i recently bought a mustang 2dr coupe. i am lookin for any suggestions on what parts i should by for it to increase performance without killing my pockets.. =) ill have pics of it soon

 

Full exhaust, a new rear end gear, maybe even a little nitrous. Just be careful and dont fry anything and do it right.

 

also mines automatic =\ i put up wit alot of traffic in the morning heh

 

Styles: Depends on your goals. If you want to go to the track, but need to keep a V-6 for insurance reasons or vehicle cost reasons, then consider nitrous.

Problem with a V-6 is that as you dump money into it, you will get to the point where you will say "I coulda had a V-8".

All the add-ons add up big time cost wise. Exhaust and gears alone will run you $1500 easy. On V-6's the benefit is less than with a V-8 because you are not starting with as much power in the first place.

I know a bunch about nitrous, but not specifically about V-6 applications. Venom makes a great, safe kit. Because of the way it is designed, you do not need many of the other features associated with other systems. I am installing a Venom-1000 on my mustang this week. It is a self-tuning kit that shuts down automatically if the car runs lean.

The kit list for $800+, but you can buy them for $560 delivered. There is also a Venom-2000 which adds nitrous progressively. That kit is much more $.

Nice thing about nitrous is that you can always take it off and no one has to know it was ever there. I am sure a V-6 could run a 1/4 mile in the 13's too.

 

very true but eventually paying for gas on a v8 will eventually catch up to the cost, and the gts costed so much more with insurance, i dont want the car for a track, just want to make it a bit faster =) and am thinking about investing into double mufflers and pipes

 

OK. If not going to the track, then I would not waste my time with nitrous.

I would start with gears and exhaust and go from there.

 

im also thinking of getting a intake system for my v6, any recommendations are appreciated =)

 

The intake wont give you a whole lot of HP if u want it to feel and seem alot quicker go for the gears. Dual exhaust ona v6 make sure u get it done right, dont let it sound like crap.

 

but can i really change the gears on my mustang since i have an automatic? sorry im kind of new to the mechanics of cars, never really got into them till i got my mustang =)

 

That's ok. Let's see if I can give you a basic explanation. When we say gears, we really mean your final gear ratio. That has absolutely nothing to do with a car being a manual or an automatic.

Think of your car like a ten speed bike. The sprockets on the back wheel are like the gears in your car. An auto would have 4 and my stick would have five as the autos are a four speed. In a low gear, you have LOTS of pull (tourque) but very little top speed. As you move up through the different gears, you loose pull, but gain top end. Are you following me?

Now, a 10 speed also has a sprocket in front, right? There are two. Changing the front sprocket would be the same as changing gear ratios on your mustang. Going from 3.27's to say a 3.55 is like going to a slightly smaller sprocket. It does not affect the actual gears, just like changing your gear ratio has no affect on the actual gears.

Your tires and wheels are also a gear, so to speak. Going to a smaller tire and wheel, would have the same affect of changing your gear ratio. This is why older Fox Body Mustangs came standard with 2.73 gears because the rims and tires were so much smaller. With the advent of larger tires and rims, you need a different gear or you will never get the car moving.

Changing gears on your V-6 will get your car moving down the road quicker, but will cause it to shift more often. In theory, you also loose top-end speed. If you were to put your car on a dyno before and after a gear swap, the dyno would actually show that you have lost some hp....just a few. Some say this is because of increased friction with the tighter gears, but it really has more to do with complicated angular momentum calculations resulting from being in a gear w/o a 1:1 ratio.

The end result, however, is that going from a 3.27 to a 4.10 is like adding 40 hp to the car. That is about what it will feel like.

Changing gears on our mustangs also requires calibrating the speedo. Going from 3.27's to 4.10's will result in the speedo reading 20% to high. On an auto, it is very important that the speedo get calibrated. This is because your trany is computer controlled and relies on speed input data from the speedo to determine how and when to shift gears. You can do serious damage to an auto if you don't calibrate the speedo.

To calibrate the speedo, you can use a chip or a programmer. When you order the chip/programmer you specify what gears you have. A chip/programmer has the added benefit of also changing the way an auto will shift which will also make the car quicker. A chip programmer will run you another $300 - $400 plus the cost of the gears and the install, you are nearing a grand. It really adds up. You can also use a $100 device called a speed cal. I don't recomend them, because most guys eventually add a chip anyway and then you have wasted your money.

This is why I joked about the nitrous earlier in this thread. While I love Mustangs, I often question why someone would spend too much money modifying a v-6. The money spent on mods could easily be used to move up to the V-8. Again, nitrous comes in to play. A nice nitrous kit can give you a major SOTP kick and then simply remove it when you want to sell the car and get something different. It also makes the car a sleeper whic has it;s thrills too.

Nitrous also has it's drawbacks. I would never use it on a car with a warrenty if you cared about loosing it.

 

get a shift kit it makes it way more fun to drive.

 

how much does a shift kit go for? and where can i buy one

 

I used to be the same way (I had a heavily modded 99)...honestly don't mod for performance....you will never be happy with it, and when you trade it in V6 mods are looked down upon....

Go for the looks...I recently owned an 01 Stage 1 Roush......it looked amazing but I kept the motor pretty much stock...wheels and some custom touches makes your car look good 100% of the time...performance is only good for 10% of the time if its a daily driver....Just something to think about...

 

this was my 01...

on edit....I can't get my pic to upload...

 

ima go wit ur advise, only thing im interested now is in making it sound better, but thats about all the customization performance wise i am going to do to it, any suggestions ?

 

I would get 3.73 or steeper gears a shift kit for trans and I have heard underdrive pulleys work well on V-6's

 

There is basic bolt ons you can get for your car also. Ebay has a cold air intake you can buy for like 80 bucks. Duals exhaust, ofr this modification you can buy a cat back system could run you up to 300 bucks or you can just go to a muffler shop and have them fab you a custom cat back system (which is what i did) sometimes this comes out cheaper just get prices. and 40 series dual chamber flowmasters and you can also buy a Underdrive Pulley. Go to the bolt ons section here for more details www.3.8mustang.com lots of stuff you can do to a six. Their is a guy there with 265 rwhp naturally aspirated good for low 14's high 13's

 

first off though i would see if there is anything you want to enjoy the ride more, for example, i know you have a auto, but i got a tri-ax shifter and a frpp **** for mine less then a week after i got it, and i love it. So the car may be perfect for you already, but if not, i say make it perfect for you, then make it fast.

i dont know if that makes any sence, i get a lil' confused reading it

 

my v6 has 3.73's with a diablo racing chip and it seems to give you all the acceleration you would need on the street.

 

i finally decided that my next upgrade for my stang will be a air intake, i was wondering what if any advantages do i have getting the intake that goes down beyond the fenderwall or the ones that are normal. If there is a big advantage where can i get the ones that go past the fenderwall, I havent seen any on mustangtuning or other places i go to but see them in peoples pics of their cars. thanks guys for all the suggestions

 

Short Ram will take air out of the engine bay, hence warm air, Less dense, less combustion less power. fenderwell intakes take air majorally from the outside which is possibly or maybe not cooler than your engine bay hence, more dense air and more dense = more combustion = more power

But the differences arn't too big.

you can find a fenderwell CAI on www.macperformance.com