Lets talk mods.....A little Q&A.

TC713

TC713

Well-Known Member
#1
#1
Well, springs coming quickly and i've been frequently reading my American Muscle catalog that came in the mail. I want pretty much everything in there.....
I know i'm doing lowering springs, but i'm wondering what I should do next?
Is a cold air intake worth it? And if so, can I get away with the AM brand?
Or do the brands make a huge difference?
And is a tune required after install? Because I see that some of them are package deals with tuners.

Also on my mind are gears and pullies......
Finally, my wife's cousin from down' south keeps telling me I need to get cams. Are they for more heavily modded cars, or is this something I can get and see big gains from?

Well, these are the modes that have been on my mind. Let me know what you think. I wish I could just buy a S/C and be done with it :headbang:

Thanks.
 
RedMOsesSC

RedMOsesSC

Well-Known Member
#2
#2
Cold Air & Hand held tuner with a Canned tune IS the best bang for the buck for a Stang. The CAI alone wont do much without a new tune but the combo should wake your pony up. Its an easy Install.
 
C

Chris2kGT

Well-Known Member
#3
#3
I respectfully disagree. The best bang for the buck on ANY stang would be gears. That will give you the best track gains and seat of the pants difference compared to any other "bolt-on".

A RAI or ram air intake actually outperforms a CAI. They are usually cheaper too. Anything above 35mph and the RAI is the better option. Get a ABS or PVC intake as they do not heat soak. JLT is a very popular brand.

Cams are a very decent mod and hitech motorsports have made some very competitive gains with shelf cams. There stage 2 cams have put out over 300rwhp on fairly stock cars. Also you do not need to upgrade you valve springs unless you went with a stage 3 with their brand. Those make a cam install take twice as long. Unless you are confident in your ability to take off the timing cover and use a degree wheel you are looking at 500-800 dollars for a cam install.
 
RedMOsesSC

RedMOsesSC

Well-Known Member
#4
#4
Gears require a PRO install and a break in period, CAi/Tuner can be drive way installed and the Stang can be ready for action within an hour.

Cams are generally done after the low hanging fruit has been picked off the tree, CAI/Tuner is a great starting mod that works even better as you add more bolt ons.
 
BubbaStanGT

BubbaStanGT

Member Plus
#5
#5
Arent the girls in the new AM catolog so freaking hot, and you should see the calender!!! Id get the Diablo tuner on pg 29 if she came with..
I agree with Chris with the gears being best bang o buck. CAI, I have used two, one cheap from AM and a BBK from AM. BBK felt like it pulled a little harder, but shit sometimes when you put on a new mod in the back of your head you are already thinking that its going to be better. Ive heard nothing but good stuff about JLT but they are pretty pricey for anyone on a budget.
For automatics with the gear change you have to get a handheld tuner to recal speedo. I went almost a full year with my speedo off 11-14 mph and almost racking up double the miles. :smash:
 
Jimmerz

Jimmerz

Member Plus
#7
#7
TC713 said:
Well, springs coming quickly and i've been frequently reading my American Muscle catalog that came in the mail. I want pretty much everything in there.....
I know i'm doing lowering springs, but i'm wondering what I should do next?
Is a cold air intake worth it? And if so, can I get away with the AM brand?
Or do the brands make a huge difference?
And is a tune required after install? Because I see that some of them are package deals with tuners.

Also on my mind are gears and pullies......
Finally, my wife's cousin from down' south keeps telling me I need to get cams. Are they for more heavily modded cars, or is this something I can get and see big gains from?

Well, these are the modes that have been on my mind. Let me know what you think. I wish I could just buy a S/C and be done with it :headbang:

Thanks.
Click to expand...
gears and pullies will give you a very noticeable diffrence, a cold air intake wont do much without a tune to go along with it but if you get one i would suggest a k&n or mac cold air intake. i would also suggest steeda pullies, and ford gears, dont forget to get the rebuild kit for the rearend too even if your mileage is low its still worth it to buy the kit. a set of cams are good i would go with comp cams personaly.
 
BubbaStanGT

BubbaStanGT

Member Plus
#8
#8
Jimmerz said:
dont forget to get the rebuild kit for the rearend too even if your mileage is low its still worth it to buy the kit.
Click to expand...

This would have prolonged my rear end mishap.When I had the gears put in at 66k I was told that shouldnt have to use it, send it back and get my $100. So 40k later bearings start going bad and allow everything else to start poop'n. Until its diarhea on a four lane holding up traffic at noon :smash:. LOL
SO ya get the install kit and use it and dont let the guy keep anything that wasnt used.... Jason.
 
TC713

TC713

Well-Known Member
#9
#9
Yes! The AM girls are amazing. I was going to mention them earlier. I keep the mag next to my porcelain throne. I like the chick on the back cover. Though I had to move the bar code sticker down a bit. It blocked cleavage.:evil:

Well, this is all good info and it cleared a bunch up.
So basically, do cams when all the other fruit has been picked, and have money for a pricey install, don't do the CAI without a tune, and the gears are probably my best bet coupled with a short shifter.....
and pullies.

Are the pullies a hard install? I wish the cam install wasn't so pricey.

I also wish I could get away with not doing springs. That would free up a few bills.
 
Jimmerz

Jimmerz

Member Plus
#10
#10
TC713 said:
Yes! The AM girls are amazing. I was going to mention them earlier. I keep the mag next to my porcelain throne. I like the chick on the back cover. Though I had to move the bar code sticker down a bit. It blocked cleavage.:evil:

Well, this is all good info and it cleared a bunch up.
So basically, do cams when all the other fruit has been picked, and have money for a pricey install, don't do the CAI without a tune, and the gears are probably my best bet coupled with a short shifter.....
and pullies.

