Looking for advice on modding... help a gal out!

[Kris10]

Good morning! I picked up a 2019 GT 10spd auto a few months ago, I’ve taken her to the track a few times (best time stock is 12.1@118) and now I’m starting to get the itch to mod. I’m the second owner and it has 21k miles. I’ve been trying to read through threads on this forum to better educate myself on the vehicle itself as I’ve previously owned a 2012 that I didn’t mod and a 2002 that I did but it’s obviously a completely different vehicle from that one.

Sooo I don’t want to make this post entirely about a CAI but I’ve read mixed reviews on how the CAI is kind of a waste on these years. I was originally planning on getting that and a tune and a third item (unknown right now which is why I’m here). I’ve got about $1500 to play around with for this first round so with that said, what would you do with that budget to get the most power for your buck?

If you list some mods please include info like the specs or manufacturer. I like to watch videos on different set ups and do my research before pulling the trigger on anything but thank you in advance for any advice / knowledge you can provide!

- Kristen

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[BmacIL]

Tune and tuner from Lund: $600
BMR cradle lockout to help put it down: $220
A lot more serious mod but BK081 rear LCA bearings: $180

Getting it to the ground is more important than making a lot more.

 

[Andy13186]

Drag wheels and street legal drag radial tires will help a lot if you actually want to be able to put power down. I like MH racemasters but they are all ive tried. Biggest difference you can make I think, much more effective than modding the suspension but using normal street tires I believe, there is a guy running 7's on stock suspension. DR's a solid .4 seconds off my 0-60 on the street, probably would do even more on a drag strip.

Also it doesnt void your warranty and is easily changed out to normal street tires when you want the car to handle well in turns or just for rainy season.

If you just want to make more power, then drop in a K&N filter and get a e85 tune if you have e85 available.

 

[OrangeFury1]

I think it depends. Me personally this is what I did, e85 tune, and cat delete with a tire. That’s it, I managed an 11.3 at 123. I’d do a cat delete before a CAI.

With a budget of $1500 maybe just tune and E85 with a budget friendly wheel and tire setup. Look around, you might get lucky, I bought a full complete drag setup with skinnies, new tires, new wheels, lug nuts, balanced and tpms sensors for $750. Just rear tires alone were $300 a piece new.

 

[Kris10]

I think it depends. Me personally this is what I did, e85 tune, and cat delete with a tire. That’s it, I managed an 11.3 at 123. I’d do a cat delete before a CAI.

With a budget of $1500 maybe just tune and E85 with a budget friendly wheel and tire setup. Look around, you might get lucky, I bought a full complete drag setup with skinnies, new tires, new wheels, lug nuts, balanced and tpms sensors for $750. Just rear tires alone were $300 a piece new.

That’s a nice time. Did you do any stock runs before tuning? Trying to gauge if my stock times are in the right area. My goal was to try to get into the 11s fully stock. I have good R/Ts and 60’s each time. I definitely want to get drag tires. But I’m impressed you’re almost a second faster than what I’m at with just a tune and tires.

 

[AZ18yote]

With the budget, and assuming you have e85 available in your area, e85 tune and tuner will be best bang for you buck. Add the BMR cb005 kit (cradle lockout kit @BmacIL mentioned above) to help eliminate wheel hop and put power down. Will have a few bucks left over to put towards a decent tire later on like a Nitto 555r which is a street legal DR you can hook even with FI but is not deadly in the rain lol.

 

[OrangeFury1]

That’s a nice time. Did you do any stock runs before tuning? Trying to gauge if my stock times are in the right area. My goal was to try to get into the 11s fully stock. I have good R/Ts and 60’s each time. I definitely want to get drag tires. But I’m impressed you’re almost a second faster than what I’m at with just a tune and tires.

Unfortunately I do not have a stock 1/4 time. I went to the 1/8 stock but I had a terrible 60ft so my time was horrible (8.4), my MPH was 91. After the tune and rear tires best 1/8 was a 7.3 at 97.XX. Picked up 6 mph just with those mods. That’s how I got my 11.3. This was with a 1.71 60ft. If I can drop that to a 1.6X I know I can get an 11.1-11.2. Stock suspension.

