Johnny Mustang

I have been thinking about performance modifications for my V6 but i just got told that my best bet is to not do anything to the engine at all because the more aftermarket things i do to my V6 the faster the engine dies. Before i make any moves i wanted to get your (the Mustang community) take on this.


Thank you

rygenstormlocke

It depends on what you do to it. Putting in a exhaust, tune and CAI I doubt will put any real stress on the engine. But with a major power adder like a tc/sc/nitrous, then precautions have to be made. If you go to the track alot you may have to do maitenance a lot more regularily. Most people in this ballpark know the risks and are prepared for them.

I'm sure some more technical people will chime in on this one. But any time you put a major power adder on a car, you are putting a significant amount of stress on the engine regardless of what engine it is, which will increase the wear on the components.

MSP

This question on its face is really ridiculous.. I must think about how I want to answer this.. Such a question of this magnitude, which on its face implies it must be a 16 year old kid asking the question..... I'll answer the question if you can admit that you are no more than 16 years old... Deal?

Galaxie

Johnny, glad to see you are looking to learn a bit more about cars, some people, regardless of age, don't know much about engines and that where nice people at forums come in handy.

Regardless of what you do to an engine, if you are abusive to the motor it will wear out on you sooner than if you take it easy, plan and simple.

If you throw modifications to the mix, the engine wear will likely be affected. Bolt-ons won't really change much in terms of the engine wear. Major modifications like turbos and nitrous will definitley put a huge strain on engine parts that were not designed to accept such drastically increased power.

Hope that answers your question. Any constructive comments from others are welcome.

MSP

This is exactly my point of view, although I chose to understand the individual alittle more by trying to bracket him into an age catagory...

Basically, Johnny wants us all to make him a promise.. Like Galaxie has so cleverly pointed out, no one here can make you a promise.. Simply put, like Galaxie mentions about power adders, this is of course obvious regardless if the car is V6,V8, or V10...

So while the post I made could be considered dicey, it ask the obvious question, which was to inquire about the age of the poster.. Nothing wrong with that.. By answering the question, he could have established one of 2 things.. One is he is 16, in which case the questioned can be understood alittle better.. The other being he is over 16, and in that circumstance, it could be assumed he has never made any mods to an engine, and does not understand that people at forums no matter how much intellect they have can not make any promises to you in regards to how long a cars engine will last, even when the engine is bone stock.. Obviously increasing the power of the car is going to cause more wear and tear to become the said vehicle...


So understanding my question is the main issue.. To classify my question as mean spirited is another.. In which case I am sure most here who read Johnny's question at some point found themselves asking how they can legitamatley make a promise to Johnny? Why would Johnny ask us to make him a promise?

Martimus

The question, in its most basic sense, is quite flawed. Car engines are not quite that fragile. My first guess is that the author of the question may not have a detailed understanding of what goes on inside an internal combustion engine. Beyond this I'm suspecting that the author of the question may be lumping all sorts of performance mod's into a single bucket and making a global blanket judgement regarding them.

Torch_Vert

I think the easiest thing whether Johnny is a kid or an adult who hasn't done much performance modding is just to answer the question simply and in as straightforward a way as possible. I know 17 yr olds who understand and can set the backlash on a gear set perfectly, and 40 yr olds who can't install a set of plugs without stripping out the heads.

Galaxie covered things pretty well. Johhny, if you'll post a list of what you're considering doing to the car, the guys here will be able to give you a more detailed view on the upsides and possible risks of the specific mods.

As stated pretty clearly bt MSP above, there is a difference between an informed/experienced opinion and a guarantee. When it comes to doing performance mods, guarantees pretty much go in the same category as leprechauns and the Loch Ness monster

rygenstormlocke

I've seen a leprechaun...does that mean my warrenty is still good if I put a sc on my ride. JK.

Torch_Vert

Only in Ireland

MSP

Thats a very good point... Basing age as a consideration of knowledge was most likley not the correct way to approach the knowledge foundation of the poster.. I agree PK..

I was always under the impression that to intall headers, you must first remove the heads, then put the headers on, then mount them onto the engine.. Is this not correct? The only problem is, where do you mount the headers? Once the heads are removed, I cant seem to find the right place to mount the headers.. Or to change a belt, instead of using a screw driver to pry on the belt tensioner, you must first remove the radiator, with the water still in it.. Once this is done, you completely remove the front bumper and all the headlights.. There are atleast 6 headlights right PK?

Thomas S

Have you totally lost it???

