Anyone else think this way about mods? Or just me?

[Mach 307]

Let's see a side photo of the car with those wheels on it and maybe an interior shot with the steering wheel.

350 Steering wheel, FP/350 sill plates, FP/350R strut brace, FP X-Pipe, and my HP fender moldings go to the shop this Monday to get installed, so I don’t have a pic yet. I will upload some once they’re on. I am unbelievably excited if you can imagine, for Monday to come. Wheels went on yesterday, so here are some of the best shots I have currently. Excuse the glue traps. We don’t have a mice problem, but can never be too careful with those bastards, lol.

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[Mach 307]

I am largely that way. I do a few more "aftermarket" mods like all the Steeda stop the hop kit that really tightens up the suspension the way it "should" be. And headers/tune were pretty much a given for me. But everything else is OEM+... Now my boy, he is a "typical" mid 20's kid. He likes to touch and modify EVERYTHING. Very tastefully I might add, but likes to make it "his"...

Headers are another thing too, I guess I’d frame the same as my BMR rails, if I were to do them. Something Ford never did, so you must look elsewhere. Though I’d go someone tried and true like Kooks? Same could be said for forced induction. I really like what ESS does. There’s some things like that I’d presumably break my rule for, but not many. I was the same way as your son on my Fiesta ST I owned from 19-22yo and my 2023 GT I owned from 23-25yo. Then something just changed.

 

[GTP]

Haha I know. I feel like I have the brain of a 70 year old man about some of these things.

I just turned 70. I wish my current brain (experiences) was back in a 26-yr old body!

 

[GTP]

@Adr2600 , still pondering about your graphics?

Car is looking good regardless.

 

[jonny10buds]

Controversial I know but I’ve been in the motor trade for over 40 years and every modification on any car will introduce a compromise, I still feel guilty every time I look at my alloy dust caps but I remove them every 6 months and lubricate the valve threads

 

[Mach 307]

I just turned 70. I wish my current brain (experiences) was back in a 26-yr old body!

Happy late birthday!!

 

[Mach 307]

@Adr2600 , still pondering about your graphics?

Car is looking good regardless.

You know, I decided on keeping them. After going to see that 350 HEP, and talking to @PP0001 quite a bit. I realized originality means quite a bit to me. Plus the graphics are like $1500+ for all three… before labor, so that helps swing the pendulum a bit as well. I also know myself, and know if they were reapplied by a shop and not the factory down the road, if they were even off by a millimeter (or if they weren’t I’d create the thought they were in my head), it would drive me crazy.

 

[Gen 6 Mach1]

Haha I know. I feel like I have the brain of a 70 year old man about some of these things.

Alec , you talking about Me . , I'm all in about Stock at this point in my life . I had fun for 55 years modifying every car I owned . I Drag Raced from 1976 - 2005 a 68 Camaro SS from Stock 327-4speed to Modified 350 13to 1 Compression 6"Rods Modified C4 Corvette heads Crane Inverted Roller 268 dir 650 lift , 2" Hooker headers 930 cfm Holly MSD ingition Powerglide TCI 5500 stall Con. 5.38 rear gears running NHRA SuperStreet 10.90 heads-up my last 10 years . Now at 70 years, I detail and drive my Mach1 . If you're into Stock or Modifying, that's Great , it all about having a great time doing what brings joy to your life . I hope posting this is ok Alec , I'll remove if you want.

 

[ShadesOfBloo]

Haha, I know. I feel like I have the brain of a 70 year old man about some of these things.

I've been accused of that at your age.

...But I started learning car stuff in the '90s, when it was common sense that that the OEMs left a lot on the table.
Exhaust pipe sizes had more to do with bean-counting than fluid mechanics. The pipes were always crimp-bent because mandrel bending cost more. I'm still not sure what was up with the 3-pass mufflers, that made exhaust do U-turns with zero radius.
Exhaust manifolds were probably affected by engineering deadlines and material costs.
Catalytic converters were more restrictive back then.

I think there had been a generation of company management that didn't own cars, and weren't interested in their own products.

Basically, everything on a Mustang GT exhaust was such a stingy design, almost any aftermarket muffler would free up power.

Later in the '90s I went to engineering school, and took up autocross, and became more and more aware of the compromises in suspension design. A lot of cars' stock handling was sketchy enough that you could change stuff with only the vaguest idea what you were doing, and at worst you wouldn't make an improvement.
Even sporty cars were designed for heavy-handed understeer, determined by liability lawyers and the psychology of uninformed drivers (and salesmen).

My friend with the V6 Mustang went changing stuff willy-nilly, and everything he touched made some incremental improvement.

Over time the OEMs in general, and American ones in particular, learned not to leave so much on the table SO the aftermarket had a much harder time making improvements.
Now the low-end lowering springs, damper and coilovers will not only ruin your car's ride but hurt your handling.

I've made a spreadsheet where I compiled specs of different Ford and aftermarket springs for my Mustang, comparing the spring rates and the amount of lowering, and some notes on what the autocross and track crowd had to say about them.

After all that research I came to the decision to modify
my alignment.

A lot of tempting parts turned out to be already installed on my GT-PP.
or they're aftermarket versions, for the base GTs.
I still consider replacing stuff, but mostly come back to the decision that it looks like a lot of money and effort for a small change in performance.


