02 GT and $1000 USD, you tell me!

[Hangwire]

I want you to tell me what you would do with my car and money. Please suggest performance upgrades and price break-downs as well as links if possible. N/A please and nothing that touches oil.

2002 Automatic GT

Its going to be a daily driver that I don't plan to fully mod ever. I just want to add as much pep as possible with $1000 for now. Eventually I will probably put about 1-2 grand more in it, but thats about it.

 

[Stark77]

3.73 rear gears for your automatic musting IF it's your daily driver and sees a lot of highway use. If it doesn't see a lot of highway use, go with a set of 4.10's. That should leave you about 500 dollars left AFTER parts + labor. With that, I would say get a new midpipe( MAC Prochamber) and 70mm Throttle Body + Plenum + JLT True Cold Air Intake. That will bring you to about 1100 - provided you buy the professional products TB + plenum (combo can be found for under 200 bucks - prochamber for about 200). The JLT True Cold Air intake is the only cold air intake I would reccomend - massive PVC tubing and relocates filter/MAF DEEP into the fenderwell.

 

[Jbauer]

I say, Mid pipe, weld in mufflers, A K&N filter and an SCT tuner w/ 3:73s.
Compared to above, this will make more HP and a quicker car.

a mid pipe can be found easily for 100 bones. Mufflers can be found easly for 50. The whole set up should cost you less than 180 TOPS. Gear plus install, never done them, but if ts like the guy above said, 500 bones. KN flter is like 50 Tuner is 360
1100 or so all together

 

[Hangwire]

I've pretty much decided that i'll definetely going to buy 3.73s. I drive the hell out of interstates around here so I dont want to sacrifice too much top end power. So we safely assume 600=FRPP 3.73s + Tuner.(Gear + Tuner Package)

To be honest I am completely skeptical of adding only 1 exhaust system part. I dont see how throwing mid-pipes on there will help more than 2-4 HP given that i'm not letting the headers and exhaust flow too. Especially considering that the headers are the real choke point in new edge mustangs and they are right in-front of the pipes. I am still open to the idea but i'll definetely need some convincing.

But i've got 400 left, other than exhaust parts any ideas what to do with it?

 

[Jbauer]

Man, the Mid pipe is good. your eliminatng 4 cats, you'll gain something. And with the amount of money you have, it would be a crying shame to have a car that sounds like stock because you spent it on something else.
Longtubes are nice, but then you've spent 1000+ dollars on the exhaust alone. you can get shortys later on, you'll only be out 100 bucks, but you might as well have a good sounding exhaust while you wait to save up another 1200 or more bucks for some longtubes.

 

[3ponyshow]

But i've got 400 left, other than exhaust parts any ideas what to do with it?

Underdrive pullies netted me 12 rwhp on the dyno.

That with the tune, 3.73's and CAI. Your 1K is gone (and a little more). Anything else I think you should definately look into a mandrel exhaust setup. That's how I started and produced 242 rwhp on an automatic that baselined at 208). Ran low 14's

 

[CobraRed_96_GT]

tranny cooler

 

[hotmustang331]

I've pretty much decided that i'll definetely going to buy 3.73s. I drive the hell out of interstates around here so I dont want to sacrifice too much top end power. So we safely assume 600=FRPP 3.73s + Tuner.(Gear + Tuner Package)

To be honest I am completely skeptical of adding only 1 exhaust system part. I dont see how throwing mid-pipes on there will help more than 2-4 HP given that i'm not letting the headers and exhaust flow too. Especially considering that the headers are the real choke point in new edge mustangs and they are right in-front of the pipes. I am still open to the idea but i'll definetely need some convincing.

But i've got 400 left, other than exhaust parts any ideas what to do with it?

You would be suprised what it can do.

Back when I had my GT and it was almost bone stock, I threw on a DR Gas O/R X pipe and HOLY COW WHAT A DIFFERENCE!
So after feeling the power, that same day I went out and stopped, revved to 3K and dumped the clutch....up in smoke, then hit 2nd. I went back and you could see 15' of rubber in 1st and then a pause where I shifted for about 3 feet, then I proceded to lay down 192' of rubber in 2nd gear with NO brake assist...just pure power! This was on the stock tires....I was ear to ear. Car would never do anything close to that before.

THAT, Long tube headers, and the VT stg 1 cams made THE MOST DIFFERENCE in my cars performance as I modded it up N/A. (turbos are not on this list since I was only talking about N/A power mod differences )

 

[MaxedGT]

I'm happy with my progression in my sig with my 01 GT auto. E/T's and mph there to help with decisions.

 

[MaxedGT]

I'm happy with my progression in my sig with my 01 GT auto. E/T's and mph there to help with decisions.

The BBk off road pipe did make the single biggest improvement, but that was after the Magnaflow catback. But for the street I'd leave the stock H on just to keep it a little quieter. If I didn't go to the strip the stock h-pipe would stay on. The magnaflows on the highway with the 3.73 gears are sweet music. No stereo upgrade needed. And the fuel economy stayed good. The intake side is the last place to spend money on for power gains. the gains are mostly on the exhaust end. The underdrives are nice for fuel economy and the when the a/c is on you hardly notice the power loss not like stock were it feels like you're pulling a small trailer.

 

[Stark77]

Just saw the post beneath mine - You think weld in mufflers and DROPPING in a K&N air filter will net you worthwhile RWHP? Hangwire - don't waste your money on any of those. You could rip out your airbox silencer and gain more power for free than you would with a drop in filter and weld in mufflers.

 

[GettinThere]

I've pretty much decided that i'll definetely going to buy 3.73s... So we safely assume 600=FRPP 3.73s + Tuner.(Gear + Tuner Package)...But i've got 400 left, other than exhaust parts any ideas what to do with it?

If you're not going to install the gears yourself, then paying someone to install them will take up a lot of that $400.

 

[Jbauer]

KN is only a few bucks, you need it for peace of mind.
The muffler, heck yea!! man, i had a stock muffler on one side, and MAC on the other, the side with the mac felt like a hurricane, hardly any exhaust came out the stock muffler.
for 100 bucks for both you cant go wrong

 

[Stark77]

JBauer - look at a before and after dyno sheet of the K&N filter tests (google search it, MM&FF did a test a while back) and also weld in mufflers(which might add 1 or 2 rwhp). The filter isn't the restrictive part of the intake - it's that crappy intake piping and the baffle restricting airflow. The dyno does not lie. The numbers on the front of the K&N and muffler boxes do.

 

[Hangwire]

How do under-drive pulleys work? And do they really net you a flat 10-15 HP?

So what upgrades better first? Mid-pipes or exhaust? Or are they about the same?

 

[TURBO80LXCOUPE]

exaust is better, i put a UPR o/r x pipe on my car with stock exaust and got a gain,
nice thing is at crusing speeds the car is quite like stock but gets a lot louder the harder i drive it.im leaving my stock cat back on its nice to sneak past the cops who have nothing better to do

 

[Stark77]

Steeda underdrive pulleys will conservatively add 8 RWPH - dyno proven. They work by slowing down the accessory drives and lightening the harmonic balancer. They also improve fuel efficiency and are less than $200 dollars and easy to install yourself - unless you have an automatic.