Are the pullies a hard install? I wish the cam install wasn't so pricey.

I also wish I could get away with not doing springs. That would free up a few bills.
Click to expand...
pullies are easy, just have to remove the radiator and follow the directions, dont have to drain anything just unscrew the brackets and pull it out so you have room to work on the pullies, personaly id let somone else do it but thats just me lol.
 
TC713

TC713

Well-Known Member
#11
#11
Jimmerz said:
pullies are easy, just have to remove the radiator and follow the directions, dont have to drain anything just unscrew the brackets and pull it out so you have room to work on the pullies, personaly id let somone else do it but thats just me lol.
Click to expand...
ha. Don't let my noobness fool ya. I'm pretty mechanical. I just lack a little bit of the confidence to go ahead with stuff. I would hate to be down a car for doing something stupid.
 
C

Chris2kGT

Well-Known Member
#13
#13
Woah....just get a swivel for your socket and you don't have to remove the radiator.

I will list the parts, the hp gains, seat of the pants feel and difficulty of installtion on a scale of 1-10.

Pullies-3-5hp...barely going to feel it. Installation difficulty 3

Throttle body/Plenum...10-15hp...should start to feel it(side effect is crisper throttle response) Installation difficulty 3

CAI/RAI-3-5hp...barely going to feel it. Installation difficulty 1

X/H pipe...8-15hp, noticeable noise change...should start to feel it. Installation difficulty 4

Catback....5-8hp..barely going to feel it, noticeable noise change. Installation difficulty 4

Cams....20-40hp...going to feel it. Installation difficulty 8

Gears....0hp....going to feel it as it shifts the each gear higher into the RPM band. With these engines the steeper the gear the more you will feel it(no torque). Installation difficulty 9.5

This is just from personal experience.
 
Stangerang

Stangerang

Member Plus
#14
#14
The CAI/Tuner will have the biggest advantage on the 3-valve S-197 cars. I think you pick up like, 25-30hp for the 3 valve cars. However, on our 2vs, you won't see much. You can install a cai w/o a tuner. Be aware, the car will run a little rich w/o the tuner. It won't hurt you...but just keep that in mind.

Like everyone says, the best bang for the buck are gears.

On a personal note, when purchased used, my car came with flowmaster mufflers(stock exhaust piping), a 70mmtb, a dense charger intake going into the fender well(stock rubble inlet pipe from the TB down to the intake), and that was already good enough to beat my friends who have an 02gt, and an 03 gt, and there only mods were a catback.

I never raced em when they put on their mid pipes and intakes, but I had my 3.73s put in right afterwards....and the results were the same: I kept ahead, and ahead of them/ :)

P.S. Is your car an auto, or stick? If it's an auto, the tune will be more beneficial to you than the manual cars. The tunes have improved my friends auto gt's shift points, and throttle responses greatly.
 
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BubbaStanGT

BubbaStanGT

Member Plus
#15
#15
I was told today that a tuner for an auto is absolutely needed when changing gear ratio. Very harmful to the auto trans? Any input on this? I went almost 8 months without my Xcal when I swapped for 4.10s. The guy couldnt believe that I didnt toast my tranny. Anybody have more infor on that?
 
Stangerang

Stangerang

Member Plus
#16
#16
BubbaStanGT said:
I was told today that a tuner for an auto is absolutely needed when changing gear ratio. Very harmful to the auto trans? Any input on this? I went almost 8 months without my Xcal when I swapped for 4.10s. The guy couldnt believe that I didnt toast my tranny. Anybody have more infor on that?
Click to expand...
Sean, the only thing I can think of, is that if you put in the gears, w/o a tune, or a speedo thingamajig, then your speedometer, and tach. would be off. I'm not sure about any other harm, but perhaps others can chime in.
 
BubbaStanGT

BubbaStanGT

Member Plus
#17
#17
I know my speedo and odo were off, like 11-13 mph and almost double the mileage, but this guy said he couldnt believe that I didnt toast the tranny by running the car without using a SCT etc for something with tranny.
My SCT was mail order tuned by American Muscle.com and came with "firmer" shift points. He said he heard of guys blown their stuff up after a few days without getting a Tuner after installing the gears.
 
Jimmerz

Jimmerz

Member Plus
#18
#18
BubbaStanGT said:
I know my speedo and odo were off, like 11-13 mph and almost double the mileage, but this guy said he couldnt believe that I didnt toast the tranny by running the car without using a SCT etc for something with tranny.
My SCT was mail order tuned by American Muscle.com and came with "firmer" shift points. He said he heard of guys blown their stuff up after a few days without getting a Tuner after installing the gears.
Click to expand...

you dont need a special tune, theres a harness you can buy for your car that uses dipswitches, if you dont want the tuner you open your console where your shifter is and splice it into the wire pack where the cigarette lighter is. set the switches to the proper gear upgrade and your all set., your gears are in the pumpkin at the rear axle.. even in an automatic the only thing afected is your speed reading on your dash. the newer cars can work with either the dipswitch pack or if you use a tuner you can just install the tune but mod the gear selection, all that does is change your speedometer to read the proper speed
 
TC713

TC713

Well-Known Member
#20
#20
Yeah, mine is manual.

So the CAI isn't as beneficial without the tune..... Anyone have experience with the American Muscle intakes? Wicked cheap.....

Whats a dense charger?
 
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