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good engine mods?

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  #1  
Old 05-01-2009 | 11:47 AM
probiker427's Avatar
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Default good engine mods?

hey guys im just curious as to what i can do under the hood that will increase the aceelaration, and torque? i have a CAI but i know theres a bunch of others that willo improve just trying to figure out which would be best and if anyone good info on them?
thanks
 
  #2  
Old 05-01-2009 | 12:52 PM
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tell us what kind of car you have please. year, GT, V6, auto, manual...

gears are probably the best thing you can do for acceleration, along with a tuner with a 93 octane performance tune.
 
  #3  
Old 05-01-2009 | 01:41 PM
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i have an v6 auto, 1999.
 
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Old 05-01-2009 | 02:04 PM
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go get 4.10 gears, and a t-lock to get rid of the one wheel peel.

for real horsepower and torque gains you need to do a head/cam/intake swap
 
  #5  
Old 05-01-2009 | 02:58 PM
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what do u mean by head? headers?....cam? and intake?


pretty new to this so need some explanation lol
 
  #6  
Old 05-01-2009 | 05:19 PM
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ok, i'm not trying to be a dick, but you've got to go learn about your engine and engine's in general, especially if you want to do mods. start by browsing this website and go to howstuffworks.com and learn about the internal combustion engine. trust me, no one wants to flame you.

heads are what contain your valve assembly and fuel injectors. cams are what control the injectors and intake and exhaust valves, either directly which is over head valves, or indirectly, with pushrods. you sir, have a 3.8L pushrod engine. the intake is where the air comes in from.

i recommend that you don't do any mods for a while, until you learn more about your car. remember that its not always as advertised. do not overlook suspension either. a good set of springs and shocks, caster camber plates, and subframe connectors really change the way your car handles.
 
  #7  
Old 05-03-2009 | 01:02 PM
stangcharger's Avatar
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start with

-4.10's with T-lock
-25% underdrive pulley
-1.8 Roller rockers (if your not getting a cam)
-1.73 Roller rockers if you are getting a cam.
-Exhaust (midpipe/catback)
-J-mod shift kit
-handheld tuner/dyno tune

these are good to start with.
 
  #8  
Old 05-03-2009 | 06:12 PM
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im curious about the tuner..because i read on vmptuning that it needs to know which gears you have..so im wondering if i should get the tuner now or wait to get the 4.10 gears if it would benfit more from the gears?
 

Last edited by probiker27; 05-03-2009 at 06:20 PM.
  #9  
Old 05-04-2009 | 10:02 AM
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v8 swap. nuff said.
 
  #10  
Old 05-04-2009 | 01:11 PM
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instead of buying the gears n tlok...just get a 8.8 rearend... it will cost about the same
 
  #11  
Old 05-05-2009 | 07:06 AM
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Originally Posted by probiker27
im curious about the tuner..because i read on vmptuning that it needs to know which gears you have..so im wondering if i should get the tuner now or wait to get the 4.10 gears if it would benfit more from the gears?
You can change the settings in the tuner after you get gears and it will fix the speedo. So you can get a tuner now or later once you get gears.
 
  #12  
Old 05-05-2009 | 08:20 AM
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NITROUS...end of story
 
  #13  
Old 05-06-2009 | 08:46 PM
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lol dont know if nitrous is the best for him.
 
  #14  
Old 05-08-2009 | 04:23 PM
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Some of you guys kill me. It helps to be constructive like some of the guys on here are doing. I don't post a lot, but I read at plenty of forums to get a good guess at what everyone is doing for initial mods.

If you have money, the time, and have another ride available then swapping out engines would do the trick, but unlike me I'd rather save the 9 so grand of a new GT and take half of the money I saved and put on a super or turbo charger.

Look at what everyone is doing on the forums and deduce by how many times someone says buy a tuner, LSD, etc and go with what your budget can handle. If you can't shell out 600 or so dollars for a tuner then go for the next thing you can afford. Money almost always = more hp. So do your homework.

Exhaust, CAI, tuner, LSD, springs are the easy "stage 1" modifications that won't take up too much time. Doing internals such as cams, injectors, etc are in my opinion a "stage 2" type modifications. A lot more know how on how to tune an engine is what is involved for a stage 2.
 
  #15  
Old 05-08-2009 | 05:27 PM
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Please don't start calling this stages. We are not on hondahookup.com


j/k
 
  #16  
Old 05-08-2009 | 09:11 PM
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When I lived in Japan some of aftermarket companies did call some of these stages, but it wasn't on a Honduh. I didn't know they called it that.

