add ons? where do i start?
 

what should i start of getting for my lill stang? im not sure where to start as this is my first fuel injected pony. its a stock 87 5.0 L HO notchback .im getting lots o storys on where i should start but the guys im listening to dont even own one......sorta like talkin to a vergin about porn sex......any pointers would be appreciated..thanks :confused:

start with the exhaust, headers and a good cat back sysyem and a set of high flow cats if it's in your budget, then add a set of underdrive pulley's, a set of gears for the rear, suspension parts, the list goes on!!

well the budget is plenty...not what the wife would say...he he he....thanks for the advice james.i was told to get an exhaust shop to build me an exhaust instead of buying after market trash...is there any truth to this?

i like your avatar !!! :chacha: :tup

Opinions vary
but your basic starter mods are
- Exhaust, any or all components
- Intake (to TB), Throttle Body, Intake Manifold
- Underdrive Pullies
- Bumped Timing
- Subframe connectors
- Gears
- Shifter
in no particular order....and the list goes on...

you can go buy a complete bolt-on exaust kit and do it yourself! it's easy you don't need an exhaust shop to do it! good luck with your car and whatever you decide to do!!!

A nice set of tires. :tup

I have a mac x-pipe, flowmaster cat back, and bbk headers, install was about three hours with air impact gun. noticable diffrence.

Before getting into T.B.'s or intake manifolds (likely 500$) I would check out ebay for a simple wet nitrous kit.(ie: a kit with two sileniods one for nos and one for fuel so you dont need bigger injectors (likely 500$)to make more power) Bolt on 100hp with no side effects, best bang for your buck.

Out of curiosity....

What would YOU like to do with/get out of the car?

Do you want to run low 13s w/o serious cash outlay? Just a tire squealer/cruiser that sounds killer?

Autocrosser?

Once I get a response i'll tell ya what I did w/ my 89 Notchback.

well i want it to be an asskicking mustang.mean lean riceburnin asskickin machine.......pretty much like that lol. :laughhard

How many miles on the car? I swear I read elsewhere it's an auto right? [may be a blessing in the long run]

Ok, this is what I have learned from owning the three 5.0s I have had.
the following is assuming you have a stock motor [stock:heads/cam/intakes]:

- Stock ported headers & by ported I mean hogging out them welds that are on the inside of each primary tube RIGHT where they bolt up to the head -> port them welds out.. with the welds you can barely get a thumb in there, with the welds properly ported out you can get two fingers in there... are more than enough until you surpass about 285 - 290 flyhweel HP. It's been dynoed and proven. On a motor with stock heads/cam intake dont waste your money on headers or an off road H or X pipe.

- If the stock catted factory H pipe is in good shape leave it alone. You will lose low RPM TQ and even some of the lower mid range by going to a 2 1/2" off road H or X [more on this later]. Once you go into the motor and buy heads/intake/cam or 1.7 rockers w/ stock cam, THEN get a better flowing mid pipe...not until.

- Cat back Flowmasters and Macs sound NICEST, but get a straight thru type of muff as the cats are all the backpressure you'll ever need. Buy a set of stainless tails and flow tubes 2 1/2" diameter and get some Magnaflow or Dynomax Ultra Flow muffs..

3.73 gears,
Sticky tires and lightweight rims IE: Welds w/ ET streets/ET Drags on rear and skinnies on the front
Underdrive pulleys,
14-16* timing and premium [Sunoco 94 if you have access to it]
K&N panel in the stock airbox [remove that silencer in the inner fender if it's not gone]
65 mm throttle body, [I think they DO help on Speed density cars w/ no tiny 55 mm MAF]
A home made ram air,
All the money you'd have spent on an exhaust get an FRPP aluminum driveshaft and a safety loop,
Mild stall 25-2600, and a shift kit/trans cooler
Short belt to bypass the power steeering at the track.
Electric fan or just pull yer stock one off at the track,
Next is up to you, but there is about 150 Lbs to be lost in removing the front sway bar, sound insulation and TAR that's moulded to floor and trunk, spare tire and jack, dogbone around rear end housing. If you're really about weight, you can simply take the car to a muffler shop and tell them to remove the stock muffs, and install straight pipes in place so long as yo have the stock H pipe.. yo have FOUR small cat convertors to kill noise and they will and in the porcess you saved another 20-25 LBs removing mufflers.

