[adpr_02]

K. I start my first post on this forum with a story:

I KNOW you guys are going to laugh at me for posting this, but here goes:

I'm 17 years old, and have ALWAYS loved modifying things, making them better, etc, etc. I went into modding computers (not playing games, or spending days on face book, but seeing how hard I can push the hardware, get the best scores in benchmarks, etc.). In a very short time period, I became very, very good. The reason I went into PC hardware is because I come from a poor family and don't have much money, so it seemed like a logical choice.

I am in school right now, and let's just say that I pretty much guaranteed to have a 20$ an hour job when I come out in next year, with that increasing to ~30$-40$ an hour when I get my full license in 3 years.

Now that I will be able to afford a better, more challenging hobby, I plan on going into cars. I always LOVED the way Mustangs looked, and plan on buying one as soon as I graduate. Problem is, I never had a daddy to teach me about cars, and as such, know NOTHING about engines and cars. But like I said, I'm a very quick learner, and once I learn the theory it'll be easy to put it to use. I want to modify the car, and improve it, maybe even turbo it later on. My question is: Can you pros explain to me the basics increasing performance, and handling? What types of mods increase the HP, and how to perform them reliably vs. cost? I have spent a while online, and haven't been able to find any comprehensive FAQ's, but if you guys have any guides, I'd much appreciate it.

Oh, one more thing: I am split between a mustang and a Nissan 240. Which do you reccomend? I love the sleek-looking stock car which is a beast under the hood.

I know it's early to look for a car, but I want to learn everything there is to know before I finally get it.

[Onemanzu]

welcome i hope you stay around... if you have questions you can PM me i promise im friendly

as for mustangs you have a ton of options... you can go 6er or GT
new edge
round sn-95
or brand new s-197

I would personally suggest a super charger new edge 3.8 mustang but thats just me... best of luck have fun!!

[BWAL]

welcome to MM man.. considering im a mustang fan, and this is a mustang website, i'd recommend the nissan. just kidding.. i'd take the mustang over that thing any day..

anyways, here are some of the basics.. for horsepower, you will want several things 1) good flowing heads.. thats the difference in the horsepower from the 03 mach 1 and the 03 GT.. the mach 1 has 4v heads whilst the GT has 2v heads.. look at the horesepower difference between those 2 cars there.. also, for higher horsepower numbers, you may want to look into forced induction (a supercharger or turbocharger) they both help push air and fuel into your engine to create more power.. they are a little bit complicated for beginners, so you may want to stick around more to learn about those.. also, nitrous.. its quick, easy, and cheap hp.. just install the system and when you want that extra 75+ hp, it is there..

when you go into heavy modding, you will want to be sure you build up your engine internals to keep them in one piece to handle all that power..

HANDLING - i suggest stiffening up the chassis first and foremost.. you can do so by several things.. k-member, subframe connectors, or even a roll cage.. you will also want to lower the ride height (helps a little bit) and stiffer suspension.. good tires are also a must

thats pretty much all i can think of right this second.. any other questions just ask.. im sure people on here will be able to answer any question you may have

[adpr_02]

Ok. I didn't understand most of what you guys just said (U should hear me talking in terms of computer hardware, you'd understand) but I heard most of those terms before and I'll go look them up.

One thing that stood out imo, and I think it's important that I find out what it is early on in the game: What is an engine build-up? I imagine that with the turbocharger, a lot of stress and overheating occurs and parts would have to be replaced with higher performing ones, but what changes have to be made, and around how much does it cost.

[ESG-642T]

Better question would be what goal do you have?

Daily Driver?
weekend warrior?
all out drag machine?
Auto X ?
All out track car?

[BWAL]

well basically, you need to replace the engine internals with forged parts (alot stronger and can handle almost unlimited hp) thats pretty expensive, but blowing your engine due to having weak internals is even more expensive.

also, with a N/A engine (naturally aspirated, meaning no nitrous, no turbocharger, and no supercharger) you pretty much want your engine compression to be as high as possible.. with forced induction, the more you lower your compression, generally the more boost you can handle.. you can lower your compression by buying different pistons and things like that

anymore STUPID questions?

