Upgrading my v-6

elijah · **Upgrading my v-6**

Hey guys, I'm new here but wanted to get your opinions.

I just bought a 2000 v-6 automatic and of course I want to get more power out of it. I know it isn't the greatest choice but I got an excellent price and have school loans to pay off before I destroy my insurance with a GT, but that is the next step in my love affairs with mustangs.

I HAVE used the search function

and here is what I am thinking.

The first upgrade will be an ebay CAI setup.
From what I've read the next step would be to do an underpully but an article I read mentioned it may cause problems for battery charging if you have a large stereo system. I am hoping to have a little something, not competition but maybe an 10" or 12" to add good quality bass and send amped power to the door and back speakers after upgrading them. Would this be enough to hurt the battery charge if I go with an underpulley. If so should I run a larger pulley on the alternator to avoid draining batter, and if I do run the larger pulley how will that affect the gains from the underpulley setup?

And finally assuming I go with the CAI and underpully what would be the next upgrade that would get the most bang for the buck, I am considering exhaust, new gears or a chip (but I doubt that a chip is worth it at this point, my thoughts were to change the shift points for the automatic)

Thanks for any help and or suggestions.

Man its nice to have a good car finally

Falcon · 10-03-2004, 03:49 PM

welcome to the site, and first off id like to point ya to a good link that should help you out with a somewhat idea of the order you could do to mod the six: When modding a car from the start: (order of mods list for best results!!!)

with that said personally i would start off with the exhaust, then id go with a cai and ud pulley(unless you plan to supercharge soon then they would be wasted) after that i would go with gears and tlok, also you could go with a shift kit and torque converter. After that is done you would need a chip to correct the speedo after the gears. www.americanmotorsport.com sells a good chip. After that it depends on what you want outa your car, thats my 2 cents, hopefully others will be here to give their input.

-Derek

stangin99 · 10-03-2004, 10:14 PM

IMHO, dont buy stupid BS mods. do it right from the get-go and youll be 1000000 times happier.

pulley, a decent cai, dual exhaust, gears/tlok, shiftkit, cam/heads/torque converter. Anything else is basically a waste of time/money.

elijah · 10-03-2004, 10:29 PM

Thanks for the input guys, here is what I am thinking right now.
1. Ebay CAI
2. Underpulley, leaving other pulleys stock. If I get a powerful stereo setup and the battery seems to not be recharging I'll get a larger pulley to put on the alt.
These two I'll do soon, perhaps in the next week or so. Then after I can save up a bit I'll go with dual exhaust.

I'm probably going to stay away from the gears for now as I have a fair bit if highway driving and want to preserve the mpg.

The other stuff will come down the road as money allows. Or at least until the new feeling wears off the exhaust/cai/under pulley.

Thanks for all the help guys.

STEVE · 10-03-2004, 10:47 PM

i say get get 3.73 gears your mpg wont drop that much

01mineralgrey6 · 10-03-2004, 10:50 PM

actually yoru MPG won't drop much even with 4.10s if you behave yourself...thats the hard part,lol

Monkey · 10-03-2004, 11:19 PM

your mpg actually increases in the city with a lower gear (higher number) due to you being at a lower rpm but in a higher gear.

I am prolly one of the only people who say this, but I strongly recommend against the underdrive pulley. I think they are way to overpriced for what they are. I know there are dyno "sheets" floating around, but from first hand experience in a couple different v6 stangs, i never felt one shred of difference w/ it on or with it off.

01mineralgrey6 · 10-03-2004, 11:27 PM

i don't really think that my UD pulley made much of a differance honestly..maybe its kinda like that "placebo effect"

elijah · 10-04-2004, 06:34 AM

Hmm ok maybe the cai now, and exhaust, maybe 4.10s with a tlok after a few paychecks have come in

**SpectorV** · 10-04-2004, 09:01 AM

thow in an 8.8 rear end with 4.10 gears and a shift kit (manual valve body) and finish it up with a custom chip (NO MAIL ORDER get a REAL CHIP (ask where we can help) ) that will help quite a bit go ahead and have the chip set up for any other mods you want in the near future, do the regular cheap bolt ons, exhaust, cai, udp then save up for heads/cam/intakes

Danger Dude · 09:53 AM

Actually a UDP is good for a solid 5hp gain some might see a little more but the advertised claims of 10 to 20 hp are simple bogus. For a 94-98 $80 for 5 hp is a deal.

CAI are a 3 to 5 HP gain. Some have actually seen 0 gain a few have seen about 6 hp. Once again the gains the manufactures claim are also bogus. So the cheaper you get one the better.

