Need Advice:

[CupCake]

I guess I will start talking a little bit about myself. I am cupcake, I am 23 years old, live in NC and I was born in Ecuador. I have a 2001 beautiful Mustang, it is a V6, bright red and I love it. I have not done anything to the car yet for to reasons:

1. Money can be tight sometimes.
2. I don't know anything about cars, I can only change my tire and change the oil.

I want to know what can I do to my car to make it faster, help it to breathe a little better, look coole, etc. But I want to do this without having to replace the most important parts on it. If you have any ideas plase let me know, I am open to all kinds of coments. Thanks!

[Ieatcamaros]

My opinion would be to put a supercharger on it. And please do't RICE it out with goofy body kits.

[stvneil]

air cleaner and exhaust for starters.

[CupCake]

Don't worry about that, I won't do that to my car. Ricers are stupid and I hate them. Maybe you can be a little bit more pecific, remember that I don't know enough about cars, maybe brands are whatever.

[Ieatcamaros]

I am glad to know you hate ricers too. Paxton makes a really good v6 supercharger. I think the kit is like $3000. I own a 2003 v6 stang and I have been thinking of what to do to it as well. A cold air kit, exhaust and underdrive pullies are the best bang for the buck mods. But since we travel in that car, I probably won't do anything to it. Until, I can get my hands on a supercharger or an 03-04 cobra motor.

To be more specific, a cold air kit really only provides the cool look under the hood. You need other breathing mods to feel the difference on the a$$ dyno. I wouldn't want my exhaust to sound like anything close to a riced out car. So that is out of the question, imo. And underdrive pullies, again IMO, are more trouble than what they are worth for a daily driver. With a good exhaust system, underdrive pullies, and a cold air kit, you could see as much as a 20 hp increase. And probably more like 30 hp. To do the necessary work to the engine (i.e. port work on the intake and heads) would cost more than a supercharger. So that is why I say put a sc on it. Or trade it in and get a GT. Hope this helps.

[Hethj7]

Whoa, lets not get carried away here. I don't think you are going to see a 30 HP gain on a V6 Mustang with a cold air kit, exhaust, and pullies. Also, port work on heads and intake will not cost more than a supercharger. Now, if you are buying new heads and intake to be ported, that could be a different story.

Money seems to be of concern to cupcake, so a supercharger is out of the question. Exhaust would be a good place to start, although I am not familar with what kits are available for the V6 Stang. In any case, you will be somewhat limited by what you can get out of that V6. If I remeber right, the S/C for these cars just make them a little faster than a stock GT.

If you ever really want to make any power or go that fast, save your money and trade the V6 in for a V8 later down the road.

[Ieatcamaros]

30 hp is an optimum number too. It is possible. And I know that she is on a budget. But that is my opinion on what to do. You summed it up good. Save money and trade it in on a v8 mustang. There just isn't much potential in the v6.

[Crazy Horse GT]

it takes time & money, start out, with exhaust, air induction, yes, u/d pulley's are a good bang for the buck, if you can get away with it off road pipes are good, no cat converter's, i had to use mil eliminater's on my 00 gt, but not on my 95 gt, dont know about the v-6, i have only put a k&n air filter in my 04, but i am not rodding it, my effort's are on my 95 gt, then my 65 falcon, when i do ever get my 04 6 paid for, im gutting it, then put a v-8 in it, till then, i just drive it to work, look for free catalog's, you can get gt cat back dual exh, or they have section's for the 6 - power adders,actually at 193 h.p. the lil 6 aint bad, i roll down the highway at 80-90 mph pretty e-z, good luck.

[CupCake]

Well, I don't know if I want to trade my car, I love it!!! It is the first car that I have that is fast, well for a chick anyways. I will have to see what I can do, maybe I can make it a little faster but I think I will keep it, maybe I can buy a V8 in the future and keep my other one, just because I am stubborn, lol. And I will proably trade it if it sounds like a fart pipe, no ricers allowed in my garage.

[mustardjohn]

Sounds like a topic for the Small Ponies Board. Cupcake are you familiar with how to read old posts? There is a lot of discussion on the subject of moding out V6's on the small ponies message board. You just go there and at the bottom of the view you can select to see posts going back in time. Set this box for the last year and read the old posts.

Cheapest options are true dual exhaust, cold air intake and pullies. Also go to Mac website

http://www.macperformance.com/store/...9&CatLevel=top

and look around under 2001 mustangs for ideas and wish list pricing. You can get modest gains for under $2500... $700-$1000 for true dual exhaust, $180 for cold air induction, probably $300 for pullies... so maybe under $2000

There are some cool non-ricer decals at

http://www.bobwhitedecals.com/

Also go to California Mustangs a look at accessories at

http://store.cal-mustang.com/cm_able...DID=7&CATID=20

There are many other sites...these are some of my favorites

[mustardjohn]

I love my Chin Spoiler look here

http://www.mustangtuning.com/ma1chsp.html

This is cheap and you can put it on with a drill and a screw driver. If you can't be fast, you can look good. And there are a lot of non-ricer type accessories. You can still beat some of the 4 cycl imports and the GM low power V6's.... Alero, V6 Camero etc. and look good too.

