jfrullo

i have the 2011 v6 performance package i was wondering what would be the better investment for the buck. i have heard the tunes for the manual are not a big impact on performance.and 1st gear with 3.73s is useless.does anyone have the v6 performance package with these mods.not really interested in what the automatic mods are like. i have read alot adout them .but hardly nothing about the manual modded cars.and will the dealership change out the gears for a reasionable price.will the factory warrenty still be good.

Ltngdrvr

If you put in 3.73's you will have to get either a tuner or a speedo recal box.

The tunes for the manual trans cars are very effective, much better throttle response and a nice little boost in power.

The thing everyone raves about on a auto trans tune is the much better shifting of the trans.

I really think that a change to the 3.73's from the 3.31's is not going to be as big of a boost as the tune so long as you get a good one.

American Muscle/BAMA seems to have done the most testing and research for their tunes on the V6 cars.

Cusp

Hum, I did both. A performance tune and 3.73s on my GT. Tune first then gears & drive shaft. In my experience, the gears did double what the tune did acceleration wise. But yes, if you do gears you will need a tuner or take it to a dealer to fix the speedometer anyway.

Ltngdrvr

Dealer service can't compensate for the 3.73's on a V6 car with a re-flash since they were not an option originally.

And a GT has a taller first gear so the 3.73's aren't as big of a deal to run as they would be on a V6.

SriZo

How long does it take to change the gears? I got a quote from my dealer and they said $800 just for labor!

Ltngdrvr

Dealer is always stupid expensive for this job.

Any shop worth it's salt is going to charge in the $250-$350 range.

As far as time, a good installer will take about 2-3 hours tops to do the install.

jfrullo

how far off will my speedometer be
what will it affect in the computer
would tunes be better first

Ltngdrvr

Do the tune first if you have to choose one or the other, then it will be easy to add gears or other mods as you go along.

AMChrisRose

We have 5% off of Ford Racing parts this week, and the gears are definitely the cheapest price around.

With that being said, the tune is going to be a bigger difference and will support all modifications down the road. It's necessary for the speedometer to be recalibrated with the tuner for the gears anyway, just a thought...

JimmyM

I say go tune first. I have it in my PP and it's awesome

David Young

Do both

boxcabmike

I have a cai with a x pipe set of duals from ford racing with the tune on my 2010 coupe. I went with a 3.73, 8.8 takeout rear and yes you can cal the speedo. There are several outfits that make a cal box that goes between the speedo sensor and the dash. Some aren't perfect but who cares. I wouldn't go 4.11. No cal exists for this and the 4.0 will run out of legs long before the gears do. I'm installing a procharger this week so it should get interesting. By the way, you can get a new 5.0 coyote and wiring harness for about 8k if street insanity is your thing, no recal required.

AMChrisRose

The 2011 V6 already has an 8.8, so the gears drop right in without having to get a take-off rear. Sure you can do just the gear calibration (a dealership will likely do it if you have them install Ford Racing gears) BUT at the end of the day, a custom tune is one of the best things you can do to a 2011 V6.

We have a bone stock automatic V6 2011, with 2.73 rear gears and 17" all season tires. On 87 octane, we ran 14.27 @ 99mph. On 93 octane we ran 14.1 @ 100mph. Bone stock.

We added a Bama 87 tune and went 13.73 @ 104mph. We added a CAI and 93 octane and went 13.64 @ 104mph. All on 2.73 gears.

If we add some 3.73s and better tires, we'll be in the low 13's. AND we'll already have the tuner so we can recalibrate the speedometer without the dealer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdvDHHaxTu4

Storm75

Chris - this is very helpful information to me also. I will be contacting you after my new V-6 arrives - am interested in CAI/Tune and the gear thing. Thanks!

SteelTownStang

Insane... $300'ish sould be the ballpark...

Tune will give you more hp/tq. Gears will feel like you've gain more hp/tq. Both are great mods, but I'd go tune first.

AMChrisRose

Gear labor is a crazy topic. Mike Wilson is from Texas, and he says down there shops only charge like $150-250 labor. Up here, shops charge $450 labor on average.

$800 is ridiculous, but Ford just goes off of the hours the book "calls for" which is BS. That, and the dealer rates are usually $110/hr. compared to $65-85/hr. at most performance shops up here.