[xedubx]

hey guys, i just purchased a 5 spd 03 gt and wanna have a project for this summer. the cars stock except for 70mm throttle bodies, CAI, and exhaust. i'm new with mustangs but have been reading some things and thinking of some upgrades id like to do myself and im looking for as much input as possible. this would be a summer project for me. currently im thinking of adding...

- cylinder head upgrade
- header upgrade
- catted straight midpipe
- cam
-underdrive pulley upgrade

what do yall think? im new at this, but do these mods sound beneficial? if not, please give advice! i want input so i dont go and waste my time and money...

[silver99gt]

Those upgrades would score you quite a bit of power, especially the heads and cams but those mods are also a lot of work for the power. If you're going to do the upgrades yourself you will be plenty busy and if youre going to pay to have it done that wont be cheap either. For the money youre going to spend you ought to consider supercharging or nitrous. Good bang for the buck with either one.

[neckbonekat]

Originally Posted by xedubx hey guys, i just purchased a 5 spd 03 gt and wanna have a project for this summer. the cars stock except for 70mm throttle bodies, CAI, and exhaust. i'm new with mustangs but have been reading some things and thinking of some upgrades id like to do myself and im looking for as much input as possible. this would be a summer project for me. currently im thinking of adding... - cylinder head upgrade - header upgrade - catted straight midpipe - cam -underdrive pulley upgrade what do yall think? im new at this, but do these mods sound beneficial? if not, please give advice! i want input so i dont go and waste my time and money...

All sounds good except maybe the catted straight midpipe. I'd look into a H or a X pipe if I were you.

[xedubx]

thanks for the input... i didnt wanna go the blower or nitrous route bc i hear those are very hard on the engine. this is my daily driver that i'd like to work on as a hobby (doing all the work on my own) and improve. i was also thinking catted straight midpipe so that all will be on the up and up with emissions testing.

what other mods could be more bang for the buck and not too difficult to accomplish?

[neckbonekat]

Originally Posted by xedubx thanks for the input... i didnt wanna go the blower or nitrous route bc i hear those are very hard on the engine. this is my daily driver that i'd like to work on as a hobby (doing all the work on my own) and improve. i was also thinking catted straight midpipe so that all will be on the up and up with emissions testing.

Those are all very good N/A mods, they are pretty expensive too. I'm not a huge fan of the nitrious, although there are a number of people on here that use it with no issue, but you may want to reconsider the SC route. A SC is only hard on your engine depending on the amount of boost you run. You can SC and run like 9 PSI of boost with no problem. You will see more gains than the N/A route and it will probably cost less, depending on which SC you choose. Maybe I don't know what you mean by a staight pipe. Do you have a link to one?

[xedubx]

when i got the car last week it had what i think was a catless bbk h pipe. problem was i wanted to get a clean inspection so i put the originals back on bc they were given to me with the car. a friend kept referring to them as straight pipes and i assumed thats what to call em.

as far as headers go, if i stay with shortys will i perform any better? i guess the general idea is that with new cylinder heads and improved flow i can make a decent gain. is this flawed thinking?

[the real shocker]

im probably gonna get bashed for not saying power adder, but...

i would recommend head/cam upgrade since you already mentioned it, a set of gears (i have 4.10 and love them and gas mileage is not an issue), long tubes/mid pipe, a good tune and SUSPENSION...

all of these performance upgrades will do you no good if you cant get them to the pavement and to hook up

thats just my $0.02

[neckbonekat]

Originally Posted by xedubx when i got the car last week it had what i think was a catless bbk h pipe. problem was i wanted to get a clean inspection so i put the originals back on bc they were given to me with the car. a friend kept referring to them as straight pipes and i assumed thats what to call em. as far as headers go, if i stay with shortys will i perform any better? i guess the general idea is that with new cylinder heads and improved flow i can make a decent gain. is this flawed thinking?

OK I see what you mean by straight pipes now. My bad! No that's not flawed thinking. Although now that you passed inspection you may want to consider putting the O/R H pipe back on until next insepction. I'm currently running catless between inspections myself. (I just like the O/R sound better. The difference in HP between catted and O/R are minimal.) There is a guy on here, ACMillr, that is running N/A with some boost and he has BBK tuned shorty headers. He's making right near the same amount as people with similar set ups running LT headers. With new P&P heads and cams, new headers and a new mid pipe you should definitly see some good gains.

[xedubx]

so everyone is coupling heads and cams together. is everyone saying that without a new cam the new heads would be of little use? also p&p? thanks for the patience,

[neckbonekat]

Originally Posted by xedubx so everyone is coupling heads and cams together. is everyone saying that without a new cam the new heads would be of little use? also p&p? thanks for the patience,

If your going to take the engine a part to do one you may as well do the other is usually the logic. Most people actually want to do the cams more than the heads to get that lope sound in thier idle. P&P is for ported and polished to increase air flow.