[BioHazard192]

Hi guys I'm Alex.

I just purchased my 1st car, she's a beautiful tungsten gray 2006 Mustang GT with black racing stripes(I'll post some pics soon), I love her. The only problem is this is my 1st car & I have no idea which parts I should get to modify her. I was thinking to start I should get a cold air intake & a tuner chip/controller. Can anyone tell me what would be the best tuner chip/controller? I want to get an much additional HP & MPG these products will help with, my budget is around $1,500-$2,000. I really want to get the best but after looking online for the past few days it still have not become clear which one I should go with, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

 

[Snackmaster]

Hi guys I'm Alex.

I just purchased my 1st car, she's a beautiful tungsten gray 2006 Mustang GT with black racing stripes(I'll post some pics soon), I love her. The only problem is this is my 1st car & I have no idea which parts I should get to modify her. I was thinking to start I should get a cold air intake & a tuner chip/controller. Can anyone tell me what would be the best tuner chip/controller? I want to get an much additional HP & MPG these products will help with, my budget is around $1,500-$2,000. I really want to get the best but after looking online for the past few days it still have not become clear which one I should go with, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

Hey Alex!

Welcome to AFM!

I love your choice of color and stripes... but I'm a bit biased.

Really, considering the CAI/ Tuner issue, they will all have very similar gains so it's not like you're going to lose if you go with one over the other. Just make sure you get a combo and not just a CAI that claims you don't need a tune. A lot of people have had great success with JLT. I personally run the Steeda setup and love it. I would also go with an SCT tuner over the other brands. They seem to be a little bit more widespread and have a lot of user-end functionality.

You'll probably want to get a meaner sound on the car (if it still has the stock exhaust) so some axlebacks might be in order for you as well. There's really no HP gain but sound is always important!

What you really need to figure out from the start is what you want from the car... cruiser... drag car... show car... daily driver... some kind of combo of all of that?

Determining how you drive and what you want the car to be will allow you to buy the right mods the first time and save a bit of money.

What are your plans?

Snack

 

[kruzzzn]

Welcome to the group.I have a 2006 GT also and love it.I left mine stock so far as the programing but put on axle back exhaust system made by Flowmaster.Makes a nice sounding exhaust.There are a lot of others and everybody has their own opinion.Have fun.

 

[stlwagon]

Surf around in here and the 2005+ GT Tech section and you'll quickly pick up on the do's and dont's of modding. Welcome to AFM!

 

[BioHazard192]

Good morning, Thank you both Snack & Kruzzzn for the speedy response.
I'm glad to hear you like Steeda as I'm considering their cold air intake kit with carbon fiber elbow, I was also wondering about Airaid's kit with synthaflow filter which is supposed to filter air particles down to 2 microns.
On the Tuner side I was thinking about either the SCT livewire tuner or the SCT SF3 XCal Power Flash tuner, unless there is a better tuner to be found. Any word on Hypertech, Cortex, Bully Dog, or Superchips Flashpaq Tuner?

As for my plans well here is goes. I would like to replace the exterior shell & interior metal pieces with all carbon fiber. I'm looking into which is lighter CF or plastics, if CF is lighter then bye bye plastic. I want to bring up the power to weight ratio.

Engine wise I've seen it's possible to both super & turbo charge, yes I realize the difference & similarities between those 2 items. I was thinking to supercharger for low end power & turbo for high end. I think I'll need to replace some rods & maybe even the pistons to accommodate the extra engine strain.(anything else I need or should add)? I was also thinking to replace the spark plugs, headers, intake manifold, & fuel injectors. With the extra power I was thinking I might need to upgrade the transmissions.
I was thinking about also upgrading the suspension.

Also I'm going to add functional front & rear brake cooling scoops. Larger caliper brakes.

I also want to upgrade the exhaust system to make it Much louder but without any of that banging & crackling sound(I think its so stupid when I see videos of someones LOUD exhaust that sounds like crap & they all think it's awesome just because its super loud) I LOVE the mustangs growl & would really like to intensify it.

Hmmm I have more ideas for the interior as well but those are more cosmetic than anything.


Functional ram air/ heat diffusing carbon fiber hood.

Functional rear spoiler/wing.

Change the from & rear bumper, change the front & rear fascia, change the upper & lower grill, move the upper fog lights to the lower grill.

I'm sure more things will come to me with time but I think this is a pretty ambitious start.

I want to turn my baby into a super beast >=) haha. I want her to look, sound, & preform like a monster >=D, & given time she will.

So what do you think?

 

[BioHazard192]

Thanks Wagon I'll do that

 

[Cusp]

Carb

As a California Kid, you should consider passing the bi-annual Smog test. Because I also share your restrictions, I selected the Ford FRPP Performance Upgrade kit as it has a CARB EO number sticker. It added a very noticable amount of extra zip to my 2008 GT and I love the sound of the GTB mufflers. Check that what ever you put on your stang has a CARB EO number. Less head aches all around.

