I also meant to say that college can be expensive even aside from tuition. Books can cost a few hundred dollars per semester. You will still need other supplies and will eventually want things like a college ring, etc. Also, it is a good idea to have $$$ put back to maintain and repair whatever car you are driving, be it a V6, V8 or whatever. Finally, when you get into your upper level classes (300 and 400 level) and start preparing for graduation and what you are going to do after, you may want or need to work less and concentrate on studying more. It's nice to have enough money put back to be able to do that (I say that from experience).
My parents wanted me to go to college, but no one had to 'push' me into it. The year I took off from school after high school and worked fulltime at the grocery store where I had worked in h.s. (as a dairy manager, often working 45 to 50 hours a week for a salary that wasn't much higher than what I made as a 'bag-boy') was all the convincing I needed.
Haha, yea im a bagger right now. Thing with me is, I'm going 2 college, my parents r paying for all of it too (besides food/gas and all of that stuff...) but my first two years will be at a community college so it will be cheaper for my parents (then transfer to UT).
My plan now (yall convinced me 2 wait for the GT) is to install my 12' Audiobahns (just need amp/box/wires) and get some racing stripes ($100). I guess after that just take care of it, save up, and see how things are going in college. Possibly buy a GT Junior year or somthing, alot of things can change though so idk.
Haha, yea im a bagger right now. Thing with me is, I'm going 2 college, my parents r paying for all of it too (besides food/gas and all of that stuff...) but my first two years will be at a community college so it will be cheaper for my parents (then transfer to UT).
My plan now (yall convinced me 2 wait for the GT) is to install my 12' Audiobahns (just need amp/box/wires) and get some racing stripes ($100). I guess after that just take care of it, save up, and see how things are going in college. Possibly buy a GT Junior year or somthing, alot of things can change though so idk.
By the time you graduate, the 2009 Mustang redesign will be on the road and you will probably have your pick of used '03/'04 'New Edge' GTs or an '05/'06 S197 for a pretty good price - or, if you get a job right out of college making 'real' money (and good luck with that), you might even decide to get one of the '09s (there is some rumor that the '09 redesigned lineup might include a hardtop 'vert, if that interests you at all - although I imagine such a thing would be heavy as all get out.)
AND...You're making $200 a week as a bagger??!! Geez. When I started out as a bagger/stocker in high school, I was paid minimum - which was $3.35 per hour at the time. I made about $200 a week (before taxes) as the manager of the Dairy and Frozen department! The really annoying thing is, we had to take the groceries to folks' cars for them - rain, snow, ice, lightning, below freezing temps., didn't matter. I had bronchitis and/or pneumonia every winter I worked there as a bagger. Now, around here, anyway, baggers don't take groceries to anybody's car anymore and they make real money.
Sorry, had to get that rant out of my system (and, no, the parking lot wasn't uphill both ways). Good luck with the Mustang and with college.
By the time you graduate, the 2009 Mustang redesign will be on the road and you will probably have your pick of used '03/'04 'New Edge' GTs or an '05/'06 S197 for a pretty good price - or, if you get a job right out of college making 'real' money (and good luck with that), you might even decide to get one of the '09s (there is some rumor that the '09 redesigned lineup might include a hardtop 'vert, if that interests you at all - although I imagine such a thing would be heavy as all get out.)
AND...You're making $200 a week as a bagger??!! Geez. When I started out as a bagger/stocker in high school, I was paid minimum - which was $3.35 per hour at the time. I made about $200 a week (before taxes) as the manager of the Dairy and Frozen department! The really annoying thing is, we had to take the groceries to folks' cars for them - rain, snow, ice, lightning, below freezing temps., didn't matter. I had bronchitis and/or pneumonia every winter I worked there as a bagger. Now, around here, anyway, baggers don't take groceries to anybody's car anymore and they make real money.
Sorry, had to get that rant out of my system (and, no, the parking lot wasn't uphill both ways). Good luck with the Mustang and with college.
Thanks bro, I appreciate u understanding. I make $5.56 an hour and work 39 hours a week (they cant give me 40 or it would be full time ) Hey JBO it is possible to get a decent job while in college though right? I'll be 18, so hopefully I can find a decent part time job (at least $10 a hour).
Well here's my plan for my stangbanger, criticize where you see fit...
1. 2 Black racing stripes down the middle.
2. Install the 12' audiobahns that have been sitting in my closet for almost 3 months now.
3. Intake/new gears (hear the gears can help alot?? Advice?)
And anything else withen a reasonable budget... any ideas?
