Man, I have been deciding for to long on what upgrade I want next. I am leaning towards a CAI & tuner. My other options are to go with BBK long tube headers and a BBK off road mid-pipe or 3.73 gears and a tuner.

2013 V6
I currently have 2.73 gears and a Roush axle back exhaust. That's it.
( I use 93 octane, Manual Transmission)
What would you choose and why out of these combos? Which of these combos will give me the best performance gains?

 

Cai and tune without question.

 

CAI/Tune. Most bang for the buck.

 

What they said ^

 

Driveshaft first

 

If I were stuck with a 6, I'd save for a supercharger. Truthfully though, I am hard pressed to find a scenario that would involve me souping up another 6. I think if I had one, I'd do intake, exhaust, 87 octane tune, and call it a day. It would have a little more noise and visceral feel than a stock one, which would be all I'd really be after. I'd prolly spend more on appearance upgrades.

 

gears and tune

 

Lessen rotational mass.

 

gears > cai > pipes in that order

 

tuner -> 3.73

 

Suspension and driver mod. One SCCA season and you will understand how much you really do have already and where the weaknesses are. Buy if you are more into just cruising around and not really "Driving" your Mustang then by all means go with more power.

 

Good tires and better brakes. If you cant grip the road or stop fast power will just get you into trouble fast.

Then..

Gears CAI and a tune.

 

I was undecided for a while too. I started with the same thing that I do to all my cars. Got me a set of flowmaster (love the sound) and a drop in K&N filter. I felt a better response with the car. after a lot of research I decided to pull the trigger and ordered the Airaid CAI and SCT Tuner combo from AM/Bama. By far the best choice. I am very happy with it. My last performance mods I will be making is 3.55 gears and a set of headers and called a day. from then I will move into suspension and looks. But it is your car, make your own and do what makes you happy.

 

Aluminum driveshaft before you get a tune to take off the cap on speed

 

If you would post what your budget range is, you will get suggestions targeted toward that instead of ranging across $0-7000.

Unless you like the air induction sucking noise, forget the CAI. About 95% of the honest power gains when doing a Tune and CAI, is the Tune. If you decide to get a Tune and just can't live with the paper filter, add a K/N Filter, and then if you still aren't convinced, add the CAI with a new Tune file for the CAI you choose.

Second on the menu, budget permitting, would be gears. I think 3.73's are a little aggressive, and would choose 3.15 or 3.31 gears for a better balance of mpg and performance without forcing you to work harder of shifting too much. If you don't mind a little more shifting action, and don't mind the compromise of a very short first gear, go with 3.73's. Of course you will need a Tune to correct the speedo with the gears, which is why I say Tune first.

If budget is large, then I personally think the best option would be a supercharger and driveshaft. Many of the supercharger kits include a different airbox/filter solution, negating the CAI, and all of them include a Tuner and tune for the supercharger, negating the Tune.

Lastly, if budget doesn't matter, then why do you have a V6 anyway.