Upgrade List

Hey everybody! Little introduction here: So I've finally been able to replace my 2012 V6 Base Mustang with another daily driver (a Subaru Outback), and now I get to play with my Mustang

Bought the car brand new, have kept it to this point, and plan on hanging on to it until it's a classic. I know it's "just" a V6, but it's mine, and I don't owe anything on it, so it's the car I'm playing with.

Anyway, to the point:

Trying to put together a list of upgrades of things I may want to do to the car over the next couple of decades

List so far:

ENGINE
Cold Air Intake
ECU Tune
Throttle Body
Throttle Body Spacer
Exhaust
Headers
High Flow Cat?
Super-/Turbo-charger?

DRIVETRAIN
Driveshaft
Safety Loop
Clutch
Flexplate
Torque Converter
Rear Gears
Panhard Bar
Rear Lower Control Arm

SUSPENSION
Springs
Struts
Sway Bars
Camber/Caster Plates
Coil-overs
Front Control Arms
IRS Swap?

TIRES/WHEELS
Tires
Wider (Rear)/Light Weight Rims

BRAKES
Pad/Rotor Upgrade
Fluid Upgrade

WEIGHT
Spare Tire Delete?
Rear Seat Delete
Carbon Fiber Parts?

EXTERIOR
Hood
Fog Lights
Head Lights
Tail Lights
Spoiler?
Body Kit?
GT front end conversion?

COSMETIC
Floor Liners
Pedals
Hood Struts
Badge Removals
Lambo Doors? (lol)


Things with "?" after them are things I'm less sure I want to do.
Anything you'd add/take away from all that?
Interested to hear your thoughts/opinions.

Also interested if anyone has a preferred "order" to do mods in, just out of curiosity - obviously some things make more sense to do at once, and the tune will likely need to be updated at various stages.

Happy Mustang-ing!

What's the goal for the car? That will help a lot with the decisions. From another thread on here I think it's debatable if throttle bodies are worth it. The spacer is snake oil. A turbo or blower could make the car a long more fun. No one makes an IRS to swap in. Unless you want to go custom.

As for the cosmetics, that's all up to you. It's your car.

01yellerCobra said:

What's the goal for the car? That will help a lot with the decisions. From another thread on here I think it's debatable if throttle bodies are worth it. The spacer is snake oil. A turbo or blower could make the car a long more fun. No one makes an IRS to swap in. Unless you want to go custom.

As for the cosmetics, that's all up to you. It's your car.

Click to expand...

Ha! Didn't actually mean to leave the cosmetics on there. We'll edit that out in post >.> <.< >.>

My goals are increased HP and speed without losing too much maneuverability. Needs to still function as a road car, and have a decent ride, but I'd also like to blow past the occasional unsuspecting V8.

Mostly I just wanna play with the car for fun, and see what happens/do what I can with the goal of...doing it. /shrug

Whatever mods you decide on build from the ground up. It's the best way to build it.

07 Boss said:

Whatever mods you decide on build from the ground up. It's the best way to build it.

Click to expand...

So wheels/tires -> brakes -> suspension -> exhaust -> engine/ecu?

frankly... trade it for a 5.0 if you want more power.

stkjock said:

frankly... trade it for a 5.0 if you want more power.

Click to expand...

I know. That idea is still bumping around in my head, but I do really enjoy the idea of having a car that I've had since it was brand new, not just something used I picked up because it was more HP... hard choice for me.

Besides which, a used GT of the same model year is like 15-18k, rather than the few hundred I can start throwing into things now, and I don't want to add another car payment at the moment.

Personal opinion, I wouldn’t go chasing big power numbers out of a 6-cylinder, I would be angling more towards the handling upgrades and getting some weight out of it.

Forty61 said:

Personal opinion, I wouldn’t go chasing big power numbers out of a 6-cylinder, I would be angling more towards the handling upgrades and getting some weight out of it.

Click to expand...

