What order did you guys mod your GT500s in?

[Lethal302]

Just curious to see what everyone's approach to modding their cars was, for example:

Did you do suspension first, then tires, then intake/tb/tune/pulley etc..?

Or did you do tires, intake/tb/tune/pulley etc?

Maybe even tires, clutch, intake/tune/tb/pulley because I've read about a ton of clutch failures on here after getting a tune that turns off the clutch protection.

What order did you guys go with?

 

[07 Black Beauty]

I typically start w/ exhaust and wheels to get it looking and sounding good then I go intake, TB, pulley and tune and finally suspension stuff.

 

[HighTorque]

I am trying to stay away from tune because i feel car has plenty of power to begin with. I started with oil catch can, resonator delete tube, and borla catback exhaust first.

Then i did mgw gen2, bmr suspension, and wheels and tires for the track.

Next i will be doing street wheels and tires with airride.

 

[1FASFKR]

Cortex
FRPP mufflers
JLT catch can
Revan 13-6 - without the pulley
Tires - 295/275 Pireli's but they still spin

 

[2011 gtcs]

Do some drag radials first, than get 13-6 kit from Revan racing. Or just ballout and go straight to a big blower

 

[Missyandrob2005]

intake and tune. Shortly after were the throttle body and thermostat. Now it's time for a clutch and then tires and suspension

 

[SVT_28]

Tires and suspension in my opinion....make the power these cars have usable first.

 

[biminiLX]

intake and tune. Shortly after were the throttle body and thermostat. Now it's time for a clutch and then tires and suspension

Not if you do gears.
I started with 4.10s, 315/35/20 NT05Rs and tune, ran 11.03@129
Car was VERY fun and balanced with just that.

Guys are right on the clutch, but the stock clutch isn't the problem, it's the stupid long gears.
OP--what are the goals? These cars have enough power, they need traction, suspension and then whatever you want for power, that's the easy part
-J
:burnout:

 

[MovingZen]

I did rear suspension (lowering springs, uca, lca, relocation brackets, panhard bar) first. Then the res delete with a JLT intake because I got one used and cheap. Then I did more suspension(air lift). I planned to do tires next but ended up doing a 13-6 w/o pulley while waiting on my wheels. Then I did wheels and MPSS tires(295K1's). And recently I went to 315 R888's to get even more traction. I've been wanting to do gears probably since before the 13-6 but the whine issues have been scaring me off.

tl:dnr- suspension, 13-6, tires but wanted suspension, tires, gears, and then 13-6.

 

[Ky GT500]

13-6, headers and H and 10%, suspension, tires,,,,,, I think,,,, it was all a blur really, happened pretty fast, kind of one behind the other.

 

[Lethal302]

Not if you do gears.
I started with 4.10s, 315/35/20 NT05Rs and tune, ran 11.03@129
Car was VERY fun and balanced with just that.

Guys are right on the clutch, but the stock clutch isn't the problem, it's the stupid long gears.
OP--what are the goals? These cars have enough power, they need traction, suspension and then whatever you want for power, that's the easy part
-J
:burnout:

I daily drive mine but only about 15 miles a day for work and I live in Florida so no worries about any snow. Looking to take it to the strip but only for the 1/4 so I'm more concerned with straight line acceleration/straight line traction. Was thinking suspension, tires, gears, 13-6 after reading through everyone's responses though

 

[carguy19]

3.73s, Drag Radials and Hood Struts

Then I did all the engine mods together... Vans 13-6 kit, headers, ported blower, elbow.

I was about to start the suspension and I ended up selling the car.

3.73s should be your first mod 100%.

 

[David Neibert]

Just curious to see what everyone's approach to modding their cars was,

Probably not going to be very popular around here for saying this but...

I started with the basic mods that most new owners do like window tint, hood struts, no drill front plate mount and oil separator. Then I got tired of looking at that ugly intake resonator and installed a black plastic JLT resonator delete pipe that looked much better. I was happy with stopping there and just driving the car for about a year.