JK

[ESG-642T]

Originally Posted by BWAL09 welcome to MM man.. considering im a mustang fan, and this is a mustang website, i'd recommend the nissan. just kidding.. i'd take the mustang over that thing any day.. anyways, here are some of the basics.. for horsepower, you will want several things 1) good flowing heads.. thats the difference in the horsepower from the 03 mach 1 and the 03 GT.. the mach 1 has 4v heads whilst the GT has 2v heads.. look at the horesepower difference between those 2 cars there.. also, for higher horsepower numbers, you may want to look into forced induction (a supercharger or turbocharger) they both help push air and fuel into your engine to create more power.. they are a little bit complicated for beginners, so you may want to stick around more to learn about those.. also, nitrous.. its quick, easy, and cheap hp.. just install the system and when you want that extra 75+ hp, it is there.. when you go into heavy modding, you will want to be sure you build up your engine internals to keep them in one piece to handle all that power.. HANDLING - i suggest stiffening up the chassis first and foremost.. you can do so by several things.. k-member, subframe connectors, or even a roll cage.. you will also want to lower the ride height (helps a little bit) and stiffer suspension.. good tires are also a must thats pretty much all i can think of right this second.. any other questions just ask.. im sure people on here will be able to answer any question you may have

Also you may want to mention the mach 1 and cobras are dohc where as the GT is SOHC

[BWAL]

Originally Posted by SSStang Originally Posted by BWAL09 welcome to MM man.. considering im a mustang fan, and this is a mustang website, i'd recommend the nissan. just kidding.. i'd take the mustang over that thing any day.. anyways, here are some of the basics.. for horsepower, you will want several things 1) good flowing heads.. thats the difference in the horsepower from the 03 mach 1 and the 03 GT.. the mach 1 has 4v heads whilst the GT has 2v heads.. look at the horesepower difference between those 2 cars there.. also, for higher horsepower numbers, you may want to look into forced induction (a supercharger or turbocharger) they both help push air and fuel into your engine to create more power.. they are a little bit complicated for beginners, so you may want to stick around more to learn about those.. also, nitrous.. its quick, easy, and cheap hp.. just install the system and when you want that extra 75+ hp, it is there.. when you go into heavy modding, you will want to be sure you build up your engine internals to keep them in one piece to handle all that power.. HANDLING - i suggest stiffening up the chassis first and foremost.. you can do so by several things.. k-member, subframe connectors, or even a roll cage.. you will also want to lower the ride height (helps a little bit) and stiffer suspension.. good tires are also a must thats pretty much all i can think of right this second.. any other questions just ask.. im sure people on here will be able to answer any question you may have Also you may want to mention the mach 1 and cobras are dohc where as the GT is SOHC

i thought that's what 2v and 4v meant? i thought 2v were always SOHC and 4v always DOHC?

to OP - disregard all the info i have given you up to this point.. SSStang has made it clear that i obviously dont know what i am talking about

[adpr_02]

This would be a daily car, so I'm probably not going to go all-out turbocharging it the day I get it. I will, eventually as I heard that it actually saves gas. I plan on starting small. I'll get a new exhaust, and other small performance tweaks to begin with.

[BWAL]

Originally Posted by adpr_02 This would be a daily car, so I'm probably not going to go all-out turbocharging it the day I get it. I will, eventually as I heard that it actually saves gas. I plan on starting small. I'll get a new exhaust, and other small performance tweaks to begin with.

have you decided what year model and/or engine size you want yet?

[adpr_02]

Oh, and I don't think I'll ever go for nos, as I think it's a cheap way to gain HP.... I may change my mind about that, but I want to work for the HP, not just dump in magic fluid and have the car drive all over the walls.

[adpr_02]

Well, I was looking at the local listings, and saw a lot of nice V6s or GTs. So I'm most likely going for one of those. I want to get a nice small engine, and turn it into a beast. I don't want my work done for me.

Which one do you think is the most worth it in terms of driving fun/fuel economy (I know, for a muscle car, I shouldn't care)?

[BWAL]

Originally Posted by adpr_02 Oh, and I don't think I'll ever go for nos, as I think it's a cheap way to gain HP.... I may change my mind about that, but I want to work for the HP, not just dump in magic fluid and have the car drive all over the walls.

i always felt the same, but trust me, you WILL change your mind.. why not spend just $500 and have a normal daily driven car, but be able to whoop up on other cars at the flip of a switch? makes perfect sense to me now

if you want to start small and have a beast like you mentioned, you will want to talk to a guy here named TurboLX.. he has a few turbocharged 4 cylinder cars that can spank just about any GT or Cobra he will ever come across..