It'll never have big power numbers; it is just a V6 after all. But that doesn't mean I can't add a *little* more power. Drivability is the main thing, and it'll mostly be road driven, so it doesn't need all that much as far as brute HP anyway.

Meteorb64 said:

So wheels/tires -> brakes -> suspension -> exhaust -> engine/ecu?

Click to expand...

Yep.

Do suspension, tires and brakes. Then wait until you can afford an F150 3.5 ecoboost swap. Start saving up and don't waste your time with the little bolt-ons that just chip away at your bank account and don't add much power. If you want performance out of a ford V6, might as well use the best one that they currently make. There are no shortage of them in junkyards.

With a tune, the one in my explorer sport absolutely rips. The torque and boost response is excellent. The sound, well that is not so good but at least the turbos keep it quiet.

GT500 swap using a donor car


fin

RED09GT said:

Do suspension, tires and brakes. Then wait until you can afford an F150 3.5 ecoboost swap. Start saving up and don't waste your time with the little bolt-ons that just chip away at your bank account and don't add much power. If you want performance out of a ford V6, might as well use the best one that they currently make. There are no shortage of them in junkyards.

With a tune, the one in my explorer sport absolutely rips. The torque and boost response is excellent. The sound, well that is not so good but at least the turbos keep it quiet.

Click to expand...

What makes the EcoBoost 3.5 so much better? And how much else needs to be swapped with it?

eighty6gt said:

GT500 swap using a donor car


fin

Click to expand...

It's my understanding that for the price of that you might as well just sell the car and by a 5.0, no?

06redgt said:

https://www.procharger.com/automotive-superchargers/ford/mustang-v6/2014-11-mustang-v6-37

Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm excited about that somewhere down the line :-D

Meteorb64 said:

What makes the EcoBoost 3.5 so much better? And how much else needs to be swapped with it?

Click to expand...

Forged internals, factory designed for forced induction, stronger block, direct injection, lots of experienced calibrators to work with, and a proven platform.
To do a power adder and forged internals with your 3.7 will buy you 2 junkyard F150 ecoboosts.

There are a few threads out there on various boards with builds similar to this. Your stock transmission and motor mounts bolt right up. You will probably have to re-route some of the turbo plumbing, use an aftermarket intercooler, and probably have to change fuel lines. The Ford racing controls pack will be the easiest way to get everything behaving like it came that way from Ford.

Search it on Youtube

Another plus is that it will be considered a "period correct" modification several years down the road.

RED09GT said:

There are a few threads out there on various boards with builds similar to this. Your stock transmission and motor mounts bolt right up. You will probably have to re-route some of the turbo plumbing, use an aftermarket intercooler, and probably have to change fuel lines. The Ford racing controls pack will be the easiest way to get everything behaving like it came that way from Ford.

Search it on Youtube

Another plus is that it will be considered a "period correct" modification several years down the road.

Click to expand...

I really like the idea, but per https://www.allfordmustangs.com/for...-into-2012-mustang.html#/topics/949809?page=1 it ended up being about a 10-15k dollar project, which is way more than the 6k supercharger, lol. It'd be sweet, but for that kind of money I could buy a 5.0 mustang... will definitely do more research, maybe that guy overdid it, but it sounds like a lot of work to get the exhaust/headers, and even the steering and A/C working right...

Edit: also seems Ford put out a control kit for it, but it's only meant for M/T as far as I can tell, so I'd have to add an auto-to-manual swap in there as well.

Before I did an engine swap, I'd just upgrade to a 5.0.

Don't waste your time with the v6, either get a new 5.0 or at least something post 2012 IMO

Forty61 said:

Personal opinion, I wouldn’t go chasing big power numbers out of a 6-cylinder, I would be angling more towards the handling upgrades and getting some weight out of it.

Click to expand...

What?? Look at the GN from 30 years ago. Forced Induction can do a lot.

I would lay out your goals and budget. you probably could find a wrecked 5.0 and do a proper swap for less then a FI 6 build.


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