changing the spark plugs and belt help me any or should i go out and buy a couple things of fuel injector cleaner and fuel system cleaner?? but my cousin has the same problem in her 96 gt convertible. but she gets slightly better that i because she doesn't floor it around

 

My 96'GT was starting to get really crappy mpg's but still was running strong. A tune up got it back up to 19mpg with 3.73's and real strong. When you drive it you don't notice the loss in power,it happens slow but you do notice the gas use going up. Just tune it up.

 

like the quote before me said just make sure you get tha stang tuned. high milage can really hurt a cars performance. but the only real realistic way to help mpg is your right foot, be easy on her during everyday driving and your milage will really improve.

 

What all is there to do on a 100K tune-up? I've got about 500 miles to go until 125,00 and im not sure when the last time the plugs and wires were changed? So im guessing thats one thing i need to change, but wat else is there?

 

ok, i have been driving her alittle nicer, but still get on it alot.. and have gotton 125 and now am just about half way between half and a quarter to go.. and this stang feels soo much slow and not as powerful as my old 98 gt.. would that be because the milage difrence almost 40k? and would it feel fast because it was a manuel??

as for a tune up i was going to get a new filter, spark plugs and wires, next time i change oil go fully synthetic, and get a new belt. should that help any??

 

I would not switch to full synthetic oil unless that Mustang has been using synthetic since the beginning. You can cause oil leaks if going from conventional to synthetic on a high mileage motor.

 

I went to synthetic on my old GT at 80,000 and it was okay.

 

I get about 23 mpg highway in a 3.73 geared automatic and 11:8-1 compression. Have you changed the O2 sensors, or done anything more substantial than the plugs? What did you gap the plugs at? Something seems off to me. I am sure others think the same thing, let us know what you have done all together so we can try to help you bro. Clean your MAF and make sure there are no restrictions in any area's which might restrict air going to the motor. Did you do any wires with the plugs?

 

By the way, synthectics are usually ok. Most Mustangs started out on at least semi-synthetic at the factory I have found through reading. AMSOIL is the only oil I know which will truly find a place to drip from if used on an older motor. I used synthetics in my car and I bought it with 90,000 on the ticker. No leaks, used AMSOIL and it dripped constantly. Just choose the oil carefully.

 

The lucas is good injector cleaner like he said. You can also run the seafoam in the fuel tank as well. My new motor in my stang runs Royal Purple synthetic when I can afford it or Mobil 1 any other time. I keep a list of what I do so I can check back later and see if I missed something. Good luck.

 

ok thanks