In all the best performance gain right off the bat is Gears, Tloc you feel and experience immediate results. It is a kick in the pants mod that only is matched by a nitrous kit as a single mod. That is my profesional opinion

On a older car a nice set of new plugs(Motorcraft or Autolite) Plug wires and a complete lube and oil service goes a long way to protecting the life of the car. I would also clean the MAF and throttle Body with non residue electrical cleaner.

Here is another intersting fact most people neglect. every year the Brake fluid absorbes moisture and it get water entrained in the fluid. This gives it the milky look and at about 4% absorption a year in 5 yrears you have 20% waterin your brake fluid. Most people never change there Brake fluid until they have problems with there brakes.

Rearend lube especially with T lok needs to be changed every 18 months with a new bottle of friction modifier to help the lubrication process and eliminate noise

Monkey · 10-04-2004, 10:30 AM


Quote: Originally Posted by Danger Dude Actually a UDP is good for a solid 5hp gain some might see a little more but the advertised claims of 10 to 20 hp are simple bogus. For a 94-98 $80 for 5 hp is a deal.

but he has a 2000. thus he needs the harmonic balancer and the pulley and the belt. thus it comes out to about $200 for his setup for those 5hp. 99+s should not get pulleys in my opinion.

Danger Dude · 10-04-2004, 10:35 AM

That is true but at 200 bucks that is $40 per hp when you think about it. That is better HP return than exhaust or a High dollar CAI. It is up to the individual to determine if it is worth the money.

stangin99 · 10-04-2004, 01:49 PM

no bolton is going to give you high hp for the dollar. With that reasoning any CAI kit is just a waste of time being $100+ for maybe 2-3 hp? IF that.

pulley has been dynoed to produce 8rwhp across the RPM range. Not many other mods do that for $200.

whipster24 · 10-04-2004, 01:56 PM

Gears aren't called "the poor man's supercharger" for nothing

Monkey · 10-04-2004, 02:25 PM


Quote: Originally Posted by stangin99 pulley has been dynoed to produce 8rwhp across the RPM range. Not many other mods do that for $200.

you know, i have never seen a consistant number floating around for their gain. I have seen 5rwhp, 7,8,9 and 11rwhp gains. No one seems to know exactly how much it gains. plus there is only one dyno sheet that I have seen and that was a long time ago. I think more people should get these dyno'd.

I still stand behind my belief that the UDP is crap.

and you can find a cai on ebay for $50. as for exhaust... I was running high 13s with nitrous and had the stock exhuast. I should of had duals at that point, but until you are at least in the 14s, the stock exhaust is fine. most people get it for the sound until you start modding more and more.

stangin99 · 10-04-2004, 04:35 PM

I've always gone off that dyno graph. Why would it change form now to then? Atleast there IS a dyno graph in existance...

wheres a dyno for intake spacers? Yet everyone seems to swear by them. (not me)

Danger Dude · 10-04-2004, 04:40 PM

Steve @EE had some spacers Dynoed and posted the numbers over a year ago

stangin99 · 08:48 PM


Quote: Originally Posted by Danger Dude Steve @EE had some spacers Dynoed and posted the numbers over a year ago

like I said, do they still exist? If so post them. I have the UDP graph.

elijah · 10-04-2004, 10:17 PM

Even if a cai only gives 3-4 hp, for $50 that is less than $17 a hp, not bad. Hopefully I'll be able to get a cai, exhaust, UDP, and gears by spring for driving weather.

Here are a couple more questions.
Are there any 5 or 6 speed auto trannys that will fit a mustang and that are geared low. That way you can get good take off but still have a higher gear for highway driving. I'm guessing that even if such a beast exists the price is rediculously high.

Does anyone know around what point (power draw) a stereo system would begin to over come the alternators ability to recharge the battery if I go with a UDP?

Monkey · 10-04-2004, 10:37 PM


Quote: Originally Posted by elijah Are there any 5 or 6 speed auto trannys that will fit a mustang and that are geared low. That way you can get good take off but still have a higher gear for highway driving. I'm guessing that even if such a beast exists the price is rediculously high. Does anyone know around what point (power draw) a stereo system would begin to over come the alternators ability to recharge the battery if I go with a UDP?

#1 doesnt exist and if did, would be astronimcally high -- prolly over $5k easily

#2 - no, i am not a stereo expert, but you would need quite a bit of equipment to need a new alternator. they have things called CAPS and stuff that helps with the charge too.