Otherwise, I agree sell the V6 and drop back a few years and buy a mid-late 90's GT or Cobra. That is the cheapest way to get more power quickly. The gain in power is very substantial even with a GT. Cobra would be even better.

[mustardjohn]

Hey also go to the appearance and detailing forum here. Nothing wrong with a V6 that shines like new money. Lots of good ideas on how to clean and shine a car on that forum and believe me it makes a huge difference on how you apporach detailing and what products you use as to how your car looks.

[bmxmon]

There are some body kits that look good on the new stangs. I bought a MM&FF magazine awhile ago, just for the hell of it. (i am mostly into the older stangs) But anywho, there were some really cool looking cars in there with body like kit things, both newer mustangs and fox body stangs. At least in my opinion anywho.

[Mr 5 0]

CupCake:

Pulleys, exhaust mods and a cold-air induction kit are all good beginner modifications and I recommend them, especially the CAI kit, which is easy to install and budget-priced, as mods go. However, the very best bang for the buck you can do, if the budget permits, is to change out the ring and pinion gears for a lower (higher numercially) ratio set.

Your Mustang has a 3.27 ratio now and with a switch to a 3.73 ratio you'll feel a huge boost in performance without doing a lot of expensive engine modifications. The cost would be about $400. - $500. depending on who did the labor and their specific charges. The gears are about $225. or so and Ford Racing is your best bet for brand.

As you've mentioned that your 195 HP 3.8 Mustang gives you very adequate performance now, the addition of a 3.73 ring-and-pinion would absolutely give you more than adequate performance for around $500. with no engine modifications or emissions problems. I highly recommend you go this route as it has worked well for tens of thousands of Mustang owner for many years. I'm one of them.

[mustardjohn]

Mr. 5.0

Do you just buy the ring and pinion 3.73 gear set and it fits into existing housing or is there more to it? The gear sets sell for about $168 before tax and shipping. Sounds like this might be a very inexpensive mod. Actually less than true dual exhaust kits including installation costs.

How significant is the impact on gas consumption say crusing at 70 mph on interstate?

[Mr 5 0]

Originally posted by mustardjohn :

Mr. 5.0

Do you just buy the ring and pinion 3.73 gear set and it fits into existing housing or is there more to it? The gear sets sell for about $168 before tax and shipping. Sounds like this might be a very inexpensive mod. Actually less than true dual exhaust kits including installation costs.

How significant is the impact on gas consumption say crusing at 70 mph on interstate?

The ring and pinion gears can be bought as a kit, with all the necessary hardware for installation. You'll need to replace the speedo gear and the axle oil and I recommend using synthetic gear oil when you do that. Prices vary. Check with a Ford Racing dealer or the Mustang magazine ads for exact pricing. I was guessing as I bought my rear gears some years ago and prices change. Leave the installation to a pro. It's worth the cost.

Going from a 3.27 to a 3.73 final ratio will probably decrease highway gas mileage by a gallon or two, maybe three. RPM's at 70 MPH will increase about 300 to 400. However, the 'seat-of-the-pants dyno' will register a very noticable improvement, especially at the low-end.

[mustardjohn]

Thanks, After looking a little I think the gears plus other parts and oil will be closer to $300 than $200. Then installation but still a realitively low price mod. I would say your estimate of $500 is accurate.

[BLACK85GT]

You could get the Superchips Custom Micro tuner (model 9100)
Runs about $400. This retunes the computer and shift points, pressure points, etc. Even recalibrates the speedometer if you go with the above mentioned gear changes, or tire size changes.
You will have to run 93 octane fuel though to see the most benefits with this.

[rbohm]

Originally posted by Ieatcamaros
There just isn't much potential in the v6.

hmmmmmmm........not much potential in V6 powered mustangs.........hmmmmmmmmmm, well thats true i guess, if y0u dont consider high 11's and low 12's for a street car no potential. yes you keep believing that, meanwhile cupcake check out these sites;

www.3.8mustang.com

www.moranav6racing.com

www.supersixmotorsports.com

and when you get done go show ieatcamaros your tailights in your "no potential" V6 mustang
also check out your local community college about classes that will teach you about automoblies, and how to work on them. who knows you may decide to become a master mechanic and school us all one day

[CupCake]

Lol, that would be cool but I already know what I want to study, I don't know about being a mechanic, I don't like to get dirty =o)

Thanks to all for giving me some ideas, I will try to see what I can do to my car. I will let you know of the slow changes.