Thanks bro, I appreciate u understanding. I make $5.56 an hour and work 39 hours a week (they cant give me 40 or it would be full time ) Hey JBO it is possible to get a decent job while in college though right? I'll be 18, so hopefully I can find a decent part time job (at least $10 a hour).
Well here's my plan for my stangbanger, criticize where you see fit...
1. 2 Black racing stripes down the middle.
2. Install the 12' audiobahns that have been sitting in my closet for almost 3 months now.
3. Intake/new gears (hear the gears can help alot?? Advice?)
And anything else withen a reasonable budget... any ideas?
I'll not criticize anything you want to do with your car (as long as it isn't 'rice'), but some of the other guys here are better to ask what mods you should do for speed. I bought my GT because it was respectably quick 'out of the box' - certainly not the fastest thing on the road, but none too shabby, either - and because of the 'heritage' of the Mustang as a piece of American musclecar history - I had long wanted a yellow V8 Mustang. Mine already had a BBK CAI and Flowmaster catback on it when I bought it used and I really haven't done anything else (I've had it less than a year.) I use mine for a daily driver (although I did recently buy an '89 Bronco II to keep at least some of the miles off the Mustang and drive when there is bad weather). Since mine is my main form of transportation (as in the way I get to work), I don't drag race it and I haven't done much else to it. When I do, it will be more in the area of suspension and handling (much more important on the hilly, curvy roads of East Tennessee than on the straight, flat roads that seem to be the norm in Texas.) I might do gears eventually, but probably as long as it is my daily driver I won't. As I said, my car isn't nearly the fastest thing on the road. That being said, I can pull onto an Interstate on ramp at 15 or 20 mph and hit 80 before I reach the end of the ramp and have to merge into traffic without pushing it very hard at all, so it gets the job done.
Underdrive pulleys can supposedly free up a few horses (they don't increase the amount of horsepower produced, they just free a few horses up because they decrease the pull on your engine from the alternator, a/c, etc. by slowing the rate at which those accessories are turned). I also hear that underdrive pulleys can increase fuel effeciency and decrease wear and tear on the engine. You don't want to do them, though, if you plan to have a huge system in your car as the alternator would then not make enough juice to power it. I have an older Sony Xplod head unit running through the factory speakers plus two 10 inch MTX Road Thunder boxes in the trunk powered by an Xplod 250 watt amp. I wouldn't want any more than that. I don't 'boom', but I could with this setup if I so desired. In fact, I never even turn the volume up past 3 or 4 because (with the subs up to 3/4 and the in-cabin bass to 50%) anything past that will start to rattle my trunk lid (ala crappy-sounding ricer systems), not to mention hurting my eardrums! If I do anything else there, it will probably just be to replace the factory speakers (which do a pretty good job) with better ones. My setup should have no problem getting plenty of juice from the alternator even if I do u/d pulleys. When you start adding stereo equipment, think about how much you want to add. If speed is important to you, consider that every piece of stereo equipment you put in adds weight which can rob speed. I think the rough figure is that it takes 15 horsepower to move 100 pounds (someone correct me if I am wrong), so the more weight you add, the more speed you lose. It's funny to think that if my fat a$$ could manage to lose some weight my car could go noticebly faster!
My biggest advice, as this will be your daily ride, is to make sure to keep up with regular maintenance. Sounds boring, sure, but all the mods in the world won't help if your engine craps out due to poor maintenance. You know, regular oil changes, keep an eye on fluid levels, check tire pressure regularly. Also, I have found that adding a can of Seafoam additive to the gas tank periodically when I am filling up keeps my motor running smoothly. I (and, I think, most folks on AFM) also run synthetic oil. Synthetic oil is another thing that seems to help the engine run more effeciently. Thing is, if your car has high mileage and has always run dino oil, I have heard that the synthetic can clean deposits (gunk) built up around your gaskets (good thing) that are clogging gaps where the gaskets don't seal well and, possibly, lead to oil leaks where the deposits were (bad thing).
If you think you might want to trade the car in a few years, remember that some mods could, possibly, decrease the amount you could get from selling or trading it. Some folks might look for an already modded car, but many others want one that hasn't been modded very much. Then, again, you could take the point of view that the car will be at least ten years old by then so you may not get a whole lot out of it, anyway. That being the case, you may decide to forget about resale value and just enjoy modding it. The good thing is, modding the V6 would give you a chance to see if there are certain mods you like or don't like so you might have a better idea of what mods you might want to do to a GT later.
