[honeybadger719]

I've got a 1998 Mustang GT with a Cold Air Intake, Dual Catback Exhaust, 3.73 gears, and a short shifter. The car is also lowered 1.5 inches and I believe it has an aftermarket throttle body but I'm not entirely sure on that one. Currently has about 162,000 on it. What kind of mods should I be looking at doing that would give me some pretty decent power gains that I'm going to feel? I have a budget of about $500 at the moment for whatever I do during this stage. I've been told to chip it, under drive pulleys, and even nitrous. What should I do?

 

[daustin]

You will probably get more help in the right section. Maybe a mod can move this for you. Good luck.

 

[honeybadger719]

What section?

 

[daustin]

The 4.6 mustang section.

 

[honeybadger719]

I've got a 1998 Mustang GT with a Cold Air Intake, Dual Catback Exhaust, 3.73 gears, and a short shifter. The car is also lowered 1.5 inches and I believe it has an aftermarket throttle body but I'm not entirely sure on that one. Currently has about 162,000 on it. What kind of mods should I be looking at doing that would give me some pretty decent power gains that I'm going to feel? I have a budget of about $500 at the moment for whatever I do during this stage. I've been told to chip it, under drive pulleys, and even nitrous. What should I do?

 

[Beechkid]

Stickers...lots of performance stickers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!homer.gif

 

[SoCal2V]

PI intake swap. Heads too, but that's a fair amount of work. The intake alone will really wake it up and can be done in an afternoon.

With miles that high, probably not a good candidate for any "real" power adder like N2O or f/i.

 

[JonR2006]

PI swap, plenum, mid-pipe and tuner....you could do a shot of nitrous but make sure the engine is in good health and be prepared to replace it. My car has the same miles, with some TLC (timing chains/guides/tensioners...rear main seal...valve cover gaskets...lash adjusters) I wouldn't hesitant to shoot a 75-100 shot...just need that money tree

For $500, if it were my car, I would do a PI Intake/plenum and then I would replace the timing chains/guides/tensioners....

 

[075581]

^Yeh definetly what these guys said with the intake.^ I would also consider since you have high miles assuming your shocks and struts are original, upgrading them.

 

[zhangtwanger]

As with what the others have said, I think PI intake and plenum might be your best bets. I would stay away from under drive pulleys though as I think the consensus is that they don't really give much of a noticeable gain

 

[hotrodron]

The best bang for your buck, will be to go PI head swap. Gonna give you about 40 HP over the stock NPI heads and cams. $500 will not get much if you don't do the work yourself and buy used parts. This is in my neck of the woods

 

[AMWill]

I've got a 1998 Mustang GT with a Cold Air Intake, Dual Catback Exhaust, 3.73 gears, and a short shifter. The car is also lowered 1.5 inches and I believe it has an aftermarket throttle body but I'm not entirely sure on that one. Currently has about 162,000 on it. What kind of mods should I be looking at doing that would give me some pretty decent power gains that I'm going to feel? I have a budget of about $500 at the moment for whatever I do during this stage. I've been told to chip it, under drive pulleys, and even nitrous. What should I do?

Hey honeybadger,


Although everyone in this thread gave you some pretty solid advice, I would personally go a slightly different route.


A PI head swap would be an awesome mod but is not as much of a "quick bang for the buck" mod that I think you are looking for.


If I were you, I would go with a Bama SF4/X4 Power Flash Tuner.


The tune will really wake the car up AND if you ever do go with a PI swap, the BAMA Performance team can re-tune your car at no cost to you.



After the tune I would either focus on suspension and get something like the Eibach Pro Damper Shock and Strut Kit or bite the bullet and go straight for the PI head swap!


Check out these videos of the build we had on our own 1998 GT, we broke it down into 4 easy stages.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK6At8mj6-4&index=3&list=PL1EF83A9832B53524

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nphD-PC4i04&index=2&list=PL1EF83A9832B53524

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eef4uFO--e4&index=1&list=PL1EF83A9832B53524

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkuEOO1m7G4&index=4&list=PL1EF83A9832B53524

I hope this helps and feel free to reach out if you have any questions!



-Will
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