 

[BioHazard192]

good point

Thanks for the advise Cusp that's, I wasn't even thinking about that until just now :bigthumbsup.

 

[Snackmaster]

Hey Alex... you definately have some plans there! My only other advice would be for you to prepare for that plan to evolve. New products will hit the market and others might not be available when you want them. Start tucking away some funds now because once you start...

:bigthumbsup

 

[travelers]

Welcome to AFM there is so many different mod you can do. Get a plan on what you want for the car and surf here and for ideas and do some research.

 

[BioHazard192]

Yeah I hear you, I already know she's gonna start taking up a lot of my time & $$$ haha. I have some ideas on where to start I just want to get the right parts so I don't have to keep buying the same stuff that my car takes shape.

 

[billthecougnut]

Good morning, Thank you both Snack & Kruzzzn for the speedy response.
I'm glad to hear you like Steeda as I'm considering their cold air intake kit with carbon fiber elbow, I was also wondering about Airaid's kit with synthaflow filter which is supposed to filter air particles down to 2 microns.
On the Tuner side I was thinking about either the SCT livewire tuner or the SCT SF3 XCal Power Flash tuner, unless there is a better tuner to be found. Any word on Hypertech, Cortex, Bully Dog, or Superchips Flashpaq Tuner?

As for my plans well here is goes. I would like to replace the exterior shell & interior metal pieces with all carbon fiber. I'm looking into which is lighter CF or plastics, if CF is lighter then bye bye plastic. I want to bring up the power to weight ratio.

Engine wise I've seen it's possible to both super & turbo charge, yes I realize the difference & similarities between those 2 items. I was thinking to supercharger for low end power & turbo for high end. I think I'll need to replace some rods & maybe even the pistons to accommodate the extra engine strain.(anything else I need or should add)? I was also thinking to replace the spark plugs, headers, intake manifold, & fuel injectors. With the extra power I was thinking I might need to upgrade the transmissions.
I was thinking about also upgrading the suspension.

Also I'm going to add functional front & rear brake cooling scoops. Larger caliper brakes.

I also want to upgrade the exhaust system to make it Much louder but without any of that banging & crackling sound(I think its so stupid when I see videos of someones LOUD exhaust that sounds like crap & they all think it's awesome just because its super loud) I LOVE the mustangs growl & would really like to intensify it.

Hmmm I have more ideas for the interior as well but those are more cosmetic than anything.


Functional ram air/ heat diffusing carbon fiber hood.

Functional rear spoiler/wing.

Change the from & rear bumper, change the front & rear fascia, change the upper & lower grill, move the upper fog lights to the lower grill.

I'm sure more things will come to me with time but I think this is a pretty ambitious start.

I want to turn my baby into a super beast >=) haha. I want her to look, sound, & preform like a monster >=D, & given time she will.

So what do you think?

My father once told me a joke, and mind you, I was around 11 or 12 when he told me this. " There was a bull and a young bull on top of a hill looking down on the valley filled with cows, and the young bull says" Hey dad, lets run down there and [email protected]^k one of those cows" and the father bull says "No son, lets WALK down and F$^k them all." Do you see the relavence of this joke to your situ? Focus on one major mod,one at a time, pick the most relavent to your driving habbits, and go for it first. Springs/rear axle/Cai/tune ect. There are about a million mods you can do, but unless you can afford a GT500 you probably can't afford to do all of those mods at once, so pick the ones that will give you the best bang for the buck as far as your needs go. Cai and tune are the first on my list, then rear axle, then exaust. But choose wise, because money doesn't grow on trees (wish it did) Good luck grasshopper.

 

[pikapp]

Welcome to AFM....your one stop shopping place....:bigthumbsup

The most popular hand held tuner is SCT (Super Chips). The most popular CAI....is anybody's guess. For a CAI, you'll need to do some research, some are made of plastic, aluminum, fiberglass....many makes and models to choose from. They all pretty much do the same thing...allow more unrestricted air into engine. One of the features many look for is what the inlet tube is made of...and will it keep the air any cooler than another.:headscratch: The other feature and probably the most important is....how does the CAI look in my engine bay. CAI's are like women for some owners....they must compliment the car and if they don't, then keep looking.:happydance:

You'll find numerous threads on CAI's, so enjoy the reading....thats how we all learned when we bagan this trek....and we're still trekking....:gringreen :wavey

 

[BioHazard192]

Thanks Bill & Pika, my actually plan has been to start with the CAI(probably speeda carbon fiber) & the Tuner(looks its gonna be eitger livewire or sf3, i still have to look into it some more to figure out which). After those I'll add some more stuff, you guys are right this is long a journey. Everything wont happen over night & im prepared for that, i'll continue to educate myself & use that knowledge to make my baby shine =). Thank you all for the great advice, i would have posted some pix already but the site doesn't allow uploading from my iphone =b