| 1995 Ford Mustang GT - My Modifications | ||
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 My 1995 Ford Mustang GT Very much so improved shifter feel compared to stock. Although the stock T-5 shifter has a decent feel, it can't compare to the feel of a good shifter. The Hurst doesn't quite compare to a Tri-Ax or Pro 5.0 shifter, however. I would recommend the Tri-Ax to anyone. The Hurst just doesn't give quite the feel that I loved so much about the Tri-Ax. Another complaint with the any aftermarket shifter is gear noise, and lots of it. If this were a Cadillac that would bother me, but being a Mustang, I don't mind it too much. It just reminds me that I need to get a louder exhaust setup! In the beginning, this was a nice clutch, but as time has elapsed, the gripping ability of this clutch has fallen. On powershifts I get a lot of slip, and the clutch is extremely stiff. As time goes by it gets stiffer, and the clutch slips a little more. It has been about 40k miles and 3-4 years since the clutch was installed. Very nice catback in quality. One of the nicest catbacks I have seen. This catback doesn't offer the usually expected loud in your face Mustang sound, but sounds very unique and good in its own right. Think of a smooth deep tone, that is quiet at idle and cruise, but offers more grunt when in hard acceleration. Very big difference in sound. When combined with the earlier Magnaflow Catback, the car sounds like a cross between a Ferrari and Muscle car (no kidding). VERY unique sound. While not the greatest sounding combo when revving below 3k rpm or so, revving to 5k rpms and under load at WOT, it sounds absolutely awesome. Wouldn't trade that sound for the world. If you like the straight muscle car grunt, you'll be much happier with an offroad h-pipe and Flowmaster catback. Horrible tires. Do not get them. I can't say anything good about them at all. They're loud, the sidewalls are way too flexy, they're loud, they don't grip, they're LOUD, oh, and did I mention that they're freakin' LOUD? I've never been a fan of MAC products, but I got the MAC springs at a great deal ($75 shipped), so I couldn't pass them up. Once installed, I was pleasantly surprised at the results. The car handles completely different. The MACs are rated at 450-520lbs in the front, and 200-230lbs in the rear, which is rather light in comparison to many aftermarket springs. This keeps the ride close to stock, though it is still a bit rougher than stock. While the light spring rate may give the impression that the car will not handle much better, the difference from stock was amazing. A MUCH larger difference than when I installed Steeda Sports (rated at 660lbs in the front) on my '00 v6, partly due to the fact that 99+ Mustangs come stock with higher rated springs than the '95 GT did. Gone is the extreme brake dive and body roll in cornering. There is still some dive and roll, but less than half what was present with the stock springs. I was unable to bump timing to the ever popular 14*, due to some pinging problems, so I settled for 12*. I partly believe this to be a fault of the fuel pump, as it is losing pressure in upper RPMs, right as the pinging starts. I may try again to bump the timing to 14* after the pump I have on order is installed. Even at 12*, the difference is quite apparent, and the car does not have near the hesitation it had a 10*. I would not say the car gained a lot of high end power, but the throttle response below maybe 3-3.5k RPMs has greatly improved. *update - I have replaced the fuel pump, and now have the timing set to 15*, and the difference is amazing. I never though a free mod could make such a difference. I'd say the car gained a ton of torque, but have no idea where to begin estimates. The difference feels much more substantial than underdrive pulleys usually offer in comparison. Wow! Thats about all I can say. With the stock 2.73s, despite all the hype, the car was a total slug. When picking up the car, I pulled out of the lot of the install shop, and floored it from maybe a 10mph roll. Immediately the car spun hard and the car began to fishtail a bit. NEVER has the car done anything like that from a roll. With the stock gearing, you had to FORCE the car to spin at all, and even then it was trying to dig in and bog. With the 3.73s getting out of the hole quick is a matter of almost dropping the clutch from ~2.5k rpms and modulating the gas to keep from spinning. No more slipping clutch take offs that burn the clutch horribly! Quite a difference in the overall feel of the car. Gone is the unstable feel when going over bumps, as well as a LOT of the interior rattles and squeaks. The car also seems to handle a little better, no doubt due to the suspension being able to do its job better, rather than having to fight with the flexing chassis. I am now assured that the Mustang's doors will line up perfect for many years