odie3

First I hope I am posting in the correct place. If not just move my post - I'll understand.

Yesterday I got myself a new 2006 V6 Mustang. I am wondering what type of engine "upgrades" I could do to my ride?

I have seen stuff like:
Cold Air thingy
Chip changes [not sure about that stuff]
Dual Exhaust.

Suggestions for a noob that used to drive a sedan forever?

adrenalin

Hi Richard, welcome to the forum. I moved your post to the V6 Tech and Performance section. There are several mods you can do. The cold air thingy, also known as Cold Air Induction, or CAI for short is a great mod. Gives you some more hp and better fuel mileage, however, in most cases you will find that you need to flash the computer with a programmer like the SCT Xcalibrator. So, in a lot of cases, adding a CAI can get pricey.

The new stang does not have a chip to replace, you just flash the ECM with the SCT Xcalibrator or Predator, etc.

Dual exhaust may or may not give you a performance benefit. If you use the search feature on this site you might find more information on it. Depending on what exhaust you went with you might actually be hurting your performance than increasing it.

You might want to think about gears. Do you have an automatic or manual tranny? Most people seem to be adding CAI and gears for the quickest performance gains.

odie3

I have the 5 speed auto tranny. I would assume that would leave me out of gear changes. I worked on a Auto once with my Dad when I was a teenager, from what I remember it as not fun.

As to the CAI and reprogrammer [Predator I just found] - if it works on a '05 will it work also with a '06? I am thinking not but what do I know.

odie3

my... I been reading some threads in this forum - I believe I will be hopelessly lost.

Where is the "Upgrade your V6 Mustang for Dummies" book?

scrming

If you do only one mod to your car, make it an X-Cal2... It will make a big difference in you car.... If you have an automatic it will be jaw dropping difference!!!

The X-Cal2 is super simple to use... just connect to the ODB port, located under the steering wheel and a little to the left... then just follow the on screen directions!

The are of course a lot of different dealers/tuners... everyone has there favorite... personally I recommend Lidio from Alternative Auto. Here's his webpage talking about the V6:

Alternative Auto

Next thing I would recommend is get ride of that horribly restrictive muffler! LOL! You can pick up an nice HP gain and it will sound a lot better! You can go to duals if you like the dual look but nothing really to be gain performancewise over going to a good single... not at the level we're talking about here

CAI... hmmm... lots of them out there... I think most of them are about equal... I have the MMR.. it said no tune required... well, not exactly true... LOL!

Of course after that you want to think about a Limited Slip Differential... maybe some rear gears...

but for now let's take small steps... LOL

odie3

Wow, I read the site. From their talk it sounds great. Is it true?

<!--QuoteBegin-scrming@October 14, 2005, 3:08 PM
xt thing I would recommend is get ride of that horribly restrictive muffler! LOL! You can pick up an nice HP gain and it will sound a lot better! You can go to duals if you like the dual look but nothing really to be gain performancewise over going to a good single... not at the level we're talking about here

Quoted post

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Hmm, HP gain? I can only assume that is not a Hewlett-Packard PC [yes I am a PC Geek].

And the CAI seems to be a easy upgrade too.

I think my main goal would to give my little Pony some more getty up and go!

BTW, anyone know if there is a Mustang Store in Austin Texas?

GIDDEUP

HP = Horse Power

Welcome to the Stang Family. Nice choice in color too.

GIDDEUP

Also hadn't seen Lidio's site before. What's the difference between the X-cal 1 and the X-cal 2?

odie3

Oh my, how did not miss that! Horse Power.... I fell like a dope.

Thanks about the color. I was going to wait for a Blue Mustang but they had Tungsten Grey with the Black Leather package on the lot, once I got into it I was soild.

odie3

BTW, what type/brand of muffler should I look into?

scrming

100% true! I seen it with my own eyes... Do a quick Google on Lidio and Alternative and you'll see Lidio has been building fast Mustang for a long time!

I you are looking just a little extra get up and go an X-Cal2 from Lidio may be all you need! LOL! Since you have the automatic the difference you'll see with the X-Cal2 will be night and day... You'll think your driving a whole new car! Ok.. have you tried to do a burnout in your car yet? LOL! The X-Cal2 will change that...

As far as gear changes we're talking about rear gears in the differential... not gears in the transmission...

Muffler... I've got the Magnaflow single axle back... I love the sound and it's 100% stainless steel... the other popular choice is the JBA..

odie3

ya, trying to do a burn out kind of sucked.... it's like the car is "thinking" about going. Heck, the first time I did it I thought the car was going to die.

Kevinicus

what's a good price on these mufflers? I listened to the audio files they have for Magnaflow and that definately sounds a lot better than it does now.

scrming

yep.... the dreaded torque limiter... it's gives you terrible throttle response from a dead stop and prevents the burnout... Lidio's tune will remove all that...

This is a little video I made a while back... this is with Lidio's tune, 4.10 rear gears and a Ford Trac-Lock limited slip differential

My burnout

scrming

MRT carries Magnaflow... looks like they carry JBA also...

MRT Magnaflow

odie3

Holy Crap! How much is that just the with the tune update?

Also, what are the chances I can find a shop around Austin Texas to "program" my car instead of shell out 300+ for the programmer?

odie3

EDIT OUT Never Mind...

need the MAGNA-15889 - 05 V6 Axleback Single rear exit - $263.30

scrming

I don't know of anyone that will do that... but then again I never really looked into it.... the shops will want to see you the tuner.. The tuner is nice for many different reason... mainly it will allow you to go back to the stock program if you need to take the car into the dealership... With the tuner you can also make some slight tweaks and adjustments yourself like if you change your tires size or rear gears ratio... You can also hook the tuner up to your laptop and do datalogging... the x-cal2 can also read and clear trouble codes......

As far as the burnout... the main thing is the tune.... without the tune I couldn't even get the tires to chirp! The Trac-Lock got both tires to spin... Now the tires I had on there were a lot bigger than stock... so that why I had the 4.10s put in...

odie3

I guess that is true about the programmer. Many reasons to have it on hand. However, my wife is game about me wanting to "tweak" the stang. Needless to say she is not warming up to the idea and thinks I need to leave well enough alone.

:worship: I guess I will have to beg a lot :worship:

05BlackVert

I have not found any Mustang stores in Austin yet.

You can get Leif Johnson Ford to order Ford Racing parts (I got a FR single exhaust from them).

Texas Mustang in Waco is pretty good, there is also Dallas Mustang up near Dallas.