Effective/cheap mods to increase hp for cars?

i have a question for the 18 year old thread starter....

why?

chances are u wanna go faster which is understandable. But the car is plenty fast as is. your asking about top speed bc u want bragging rights and will just wind up doing something stupid. u dont have the experience, nor the maturity/control to be doing high speed on the road.
Dont get mewrong, im only 21. But, my job as a firefighter/paramedic forces me to scrape dumbass kids who dont know when theyre going to fast off the road.

Do yourself and the people w/ or around you a favor. Make the exterior look super good, upgrade the brakes and suspension so that the car can stop and turn. And just drive it for a few years...

just my .2

I know it is fast as is, and I have been spending most of my money on mods to make the car look better, but I was just looking into a few mods to add a little more zip. I don't plan on breaking 300hp with my first mustang gt but I would like to add a few things to make it a little faster.
 
  • Sponsors (?)


If you must mod, go with 4.10s and a short throw. My vote on shifter is Pro 5.0, but MGW and Steeda are also good choices. If I were you though, i'd just save my money. A stock new edge is a quick enough car. I remember a "buddy" of mine referring to them as "13 second cars with 14 second drivers"

haha... anyways, I'd save the cash and keep it for a rainy day.
 
i have a question for the 18 year old thread starter....

why?

chances are u wanna go faster which is understandable. But the car is plenty fast as is. your asking about top speed bc u want bragging rights and will just wind up doing something stupid. u dont have the experience, nor the maturity/control to be doing high speed on the road.
Dont get mewrong, im only 21. But, my job as a firefighter/paramedic forces me to scrape dumbass kids who dont know when theyre going to fast off the road.

Do yourself and the people w/ or around you a favor. Make the exterior look super good, upgrade the brakes and suspension so that the car can stop and turn. And just drive it for a few years...

just my .2

Wise words!

I forgot to add brakes! Do this before you start adding HP to your car. The Cobra Brake upgrade would be a good choice for budget. I like to road race and auto-x my car so I opted for race brakes. They can pull me down from 120 - 20 in seconds!

John
 
nitrous wet kit (450 dollars) + drag radials for the rear = great package for track use
Rear Gears(3.73 or 4.10) + tuner + steeda underdrive pulleys + MAC Prochamber mid pipe is a great street combo (assuming gears + install will run 500 total and other parts will be close to 500 total to bring you to 1000.00
The CHEAPEST performance mod would be to remove the heavy sound gear - like the sub box, rear seat, spare tire, etc. If you have some experience on doing some basic wrenching you can stretch your dollar even further.
 
$1000 Budget?

4.10 gears <$200
Install <$200
Short Shifter <$200

Take the rest and spend it on Test and Tune nights at the track. I got started into Mustangs in my teenage years and thanks to being broke and some good advice from people like the guys on this forum, I started racing it before I started modding it.

You could throw $200 bucks at the car here and there, with weak little mods like UDPs, a Plenum, TB, CAI, etc. In the end, the gains they provide are nomimal, with little to no seat of the pants feel. You could drop $1000 on one big mod, but chances are you'll be missing out on the proper peripheral mods that compliment it. (ie cams, but no tune, free-er flowing exhaust, etc.)

In the end, you want to be able to understand how quick the car is as it stands. How it responds to the weather, or to little things like sneezing between the 2-3 shift. Without timeslips, how "fast" or "quick" a car is a "science" practiced only by benchracers and forum-addicts. "I think I edged out that LT1 Camaro because of my timing adjuster" is not the same thing as "this mod gave me a 1 tenth of second gain and half a mph compared to the last time I ran it under similar conditions."

After you've baselined the car, if you want to throw little mods on the car, feel free. At least you'll be able to realistically determine what gains, if any, were provided by each mod.

I suggested gears because they're your best bang for the buck from a $$$ standpoint and from the seat of the pants. The car will really wake up and be alot of fun to drive. The short shifter also inspires alot of confidence, and quick shifts make a difference at the track.

Keep in mind this is just one guy's opinion. I just loved knowing that I had squeezed every last tenth of the car before I threw some dough at it. Also, you'd be amazed how a few trips to the track make you a fairly proficient test and tuner. There is nothing better than whooping up on a bolt-on'd and drag radialed GT with your stock GT at the track, simply because that guy hits the track once a year, and you're there twice a month.

