Mach1Run

I decided to try and create a single thread for my car to discuss what I would like to do with it since you guys tend to know a lot more than I do. And that it would be nice to keep it in a single place. My cars have all been named Kate because the #1 woman on my "doable stars" list has been:



The first Kate was a 2001 GT I bought from carmax and yes i overpaid for it. But oh well, i enjoyed the hell out of it and got the mod bug from it, even though the mods were limited to a tri-ax shifter, bassani o/r x and catback.



After a year of beating around town i decided I wanted to get into the 300hp club. Did some thinking and came to the conclusion that the most cost efficient way for me to get there was to start a bit closer to the mark. 03/04 Cobra was out of the question.

I found the latest Kate after several weeks of shopping online, it was Buy New & Used Cars, Research Prices, Sell My Car, Find Auto Dealers that she turned up on. Price was $19.5 with 24k miles. A pretty good deal I thought since most of the other machs were in the 23-24k range. Only problem was that she was at a mom and pop dealer out in Ft. Worth and after talking to the on the phone I really did not want to deal with them even though I really wanted the car. After another week of shopping I had an idea. I contacted another dealer that sells a ton of cars through the local DFWstangs.net board, North Texas Nissan. Yeah thats what I said, WTF is a Nissan dealer doing with so many mustangs? Turns out they love preformance cars and mustangs are just one of the ones they like to sell. Great guys btw if you are in this part of texas, Default North Texas Nissan Corinth TX. i contacted the used car buyer, Chris Tatum, and the owner, Rob Cele, and they said they would buy the car from the other dealer and sell it to me for the 19.5 so I could finance through them and trade through them. They got me out of the GT and gave me another $500 for the trade. After more problems from the mom and pop shop and a 6 hour wait (not NTNs fault, though they did buy the wife and I lunch) I took the keys.

Here is kate when I brought her home. What you can't see in the picture are the things I ripped of right after getting home, the green and black vinyl ford racing windshield banner, the MACH 1 lettering in the rear window, and the cheap ass foglights on either side of the running pony in the grill.


Cosmetic mods were the first thing I wanted to do. I still want it to be recognized as a Mach but not just like all the other ones. Spoiler was the first thing to come off.


The stock skirts were a bit dinged up and needed to be replaced. Both sides had some deep gouges in them and the paint seemed kinda thin. I decided to get a set of 03 Cobra Skirts. Randy over at CRE Loaded 6 - Modular Depot hooked me up, $300 painted and shipped to my door.


Next to go were the stock wheels. My biggest complaint was how far in the rears seem to sit. So i decided on some 10.5x17s out back and 9x17 out front. Which brings us up to date.



Not sure what my ultimate goal wil be but for now i would like to have a daily driver with 300+ to the pavement and lots of torque. Especially in the lower RPM.

Starting Point - Stock Dyno


Here is the list of mods I am considering and what links I have regarding them. Please teach me what goes well with what and help me keep from making too many mistakes. Suggestions and discussions are welcome.

Meghan

all that means nothing to me...buuut id definatly do Kate Beckinsale

__________________
Meghan
Life is like a dick; when it gets hard Fuck It.

timeless2

Kate Beckinsale

__________________
@timeless2

Ford Mustang | MagnaFlow Exhaust | Mustang Apparel | Toy Reviews & Recalls

Cali Korleone

Bassani X = yes
Bassani Cat Back = yes
4.10's = yes
MGW shifter = yes

I have had experience with those parts in the past. Except the 4.10's, I have 3.73's.

__________________

U r B a N 96

love the car but i think it looks a bit better with the spoiler

__________________

Cali Korleone

Yeah put it back. It needs the black spoiler to match the black chin spoiler, black hood scoop, and black stripes. Car need balance.

__________________

Therapist

I'd do the full exaust with longtubes, a good tune, you should see 300+rwhp then go for your subframes and whatever else you want edit: you will love 4:10's with the 4valve...

__________________

Cali Korleone

Oh yeah. I would recommend skipping the sub frames if this will be a daily driver and your satisfied with 300hp. You really won't need them if you don't plan on major power and/or autocrossing.

__________________

Therapist

I'd put subframes on before anything else... if youve ridden in any subframe mustang thats had them on since it was new or close to new, vs. one without that has a few miles on it, you'll know why

__________________

Cali Korleone

Hmm. Everyone I'm talked to is like meh to subframes. They were like yeah you can tell the difference but said they could have did without them and it wouldn't have mattered. Now the convertible guys have said it's the best thing they ever did.

__________________

timeless2

I thought verts had them stock. Or are you referring to an upgrade?

__________________
@timeless2

Ford Mustang | MagnaFlow Exhaust | Mustang Apparel | Toy Reviews & Recalls

Cali Korleone

An upgrade. A friend of mine put full lengths in his '03 Cobra vert along with a strut tower brace. That car rides solid. He's putting 440 to the ground and he said it use to twist when he launched but not anymore.

__________________

Danre

1. Please put the spoiler back on

2. Your goals are still in the realistic realm, though by a hair. You can put 300+ to the pavement without much trouble. However, 4.6s are not known for their amazing low TQ. Nonetheless, 4.10s should be your savior here.

So my advice is as follows:

- Longtubes are a must! Kooks are the best for our Machs, as far as I know. Their LTs + X-pipe do cost a little over a grand, but they're well worth it.

- Tune! You can get a xcal 2 for around $350-ish, I believe, and a good shop may charge you $200 for a dyno tune.

Those two things will be your major improvement engine wise. You can also get a CAI and catback, but I personally doubt that either will help much powerise. However, a catback would be recommended because the stocker sucks! So figure another $400 here.