I owned a Skyline while I was there.

I'll keep it in mind not to call it stages. Thanks for the input.
 
  #17  
Old 05-13-2009 | 06:29 AM
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hell im curious...can a tuner be used for more than one car?
 
  #18  
Old 05-13-2009 | 06:44 AM
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Originally Posted by Mustang2003GA
hell im curious...can a tuner be used for more than one car?
yes and no. wen u order the tune you have to give them your engine computer code and the tune itself is only good for that engine. you can use the tuner on other car's but only for data-logging and pulling codes.

if you are buying a used tuner it has to be wiped clean and then you buy a new tune from a company like bama tunes or whatever.
 
  #19  
Old 05-13-2009 | 04:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Forsteen
Some of you guys kill me. It helps to be constructive like some of the guys on here are doing. I don't post a lot, but I read at plenty of forums to get a good guess at what everyone is doing for initial mods.

If you have money, the time, and have another ride available then swapping out engines would do the trick, but unlike me I'd rather save the 9 so grand of a new GT and take half of the money I saved and put on a super or turbo charger.

Look at what everyone is doing on the forums and deduce by how many times someone says buy a tuner, LSD, etc and go with what your budget can handle. If you can't shell out 600 or so dollars for a tuner then go for the next thing you can afford. Money almost always = more hp. So do your homework.

Exhaust, CAI, tuner, LSD, springs are the easy "stage 1" modifications that won't take up too much time. Doing internals such as cams, injectors, etc are in my opinion a "stage 2" type modifications. A lot more know how on how to tune an engine is what is involved for a stage 2.
Funny. This guys wanting some torque and acceleration..and you're talking about a exhaust and a cold air on a v6.

If you want good torque and good acceleration you're going to shell out a decent amount of cash for this v6.

As everyone has said.. gears/posi will help your acceleration, and the tuner is a must with those, which will help out some numbers as well. But, for the price of the gear/posi installation, if you're having a shop do it, I'd buy a 8.8 and go from there.

You can do something like a windstar intake system..which is good for some power. You can find the windstar at http://vapauto.com/

A J-Mod on the transmission wouldn't hurt, but TBH I never had an issue without one..you won't push any serious 6 numbers, so I really don't see why you'd need it.

Any GOOD SOLID power is going to come from a few things

- Stroker kit - look at paying.. 2 grand plus for it.
- Nitrous - Good setup could run you maybe 450 bucks - can be more depending on what you want
Turbo/Supercharger - I don't recommend. I'd build the entire motor first and have the stroker put in, and set the car up for the turbo/sc

Many of these cheaper bolt ons, really aren't going to do much for you.

IMO rockers are going to be pointless for where your car is at right now.

- I'd save my money, decide on how far you want to go with this car, and once your decision is made, drop some serious cash into it and build it the right way, instead of piddling around with boltons that are going to be a couple hundred here, a couple hundred there.. and just throw the stroker kit at it.
 
  #20  
Old 05-14-2009 | 09:41 PM
Forsteen's Avatar
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You got me there, I admit it. I wasn't paying attention apparently, but at least I tried to be less blatant. Thanks for helping this person out with good information that they can make a well balanced decision on. Unfortunately some feed their ego instead of really helping others. Nature of the beast I guess.
 
  #21  
Old 05-14-2009 | 09:52 PM
Dan2001's Avatar
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From: Reno, NV
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Originally Posted by Forsteen
You got me there, I admit it. I wasn't paying attention apparently, but at least I tried to be less blatant. Thanks for helping this person out with good information that they can make a well balanced decision on. Unfortunately some feed their ego instead of really helping others. Nature of the beast I guess.
^ +1. Reminder to just help the guy with the question get an answer. Done.
 
  #22  
Old 05-18-2009 | 11:49 AM
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From: North Carolina
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As with everyone else, fix the rear end, get a shift kit for the tranny, good exhaust, and stroke the crap out of it.
http://www.moranav6racing.com/
http://www.bmracing.com/PRODUCTS/For...-Mercury-4r70W
http://www.supersixmotorsports.com/
and this is a good website for a begginer to figure out where to start and what to do. It is just about never updated though, so some of the websites are dated as well as statements about what is available:
http://www.3.8mustang.com/wiki/Main_Page
 
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