[Timber]

I've been reading here daily about performance parts. I notice gears (4.10's) come up first. I'm a little leery of putting gears in my car. I swapped the 3.73's out for 4.56's in my truck and it really buzzes on the interstate now and I don't want that in this car. So what's left? I've already added an American Thunder cat-back, that's about as far as I'll take the exhaust for now. No O/R pipes or headers. So I'll list what I've narrowed it down to and I'd appreciate it if you guys will lend your experience.

1. CAI. K&N says theirs adds 10 hp and I like the 4-bbl carb sound they make when you're on it.

2. Custom tune. I really have no clue what a tune will do for these cars! I'm a truck guy, I know in a truck they will really wake it up.

3. And a distant third. Zex 75 hp shot.

What do you think?

[MSTGGT00]

1. I doubt 10 will be realistic, but it's a starter essential.

2. You need a custom tune. A dyno tune will cost you. Get a tuner. Xcal Predator works wonders on these cars, plugs into the computer on them.

http://www.americanmuscle.com/sct-xcalibrator-2.html

Comes with custom tunes you can swap out, does it all. You can modify almost all parameters, including spark, adjust gear rations, firm shift points, etc, etc, etc.

3. Zex... good. Nitrous is a weak bet though. It's a nice little toy to have maybe, I'd avise though, you go with... if your looking for the serious power, just get a Procharger. It's permanent, power you will never regret having.

If not, invest the money from the Nitrous into something else.

I'd advise gears. Gears wake a stang up, it's not like your truck. A mustang is nothing without some new gears.

Go with FRPP 4.10's. Have them installed by someone with common sense, find a Ford-Mercury-Linc. Dealer.

The FRPP's will cost you 240. They are also on american muscle. Another 200-300 for install. Well worth it. More than your Nitrous.

Not to mention, they don't whine. The richmond line of gears (I'm going to take heat for this) has that rep. the FRPP's really don't whine though.

Hope that helps!

P.S. It'd be a great idea to work on your exhaust. You have a good start but you didn't free it up enough, stock exhaust will hold you back. I'd recommend some LT headers and a shorty H pipe. It's worth it. Make you sound even meaner too with that A.T. Catback already in place.

[Timber]

Thanks - I guess I'm going to have to reconsider the gears! I need to play with some of the gear ratio/rpm calculators and see how much more rpms I'll be seeing before I decide. But I need a baseline to compare to. I'm having a horrible time finding any information on this car. What is the stock gear ratio on an 04 5-speed GT?

[ChrisJ]

A Nitrous kit would be goodtimes...

Plus it is cheaper to get into as well...

[SWEET2KSTANG]

personally 4.10 is to short of a gear for me i like the 3.73's better in a 5spd car. but that is just me, i cant power shift into 5th at the track. CAI is a nice start and i agree with the exhaust thing. i would at least change the mid pipe that relly dont cost all that much. i would go ahead and get the t/b and plenum while the induction is getting done. i run a diablo tuner and love it, it will wake up the car especially if it is modded. and of course the juice, i got everythin else done except cams and headers and that is what i went after next. it is nice as long as you know what you are doing.

[MSTGGT00]

Yeah. 3.73's are cool in a manual, I just liked the 410s in my manual too. In my auto GT I have 4.10's aswell, I like em in both.

Really reconsider the gears, def.

Nitrous isn't bad, it's just .... I have no idea. Good times but not pratical enough use, I wanted the extra power and decided to pick a real solution (S/C)

[ChrisJ]

Nitrous is alot of fun and it is pretty cheap to get your foot in the door on...

[neckbonekat]

A little off track here but I just order my magnapacks for my bullitt, but I want the SLP X pipe. Will these work good together? I like that the SLP has three sections and you can change from catted to no cats in less than a half hour, I just need to be sure they will work well with my magnapacks.

[neckbonekat]

Another question, Underdrive Pulley Kits... I see the BBK for $129 and the Steeda for $189. Truly what is the difference? Is it the quality? Does one set work better than another?

[sonicblue]

i know the bbks are piggyback style and i had them before and wouldnt recomend them...i believe the steedas are not piggyback style and directly replace the pulleys

[MSTGGT00]

Steeda. neck... you can use em together. SLP rocks on. If your getting any headers or already have F.L/L.T. headers then make sure you gett a shorty X otherwise, your good.

BTW: Kickass sig.

[TheManInBlack]

gears is the way to go. ur car has 5 speeds...4.10s are a great upgrade. u wont have to powershift in to 5th unless ur wanting to go for top speed. you will only need 1-4 at the strip. as in the sticky in this forum...mileage isnt really a consideration so if both are equal in that catagory...4.10s are the way to go. i wouldnt go lower than that unless u have a cobra or running a super tall tire which isnt too much of a possibly on these cars. u are limited on height. cai and catbacks are good upgrades. i prefer flowmaster for sound but for a little bit more cash u can get slp exhaust and get a much better product quality wise. its all stainless and its gonna last a long time. i wouldnt even consider spray. its not permant mod to me. when the bottle is empty u havta take the time to get it filled. each of those little mods like cold airs, catback systems, pulleys, and tuners dont give alot of power alone but collectively its a decent gain. definately a noticeable feel. if u figure just for sake of argument 10 for cold air, 15 for pulleys, 15 for catback, and 15-20 for tuner. that adds up to close to 50hp crank horse over stock. if u get that extra 40-50 horse with added factor of a good gear set...should be a pretty potent street car. i didnt mention a mid pipe. mid pipes are a good upgrade because 4 cats from the factory choke it down. i live in an area that doesnt really worry about cats so much and i opted for the offroad x. summit sells a pulley kit for 99 bucks i think...anodized or plain silver billet. if u want k/n summit also sells a cold air "made by k/n" it even says its made by them. its about 40 bucks cheaper and its the same exact thing.lastely a tuner is a good investment because even if u get a catted mid pipe u will need either a tuner or a mil adapters because the highflow cats they usually will throw a code. my brother has a lightning with full bassani exhaust...headers to tip..all bassani. it has a catted mid pipe and it throws a code for it. also if u end up needing a custom tune in the future u can get it loaded to the tuner u have and be able to switch back and fourth and so on. hope that blabbering paragraph throws some light on the subject.

