2008 Mustang GT needs more power

[MustangDave]

I have a 2008 GT. It is fire torch red with white stripes tip to tail and along the sides. It looks very nice, now I just need it to be more powerful. The only other modification is that I have the Ford Racing aggressive tone mufflers. What do you all recommend in terms of parts and options to give the car more HP. I am currently thinking cold air intake from Roush, power programmer Diablo, maybe a throttle body and spacer. Not to sure about it, just basing this off of things friends have recommended. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice? I would like to try and stay on a budget for now, which cancels out super-charging or turbo-charging. I appreciate any help.

[Mr. Austin]

IMO and i dont know new cars as well so correct me if i am wrong but a lot of people start off with what you stated. K&N COld air or i know alot of mustangs in Az like the Air Raid cold air. Programmers are nice but if you want the most of your motor get the cold air and maybe (maybe not) a programer but Take it too Stage 3 and get yourself tuned. Not sure if the do the extra motor pullies on the new cars but that is the next thing i am looking for is an under pully to add another 20 Hp. (so i am told) and if you want the real go fast feel on the stock, basic, motor without major money drop you could always slap some 4:10's in the rear and beat everyone off the line.the 4:10 will give you a supercharger feel but is just putting every ounce of power to the ground quicker. so a supercharger would rip your head off with 4:10's. if you go that route the a cold air will give a whistle to listen to when you get on it and breath a world better. Just some ideas.

[maddme]

It always depends on how much money that you want to spend. However; Austin's comments on the gears are more bang for your buck than probably any other mod. If you do gears you may want to think about if you drive the car daily and gas mileage. The 3:32's that come with the GT are a great fuel economy gear. Most people that want to keep fuel economy and still get gears go for 3:73's. Ford Racing 3:73 gears are mostly preferred. Cold air intake,tune,x-pipe,axel back exhaust are all lower cost mod's. Is your car a automatic or a stick? if it is a stick, then a short throw shifter is always nice. After these lower budget mod's, you will eventually move towards supercharging and other more expensive mod's. Good luck and have mucho fun.

[Mr. Austin]

Cant the newer mustang also be fit with a power shift for the automatics so they have more pull on the stock gears? I think i remember reading something on that. Kinda like what you can put on the f150's for more torque pull.

[Blackmagic1]

Theres TONS of info on every site for bolt-on. If you "Google It" get ready for a Huge response. My 06 came with 3.55s (mines a stick) I swapped with 3.73"s as I'm mostly on the highway. Mileage dropped slightly. 4.10's will pull more out of the hole. Depends what you're looking for. Cold air-Steeda, Rousch,C&L, etc.. will wake up that motor. You HAVE to reprogram, to get the most out of that cold air. New computers will throw a code if you just bolton. (Except K&n an a few others, but I have not seen their results as good as the reprogrammed kits). Nice thing with the programmers, is then you can always check other problems. I got my Steeda cold air from Brenspeed along with a SCT tuner. You can program to run reg gas,mid,or Prem.(with power increases along with each) an you can always flash back to factory specs. So theres lots of ways to spend money, depending how far you want to go.

[WildBill]

I have a 2008 GT. It is fire torch red with white stripes tip to tail and along the sides. It looks very nice, now I just need it to be more powerful. The only other modification is that I have the Ford Racing aggressive tone mufflers. What do you all recommend in terms of parts and options to give the car more HP. I am currently thinking cold air intake from Roush, power programmer Diablo, maybe a throttle body and spacer. Not to sure about it, just basing this off of things friends have recommended. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice? I would like to try and stay on a budget for now, which cancels out super-charging or turbo-charging. I appreciate any help.

Cold air is an ok mod. It can get you a few HP, but must hace a tune of some sort.

I'd stay away from the Diablow, especially for an 05 up Mustang. There's just not the tuning options with them as SCT.

A stock throttlebody is FINE for what you have, will not gain you any HP and aftermarket throttlebodies can have very strange quirks since it's fly-by-wire.
A throttlebody spacer is really only benificial if it's a NX nitrous plate and you're gonna shoot some giggle gas.

You didn't state if you had an auto or stick. Gears are a good bang for the buck to get the car moving and seat of the pants feel but will do nothing for actual power. A stall and gears will transform an auto car and will have a minimal affect on MPG since you still have lock up.

As with ALL Mustangs, if you increase HP, you will have problems with putting the added power to the ground and the 05 up is no different. Other than the '10 Shelby, the new Mustangs have a tendency to have wheel hop. That can be fixed and improved upon with relocation brackets, lower rear control arms and adjustable upper link.

Feel free to call me at the shop and I'll be happy to review your options with you. Or better yet, bring your car into the shop so I can take a look at it, give ya a tour and show ya some of your options.

[Mr. Austin]

Or better yet, bring your car into the shop so I can take a look at it, give ya a tour and show ya some of your options.

I would go for that! The shop will blow your mind with the gorgeous tile and air conditioning. And after that you will never take it to anyone else! PSR is Fantastic. They deal with mainly newer cars but i took my car (carbonated) to them and they got it from dead to mean in 2 days. Plus bill is Ozzy's brother. You will get a kick outta him

[AirborneVet]

For what it's worth, the first mod I did to my '06 GT was an SCT flash tool with a good tune. I didn't even swap out the intake duct and filter for an aftermarket one and the difference in the way the car drove and felt was amazing. There may not have been a really significant difference as far as real horsepower goes, but the difference in throttle response and seat-of-the-pants feel will probably suprise you.

On that note I did learn some things. My tool came from a very reputable speedshop with their canned "mail order" tune supposedly made just for my car. While it did run well, it wasn't perfect, and ended up requiring some dyno time anyway. If I were to do it again I would spend a little more up front and save alot in the long run by just getting a good dyno tune from the start.

All in all, I would recommend a good dyno tune from a reputable shop that uses SCT, and if that shop recommends springing for an aftermarket intake with the tune I would do that as well. But even better than that would be to stop by PSR and take Bill up on his offer

[Mr. Austin]

PSR has their own dyno.
and this is on criagslist.
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/pts/1418465209.html

[Wharf Rat]

Can't beat the CAI and tune. Gears kick ass, too.

After that stop there and save $ for a blower.