to come, no matter how hard I drive it. A nice subtle increase in power. Nothing drastic, but definitely noticeable. A very cool way to pickup horsepower, and I'd recommend it to anyone, unless you have plans for a supercharger in your future. MSD 8.5mm Super Conductor Wires ("Custom Fit for '94-95 5.0") VERY high quality wires. The construction quality is next to no other wires I've seen. The fit, however leaves a little to be desired. While they are supposed to be custom fitted to the '94-95 5.0s, a few wires are tight, barely making their way to the plugs. After installing the plugs (had Accell Super Stock 8mm), a lot of hesitation was eliminated. To be fair to the Accell wires, they were about 5 years old, so they may make just as much power as the MSDs new. Mr. Gasket 180* high flow thermostat With the install of the 180* thermostat, the car sees a much tighter range of temperatures. The thermostat appears to do a very good job of regulating the engine temperature, with little needle fluctuation on the water temp gauge. Overall I'd say it was definitely worth the $8.88 when compared to the 180* thermostats sold at Advance Auto or AutoZone. Short Belt - Elimination of Smog Pump No power was felt from this, but with the Offroad X pipe, I had a very loud whine from the smog pump, and this got rid of the noise. This is also a good way to get rid of the pump if having any trouble with it. The stock GT/LX 5.0 lower intake is pretty restrictive on a few ports (1 & 5 most notably). A good port job, paying close attention to the short side radiuses of ports 1, 5, 3, and 7 (if memory serves right) will help even that all up. I ported my intake on my own, and the increase in power has been greater than any other modification I've ever done....on any car. For the money I spent ($30 on a set of cartridge rolls, and some grinding stones), I'd have to say other than bumping the timing, this has by far been the best bang for the buck. If you have someone else do the work for you, expect to pay around $100, which is still excellent bang for your buck. I chose to go with a ported stock intake vs an aftermarket intake so I can keep the stock look. I'll be going with ported heads, and possibly a Extrude Hone upper intake. The stock rockers are sled fulcrum 1.6 ratio. I swapped to a set of 1.7 roller fulcrum and tip rockers from a '93-95 Cobra. The difference in power was noticeable, but not huge. At idle, the car is a little smoother, but as the RPMs rise, the rockers sound a little more noisy, almost exactly like a sewing machine. For the price I gave ($125), I cannot complain at all. Nitto 555R Extreme Drag Radials - 245/50/16s I mounted these on the back to replace the horrible Kelley Chargers that were on there. MUCH smoother riding tires, as well as quieter and a WHOLE lot more traction. I had these tires on the Cobra and loved them, and now I love them again on the GT. Best tires I've ever owned, hands down. I'd recommend these to anybody wanting more traction on the street. No problems with cornering or long trips. Also, they gave me great mileage on the Cobra at 15k miles a set. Thats not stellar for tires, but when compared to most performance tires that get 20-35k, depending on the driving, its not bad at all. I love these tires, and will have a set on every Mustang I own! MAC White Face Gauges After getting tired of looking at the black gauges all the time, I decided it was finally time to get a set of white faces to go on. I picked up the MACs for three reasons: (1) they replace the factory gauges instead of laying over top of the stockers, (2) they light up like the stock gauges, and (3) they were fairly cheap. After installing them, which is fairly easy to do, I can say they were worth every penny of what I gave. They run about 1/2 the price of BBKs, but more than most of the eBay indiglo type gauges which overlay the stockers. The lighting isn't as good as stock, which may have to do with some of the stock gauge pieces being left behind, the quality of the MACs, or the way I laid them down on the gauge pod. I have a feeling its a little of each. The lighting doesn't bother me much. Its somewhat lighter in certain areas of the gauges, mostly on the tach and speedo. If this type of thing bothers you, you may be better off with the indiglo style gauges. 