PS- you will get criticized around here by some people for using the word "NOS" unless it is indeed the brand of nitrous you are talking about. just a friendly heads up

[Luvdmustang]

wasnt too long ago i was just like you..
here..
www.howstuffworks.com
that should help you, you'll learn in no time. do you have aim?

[AtlanticBlue99]

there is so much to learn! welcome to ModdedMustangs, man. for starters, i would recommend browsing our forums and just learning the technical jargon of the automotive community. you can hit me up on aim at chrisale88 anytime, and i can aid in getting you acclimated in the automotive community. also, go to the main page of ModdedMustangs and read through the articles in all of our archives. you will learn about the history of the mustang, the motors that came/come in mustangs, and even the popular aftermarket companies and what they have to offer. we even have a collection of do it yourself and how-to articles!

when modifying a car for more power, you can rely on the premiss that more air + more fuel = more power. couple this with less weight and better suspension and you have more speed and driveability. the automotive world is a great combination of chemistry and physics, and through applied theory and learning from others' applications and results, you can put together the setup that is tried and true and best for you.

if you want to stay with a v6 application instead of a v8 application, browse the most supportive aftermarket companies such as americanmuscle.com, rpm-mustangs.com, rpmoutlet.com, supersixmotorsports.com, delkperformance.com, vmptuning.com, and always refer to the ModdedMustangs.com vender list when making purchases to see if any vender offers anything you need. this will get you a discount just for being a member of the site!

p.s. i learned all i know in the past 3 years of reading, writing, and working on my car. you will learn in no time - good luck and welcome to our world now!

[CosmoRide]

Let's try this ....
A Windmill that makes flour works beacause of the wind.
The wind turns the propeller and that's how all the other parts get moving and you end up grinding grain into flour.
Small windmill makes not much flour , big windmill makes more ....
IF the wind is slow you make less flour if the wind speeds up you make more....if there is a storm out there then it would make sense that you'd make a lot of flour, the only problem would be if the propeller or some other moving parts would breake ......
same thing with an engine , bigger engine makes more power...smaller makes less....more air into the engine ...and you make more power...less air and you make less.....
if you get a lot of air into the engine (Turbo/Supercharger) and your internal parts in the engine are stock....you probably are going up breaking them....so you need to modify the engine internals.....
most efficient ways of making more power is ....MAKING THE ENGINE BIGGER.... and FORCED INDUCTION....

hope this weird post helps ...lol

*******EDIT*********

Learn about how an engine works....
then move onto performance parts and research why they make more hp

[Mustangfan99]

ok here are some of the bare bone basics. You want to get more air into your engine, this will get you more power. a good first mod would be a cold air intake(cai). As you might know cold air is more dense than hot air, this means that you can get more power with an equal amout of air. More fuel will also get you more power, larger injectors will dump more fuel into your engine, the down side is your mpg will drop. Exhaust is also another extremly good mod to get. the more shit you can get out of your engine the more you can put in. stock exhaust is VERY VERY restrictive, its like trying to breathe with your nose stuffed up, its hard to do, dual exhaust is like cleaning out your nose, you will breathe so much better, and so will your car. in short, get a new exhaust, cai and a k&n air filter to start. do an exhaust search in the V6 section to find out what you want for exhaust. Welcome to the site!

[Killer_Bee]

they've pretty much covered it im fairly new here myself and i have knowledge in older cars actually i should say i have knowledge in carburetors i would also suggest a 99+ or an older like 91 - 95 5.0 in my opinion the 5.0 is a very sick car man. also how good of a driver are you im just saying this because i personally think that a 16 year old who got his licenses yesterday should not have a car with tons of HP unless properly trained and responsible enough for one. I was taught how to drive by my uncle he is a Paramedic in LA and i now know what to look for while i drive im not saying im perfect or anything but i do believe im better then the average driver. here is a link im useing for my mods http://www.chipsv6specialties.com/index.html

[ESG-642T]

^^^
More fuel into a motor without more air wont necessarily get you more power. Normally when you step up in injectors you need them to compensate for more air you have going into your motor (super/turbo) or the need with nitrous oxide or a naturally aspirated beast!

And yeah I normally associate DOHC and 4v together but It doesn't have to be that way.

[Mustangfan99]

If you do get a V6 mustang def get the 99+ also refered to as the "new edge". its got 40 more hp stock than the 94-98 V6 due to its intake, and imo looks a hell of alot better.