[dario]

I just traded my 1994 firebird for a 1995 mustang. My questions are basic things from previous owners or people knowledgable in mustangs of this year. I am wondering what are common problems with this car. Things like performance specs. Small things that can be done to add power if possible. Personal oppinions of it. Pros and cons. Just things to make me more informed on my car. I've been strictly a pontiac firebird and trans am guy and thought I'd mix it up. But I am personally a little dissapointed about power for it being a mustang. I thought it would be slightly more impressive. and if their are other things you can think of for it to mention I'd be rather greatful. So thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

[austyn]

Go buy a $10 box of rocker arm pedestal shims and use them. Torque rocker arms back to 23 ft lbs. It's a gain for you in every way.

Under drive pulleys are a complete waste of time and money if you care about real gains for your money.

They're very sensitive to cam timing and they hate 112 and wider lobe separation angle cams in spite of what 99% of the crowd does. 108 lobe separation angles TOTALLY transform their acceleration and torque characteristics. The difference between 2 identical street cams for that engine which differ in the fact that one is ground on a 112 or 114 lobe separation angle and the other on a 108 is night and day on both the dyno and in the car. The wide LSA will knock a TON of punch and a ton of cylinder pressure out of it when you start adding a bunch of duration/valve timing to it. It will make it scream for compression.

Do not get sucked into the 1.7 ratio rocker arm B/S. Putting them on the exhaust side will puke the manners, MPG's and performance everywhere accept at wound up RPM levels. And.. it will screw up your rocker/valve tip geometry unless you correct that with a different push rod length. All of this is likely far more than you want to fuss with.

Superchargers can be nice, but you'll spend money.

You will also knock a TON of punch and efficiency out of it if you step up exhaust diameter in absence of any supercharger.

You can email me about what you want to do and how far you want to go. I can absolutely help you.

 

[iain]

That's a long question to answer fully.. about the only recurring problem I can think of is oil consumption, which was a bit more of a problem (with low drag rings) in the late 80's early 90's. After test driving several, it seems that a lot of over zealous drivers bang that 1-2 shift a bit hard and bend the shift fork and/or ruin synchros on the T5 transmission.. so go easy there. There is a small air horn/silencer in the front fender that you can take out that will allegedly give you 3-5 horsepower. Under drive pulleys, K&N filters, performance chips and cold air intakes are popular mods but probably can't be fully appreciated without intake and exhaust upgrades... heads, cams, forced air induction etc. The good news is that there are more aftermarket parts available for the Mustang than probably any car on earth... I might start at maximum motorsports.