New owner, with ???'s
 

I am the new owner of a 1996 GT bone stock as far as I can tell. I am extremely impressed with the car. I have driven some of the "best cars in the world" Porsches, BMW's, Jags, Vettes. I am a big fan of the German makers, to me American cars always felt really loose and cheap.

I am a working class dog, and recently felt the need to reward myself for the dedication I have been putting into earning a recent promotion. I casually started looking for a fun, cool car. I test-drove a wide range of vehicles, the night I drove this GT I bought it. 10,000 bucks. Loaded, Atlanic Green Metallic, Leather, 5spd. Bone stock as far as I can tell, 77K miles. Is there a way I cant tell if the exhaust is stock, serial #...?

Anyway I love the car and plan on doing the following roughly in this order....K&N, wheels, tires, pulley's, gears, exhaust, ...?

Any advice...?

Note: I have a hard time "being good" in it
and have already dusted numerous "street ra(i)cers" and a punk in daddy's new volvo. BMW's dont seem to interested, I figure they are afraid, that if I even come close they will feel stupid for the $400 dollar lease payment,

Thanks,
Phlea96gt

[This message has been edited by Phlea96gt (edited 06-03-2001).]

Welcome to the site. Glad to have you with us. I had a 96 Mustang GTS for a couple years and it wasn't too bad. Kinda sad though that my Lightning (high 14s) could have kept up with it. Anyways, the exhaust is pretty easy to tell. If the H-pipe is stock it should have six catalytic converters on it. Three per side. The mufflers may even say Ford on them if they haven't been replaced. I'd bet money the headers are stock but don't worry about them anyways.

Do the K&N first. Then do the gears. You won't regret it. They need gears badly. It'll wake them up big time. Go with at least 3.73s. Maybe 4.10s if you want. Depends on what kind of driving you do and the mpg's that you want. I had 3.73s in mine and it dropped .4 off of my ET's. Made a huge difference in the car's performance. The 4.6's power is higher in the power band than a 5.0, therefore they usually need a bit steeper gear than you would run in a 5.0 (ex: daily driver, 5-speed; 5.0= 3.55s; 4.6= 3.73s) to get a similar performance from the two cars. I still got low 20's mpg with the 3.73s.

Next I would go with the exhaust. Those 6 cats are VERY restrictive. Get a h-pipe or x-pipe, with either high flow cats or no cats. Also get a better cat back (mufflers and tailpipes). They say the 99-up mufflers aren't as restrictive but I guarantee the 96-98 are very restrictive as well as so freakin' heavy. Recommended is h-pipe with baffled mufflers and x-pipe with straight flow thru design mufflers. There's probably not much hp difference in the different types of mufflers for the pipes like I listed but I reckon every little bit helps, too.

Then do your pullies and whatever else your heart desires.

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1994 Red SVT Lightning #2019 <FOR SALE>

Thanks for the response and advice, after posting, I read it back to myself and thought I sounded like a jerk. I am guessing the exhaust is not stock though, from the down pipe, each side goes through what looks like a cat, a little before midway back, then a muffler at the rear, then the end pipe. Does this sound stock to you...? It sounds more agressive than other stangs I have seen and heard around town.

Thanks again

Welcome to the board! BTW you didn't sound like a jerk at all... you just sound excited about having a cool car. Unfortunately the 96-98's are slower than the 99 up cars so it takes a bit more tweaking to get them up to snuff. If you only see two cats then you definately have an aftermarket setup. You can look at the shape of the pipe and see if it's an X or an H. Everything 96GTS said is good advice. Definately go with gears first. I should have started with them but they are in the plans. If you are real serious then swapping to the 99up heads and intake will net a nice gain. Good luck.

Brett

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66 Tahoe Turquoise Coupe
Laser Red 96GT Ragtop
30 Years & 30 inches apart in the driveway!

Thanks for the advice guys. I got under the car with a mirror and found that I have Flowmasters on the car. I think its an X-pipe... I am going to start looking into gears. Any warnings or advice on install of the gears...?