[95stallion]

my name is Joe and i just got out of the scene and bought a 95 mustaang 5.0 h.o. i am looking to do some performance to the car but dont really know where to begin. what i want out of the car is a fast daily driver but also one that i can let loose on the track. when i purchased the car it already had a chip installed, flowmaster exhaust( MUFFLERS ONLY), and a k&n air filter. i know you guys prob get these ?'s alot and are prob tired of answering them for newbies but any advice would be greatly appreciated. thank you for your time.

[Justincredible]

What kind of "chip"?

Best first mods IMO...

Gears & Sticky tires.

Cold air intakes and pulleys are a waste of money for the very nominal gain they offer.

After that...it just an issue of how much you want to spend.

[TENGRAM]

i agree and disagree (whats new right?). anyways, gears (3.73-4.30) and some good tires are the best first mod and while cold air intakes aren't all they're cracked up to be, pulleys are. pulleys can be had for about $50 and are an easy bolt-on worth 5-10hp. also you could always get headers and h-pipe but what i recommend is that you save your money for a good intake manifold and some cylinder heads. if you're not wanting to spend a whole lot, 96-up explorer heads and intake work well and can get you to about 285hp (higher with porting done) and maintain alot of lowend power and torque. if you've got some money to spend, afr 165 cylinder heads or trick flow twisted wedge heads are some of the best and trickflow also has a great intake manifold. after an intake manifold you should get a throttlebody and MAF (and it would be a good time to get the cold air intake) to fully realize the hp gain from th intake manifold. exhaust starts to matter at this point too. weight reduction is always a good idea. the best thing you can do, and it seems you've already started, is to read through the various mustang forums to gain knowledge and to get an idea what others are using in their combos. good luck and have fun with it.

BTW, welcome to the world of stangs, aka your new addiction.

[95stallion]

the guy that i bought it from just told me that his son that works for ford had it installed last christmas as a gift and that i would have to talk to his son for more info about the chip. so i should start with the pulleys, gears, manifold and heads. thats what i thought i should do is start with the gears, manifold, and a cold air intake, i completly forgot about pulleys. now about IMO and MAF, what exactly does that mean??? how much normaly would it run me to get the gears and get them installed (3.73)??? are they "easy" to install? my buddy has a shop and if they arent that hard i would rather save some cash. i was going to buy a full exhaust from flowmaster(40 series) and have that installed, is there a better exhaust that would give me a better "rumble" or just stick with that. i heard that magnaflow and borla are also good but alot of people still stick with flowmaster.

[TENGRAM]

Originally Posted by 95stallion the guy that i bought it from just told me that his son that works for ford had it installed last christmas as a gift and that i would have to talk to his son for more info about the chip. so i should start with the pulleys, gears, manifold and heads. thats what i thought i should do is start with the gears, manifold, and a cold air intake, i completly forgot about pulleys. now about IMO and MAF, what exactly does that mean??? how much normaly would it run me to get the gears and get them installed (3.73)??? are they "easy" to install? my buddy has a shop and if they arent that hard i would rather save some cash. i was going to buy a full exhaust from flowmaster(40 series) and have that installed, is there a better exhaust that would give me a better "rumble" or just stick with that. i heard that magnaflow and borla are also good but alot of people still stick with flowmaster.

IMO=in my opinion and MAF= mass air flow meter, thats the meter in the intake tract that air passes through previous to the throttlebody. gears with install kit go for about $200, but shop around you may be able to get a better deal. not too difficult to install, but there are some technical aspects (setting gear lash, pinion depth) that are best left to those with experience, but if you look up as much info on the process as possible, i'm confident that you could do it yourself (particularly with access to a shop). BTW (by the way) when you do the gear swap be sure to get a traction-loc rebuild (clutch pack) kit and install it as well. this will ensure that you don't have the "one-wheel peel" blues...traction-loc is the mustang equivelant to posi-trac. as for the exhaust, if you have to pass emissions testing and plan to retain catalytic converters, i recommend the 50 series flowmasters...if you're going to use an offroad h-pipe, go with the 40 series flows. IMO those are the best for sound but, they don't necessarily make the most power. other "straight through" designs can be worth a couple of more hp.

[95stallion]

so if i run the h pipe then go with the 40. you said that they were best for sound but not performance; what exhaust would give me that "rumble" and still give me the best performance? thanks for all the help

[TENGRAM]

i really don't know much about any others, as i've always used flowmasters...but this thread should give you a pretty good idea: http://www.moddedmustangs.com/forums...ns-vt9959.html

of course it seems like things are always a bit different from vehicle to vehicle and with different combos.

[95stallion]

thanks for that link to the thread, that helped out alot!!! i printed it out and will look it over later. again thanks for all the help

[95stallion]

now aside from all the performance ?'s i have another ? that i should have asked. my mustang has 115k miles on it right now. should i worry about it holding up with the mods that i am going to performe??? and what about the tranny and the clutch?? are they pretty stout or should i worry about them later on down the road???

[TENGRAM]

Originally Posted by 95stallion now aside from all the performance ?'s i have another ? that i should have asked. my mustang has 115k miles on it right now. should i worry about it holding up with the mods that i am going to performe??? and what about the tranny and the clutch?? are they pretty stout or should i worry about them later on down the road???

115k miles young! these things last forever so don't worry about it at all. i have 185k on mine and its still going strong. it seems that 450-500 is the hp limit for the stock block as long as its tuned properly. as for the tranny, well they have a torque capacity of 300 ft lbs and coincidentally our beloved 5oh puts out 300 ft lbs...so you can see where i'm going with this. they don't last forever but the idea is to drive it till it breaks...a rebuilt one can be had for $600-900. the clutch will last awhile usually but this all depends on who's driving (or who has driven) the stang. once you replace it (i recommend centerforce dual friction) it'll last a long time, until then, like with the tranny, most just drive it until the clutch is gone.
long story short:add performance now, don't be too rough with the tranny and you should be fine for awhile. my2cents

[TENGRAM]

another thing worth mentioning, is that if you ever want to do an electrical diagnosis to see if any sensors or actuators need replacing or if you have a miss, all you need is a paperclip or a 3 inch piece of wire. check this thread: How to do a Self-Test