[MSTGGT00]

+1 The man agrees. Gears. Gears. Gears. Gears. Gears.

BTW spray isn't a real mod.

[Timber]

I finally found the info I needed to check rpm at hwy speed with 4.10's. Currently, with 3.55 gears/.68 overdrive/25.68 inch tall tires at 70 mph = 2200 rpm. Change the gears to 4.10's and the rpm's at 70 mph go up to 2553. Too much for me, my pickup does that now. I live with it in my truck because 4.56's made it a better tow vehicle. I'm not doing that to this car, 3.55 gears are decent. I would consider a different mid-pipe as long as there are bungs for the stock o2 sensors and won't trip the check engine light. I know you can run o2 simulators but I'm not interested. Same thing with pulleys - the stock pulleys are designed so you can run your wipers at night with the radio and AC on. A coworker put pulleys on his Stang and I asked him about that scenario and he said yeah, you can't run all the accessories at once with underdrive pulleys.

The more I look at it, I've got two options. Buy the CAI, tuner, quit, and enjoy it. And maybe Stage 1 cams. Or supercharge it. I want to enjoy the car as a driver as well as a performance car. So I'm not willing to compromise much.

I see I can get up to 150 hp from a supercharger for 3K + installation. Say I stayed n/a and went Stage 1 cams, CAI, and tuner. How much power would you expect? I'm thinking it'd be spending half the money of a S/C and still wouldn't be in the 13's.

I appreciate the feedback, just because I discard some ideas given doesn't mean I don't believe in them, just that I believe they're not what I want for this car. Thanks!

[White99stang]

yeah the guy that said he can't powershift into fith gear, dude the only way you are going to have to go to 5th is if you are doing 120 in the quarter and looking at your times you sure could use some 4.10's if not more. I have 4.30's and love them to death and i trap 113 with a 26 inch tall slick and still have another 400 rpm to go. I just don't understand why people are afraid of 4.10's, hell if all i had was bolt ons with no cams and heads i would have 4.56's in the car, you want to be going thru the traps at the very top of 4th to feel and get your cars full potential. And there is no difference in gas milage between 3.73 and 4.10's but there is a difference in the way the car feels.

[TheManInBlack]

ur car comes with 3.27s stock which is way too tall for those engines. stage one cams arent gonna do crap with just a cold air and a tuner. im running 13.90s with just a mid pipe and a diablo tuner. all mid pipes that i know of offroad or not have 02 sensor holes. if u get a tuner u wont need to buy mils. they have a built in feature to take of it so no light will come on. if u dont wanna sacrafice anything just get a supercharger kit and end it there. with one of those u should be well into the 13s. u should have plenty of go fast to be satisfied.


cams/springs - 800
cold air kit - 200
tuner - 400

just those things comes to 1400 plus labor on the cams/springs. at that price ur not gonna get 100 horse extra. buy a supercharger and ull get 100 horse to the crank and have a very tame daily driver.

[sonicblue]

i was thinkin that to about the gears...dont bother changing them from 3.27s to 3.55s if thats what you meant. get atleast 3.73s

[Timber]

Originally Posted by TheManInBlack ur car comes with 3.27s stock which is way too tall for those engines. stage one cams arent gonna do crap with just a cold air and a tuner. im running 13.90s with just a mid pipe and a diablo tuner. all mid pipes that i know of offroad or not have 02 sensor holes. if u get a tuner u wont need to buy mils. they have a built in feature to take of it so no light will come on. if u dont wanna sacrafice anything just get a supercharger kit and end it there. with one of those u should be well into the 13s. u should have plenty of go fast to be satisfied. cams/springs - 800 cold air kit - 200 tuner - 400 just those things comes to 1400 plus labor on the cams/springs. at that price ur not gonna get 100 horse extra. buy a supercharger and ull get 100 horse to the crank and have a very tame daily driver.

Thanks, that's about the way it looks to me.

Did your mid pipe trigger the check engine light?

[ChrisJ]

Originally Posted by MSTGGT00 BTW spray isn't a real mod.

Please explain this to me...I would love to hear how it is not a mod in your book...

[SWEET2KSTANG]

right now with the 3.55 i am at 4800 rpm throught the traps, now i wish i went 3.73. i drove a car identical to mine with 4.10's and was bouncing rev limiter in 4th when i passed through the traps. it might be my mistake by listening to the owner (not to bright of a guy) he may of had a shorter gear than that.