I'd be willing to bet as long as your engine and trans are healthy with the above done you'd go 13.60-80s @ 98-100 MPH...maybe a few tenths quicker.

Take that same setup above BUT my 89 was a 5 speed, and had a C&L 73 mm MAF [stock maf is only 55mm wide] and 65 mm T body... and i went a best of 13.11 @ 102.74 , 1.74 60'. I was trying to crack into the 12s all stock motor, so I said WTF, and bought Mac equal shorties, and an off road 2 1/2" X pipe as I was out of ideas, and Did some suspension work to the rear. My best after that was a 13.19 @ 102.0 and a 1.77 60' now having to leave off the rev limiter to make the car cut the same 60 foot times as it did with the stock headers and H pipe leaving at 47-4800. I ran 101 MPH most the day too, with the larger exhaust. Weather conditions were the same. It slowed not only this car of mine down but i've had 3 others, and every time, they are more fun to drive and go quicker with stock headers and H pipe. [with a stock engine].

After the Above i bought AFR 165s, used Edelbrock Performer intake, 24 lb injectors & Pro M 75 mm MAF, MSD, and 1.7 rockers.. left the stock cam. Car went a best of 12.301 @ 111 MPH.

Anyways I rambled on BUT there was some ideas and stuff that either DID or DID NOT work for me AT the track. :tup

FWIW - Stock86GT on this site has an 86 GT 5 speed that has well over 300000 Kms, and is stock motor, stock headers & H pipe, NO cat back on the car, 3.73s, stickies on turbines, skinnies up front and sound insulation gone w/ the basics like timing, underdrives,etc, and he's gone 13.20s @ 102...

wow
 

now theres a start.........but the doughnut i bought the car hacked out the cats and the cross over or h pipe.shes straight piped to a muff then out to the rear. im pretty sure you need to have the crooss over or h pipe to equilize........right?....and yup its bone stock but sounds healthy. its an automatic w/o. i bought a k&n air filter for it about 2 weeks ago,i didnt even check for the silencer, but i will check and rip it out. i think i have 3.73 gears in it but not sure. as for a mass air system i dont think i got that because it doesnt have the sensor in the tube. lemme know what u think.i saw the vids on your svo and im impressed
:tup

hacking out the inside of the cats actually causes turbulance in the exhuast that is gonna HURT PERFORMANCE :( or did you replace the cats with pipes and completely eliminated them???? :D that is an old school off road h-pipe :tup (But it ruins it for e-testing if you have it...we do here). So what I would do now, if they have just had the insides hacked out is order a you a high flow catted h-pipe, and a somewhat restrictive muff like a flowmaster (to give you back some back pressure creating more low end and some mid range tq).

However if you made it into an off-road h-pipe put a restrictive muff on it for the same reason as above. High end HP is a good thing, but it is the low end tq that gets you off the line faster and it is torque that gets you down the track faster.

And if it Does have the air silencer (it most likely doesn't) LEAVE it. Put the whole car back to bone Stock and sell it for BIG money. BONE BONE BONE Stock cars are going for HUGE money these days. because they are SOOOOOO Rare

And yes, you do need the crossover pipe for exhaust equalization. :)

And your car is speed density, like mine, and way better that Mass Air for a while anyway.

the guy that had it before me put 2an 1/4 pipe or 2.5 pipes on it..........straight into muffs............no cats...no x/h pipe.....muffs then staight to tails....at least their stainless lol. and i checked the air silencer is gone./ and yup its a speed density car :tup