- Gearssssss! Yesssss! 4.10s should work nice and give you plenty of 00mph. And since your car has some mileage on it, add new components to the diff.

- Other mods: if you still have the stock clutch, this would be a good time to get rid of it. And the flywheel too. Put an aluminum flywheel (Fidanza) with a good clutch (CF DFX/McLeod) and if you like an aluminum D/S and you'll be golden. All those will set you about $800 back.

Your other mods are than personal prefference. Subs are a nice idea if you plan on draggin the car and have extra cash after all that above. Overall, with those mods above, you should be easy over the 320rwhp territory.

__________________

Therapist

you can feel them, but it doesnt really make much of a difference (feel wise) on a coupe, but they hold the car together, most of the cars with them on that I've ridden in dont rattle,squeak or make any other annoying noises like teh pre 05 mustangs are known for. so imo there inexpensive to buy and install and there very much worth the monies (wich is also something any shop that builds stangs will tell you)

__________________

madmatt

Ill comment on the suspension, since the others too the power mods.

Subframes : DEFINATELY and get Maximum Motorsports full length ones. These will tighten up your car like no other. Mmm love mine. Also get rid of a lot of "ford sqeaks" Next, shocks struts springs. H&R springs, look through their list, see which drop is best. Sports are worth about an inch and a half to .75. Supersports are almost a 2 inch drop, which looks good, but at a certain point, its detrimental to the suspension geometry. As far as C/C plates, its really car dependent and depends on what springs you get. Usually the rule is anything over 1.5 inches-1.75 inches lower and you need c/c plates to get it back into alignment. I have steeda sport springs, which are about 1.25-1.5 lower all around, and I didnt need c/c plates for the guy to get mine aligned to spec. Shocks and struts, get Bilsteins. They work great with H&R's and MM even has a specially valved setup. I will have some on my car soon, the mach 1s just dont cut it. Strut bars arent really necessary on our cars, but if you find a great deal on one, and feel like dealing with the PITA install, go for it. DO NOT PAY FULL PRICE FOR ONE! You can find em used all over. www.stangsuspension.com has great prices on all the stuff Ive mentioned, plus more. Also, 5 percent off with the code CORRAL. Oh yea, and if you want cobra foglights, youll have to get a cobra front bumper, and yes, put the wing back on Good luck, hope this helps.

__________________

Therapist

correct... but if you lower your mustang at all you will need cc plates to bring the aligment specs within tolerable wear range... most stock mustangs that come into my work dont have enough adjustment to bring camber within ford specs... + 1 on the MM valved bilsteins and coilover kit... my car rides and handles much better than it did with sportlines.

__________________

madmatt

I want Bilsteins soooo bad. for being poor.

3 more months of this crap oh so close

__________________

Scottyboy

Damn. I forgot you had a yellow stang. Nice color BTW.

Mach1Run

Well i have about $700 saved so far and I was actually considering dumping the 3650 if the shifter doesnt fix the notchiness. Plus either the tranny or the rear has a whine that I hate.

__________________
Jon


305 RW / 322 TQ (STD)
298 RW / 315 TQ (SAE)
CLICK for Kate's Story
Click to Listen

• T56 Transmission, MGW Short Shifter, Chrome 17x9 and 17x10.5 FR500s, Eibach Sportlines, Steeda CC plates, SLP Linelock, Cobra Skirts, Wing Removed, Bassani O/R X and catback, PHP Intake Spacer, 4.10s, JLT RAI, Accufab Twin 60mm Throttlebody, NGK TR6, Tuned by Manny @ HPP Motorsports

My 2007 GT

madmatt

To get rid of some of the whine, I may suggest getting a shifter gasket set from www.cobrabob.com

__________________

Therapist

there very worth it... I had tokico illuminas on it before and there is just no comparison.

__________________

Danre

Unless you REALLY have a piss poor tranny, don't replace it. Only reason I say this is money. It's not cheap.

__________________

Mach1Run

Yeah I know. I managed to destroy the input shaft on the 3650 in the silver GT and the final bill for them to tear it down and repair / refresh the whole tranny was nearly $1300. If this one goes then I am going to get something different. A six speed could be fun.

__________________
Jon


305 RW / 322 TQ (STD)
298 RW / 315 TQ (SAE)
CLICK for Kate's Story
Click to Listen

• T56 Transmission, MGW Short Shifter, Chrome 17x9 and 17x10.5 FR500s, Eibach Sportlines, Steeda CC plates, SLP Linelock, Cobra Skirts, Wing Removed, Bassani O/R X and catback, PHP Intake Spacer, 4.10s, JLT RAI, Accufab Twin 60mm Throttlebody, NGK TR6, Tuned by Manny @ HPP Motorsports

My 2007 GT

Danre

Right now, can you any of the mods that I listed above?

__________________

Mach1Run

Thinking about some gears from Mustang Tuning at the moment or a handheld tuner. Not sure what good a tuner will be for a nearly stock car beyond code pulling though. Once I get the gears and some other stuff it will be handy I know. I am having a hard time deciding where to start. I was gonna get the shifter but they don't take discover and that's what my CC for my hobbies is damnit.

Thought kicking some ideas around here would help me decide.

__________________
Jon


305 RW / 322 TQ (STD)
298 RW / 315 TQ (SAE)
CLICK for Kate's Story
Click to Listen

• T56 Transmission, MGW Short Shifter, Chrome 17x9 and 17x10.5 FR500s, Eibach Sportlines, Steeda CC plates, SLP Linelock, Cobra Skirts, Wing Removed, Bassani O/R X and catback, PHP Intake Spacer, 4.10s, JLT RAI, Accufab Twin 60mm Throttlebody, NGK TR6, Tuned by Manny @ HPP Motorsports

My 2007 GT