I’ve been lurking for a while absorbing info so I figured I would do something useful and post a review of my current modifications. The Mustang Source forums definitely saved me some time and money vs. reading the car rags, by reading the posts here I narrowed down the choices to what worked best for me.

My car is a Performance White 2006 GT premium, 5-speed, stock 3.55 rear, stock 17” Bullitts and active alarm as the only option. It was purchased in February 2006, I just hit 3000 miles and did the first oil change last weekend.

Modifications:

• S&B cold air intake $200 – Nice kit, works as advertised, ECU reprogramming not required but does help, runs really well in midrange RPM’s. It may not be as good as the C&L or the JLT in higher RPM’s but works well in its intended range with great torque. With the S&B and Brenspeed’s tunes you can definitely feel the front end unload when the power comes on around 3000-3500 RPM’s. I bought this while figuring out which handheld tuner to get and whose tunes to use; even without a tune you can feel a SOTP improvement.
• SCT Xcal2 with Brenspeed tunes $380 – I can’t recommend Brenspeed highly enough, the tunes significantly improved throttle response and reduced “throttle hang”. The delayed return to idle was driving me absolutely nuts and tended to throw off my shift timing; once the tune was loaded it drives like a “normal” car. I flat refuse to drive a neutered vehicle to make some friggin’ tree-hugger happy. Performance-wise the Brenspeed tunes are quite good: great throttle response and acceleration, pulls nicely in higher RPM’s while maintaining good torque in lower RPM’s. Idling is smooth with no hunting and none of the near-stalling that can happen with some cars – the engine settles down to idle in a linear fashion. Fuel mileage has also improved by about 2 mpg over stock (when driven sanely).
• Corsa axle-back exhaust $585– High quality exhaust with nice fit and finish, very nice tips. Somewhat on the pricey side but the lack of droning beats having to rip the interior apart to install sound deadening any day. It has a decent rumble at idle and good tone with plenty of sound, the more open the throttle the louder it gets. When driving on the highway with the windows up it’s almost as quiet as stock at steady throttle, growls nicely when accelerating. I wouldn’t mind the exhaust being a bit louder and deeper but I can’t stand cabin droning, I had a MINI with an aftermarket exhaust that sounded great outside but got rather aggravating on long trips. If you never do long trips or don’t care about audio fidelity the Borla’s sound nicer outside of the car but were a little much for me when inside with the windows up. Overall, the Corsa system is exactly as advertised: nice performance sound with absolutely no cabin droning.
• Hurst Competition Plus shifter $190 (permanent install) – Nice quality short shifter, makes the stock shifter seem like wet rope. I missed the 2nd-3rd shift under load a couple of times with the stock shifter so it had to go. Very easy install, ended up with Hurst urethane bushing in front and stock bushing in rear for best feel/noise reduction. Shifts are now precise and 2nd-3rd gear shifts are effortless, no vibrations or noises, and the chrome stick/white **** looks nice (to me). I consider it money well spent.
• Ford Racing/B&M Ripper $230 (couldn’t live with it – returned it for a Hurst) - I had used B&M Rippers and liked them on my previous Mustangs so I tried the Ford Racing/B&M shifter prior to getting the Hurst. Very high quality materials, easy install and very nice shifting action but their reworked rear mount design introduces high frequency vibrations into the chassis. Just driving it around the neighborhood produced exaggerated gear noise, especially in 1st and 2nd gears. Also, the ****ed thing squeaked going over hard bumps. I verified that it was installed 100% correct but the way the rear bushings are utilized the studs attached to the tunnel can rub metal-to-metal with the rear mount plate. The B&M shifter uses bushings between the rear mount plate and tunnel but there’s no collar or insulator around the stud where it passes through the plate, allowing the stud to rub the plate and squeak. Long term the plate (stainless steel) would have chafed the threads off of the studs, making a return to the stock shifter a problem. Also, B&M attaches the rear mount plate to the car with the stock stud nuts and metal washers with no bushing between the washers and plate – this metal-to metal contact is probably the source of the high frequency vibrations. What sealed the decision to get rid of it was when I called B&M’s tech line and their suggestion to get rid of the squeak was to put grease on the studs ( huh? ), they had no comment about the high-freq vibes or long term wear and tear on the rear mount studs. Nothing like a used Band-Aid on a design flaw. If they would redo the rear mount design or use collared bushings they would have a real winner, but as is it’s good for racing only - I wouldn’t suggest it for a daily driver.
• Ford Racing strut tower brace $160 – Nice part, good build quality but not enough clearance if one is considering a plenum cover. I won’t be getting a plenum cover so it works fine for me. I haven’t been to the mountains yet in this car so it’s hard to tell how well it works but bracing a unibody chassis doesn’t usually hurt.
• Steeda G-trac brace $60 – Made well, should help in hard corners. More bracing.
• 3dCarbon 3D500 rear spoiler $270– Arrived yesterday with half of hardware missing but looks to be of good quality. Waiting for the missing stuff to arrive before I get it painted but should look good once it’s on. I like the appearance of this over the blasé stock wing, although if I had ordered the car I would have gotten a spoiler delete.

Well, if you’re still awake after reading this you probably need to cut back on the caffeine. Hopefully my comments will help others make their spending decisions the way the posts that I read have helped me. I’ve had several Mustangs over the years but I’m enjoying the 2006 a lot more than the old Mustangs. The new body style doesn’t squeak (except with B&M), doesn’t rattle, and doesn’t require prayer to throw into a tight corner the way the Fox bodies did. I like to push a car (and my motorcycles) in corners fairly hard so it's nice to have a decent chassis to start with.

 

Nice writeup on your mods and welcome to the site.

 

Ok, I'm getting a Hurst now. Thanks for making that decision

And with my Flowmasters, off-road H, and 10" sub I'm getting rattle noises from all over the rear end of my car.

 

Very nice write up - thanks for the info!

 

nice write up but confused???

Why would you get an intake that does not require a tune, and then buy a tuner with custom tunes?

 

And now to add to the confusion (I'm good at that) .... Shortly after buying the car I kinda wanted to ditch the stock airbox right away so I bought the S&B. I wanted a CAI that didn't require reprogramming because at the time I hadn't decided whether to get a Xcal2 or a Predator, wasn't sure if I was going local or Internet for tunes, and I didn't want to drop near $400 on a handheld tuner/tunes without some heavy research. I was also willing to trade off a few HP at the top for better driveability and midrange response, plus the techs at S&B said that a tune would improve it some. Essentially I wanted a CAI that didn't require a tune but would benefit from tuning vs. having to replace it to see any gains. I have to admit I've been curious lately about the De Molet Tunable Induction CAI, may have to check one out.

S&B was originally doing their CAI kit for FRPP but at some point the deal fell through, the S&B instructions even show the FRPP logo on the intake tube. Plus, I figured if it was good enough for FRPP to reject - it was good enough for me !