New to the game, Need Help!!!

[GDawg]

First of all... Verts rule! But don't expect to make it into a 12 second car at the track without putting a rollbar on it.

The weight difference is only a minor issue. If you are average size and the competition is a large person... well, it's equaled out.

FIRST thing to do to your vert (besides a K&N air filter) is to throw some subframe connectors on it. Weld ons only! Our cars are tied together by the roof and of course verts have no roof... so you need subs to keep the car from twisting the body out of alignment over a period of time. If you don't put them in, eventually your windows and doors will start to go out of alignment and the car will start to creak.

Enjoy the car!

 

[Jackie Chan]

no one besides me is stupid enough to try and drag race a bolt on vert

 

[LLeEeJJgG]

So what was that about roll bars. I didn't quite get that...

 

[GDawg]

So what was that about roll bars. I didn't quite get that...

If you plan on making your car quick... and you plan on racing it at the track... when you achieve a certain E.T. or better, the track will require that you have a rollbar to continue to race there. A rollbar looks ugly on a vert. I think the threshold for most tracks is 12 sec or quicker.

 

[CottonBurnerz]

I don't see why many people underestimate the vert so much just because of the little extra lbs..

anyhow, I've been learning from stangnet + corral + other forums + my dad for the last 7 months. Before that, I couldn't even tell a honda from a camaro. Heck, I even thought that the fart cans sounded like a fast car should sound (okay that's a little exaggerated but you get the point). Fox-body/trans-am was not existed in my vocabulary. I must say that my life has changed a lot since I've discovered the stang forums and my GT.

After 5 months, I decided to do my new first mod, Tri-Ax shifter. It was a bit scary at first because I havn't worked on any car before. But when I finished, I was very happy. Then 1 month later, I managed to saved up $1500 and bought my complete exhaust (in my sig). My dad said, "this is a big project, are you sure that you want to do this?" So, I surf around asking a whole bunch of question and learn how headers and back pressure.. etc works.. Then before you know it. The headers and everything was on! I had no idea how easy it was to do. After I did the exhaust with my dad, everything else look like a piece of cake to me. I wouldn't hesitate as much as I did before I install the shifter/headers. I see many things in a different ways now..

And now that I have saved up $1000ish, it's time for the next mod.. which will be gears/driveshaft/ECU flash. The left over will be distribute to the intake mod. It's been a blast driving my stang and I tend to make it look/drive better and faster forever..

(I don't know what I just typed.. but there it is...)

P.S. LMAO @ Jackie Chan Maybe you should make that BOLD word in your sig bigger

 

[LLeEeJJgG]

Well all of you have been helping alot. Keep the suggestions and comments coming. I have had some differnt opinions from my friends. Some say power first some say looks first. I'm looking for power right now because the car already looks great as it is. The only thing ill probably definetly do is tinted windows and maybe rims. I have heard alot about different mods you can add to the engine from StangNet. What other places can I browse to really know what the best is for my car. Opinions count and StangNet is really helping but professional help is good too sometimes. Remember I'm new at all of this and still completely lost. Where do I start on my Stang...

 

[rooflss]

One of the first mods I made to my covertible was lowering springs and a light bar. www.classicdesignconcepts.com

 

[LLeEeJJgG]

Alright well I looked at a few mods for the look of my stang and saw a few things nothing too big. Probably wont do anything to the looks till spring. Right now I want power. I wanna sound and ride higher than other gts. I pulled up next to a GT Coupe yesterday and he blew my @$$ out of the water. Didn't look like anything was done to his car bu there must of been cause I didn't catch him untill 120 mph. I wanna be able to blow away other gts like he did. Where do I start on the engine? Gears, Exhaust systems, Shaker...???

 

[DerekStangGT]

Becuse you are reading Gross Vehicle Weight. Not Actual. IIRC the GT Coupe weights in at around 3375 with a Manual and the Vert is around 200 lbs heavier.

:OT:
i got my car on one of those giant scales that are used to weigh 18 wheelers (perks of the job) and mine only weighed in at 3300. thats with my subs and box, and everything down to my CD case. dont know if this is exact, or if the guy rounded off

 

[krly79]

I don't know weither to say welcome or I'm sorry. I just hate ford now.

 

[LLeEeJJgG]

I'm trying to mkae some kind of list of what I want done to the engine. I've heard K&N filter, gears (4.10 or 3.73), complete exhaust kits. I've heard it all. Don't know where to start. Right from the first mod I want more pwoer so I was thinking bout full exhaust, headers and the whole deal. Where do i go for that. as part of the exhaust I was thinking bout shaker hood too. Looked it up and alot of do it ur self kinda stuff. On classic design concepts website they have under mustang parts a mach 1 section. This sells all mach 1 stuff including the shaker hood and a supercharger conversion kit. The conversion kit just looks like a k&n filter. Is this worth buying, the mach 1 shaker system and the filter, how much effect will it have? I'm looking for some kind of list to get me going. Another thing, what do i need for a complete exhaust kit? Thanks for the help. If you would like to e-mail me feel free...

 

[98LazerGT]

Don't forget subframe connectors. If you chop the roof off of a car the structural integrity is going to suffer a little. You can get them for less than 200 dollars installed, and they will firm up the ride a little and make the car feel more solid.

 

[krly79]

Ok, I'll start you off with your list and others will add to it or take away from it.