You should also know that there are V6 forums on AFM - including one dealing with V6 tech. I'd bet those guys would have some good ideas for you, too. Also, as I said before, enjoy the car. At 17, I was driving a '74 Ford LTD Country Squire Station Wagon. The good thing was the wagon had a 400 cid V8 engine. I surprised quite a few nicer cars in that poor, old thing. If I had owned a Mustang at 17, any Mustang - be it a V6, V8 or whatever - I would have been struttng around like a game rooster!
As for getting a good job in college, most of the folks I knew who made real $$$ worked for UPS. They had (and I think still have) shifts at weird hours in their warehouses, but seem to pay really well. I applied there once but, by the time they called me, I already had another job. I worked weekends at the grocery store for a little while, then got a mall job closer to school. Summers were when I made real money working at a plant in Loudon (was Maremont/Arvin at the time) that makes car exhaust parts. The job was in no way fun - hot, sweaty, dirty, tiring, boring and dangerous - but it paid $10 per hour (which was really good money for a college student in the early '90s) and time and a half for overtime (which my shift worked almost every week). Otherwise, college jobs were often much like high school jobs due to the weird schedule students sometimes had.
I worked at a nearby Goodyear factory for two years, until layoffs made getting those jobs impossible. Those jobs are long gone, now.
If you CAN, get a job in one of the labs on campus or as a Research Assistant or Teaching Assistant. You build experience, get documented KSA, and it pays better than minimum.
You'll have to go through one of your profs, and they generally only go to the top 10% of students, so early work pays off.
__________________
Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,his upper rooms by injustice,making his countrymen work for nothing...Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?Did not your father have food and drink?He did what was right and just,so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy,and so all went well...But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain,on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion. Jer 22:13, 15-17
I'll not criticize anything you want to do with your car (as long as it isn't 'rice'), but some of the other guys here are better to ask what mods you should do for speed. I bought my GT because it was respectably quick 'out of the box' - certainly not the fastest thing on the road, but none too shabby, either - and because of the 'heritage' of the Mustang as a piece of American musclecar history - I had long wanted a yellow V8 Mustang. Mine already had a BBK CAI and Flowmaster catback on it when I bought it used and I really haven't done anything else (I've had it less than a year.) I use mine for a daily driver (although I did recently buy an '89 Bronco II to keep at least some of the miles off the Mustang and drive when there is bad weather). Since mine is my main form of transportation (as in the way I get to work), I don't drag race it and I haven't done much else to it. When I do, it will be more in the area of suspension and handling (much more important on the hilly, curvy roads of East Tennessee than on the straight, flat roads that seem to be the norm in Texas.) I might do gears eventually, but probably as long as it is my daily driver I won't. As I said, my car isn't nearly the fastest thing on the road. That being said, I can pull onto an Interstate on ramp at 15 or 20 mph and hit 80 before I reach the end of the ramp and have to merge into traffic without pushing it very hard at all, so it gets the job done.
Underdrive pulleys can supposedly free up a few horses (they don't increase the amount of horsepower produced, they just free a few horses up because they decrease the pull on your engine from the alternator, a/c, etc. by slowing the rate at which those accessories are turned). I also hear that underdrive pulleys can increase fuel effeciency and decrease wear and tear on the engine. You don't want to do them, though, if you plan to have a huge system in your car as the alternator would then not make enough juice to power it. I have an older Sony Xplod head unit running through the factory speakers plus two 10 inch MTX Road Thunder boxes in the trunk powered by an Xplod 250 watt amp. I wouldn't want any more than that. I don't 'boom', but I could with this setup if I so desired. In fact, I never even turn the volume up past 3 or 4 because (with the subs up to 3/4 and the in-cabin bass to 50%) anything past that will start to rattle my trunk lid (ala crappy-sounding ricer systems), not to mention hurting my eardrums! If I do anything else there, it will probably just be to replace the factory speakers (which do a pretty good job) with better ones. My setup should have no problem getting plenty of juice from the alternator even if I do u/d pulleys. When you start adding stereo equipment, think about how much you want to add. If speed is important to you, consider that every piece of stereo equipment you put in adds weight which can rob speed. I think the rough figure is that it takes 15 horsepower to move 100 pounds (someone correct me if I am wrong), so the more weight you add, the more speed you lose. It's funny to think that if my fat a$$ could manage to lose some weight my car could go noticebly faster!
