If I was you I'd look for a car with the mods already on it; gears, intake, even superchargers or cams can be had much cheaper when someone is selling a car, good luck
Best 1999-2004 Mustang GT Upgrades and Modifications?
So hi...here's my first post on this site. So here's the deal. I am going to buy a 1999-2004 Mustang GT pretty soon. I have around $2000 plus the money I sell from my Ford F-150 Lariat. So I should have around $8000 total. Obviously, being 18, I want to mod it up. What upgrades do you all suggest I should do, ''In Order of Importance''
My step dad owns a 72 Chevelle and can help me with just about anything I can install. Also, what parts on the Mustang were just considered bad, or better yet needed to be upgraded. So back to the story. I figured I could buy a GT, hopefully for $5000-$6000 and put 2 grand into the the car. Here's what I thought about doing.
1. Interior:
- Complete Billet set on guages, knobs, etc...I want this thing to look somewhat nice on the inside.
- White Faced guages
2.Exterior:
- Raxion halo lights and 3-light LED taillights
- Mach 1 Chin Spoiler & Grille delete
- Exterior blackout kit(Bullitt fuel door, hood pins, shorty antenna)
- 1995 Cobra R Hood...maybe if I have the money later on
- Maybe some Black GT 500 Machined wheels.
3. Performance:
- Gearing. I drive a bit on the highway so I figured 3.73 gearing would be good.
- BBK Cold Air Intake. By the way I'm not sure what brand to buy for things. I can kinda get the idea from reviews, though.
- Better Exhaust: SLP Loudmouth with MAC Prochamber midpipe?
- Better intake Manifold
- 78mm Throttle Body Intake
- SCT SF3/ X3 Power flash Tuner: Not sure if I should buy this earlier or sooner since I'll have to recalibrate the car after every upgrade.
- Ceramic Long Tube headers
- Competition Stage 1 Camshaft
Ok, so thats about all I really have read about Mustangs. I feel I should upgrade the suspension, but I haven't gotten that far yet. Sorry, I know questions and threads like this are started all the time. I just wanted to be a little bit more specific.
My step dad owns a 72 Chevelle and can help me with just about anything I can install. Also, what parts on the Mustang were just considered bad, or better yet needed to be upgraded. So back to the story. I figured I could buy a GT, hopefully for $5000-$6000 and put 2 grand into the the car. Here's what I thought about doing.
1. Interior:
- Complete Billet set on guages, knobs, etc...I want this thing to look somewhat nice on the inside.
- White Faced guages
2.Exterior:
- Raxion halo lights and 3-light LED taillights
- Mach 1 Chin Spoiler & Grille delete
- Exterior blackout kit(Bullitt fuel door, hood pins, shorty antenna)
- 1995 Cobra R Hood...maybe if I have the money later on
- Maybe some Black GT 500 Machined wheels.
3. Performance:
- Gearing. I drive a bit on the highway so I figured 3.73 gearing would be good.
- BBK Cold Air Intake. By the way I'm not sure what brand to buy for things. I can kinda get the idea from reviews, though.
- Better Exhaust: SLP Loudmouth with MAC Prochamber midpipe?
- Better intake Manifold
- 78mm Throttle Body Intake
- SCT SF3/ X3 Power flash Tuner: Not sure if I should buy this earlier or sooner since I'll have to recalibrate the car after every upgrade.
- Ceramic Long Tube headers
- Competition Stage 1 Camshaft
Ok, so thats about all I really have read about Mustangs. I feel I should upgrade the suspension, but I haven't gotten that far yet. Sorry, I know questions and threads like this are started all the time. I just wanted to be a little bit more specific.
1 - 9 of 9 Posts
Yeah, that actually is my plan. I wanted to make a list of things so I could cross of the modifications that were already on the car. Its just a matter of finding the right deal. :bigthumbsup
I also need to tell you to keep some of your powder dry when you do get the car...they almost always need some kinda repair that you were unaware of when you bought it...read stories about it all the time, happened to me too, plan and shop carefully, bottom line if it seems to good to be true, it probably is
My advice..Stay away from the Halo headlights from raxiom!! They fit terrible and look even worse.. My friend got a pair and the normal headlights looks like someones holding a flashlight in front of the car.. Please dont waste the money. However the sequential tailight plug and play from Raxiom are very nice and work very well!!
I like some of your choices:
the Mach 1 grill delete is 10 times nicer then the stock honeycomb grill
Exhaust is a must, Gears are your best performance mod, get the gear/tuner combo, CAI is a nice mod I would stay away from BBK as much as you can i hear some bad stories about BBK. Headers are nice but are a pain in the ass I think ford says there 9hrs of labor, dont forget about suspension:
lowering springs
shocks and struts (Bilstien)
subframe connectors
That will get you started for a while
the Mach 1 grill delete is 10 times nicer then the stock honeycomb grill
Exhaust is a must, Gears are your best performance mod, get the gear/tuner combo, CAI is a nice mod I would stay away from BBK as much as you can i hear some bad stories about BBK. Headers are nice but are a pain in the ass I think ford says there 9hrs of labor, dont forget about suspension:
lowering springs
shocks and struts (Bilstien)
subframe connectors
That will get you started for a while
There are about 467 billion threads on this, do a search and some reading, it'll help you decide for yourself what you want, but in order of importance/bang for the buck:
Gears
Subframes
exhaust or intake work
suspension
Gears
Subframes
exhaust or intake work
suspension
Auto or manual? I would stay far away from the looks department, that will just be throwing money out the window. Spend it on performance for now, but to each their own.
Anyways a new cat back will cost around 4/450, gears 180 to 240, mid pipe probably around another 400, sub-frame 100 to 200, throw in a CAI, MAF, T/B and plenum thats around another $600 dollars. ...right there you are look at around $1,800.00 not to mention shipping and the cost for labor. These prices will vary for new parts so you will need to shop around. You can probably find these used so the prices will be less. All depends on what you want, when you want it, and who you want to install it....you or a shop.
Anyways a new cat back will cost around 4/450, gears 180 to 240, mid pipe probably around another 400, sub-frame 100 to 200, throw in a CAI, MAF, T/B and plenum thats around another $600 dollars. ...right there you are look at around $1,800.00 not to mention shipping and the cost for labor. These prices will vary for new parts so you will need to shop around. You can probably find these used so the prices will be less. All depends on what you want, when you want it, and who you want to install it....you or a shop.
UPR suspension and Nitto NT05s on those GT500 rims. That'll make a huge difference. More so than basically all of the mods you listed put together.
www.uprproducts.com
I'd skip the cams. The hp gain per dollar is low on those.
www.uprproducts.com
I'd skip the cams. The hp gain per dollar is low on those.
1 - 9 of 9 Posts
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