1. Long tube headers
2. H or X pipe. (off road, O/R, considering your in IL and you don't have emissions, but then you'll need mil eliminators which you can make yourself for about $3)
3. Catback (no larger than 2 1/2 in)
(^ that's probably everything you'll need for full exhaust, LT's will be hard to install if you don't alot about what your doing, and otherwise just time consuming.)
4. K&N if you haven't already.
5. Gears (4.10's if it's a 5spd aren't bad at all. I get 250 to about 300 miles to my tank, I'd run out at 300.)
6. The shaker isn't really good for much other than looks.
7. Do something with your suspension to get as much power to the pavement as you can. Sub frame connectors are beneficial.
8. The stock tires are not that great for launching.
9. You can go with a KB twin screw supercharger for good bit of $$$$, but that would be your dicision. KB's make all their boost @ 2k I'm very partial to that because I would like all my boost as soon as I can get it. You might have to end up forging your internals at some point though. I think they can only handle up to about 400 hp. Somebody here will know for sure
10. bigger Mass air flow (MAF), throttle body, upper plenum, cold air intake (CAI, people believe that it doesn't really add much at all and that it is just a cosmetic mod. THey did write up in one of the mags about it too or something. Just something to think about.), and possibly a tune (for your air flow, A/F, ratio)

if 5spd
- aftermarket shifter (no power increase, but will help out alot with shifts)

if auto
- you'll probably want to get a shift kit and a stall

this should give you something to look at.

 

[krly79]

Oh, and...

- pullies
- T/A (timing adjuster)
- I think you might be able to pick up quite a bit with a good head job too. anyone know anything about this?

Edit: if stay N/A then probably go with 4.10's, but if you do go forced induction, then you won't want more than 3.73's.

 

[Jackie Chan]

people need to stop puking mods out of their mouths. if you are staying NA, which is all im going to comment on. this is the best proven mod list to start.:

Long tubes with o/r pipe (cat back or weld in muff on stock cat back)
pullies
gears
k&n
custom chip to calibrate speedo, adjust timing and correct fuel from mods

the stock tires and suspension are good for 1.9 60's but those are good mods to start with and will yeild the most gains out of the initial boltons. if you are ging blower skip the pullies.

 

[krly79]

people need to stop puking mods out of their mouths...

Did someone say something? *cough* *cough* *coughshifter* *coughlooseweight* *sneeze* *coughpractice*

 

[DerekStangGT]

my opinion on mod order

these are my plans for my car and i am very satisfied so far w/ the order so far. as you can see, im mainly interested in power, and not looks. the way i see it, why look good when youve got nothin to back it up with?
*cough* ricers *cough*
try this:

1)K&N filter-i just hated the look of the stockie. maybe 1 rwhp?

2) steeda tri-ax (if its a 5 spd, if not, skip this and go to #2) no power gain, but the shifts are night and day different. you will never miss 3rd again! also you will feel better about slamming through the gears.

3)4.10 gears-if you plan on staying N/A for at least 3 years, like i do. gears multiply torque. they rev faster to get you in your powerband faster.

4)off road x pipe-o/r meaning no cats for more hp. i wanted the x over the h b/c im more interested in power gain than sound. but the x will still add sound. get dr. gas if youve got the funds. im going w/ upr b/c im on a very tight budget. the o/r x is good for anywhere from 8-15 rwhp ive heard

5)C&L MAF, Accufub 75mm Throttle Body, and Dragon Plenum-maybe a little pricey for the combo, but the mustang is starved for airflow. allowing air to flow in and out better will net some pretty good numbers on the dyno. also, dont waste your money on a CAI unless you think it looks pretty this combo should give about 10-15 rwhp, and a lot more on a s/c application

6) steeda pullies- they reduce spinning weight or somthing like that. in lamen's terms, they should net about 5-8 rwhp, which ive heard is enough to feel at sotp.

7) catback- i was gonna go with a magnaflow catback, but couldnt decide whether to get the magnapacks or not. it depends on how loud my car is at the time, but i think i will stay w/ the regualr catback b/c when i add longtube headers, i dont want to have to put the car in neutral when a cop drives by. but this should net about 3-5 rwhp.

8) subframe connectors-all of the above will net at least a good 25-30 rwhp, so subframe connectors are needed to keep the fishtails in check.

9)BBK L/T Headers-L/T for longtube. these gain more power than the shorties. the purchase and install on one of these can be real steep, but ive heard of these adding anywhere from 10-25 rwhp. plus giving the stang a mean muscle car sound. totally worth it IMO

10)custom burned chip or programmer- with all these mods, you need to keep the A/F (air/fuel) ratio in check. the custom burned chip can be pricey, but i think you get some dyno time with it all you need from a chip or programer basically is the adjust A/F ratio, and bump the timing. some added bonuses are: you can recalibrate your factory computer for different rear-end gears and tire height, and also get rid of that pesky top speed limiter also if you have an auto, you can change shift points. a chip should also free up spme rwhp.

well, that's about as far down the road as ive thought so far. somewhere in my future i will see a vortech, and some forged internals, but this list should keep me busy for a little while.

 

[Dan_Soprano]

no one besides me is stupid enough to try and drag race a bolt on vert

I am!!!

 

[Dan_Soprano]

Oh, and...

- pullies
- T/A (timing adjuster)
- I think you might be able to pick up quite a bit with a good head job too. anyone know anything about this?

Edit: if stay N/A then probably go with 4.10's, but if you do go forced induction, then you won't want more than 3.73's.

i could use some work on my head!!!!

 

[Jackie Chan]

I am!!!