Vtoorn

Hi guys,

I know you've all been asked this a million times but i am new to this forum and I was just looking for some personal opinions on simple but cost effective upgrades, I've got a 96 mustang GT 4.6L. i got it about 3-4 months ago and its better than owning my first vehicle! Now im to the point where ive gotta put some more into it, some of the upgrades the car came with when I purchased it are as follows,

K&N air filter
tuned for 93 octane (which is pointless cuz they dont make 93 anymore)
upgraded ecu from ford
KYB struts all around
and im pretty sure the exhaust are 2.5 inch aftermarkets because it doesnt sound stock whatsoever.

I'm just looking what everyone thinks in regards to simple but cost effective upgrades like i said. Another question I had is, is a CIA really worth it? people always say they are but im kind of hesitant. ive done research and it seems the best way to squeeze some horseys out of it when getting a CAI is to get a new throttlebody and pelnum, just curious, what would this cost? also i know a tuner is an absolute must somewhere down the road aswell. but for now im looking for simple things so when replying please keep that in mind, and if anybody disagrees or has any other opinions please feel free to voice them!

Thanks guys!

Blackfin

Sunoco's Ultra94 si what you'd want to run with a timing-aggressive tune like that.

Sounds fishy to me.

By "cost effective" do you mean "inexpensive" or do you mean "good bang/buck ratio"?

If you've got the money the first thing you should consider is a cylinder head, intake and cam swap. If you bolt on a set of PI heads (e.g. 99-04 2V heads) along with their cams and intake you'd instantly gain 50 or more HP.

I have trouble spending hundreds of dollars on a tube with a filter on it that might gain you 5rwHP.

The same goes for the throttle body and plenum. On the NPI cars the cylinder heads and intake manifold are the bottleneck. Opening up the air intake upstream of both is kind of pointless.

You can spend a thousand or more on stuff like a CAI, plenum and TB and go from 200rwHP to 215 or so. Is that "cost effective."

I'd advise sourcing some PI parts from a wrecker, have them inspected and cleaned (and if you can wing it, have the valves lapped...). You might spend more dollars but you'll get far more power from it.

Think also about chassis upgrades (e.g. subframe connectors) to stiffen the structure and tighten the car's handling. Consider some coils to lower the car and sharpen the handling. Think about brakes. How's the steering components? Ball joints?

Finally, think about gears for the rear end. 3.73s for a 5-speed car or 4.10s for an automatic really brighten the feel of the car.

DublDee

X2 on the gears! I swapped 3.73's into my 95 GTS 5 speed when I had it, and it was a totally different car.

Vtoorn

Now i know this is going to sound silly but i know PI stands for performance improvements, now what exactly does that mean? its just newer parts? for eg like stock parts off the 99-04's?

Darkhorse

Change the rear gear ratio and a short throw shifter and it will feel like you bolted on another 50 hp.

Blackfin

In 1996-97, the GT was rated at 215HP. In 1998 is bumped to 225 due to tuning differences. But in 99, Ford made changes to the intake manifold, the cylinder heads and the pistons which bumped power to 260HP.

We use the term "PI" to refer to the 99-04 2Vs and "NPI" -- as in "non-performance improved" for the earlier cars.

One thing that should be noted is this: When Ford did the PI engine the pistons and heads were changed. The pistons had a slightly larger dish and the chambers slightly less volume, netting a 9.6:1 compression ratio. When you put PI heads on an NPI shortblock the compression is closer to 10:1 because the NPI's smaller piston dish. This actually makes this combo capable of more power, all else being equal, than a stock PI longblock.

These are all stock Ford parts. If you can find a wrecked Mustang the yard may allow you to take the heads and manifold. I'd grab the alternator and bracketry while you're there...

Vtoorn

Thanks for all the info guys! now from what im gathering, gears and PI are the way to go, the only concerns I have with the PI are this sounds insanely labour intensive with in regards to primarily finding a 99-04 in a scrap yard, especially with the town that im from lol, secondly doing all the swaps, this seems like an upgrade to be done in the garage over the winter, so just a couple more questions i have are, 1: would a shop be willing to do this for me? if so, what would labour costs be? 2: where the heck would i even begin looking for a decent 99-04 that could even be considered salvagable, i live in a small town in ontario between toronto and kingston called brighton, very rural area and im not even going to waste my time looking in the scrapyards around here but i wouldnt even have to ask to already know theyve been either stripped or dont have any there,. also, my friend was telling me, for the time and money that i would be investing he said i might aswell just purchase a full engine from a 99-04, he's a lil off the deep end? but just curious about what the pro's and con's would be about doing a full swap instead of some PI's?

Blackfin

It's involved but there's nothing that a decently mechanically-inclined and organized individual couldn't do on his own. You'd certainly be able to find a shop to do it for you. Check out Joe DaSilva's place in Scarborough.

Give him a call. They often have deals for winter projects...

You can get a new PI manifold from American Muscle for $240. Then you just need a set of PI heads. These needn't come from a Mustang. Any late-model Crown Vic, for example, will have the same heads. You'll need an alternator bracket and a head-changing kit.

It's a valid point. With the partial swap you keep the bottom-end you know and get the benefit of increased compression. A full PI swap requires you to trust an engine you know nothing about but it's not as invasive as all that. You can drop the K-member with the engine and trans attached, swap the engines and have it back in the car in a day.

wannabesaleen281

I myself have a 96 gt with an auto and i have done all the bolt ons.What i felt made a nice improvement was the sct tuner (helped alot more because it was auto),3.73 gears was the best bang for buck i have done, and a magnaflow cat back system with an x-pipe.Those three i felt gave me the most bang for your buck upgrades.I have also done msd coil packs,under drive pullies,jlt cold air,75mm throttle body and 75 mm intake plenum.For suspension i have done tokico shocks and struts,sub frame connectors,eibach spring,eibach front and rear sway bars and a kenny brown rear shock tower brace.Also for uninstalled parts i have steeda x2 ball joints,steeda bumpsteer kit and m&m caster camber plates after i install those i have let you know what i think but or suspension i would have to so bar none the sub frame connectors were well worth the money( i just wish i would have done them sooner) and the front and rear sway bar made a noticable difference too.Another thing i did was upgraded to nitto 555 tires and wow do they make a difference on my car the grip is pretty incredible.