Then I really got the itch for more power, not because it needed it but because it was so easy to make more and more is always better. So I ordered the 13-6 kit from Van and a 2.4 pulley and install tool from VMP and was all set to get my extra 75 or so RWHP. Then my buddy who owns a 13 GT500 said, hey why don't you try driving the car with all the nannies turned off before adding more power and voiding your warranty. So I turned off traction control and left the stability control on during my drive home from work one day shortly after our discussion, and got pretty aggressive with the throttle and shifts and ended up with the car completely sideways at 50 mph. Wow that was cool and this car was actually a little faster than I thought.

The parts arrived and I was still going to install them until my wife noticed them and was saying "I thought you weren't going to mod this car because you didn't want it to end up on jack stands like your other two cars". Then I started reading a few post were people were having some minor issues with the tunes or were showing the knock sensor was pulling too much timing or they needed to send in data logs to the tuner to figure out why it had some occasional issue. Then there was this nagging thought about what if I have an issue with this car and need something fixed under warranty, will I need to pull all this aftermarket stuff off and put the stock parts and tune back on and cross my fingers they don't discover the tune had been changed. More doubts started creeping in when I see the same parts I just bought up for sale after having been removed from cars that were sold after being on cars for less than a 1000 miles.

I'm no stranger to modding my cars and have two Thunderbird SCs that have been modded so much the engine bays look nothing like they did stock, and they each have over $60K in mods (mostly go faster stuff) and are both considerably quicker than my 2014 GT500. After hearing about people burning up their clutches and bending axles after a few hard launches, I had zero desire to put sticky tires on and go to the track so not sure where this extra power was going to be useful. Long story short, I very quickly decided that one of the coolest things about this car was how much power it made in stock form with a factory warranty, so I sold the 13-6 kit and pulley before I even took it out of the box. I took a 15% loss on selling those parts, but I felt a lot better afterwards because I no longer had the worry about the warranty. Turns out my concerns about warranty were not without merit, because my Ford dealer ran me through the ringer just replacing the battery under warranty. Can only imagine what would happen if I had gear whine or a slipping clutch.

So instead of go-faster stuff I bought a couple cosmetic mods like a red Air Raid filter and a JLT painted radiator cover and finally got around to installing the lower air dam. The car is still Hella Fast and I almost never see another car on the road that it can't beat, and anytime I feel like it's not fast enough I just turn off the traction control and scare myself.

David

 

[99VERT]

Started with JBA Off Road X-pipe and a VMP tune then moved on to a set of 3.55 gears. Next up Lowering springs and a MGW shifter. Last round was 10% lower, Ford racing twin 65mm Throttle Body and JLT 123 cold air. Last mod so far is a switch to 4.10 gears and 305/35/20 Nitto 555r's. In the future I see long tube headers or a set of Corsa Black diamond quad tips!

Bimini is right about the gears and clutch problems I think. The car is much easier on the clutch with 4.10s, not to mention much more fun to drive!

 

[Cman01]

For me this was easy.

If you want a dyno queen ride do power mods first.

If you actually want a car you can drive and put down the power it already has on the track and post up decent track times mod the suspension, tires, wheels first. Once you can plant down the power it has then do power mods and put down impressive #'s on the dyno and the track.

I chose the second choice for my GT500.

Tony

 

[Lethalchem]

Order of my mods (everything under the same number were done at the same time):

1. Catch can, hood struts, and side/rear splitters. I wanted to stop oil and rock chips upon delivery of the vehicle. The struts were just cheap and easy.
2. Harness bar and belts because I autocross/road race more than anything else.
3. Suspension (Springs, LCA, panhard, UCA).
4. 13-6 kit (Tune, lower pulley, CAI, TB) and an offroad H pipe.

 

[tomshep]

I have had modded cars and they ended up not enjoyable. I didn't want to do that with this car. I have stock power and suspension. I have done cosmetic mods. CS2 rims and a panhard bar to keep the rear centered. Under hood are struts, engine caps, aluminum tanks, CF JLT resonator delete and filter. I did the shift ball, CS plate and door sills. Also Borla cat back which is nice. The car is 100% enjoyable. I can get in and drive anywhere in comfort which was my goal.

Makt it yours! Tom

 

[09Troublemaker]

First came tires( MPSS )with suspension goodies then cams headers TB tune and finally TF wheels with new meats. Still on the fence about gears.....