My biggest advice, as this will be your daily ride, is to make sure to keep up with regular maintenance. Sounds boring, sure, but all the mods in the world won't help if your engine craps out due to poor maintenance. You know, regular oil changes, keep an eye on fluid levels, check tire pressure regularly. Also, I have found that adding a can of Seafoam additive to the gas tank periodically when I am filling up keeps my motor running smoothly. I (and, I think, most folks on AFM) also run synthetic oil. Synthetic oil is another thing that seems to help the engine run more effeciently. Thing is, if your car has high mileage and has always run dino oil, I have heard that the synthetic can clean deposits (gunk) built up around your gaskets (good thing) that are clogging gaps where the gaskets don't seal well and, possibly, lead to oil leaks where the deposits were (bad thing).
If you think you might want to trade the car in a few years, remember that some mods could, possibly, decrease the amount you could get from selling or trading it. Some folks might look for an already modded car, but many others want one that hasn't been modded very much. Then, again, you could take the point of view that the car will be at least ten years old by then so you may not get a whole lot out of it, anyway. That being the case, you may decide to forget about resale value and just enjoy modding it. The good thing is, modding the V6 would give you a chance to see if there are certain mods you like or don't like so you might have a better idea of what mods you might want to do to a GT later.
You should also know that there are V6 forums on AFM - including one dealing with V6 tech. I'd bet those guys would have some good ideas for you, too. Also, as I said before, enjoy the car. At 17, I was driving a '74 Ford LTD Country Squire Station Wagon. The good thing was the wagon had a 400 cid V8 engine. I surprised quite a few nicer cars in that poor, old thing. If I had owned a Mustang at 17, any Mustang - be it a V6, V8 or whatever - I would have been struttng around like a game rooster!
As for getting a good job in college, most of the folks I knew who made real $$$ worked for UPS. They had (and I think still have) shifts at weird hours in their warehouses, but seem to pay really well. I applied there once but, by the time they called me, I already had another job. I worked weekends at the grocery store for a little while, then got a mall job closer to school. Summers were when I made real money working at a plant in Loudon (was Maremont/Arvin at the time) that makes car exhaust parts. The job was in no way fun - hot, sweaty, dirty, tiring, boring and dangerous - but it paid $10 per hour (which was really good money for a college student in the early '90s) and time and a half for overtime (which my shift worked almost every week). Otherwise, college jobs were often much like high school jobs due to the weird schedule students sometimes had.
"I would have been struttng around like a game rooster!"
Haha yea I already do, part of the reason why I want to fix up the car. I drive around like im driving a lambo lol. I guess there really is no point with gears and everything. I'm not going to worry about performance and just enjoy the car. And like you said, when the 09's come out I should be able to find a 03' GT easily. Then I would just have to worry about insurance...
"I would have been struttng around like a game rooster!"
Haha yea I already do, part of the reason why I want to fix up the car. I drive around like im driving a lambo lol. I guess there really is no point with gears and everything. I'm not going to worry about performance and just enjoy the car. And like you said, when the 09's come out I should be able to find a 03' GT easily. Then I would just have to worry about insurance...
When I got my '02 GT, there was also a blue '03 V6 auto vert that I test drove (I wanted a yellow, stick shift V8 but my wife likes blue convertible Mustangs, so I test drove both). I went with the GT because it was more what I really wanted, but checked insurance rates before making my final decision. Now, you and I are in a different demographic. You get breaks with auto insurance premiums when you reach certain ages, more breaks for being married and even more for not having had an accident within a certain number of years (I'm 35, 34 when I got the GT, married and haven't been in an accident in ten years - knock on wood). Also, the V6 was a year newer (which doesn't make a huge difference) and a convertible whereas my GT is a premium coupe. That being said, it seems that my V8 costs a whopping $10 more per month in insurance (with Metlife) than the V6 would have cost - hardly a huge difference. To put it in perspective, my wife just got an 05 Mazda 6 4 cylinder auto. Hers is 3 model years newer than mine and still costs about $10 less per month in insurance (we are on the same policy). Point is, any Mustang, or any car the insurance company considers to be a sportscar, is going to cost more in insurance than one that isn't a 'sportscar' (although the Mazda 6 is considered a sport sedan). Also, insurance companies charge an arm and a leg for a teen to have coverage, especially when that teen is male and even more when he drives something like a Mustang. I can't imagine how outrageous your premiums would be if you had gotten a GT. My point is, by the time you get ready for a GT you will be a little older and have a 'history' with your insurance company, not to mention that if you go for an '03 (in '09), it will then be 6 model years old, which will also reduce premiums as compared to a newer car. As long as you are careful and don't have any speeding tickets or accidents on your record, your insurance premiums shouldn't be too bad by that point. Not as cheap as if you were driving a used Focus, but not too bad - especially if you manage to save some money now.