99+ Front Brakes A welcome upgrade from the stock '94-98 brakes. The aluminum dual piston PBR calipers on the 99+ v6 and GT Mustangs are a little lighter than the '94-98 brakes. They also have a larger pad for more contact area with the rotor, and more braking power because of the twin piston design. These are a direct bolt in for '96-98s, and very close to direct bolt in for '94-95s. The '94-95 spindle won't clear the newer caliper in two spots, so the spindle needs some grinding to clear. Once thats done, they bolt right on like stock. An advantage to the 99+ aluminum calipers is they polish up very nice. They look great behind a set of chrome or polished wheels when polished up to a mirror shine. Ported E7TE (stock) heads and Crane 2031 cam I installed a set of ported stock heads at the same time, so I'll comment on them together. The combo seemed to pick up considerable low end torque, but not a lot of higher rpm power. Not a lot else to say. They both were cheap, the heads were free, and the cam I picked up used, so I was happy with what I got out of the combo. Flowtech Longtube Headers After installing the longtube headers, the higher rpm power of the cam and heads started being uncovered. The car felt very torquey below 3k rpms, but it just shot off like a rocket past 3500, unlike it would with the stock headers. With all the modifications up to this point, the car dynoed at 241.9rwhp and 310.2rwtq, peaking right at 5k rpms. '93 Cobra Intake About a week after installing the longtubes and dynoing, I picked up a '93 Cobra intake and installed it. WOW! The car picked up TONS of power above 4k rpms. No longer could I floor it in 1st without breaking loose at any speed on my street tires, and speed or power shifting into 2nd gear just blows the tires away. With the Nitto Drag Radials on, going from a 15mph roll and flooring it, the car will barely spin all the way through 1st. The car really moves now! Professional Products 70mm Throttle Body Again, about a week after installing the '93 Cobra intake, I threw on a 70mm throttle body from Professional Products. The quality of the throttle body was nice, and it matched the throttle body opening of the Cobra intake perfect. I had some trouble with the throttle cable attachment on the ball joint they provided. The ball was too large, and would bind big time as is. I took a die grinder and brought the size down, and all was perfect. As for performance gain, I can't say it made a large improvement at full throttle, but the throttle response is completely different now, no doubt due to the large 70mm plate. 1/4 throttle is more like 1/2 throttle was with the stock throttle body. A nice touch, in my opinion. Overall, I'm very pleased for the price I paid ($133 brand new, shipped to my door). Compucar Nitrous System Finally, I decide to take the plunge into forced induction. The kit was easy to install, only giving problems when trying to get the full throttle switch aligned correctly. I would recommend considering a microswitch in place of the pull switch that Compucar includes. Otherwise the kit is very nice. I have run the 50, 90, and 125 shots. I am awaiting a new clutch before trying out the 150 jets. Impressions: The 50 shot is a disappointment, barely being able to feel the difference. The 90 shot is better, and you think "that's kind of cool" when you spray it. The 125 shot has been phenomenal, and the 150 shot really makes the car move on. The 125 shot was enough to make toast of my clutch. Aeromotive Adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator Its there, it sets fuel pressure, and it doesn't leak yet. I wouldn't recommend this for a mostly stock combo, but I feel it necessary when running nitrous. I have my pressure bumped up a few psi just to be sure the nitrous system is happy. King Cobra Clutch Kit A very nice clutch, not grabby like SPECs and Centerforces tend to be. So far has held plenty of power, I’m very satisfied. Nitrous Express Shark Nozzle After using the Compucar nozzle for a year or so, and hearing so much about how the NX nozzles are so much better, I bought one to find out for myself. I must say I've been impressed so far. The NX nozzle uses a smaller nitrous and fuel jet to acheive the same shot ratings as the Compucar nozzle, and its quite fair to say that the NX nozzle hits quite a bit harder at the same jetting levels. Moser 31 Spline Axles and 31
Spline Traction lock Quite an easy install, and necessary when it comes to throwing lots of power to the rear wheels on sticky tires. I may put an installation how to up on the installation of these items. MAC 8.8 girdle This installs in place of the stock rear differential cover, and has a built in girdle to preload the bearing caps on the 8.8, preventing them from flexing and breaking. I’m not sure it works, but I haven’t had any problems launching off my rev limiter spraying the 100-150 shots, so it hasn’t hurt. Mickey Thompson ET Drag slicks 26x8.5x15 VERY impressive traction on these tires. I have pulled 1.55 60’ times bogging at times, and I believe 1.49 60’ times aren’t too far off. I’d recommend these to anybody wanting to try out slicks, so long as you can live with the fact that you WILL break stuff eventually with slicks. Baseline Suspsensions ProLaunch upper control arm kit Again, I’ve been very pleased with the traction my car has been having at the track. Whether its from the baseline upper kit, the tires, or a combination, I’m not sure, but very impressive indeed. |