Project Ideas (2006 S197)

Kitsune187

New Member
Apr 19, 2019
3
0
1
Chicago
Hello All, (Just a little for-warning this will be a long post)

I am in search of some counsel for ideas for my project build. I have purchased a 2006 Ford Mustang GT that had been beaten on and misused. It has about 110 thousand miles and had bad noises coming from everywhere. I did buy it and with the help of my father, we got it back up to fighting shape. I have since owned this car for a little over 2 years it is paid for and has been to the Drag strip more than once. I am now looking at what I can do to the car to make it faster. I am not interested in getting a newer one since I prefer the S197 body style. With my current budget and my ideas for the car, I feel as if I need to make some moves to get into the mid to low 12's this year. I am currently at a 13.61 @ 102.31 MPH. My current ideas are mostly mods with some safety and future proofing put in. I need a plan to help get me to my goals with a budget of about 5 grand. I would like to remain under that number if possible. Because if I go over the number I will have to plan out when I can set into motion the remaining mod's that I couldn't afford at the time. So I guess here we go :)

My current ideas are a little different than most out there. I will at least say that this car is not my daily or will be asked to be taken on long road trips. I have a truck that I use for work and for my travels. The first thing that I will be doing to the car is removing as much weight as I can. I am a big person I am 6 foot 8 inches, and I weight in the low 300 area. I am first going to remove the entire interior of the car. Seats, carpet, trim panels, everything that I can unbolt except for the stereo system and the HVAC system. I might sound like a wimp but I am not willing to give up AC for when I do drive this thing during the summer and of course, you will need your tunes. My Mustang was a base model and didn't have a subwoofer system so no extra weight there. I then have the interior slotted to receive an SR performance 8 point roll cage. Honestly, this is a little bit of future proofing as if I ever get the car to run faster than 11.50's you must have a 6 point roll bar. Also, I'm a sucker for more racing parts. Some of the little things I also intend to put in the interior of the car is a new steering wheel I have not decided on what brand that I wish to go with yet so still up for debate. I am kind of assuming I will need all the help I can get with being able to get in and out of the car with the door bars in place as I said I'm a large fellow. So a quick release steering wheel will be my friend. I will also be putting in a new OME automatic transmission shifter due to the one I have been beaten up and just slightly broken. I think that will be it for the inside the car besides a Kirkley racing seat that will be installed with a set of Raceqip's 5 point harness.

The total I am expecting for the interior is as follows:

SR performance Roll Bar - From AmericanMuscle for 400 dollars
OME Transmission shifter - From SummitRacing for 160 dollars
Kirkley Racing seat and harness - From SummitRacing for 425 dollars
The steering wheel is still under discussion but I am assuming about 275 dollars

In total so far (without taxes) I think we are around 1,260 dollars worth of parts and we haven't even hit any of the big ones yet :)



Next is where things get a little bit more tricky for me to decide where they should be placed in the order of the most important to least important. I will be the first to say that I am not the most mechanically inclined however I am not afraid to get my hands dirty and to learn new things. So I have some work to do but let me lay down some ideas that I have heard and what I was thinking. I have already picked up a set of Ford Racing 4.10 gears for the car that I feel will get the car moving faster in the quarter mile. The car already has 3.55 in it from the factory. I have heard so many rumors of people being able to go into the high 12's with a one piece drive shaft, a new torque converter and 4.10's in the rear. I am unsure of how far these mods will push this car. But I do think that this would be a good starting point for future mods. I will also add a driveshaft safety loop with the driveshaft install to pass tech at NHRA tracks.

The total I am expecting from the first set of performance mods are as follows:

Ford Racing 4.10 gears plus install kit - From my grandfather for FREEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
One piece drive shaft + Safety Loop - From AmericanMuscle for 875 dollars
TCI Street Fighter Torque converter + trans Cooler - From AmericanMuscle for 675 dollars


In total so far (without taxes) for this stage will be about 1,550 dollars and we are up to about 2,810 dollars in total so far.



Wow, look how far we have come so far It makes me think about doing this in real life instead of on the internet. Now the final thing that I will install this year will most likely be the thing you were expecting from the beginning. Okay, I do not know if the car is gonna hook or not so it is a big priority to get some meats on this thing. I saw a nice wheel that I liked from Lmr and it is apart of the SVE drag wheel lineup. The rim size is a 15x10 with no backspacing listed. I have done some looking around on the internet and have seen people running 275/60R15 tires on them and I have spotted a set of Hoosier drag radials for them that would be a match made in heaven I hope. The 2 rims and rubber along with the relocation bracket I would have to run will be about 925 dollars. I am sure hoping that we get traction before it comes to this. The slicks will push the total upgrade cost to 3,735 dollars or so. But, I am still going to need some wiggle room for a new set of pads and rotors an alignment, Spark plugs, coils, and such as well.

The thing that I am hoping that I won't have to put on this year to get my mid-12-second car is nitrous. I will wait till next year if I can to install a full nitrous setup so that I can do it the right way. I am looking forward to seeing if anyone has any other ideas on how else to get a 3v to run mid 12's.


I am not trying to stay NA forever but this car is a project that I do with my father and grandfather. I just hope that I won't get reamed on the forums for not just putting nitrous and slicks on it and calling it a day. Any advice is welcome and I would love to even hear some of your stories or see some cool pictures of your own cars and projects. You can post a response 5 times as long as mine was and I will still read it.

Thanks,
 
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