Yea didnt think about all of that man. I was quoted $250 a month for an GT (under my parents...) Im going to take your advice and wait about 2 years. Maybe even get a z28 lol (i know traitor...).
Yea didnt think about all of that man. I was quoted $250 a month for an GT (under my parents...) Im going to take your advice and wait about 2 years. Maybe even get a z28 lol (i know traitor...).
$250 per month??? Geez, my wife and I together don't pay that much, and our policy has my '02 GT, her '05 Mazda 6 and my '89 4WD Bronco II (you also get breaks for having more than one car on a policy - plus my BII is so old and a 2.9L V6 so I think it added, maybe ~$12 - $15 per month to the premiums.) In fact, coverage for both of us and three vehicles is almost $100 less per month than what your parents would have to pay just for you if you had the GT. That's insane! When my parents added me to their insurance when I was seventeen (driving the V8 wagon I mentioned earlier) my part (which I usually paid) was an extra $50 per month. I know it's 18 years later now, which could account for some of that, but I would also bet that the 'Fast and Furious' crowd has had a lot to do with the higher cost, too. If the quote was that much under your parents, I bet it would have been over $300 per month if you had tried to get coverage by yourself - possibly well over. Your monthly insurance premiums would be more than some car payments!
$250 per month??? Geez, my wife and I together don't pay that much, and our policy has my '02 GT, her '05 Mazda 6 and my '89 4WD Bronco II (you also get breaks for having more than one car on a policy - plus my BII is so old and a 2.9L V6 so I think it added, maybe ~$12 - $15 per month to the premiums.) In fact, coverage for both of us and three vehicles is almost $100 less per month than what your parents would have to pay just for you if you had the GT. That's insane! When my parents added me to their insurance when I was seventeen (driving the V8 wagon I mentioned earlier) my part (which I usually paid) was an extra $50 per month. I know it's 18 years later now, which could account for some of that, but I would also bet that the 'Fast and Furious' crowd has had a lot to do with the higher cost, too. If the quote was that much under your parents, I bet it would have been over $300 per month if you had tried to get coverage by yourself - possibly well over. Your monthly insurance premiums would be more than some car payments!
When I was his age, my insurance payments were $100 more tham my car payment.
__________________
Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,his upper rooms by injustice,making his countrymen work for nothing...Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?Did not your father have food and drink?He did what was right and just,so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy,and so all went well...But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain,on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion. Jer 22:13, 15-17
Wow, I don't pay $250 a month for car and home owners insurance together.
__________________
Sometimes I think that government fits that old-fashioned definition of a baby: An alimentary canal with an appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
- Ronald Reagan
Wow, I don't pay $250 a month for car and home owners insurance together.
Mine was $250 a month in 1987.
__________________
Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,his upper rooms by injustice,making his countrymen work for nothing...Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?Did not your father have food and drink?He did what was right and just,so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy,and so all went well...But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain,on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion. Jer 22:13, 15-17
Were you on your parents' policy? If so, what the heck were you driving - and what else was on the policy? I know they usually price the most expensive driver with the most expensive vehicle, but still... I thought $50 was expensive back then!
Were you on your parents' policy? If so, what the heck were you driving - and what else was on the policy? I know they usually price the most expensive driver with the most expensive vehicle, but still... I thought $50 was expensive back then!
yeah, I was on my parent's policy . . .
I was driving a 1977 F-150 SWB 4x4 with a built 351M.
2 factors - I inherited the vehicle as a totalled vehicle, and the insurance agent hadn't seen all the work I'd done to it that summer.
It WAS around $100 as the vehicle was considered a driver without any real worth. After he SAW the truck it was reclassified as a "Sport Truck."
I also got 2 tickets driving the company car that didn't have a working speedometer.
__________________
Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,his upper rooms by injustice,making his countrymen work for nothing...Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?Did not your father have food and drink?He did what was right and just,so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy,and so all went well...But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain,on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion. Jer 22:13, 15-17
) Hey JBO it is possible to get a decent job while in college though right? I'll be 18, so hopefully I can find a decent part time job (at least $10 a hour). 