Looking at your car the way you do, it seems to me you're looking at stuff where Ford knew they left room for improvement, and you're seeing how they made improvements in other trims and in their part catalog. That's a mature and legit approach and I'm all for it.

 

[skinnyb]

Headers are another thing too, I guess I’d frame the same as my BMR rails, if I were to do them. Something Ford never did, so you must look elsewhere. Though I’d go someone tried and true like Kooks? Same could be said for forced induction. I really like what ESS does. There’s some things like that I’d presumably break my rule for, but not many. I was the same way as your son on my Fiesta ST I owned from 19-22yo and my 2023 GT I owned from 23-25yo. Then something just changed.

Yeah, I have stainless power headers and am very pleased with them. The Borla switchfire has a VERY unique tone that I love. As for boost, ESS all day. Especially with a manual trans. Makes low speed driving much more "stock" but will ramp up quickly once the RPM rises. The Whipple adds so much low end torque, would be a burnout monster for me.

Yeah my boy is 25, will be 26 in June. He is an old soul in a lot of ways. He actually isn't flesh and blood to me, but I never had any biological kids of my own so I "adopted" him a few months ago and haven't looked back. Its uncanny how similar we are even him being half my age. We are friends first, and pretty much family at this point. Can never have too much support now a days, and I have lots of good sage advice to offer sometimes too sage

 

[green97probe]

In my case, Ford just didn't offer a 2018 Mustang GT optioned the way that I wanted.

What I wanted was a GT Premium without satellite radio (didn't want the antenna on the roof) or heated/cooled seats.

My modification path:

1. Swapped the 300A cloth seat upholstery for the black leather from the 400A trim.
2. Replaced the awful base GT wheels with the optional polished 19s.
3. Installed the 8" Sync touchscreen and hardware sourced from a totaled 401A GT that didn't have heated/cooled seats so that I could get the proper FCIM without the buttons. Enabled drive modes. Mounted GPS antenna under speaker grille on dash.
4. Swapped the base gauge cluster for the 301A/400A cluster so that I could get MyColor.
5. Installed the Performance Pack Gauges and dash trim. Gauges functioned without any changes.

If I could go back and do it over, I would've started with a 301A GT with PP1.

 

[Mach 307]

Alec , you talking about Me . , I'm all in about Stock at this point in my life . I had fun for 55 years modifying every car I owned . I Drag Raced from 1976 - 2005 a 68 Camaro SS from Stock 327-4speed to Modified 350 13to 1 Compression 6"Rods Modified C4 Corvette heads Crane Inverted Roller 268 dir 650 lift , 2" Hooker headers 930 cfm Holly MSD ingition Powerglide TCI 5500 stall Con. 5.38 rear gears running NHRA SuperStreet 10.90 heads-up my last 10 years . Now at 70 years, I detail and drive my Mach1 . If you're into Stock or Modifying, that's Great , it all about having a great time doing what brings joy to your life . I hope posting this is ok Alec , I'll remove if you want.

Of course it’s okay to post!! Both those cars are absolutely beautiful. What a great story too.

 

[TonyNJ]

Can barely see the wheels. They kind of disappear in that lighting. Hopefully you can do a nice photoshoot after. Hard to tell how it presents.

 

[Mach 307]

Can barely see the wheels. They kind of disappear in that lighting. Hopefully you can do a nice photoshoot after. Hard to tell how it presents.

I will do that! Planning on some good photos after the 27TH. Car goes for a paint correction and ceramic that week. I’ll send some to ya then when it’s all together.

 

[Gilberjj]

@ad42600 those 350 wheel on your Mach 1 look perfect! I like it a lot.

I used to modify every car. I had lots of fun modifying my cars and motorcycles in the past, but they would always end up at a point with issues that I didn't have the money or experience to get exactly right. I always aimed for as much power for as little money as possible. Not a great strategy.
My GT350R is by far the most expensive car I've ever purchased... but my god... it's perfect. One of the main things that drew me to the GT350R is how uncompromising it is from the factory.

Wheels? Best factory wheels ever imo
Seats? Recaros
Brakes? Brembos
Exhaust? Perfect from the factory
Suspension? Anything aftermarket would significantly compromise either the street manners or track performance. Magnaride is SO good.
Looks? I love the stance. I don't want to change anything.

My GT350R is the first car I've ever had where I'm not tempted to fiddle with it. All I want to do is enjoy it as-is, and hopefully enjoy long-term reliability.

I plan on keeping this car stock. I believe it will hold and increase in value, especially over time. And I'm sure that any mods would only decrease it's value in the future.
My mindset has changed a lot over time. But that's also because factory cars have gotten a lot. When I was in high school (during the Fast and the Furious days), car culture was awesome. Everyone modified their cars. Additionally, there were significant gains to be had through modifications. The OEMs left a lot on the table.
That's changed substantially. OEMs are making much more enthusiast focused cars now. How many cars come with 400+ hp from the factory?

The family car is a 2018 Audi Q7 with the 3.0 supercharged v6. I have done some basic bolt-on mods and a tune for sound and power. It was relatively inexpensive and for that platform, the basic mods significantly increased performance. But I imagine that my cars will be modified less and less over time. Stock stuff is just so good now.

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