Good luck.
 
Im 18 and have been able to do everything that is in my sig to my stang (besides the flowmasters coming w/ the car and my mom paying for the gear install for Christmas) since I bought it last August.

The gears and tune had the most noticeable increase. Im done w/ the performance mods until I pay the car off. Unless I find a good deal on n2o. :D
 
wise words, but don't blanket punish him lol im 18 and i too like trying to find ways to add power, i just dont expect it to be cheap lol

i forget the members name on here, he's still in high school and is is doing a sick npi rebuild with ported heads he did himself, and the other member who is like 18 and has a vortech in his yellow 04 gt.....dammit im bad with names lol

gears would make it feel much more responsive off the line, and if you have spare time then try working on the car once in a while, you'll find you save an assload of money by doing installs yourself (after lots of reading and researching lol).

Yea I'm 19 about to turn 20.

All I'll say is I know guys in their 30s and 40s that act and drive like they are 12. Age has little to do with how a person acts in a car, its more about maturity and respect for yourself and the car.

I had my GT at 16 with 4.10s and exhaust, a blower on it running 12s at 17, was in the 11s at 18, and in the 10s at 19. Nitrous will be a birthday present to myself this year.

All this without a speeding ticket or even being pulled over for that matter. I got in one accident but that was out of my control. MTs and rain don't mix no matter how slow you drive.


To the OP you need to sit back and ask your self if you are responsible enough to handle the car and not do stupid sh** with it. If you honestly think you won't then mod if you do then I would hold off. I have numerous stories and pics I've saved on the internet of kids with fast cars that didn't survive their stupid decisions. One girl wrecked her dads Porsche at 140 and splattered her up against a cement wall another kid took his dads M6 out and drove off a runway killing him and 3 or 4 of his friends. It definitely makes you think about when and where you use your speed at.

That being sad I would do 4.10 or 3.73 gears and exhaust. The gears will give you a kick in the pants and the exhaust will give the car and aggressive sound.





To the OP you need to sit back and ask your self if you are responsible enough to handle the car and not do stipid sh** with it. If you honestly think you won't then mod if you do then I would hold off. I have numerous stories and pics I've saved on the internet of kids with fast cars that didn't survive their stupid decisions. One girl wrecked her dads Porche at 140 and splattered her up aginst a cement wall another kid took his dads M6 out and drove off a runway killing him and 3 or 4 of his friends. It definatley makes you think about when and where you use your speed at.

That being sad I would do 4.10 or 3.73 gears and exhaust. The gears will give you a kick in the pants and the exhuast will give the car and aggresive sound.
 
To the OP you need to sit back and ask your self if you are responsible enough to handle the car and not do stupid sh** with it. If you honestly think you won't then mod if you do then I would hold off. I have numerous stories and pics I've saved on the internet of kids with fast cars that didn't survive their stupid decisions. One girl wrecked her dads Porsche at 140 and splattered her up against a cement wall another kid took his dads M6 out and drove off a runway killing him and 3 or 4 of his friends. It definitely makes you think about when and where you use your speed at.

That being sad I would do 4.10 or 3.73 gears and exhaust. The gears will give you a kick in the pants and the exhaust will give the car and aggressive sound.





To the OP you need to sit back and ask your self if you are responsible enough to handle the car and not do stipid sh** with it. If you honestly think you won't then mod if you do then I would hold off. I have numerous stories and pics I've saved on the internet of kids with fast cars that didn't survive their stupid decisions. One girl wrecked her dads Porche at 140 and splattered her up aginst a cement wall another kid took his dads M6 out and drove off a runway killing him and 3 or 4 of his friends. It definatley makes you think about when and where you use your speed at.

That being sad I would do 4.10 or 3.73 gears and exhaust. The gears will give you a kick in the pants and the exhuast will give the car and aggresive sound.

Is there an echo in this thread?!? LOL!

John
 
Another vote for gears/tuner/shifter. Then go out and get the seat time NitroDuck is talking about and save for a while. Something else to consider is building the suspension is a great way to drop weight(most of the time) while getting more of your car's power it already has to the ground:nice:
 
Yea I'm 19 about to turn 20.

