Hi Guys,
My parents bought a 99 Monte Carlo LS and gave it to me two years ago. I've been saving my money for almost a year for the 05 Mustang but now it's just not going to work due to my school payments and insurance prices. So I've found a 04 Mustang Coupe with the 40th Anniversary package and lots of other extras for $21,000 near my house. So I'm looking to trade my car for one of these.
The problem is that I do not know anything about cars, and I cannot afford the insurance on the GT, but I would love some power out of my car. My question to you guys is what are some great parts (performace upgrades) that I can get my local car shop to throw into my mustang? Also, are any of these upgrades allowed under the 3 year warranty?

Thanks for any advice guys,
-Nick

 

So I'm confused. You can afford the 2004 V6 but not a 2005 V6? I didn't think the price difference was that much. Or is this 2004 used?

 

Dont buy a soon-to-be-old "new" v-6... ESPECIALLY not for 21000!
I bought mine used (and very, very well taken-care-of) for 8900 dollars. The car has no problems at all.

Just shop around a little more- I quarantee you could find an '02 or '03 for much, much cheaper (I remember seeing NEW '04s for 11,000!)

 

Plus, if you are relatively new to cars, the 193 stock horsepower will still snap your neck back! But by far the easiest way to increase power is to chip the car / remap the computer. You get more power, but it is normally at the expense of fuel economy. Mine has been done, they also removed the rev limiter and changed the rev level for gear changes (auto box). Mine is definately quick enough for me at the moment!!

Good luck with your purchase. I would have to agree with the price thing though. You can get a 2004 Mach 1 for about that money.....

 

21,000 is the MSRP. They are offering me 4000 for my car tradein and 7000 dollars of the msrp. So I'm getting the car for 10,000. That offer was alot better than the 22k price tag I had on the 05 mustang I almost ordered.
The main reason I am not getting a 05 mustang is the insurance. I'm 19 years old and the insurance difference between a 05 coupe and a 04 coupe is almost $1500.

How much do these chips cost and where can I purchase them at?

Thanks Guys,
Nick

 

You can look at either Superchips or Diablo since they make good performance chips for V6's.

 

For a 2004 Mustang 3.9L V6, the only thing I found availabe is the SCT Microtuner or Chip (www.SuperChipsCustom.com). Since I could not find a dealer near me, I got mine from Velocity Performance Mustang (www.VelocityMustangPerformance.com).
Justin was very helpfull, and after many question & answer e-mails I ended up geting a Tuner with 3 tunes ...
93 Octane Performance
89 Octane Performance
89 Octane Mileage

He is also a very active member at www.3.8Mustang.com, which is how I found out about his company.

The great thing about a Tuner is you just plug it into the Diagnostics Port under the dash and flash a program into your computer. It saves your stock program so you can re-flash it to stock at any time (I.E. if/when you ever need to take it in for warranty service).

A chip gets mounted to the computer and the contact terminals must be meticulously cleaned for the chip to work properly. To do this right, computer must be taken out of the car and should be dissassembled to get the back-side contacts as clean as they need to be. With or without the chip mounted, it will be obvious that you messed with it and computer-related warranty work could be denied if the need ever came about.

The Tuner costs about $100 more that the chip, and is well worth it in my opinion.

Dual Exhaust, Traction-Lok (POSI) Differential, and Underdrive Pulleys are 3 other up-grades I strongly recommend.

Doug

 

Doug, I really appreciate your detailed help. I am going to be ordering some new parts very soon.

Thanks Guys!
-Nick

 

What exactly do U/P's do...I hear everyone talking about them, but never what they mean? Also, warrenty acceptable?

 

They slown down the parts in the engine and free up horsepower...as for voiding the warrenty i have no idea

-Components like air conditioning can take a lot of power away from your engine. Underdrive pulleys are a simple way to route some of that lost power back to the engine to give you more power at the wheels-

 

You just gotta be careful with the U/P's though cuz they kinda slow the timing a bit too and if its cold outside, your gonna have a hard time starting the car up sometimes. As for the warranty...my friend put a CAI, and some U/P's on his 02 Ranger Edge and the only thing the dealer did was void the warranty on those parts only.

 

A gear swap would also be a worthwhile performance addition. I'm not sure what gears the V6 cars come with from the factory.

 

I believe it is 3.27 like the gt's....
but...
I think I remember reading it was 3.17, so I dont know

nonetheless- both are horrible ratios for that get-up-and-go. When I (eventualy) save up the money, I am probably going to buy some 3.77's.

And remember- buy the seven-and-a-half inch gears- NOT THE 8.8!
They are harder to find, but places like 3.8mustang.com have good specific links.

 

Thats too pricey for a 2004 V6 if you are thinking of jumping into an 05. 05s will not be priced really any higher than the 04s.

As a word of advice, I would make sure I checked around with insurance companies on the pricing from a V6 to a GT. I had a 2000 V6 coupe and jumped up to a Jack Roush S2 V8 Vert and the difference in price for my insurance was less than $20 for six months. Think about it.