Johnny Mustang

Well let me begin by saying i am 23 years old. I have owned a 2003 black v6 mustang and just 6 months ago got the new 2005 v6 after the 2003 got crashed. During all this time i have never touched an engine for any mods and quite honestly dont know much about them. I have, however, become interested in giving my pony more horse power and decided i want to learn about the different products such as the Pro Charger Turbo and Intercooler. Anyway my cousin whom is a mechanic has told me the best bet is to not do anything.Now with that said i have come on to this forum looking for information and others thoughts, not a PROMISE.
Now i dont think any question is a dumb question which is why i posted this but it sucks when you get people like you writing things like the above stated comment because everyone has to start somewhere. The way i look at it is i am as much a Mustanger as anyone elsein this forum, its just that i want to learn a thing or 2 about some more horse power.

Thomas S

There is nothing wrong with your original question. Your cousin is right, it's best to leave it alone. If you want a little extra power and better driveability, get a C&L CAI and SCT-2 from BamaChips and call it a day. It's easy to install and fairly inexpensive and won't hurt anything, I promise! Anything else will shorten the engine life and may affect the warranty. The dealerships most likely won't say much about the tune or CAI and they are easily reversable. Me, I went a little nuts. I'm not too worried about the engine or warranty.

Johnny Mustang

Thank you very much, Jimp

MSP

The last part was a joke.. Hopefully you took it that way..

@ Johnny Mustang..

Ok sounds good, I read it as if you were looking for some type of firm promise that doing aftermarket things to the engine may not some how damage it..

Based on your reply, I would say your pretty much like the rest of us here, in regards to whats good to do, but also knowing there is always a certain amount of risk associated with it.. In regards to the warranty, there are certain things you can do without much fear of the warranty.. It also depends on the dealership you take the car to when problems do arise.. a good example is lets say later you install a supercharger and something happens or goes wrong.. Well, some dealers would allow you to leave the car intact, and just bring it down.. They would back you up on the warranty service of the car.. Meaning they wont reveal to Ford that you had a Supecharger on the motor with too much boost and it blew the engine.. Some dealerships you bring the car to, you would have to completely remove the SC before you bring it in.. All this is really based in the particular dealership you bring the car to, and whether or not they are motivated to fix the car using warranty money.. In some cases, you could find that the dealer can have Ford replace some parts and labor, but the dealer will charge you out of pocket for re-incorporating the SC back into the system.. This means, that yes, the SC caused the engine to fail.. The dealer will replace the internal parts which were damaged, but may charge you personally for uninstalling the SC to get to the problem, and also charge you to re-install it.. So there are a number of ways in which to handle the problem.. Knowing your particular dealerships service dept, is a good idea if you should decide to go the SC route.. Find out what the policies are, and establish a contact along the way.. This way, if things should go bad later, you can somewhat handle the situation without much stress..

On its surface, I would say anything you do to the car, will always have to be done at your own risk.. Although you state you are not looking for a promise, a promise is somewhat what you seek.. I know I perhaps may have gotten under your skin alittle bit, but I sometimes feel a direct approach gets things understood better.. This means, by understanding the context from which you ask a question, it allows those who read it, to approach it from a certain angle...

You must understand that in most cases statements like the one you made are intended to say that you will be better off just getting a GT, than going with a V6.. Dont upgrade a V6 because the engine will not last long.. Around here, and other places, us V6 owners are put so much on defense, we can mistake an innocent honest V6 owner, for someone trying to get under our skin.. Like in this case, the statement was made " Your Better off not doing anything".. LOL!! To me, under a normal circumstance, thats a bash hidden under the disguise of an innocent V6 owner asking questions.. LOL!! Sometimes thats the best way for us to get attacked... I know its sounds odd, but in time you will understand..

yur1279

Some mods to get that shouldn't void warrenty or cause major issues to your angine would be:
dual exhaust
headers
cai
tune
17" wheels
gears
T-lok
sway bars

These should all firm up your ride and not do any damage to your engine.

Thomas S

I guess I didn't. Sorry.

scrming

came across one guy who said his dealership was trying to blame his front end popping (know problem with TSB) on his aftermarket exhaust....

my dealership is much more cool about mods... but I think they are the exception....

I'll echo others here... for performance the most bang for the buck is an SCT X-Cal2 tuner... my perfered vendor is Alternative Auto (www.alternativeauto.com) A good muffler will give you a very descent gain with really no risk at all...

Martimus

Man... I'd like to have been there to see that conversation. The service writer/manager giving that line of cr*p must've looked like Pinochio by the end of the conversation!!

ManEHawke

All I have to say is that bolt-ons (no power adders) won't cause any more stress to the engine (in fact it makes the engine run more freely), it's when you can't keep off the go-pedal that will speed up wear