All I'll say is I know guys in their 30s and 40s that act and drive like they are 12. Age has little to do with how a person acts in a car, its more about maturity and respect for yourself and the car.

I had my GT at 16 with 4.10s and exhaust, a blower on it running 12s at 17, was in the 11s at 18, and in the 10s at 19. Nitrous will be a birthday present to myself this year.

All this without a speeding ticket or even being pulled over for that matter. I got in one accident but that was out of my control. MTs and rain don't mix no matter how slow you drive.


To the OP you need to sit back and ask your self if you are responsible enough to handle the car and not do stupid sh** with it. If you honestly think you won't then mod if you do then I would hold off. I have numerous stories and pics I've saved on the internet of kids with fast cars that didn't survive their stupid decisions. One girl wrecked her dads Porsche at 140 and splattered her up against a cement wall another kid took his dads M6 out and drove off a runway killing him and 3 or 4 of his friends. It definitely makes you think about when and where you use your speed at.

That being sad I would do 4.10 or 3.73 gears and exhaust. The gears will give you a kick in the pants and the exhaust will give the car and aggressive sound.





To the OP you need to sit back and ask your self if you are responsible enough to handle the car and not do stipid sh** with it. If you honestly think you won't then mod if you do then I would hold off. I have numerous stories and pics I've saved on the internet of kids with fast cars that didn't survive their stupid decisions. One girl wrecked her dads Porche at 140 and splattered her up aginst a cement wall another kid took his dads M6 out and drove off a runway killing him and 3 or 4 of his friends. It definatley makes you think about when and where you use your speed at.

That being sad I would do 4.10 or 3.73 gears and exhaust. The gears will give you a kick in the pants and the exhuast will give the car and aggresive sound.

I'm a very careful driver and I already have a full exhaust system on my gt. I hate when people categorize young people into the group of 'dumbasses' Not everyone drives like a dip. I have a friend that has a little cobalt and drives 10x more aggressive than I ever would and he does this all the time. I only want to add a little more zip to the car. I already have the exhaust and I was looking for another addition and gears sound like a good idea. I'll stop with the gears and tuner as far as performance goes. I'm young and don't plan dropping <5g's into my car. All I have done so far is new rims/tires and o/r x-pipe w/ high flow mufflers. The last thing I want to do after the gears 35% window tint and black out the tail lights. I was just curious as to what would make a good mod for my mustang gt w/ exhaust considering most of you guys have at least 3+ mods on your cars
 
I'm a very careful driver and I already have a full exhaust system on my gt. I hate when people categorize young people into the group of 'dumbasses' Not everyone drives like a dip. I have a friend that has a little cobalt and drives 10x more aggressive than I ever would and he does this all the time. I only want to add a little more zip to the car. I already have the exhaust and I was looking for another addition and gears sound like a good idea. I'll stop with the gears and tuner as far as performance goes. I'm young and don't plan dropping <5g's into my car. All I have done so far is new rims/tires and o/r x-pipe w/ high flow mufflers. The last thing I want to do after the gears 35% window tint and black out the tail lights. I was just curious as to what would make a good mod for my mustang gt w/ exhaust considering most of you guys have at least 3+ mods on your cars

Dont worry bud, im right there with u on being tired of being catagorized as a dumbass driver. Im 19 and have been racing at our track since i was 14. I have 5 years of racing under my belt and have NEVER had a ticket of any kind. Anyways, the tuners are good because you can turn ur rear o2's off instead of using simulators. the gears will give you the seat of the pants feel, and the shifter will simply help you shift ALOT faster. I put a SCT X-Cal 3 on mine and i love it. I have 3.73's in mine and love them and have a Steeda Tri-Ax shifter and once again...love it.
 
Check out my sig for all the mods I purchased while working full-time/attending high school 4 years ago (I was 18 as well). I did all the install myself except for gears/DS. Car is pushing ~260 rwhp and 290 ft/lbs tq. with no tune.

Next plan is getting new wheels/tires, brakes, and a blower :flag:

One of the first mods I would recommend is what others have said: short-throw shifter, exhaust, , and 4.10 gears
 
Same here. Im only 18 and i have everything listed in my sig done to my car. Just because you mod your car dose not mean you are going to drive like a crazy person. I have a blown GT and i never push it to the limits because it scares me. Good luck with the mods.:D