You having the 12.1. I’m sure you can get an 11 if you 60ft a bit better. You have the mph for it.

 

[mustangguy88]

These cars benefit greatly from weight loss. Most of the easy install options aren't worth the cost.

Here's the reason, you have a car with about 450 hp give or take a few hp. Spending $500. To $600. on a cold air intake might gain you 20hp. That's a gain that won't really make a difference in the car's overall performance.

A good start for the money would be a one piece carbon fiber driveshaft. They weigh 11 pounds less than stock and are measurably better than stock while eliminating a weak point.

I recommend it because it changes hp to weight ratio significantly. One pound of dead weight equals one pound off of hp + weight = hp ratio, whereas one pound of rotating mass removed equals a 4 pound reduction in the math (11lbs = 44lbs subtracted from the cars weight.

When you reduce vehicle weight you improve acceleration, especially in rotating mass components. Starting with a limited budget this would be a good bang for the buck, and will compliment any future mods.

 

[Andy13186]

Just FYI skinnies with MH drag radial 185 50 18's removed 44 lbs of rotating mass from the front of the car compared to stock pp1 wheels and tires, the 17x10 VMS racing wheels removed about 20 lbs from the back of the car. Baer Eradispeed+ rotors removed 24 lbs compared to stock pp1 rotors. None of these really had as much of an effect as I was hoping for though. Easily the biggest difference was drag radials on the rear and e85 tune.

 

[mustangguy88]

As I was trying to post earlier. A one piece driveshaft either aluminum or carbon fiber is a starting point. The reasoning is simple, if your looking to improve the overall feeling of the car remove the two piece factory unit that has a carrier bearing in the middle, your tramsmission is in a fixed position as is the rear diffirential. This will eliminate a weak point, reduce the rotating mass, and more efficiently transrfer power to the rear wheels. Testing has shown some of the more common add ons like CAI with these new cars has little to no effect to the end state performance and these aftermarket tuners don't do much either unless you go full monty with the headers, a supercharger or turbos, or torque converters. If your going to spend money on upgrades they should move you in your intended direction you want to take your car in (looking good, straight line, or corner carver) and address factory short comings like the clutch, drive shaft, half shafts, cooling system. It gets embarrassing when your half shafts break at the track when the light goes green, or the isolator on the carrier bearing goes bad from hard launches and clunks when you drive normally. These are just my opions, we all go our own ways and happiness means different things to different people. So go out and just do you.

 

[mustangguy88]

Just FYI skinnies with MH drag radial 185 50 18's removed 44 lbs of rotating mass from the front of the car compared to stock pp1 wheels and tires, the 17x10 VMS racing wheels removed about 20 lbs from the back of the car. Baer Eradispeed+ rotors removed 24 lbs compared to stock pp1 rotors. None of these really had as much of an effect as I was hoping for though. Easily the biggest difference was drag radials on the rear and e85 tune.

Here are some bench racing numbers.

Stock Mustang GT HP/Weight Ration
435hp / 3729lbs curb weight = 0.17hp per pound

Your listed upgrades
445hp (10rwhp gain E85) / 3375lbs curb weight (352 weight savings) = 0.13hp per pound

44lbs + 20lbs+ 24lbs = 88lbs * 4 (4 to 1 ratio) = 352lbs

your net gain is roughy .04hp per pound

 

[Andy13186]

Here are some bench racing numbers.

Stock Mustang GT HP/Weight Ration
435hp / 3729lbs curb weight = 0.17hp per pound

Your listed upgrades
445hp (10rwhp gain E85) / 3375lbs curb weight (352 weight savings) = 0.13hp per pound

44lbs + 20lbs+ 24lbs = 88lbs * 4 (4 to 1 ratio) = 352lbs

your net gain is roughy .04hp per pound

2018s have 460 hp stock at the crank.
e85 adds more like 30 rwhp


And one thing to know is that rotating mass matters less the less diameter the thing thats rotating has. For example axles weight reduction wouldnt make that big of a difference, wheels should make the biggest difference. Lightweight 2 piece rotors lose almost all their weight savings in the rotor hat, which actually isnt a large diameter part of the rotor, so they probably dont matter too much compared to wheels and tires. Driveshaft shouldnt really matter much because its diameter isnt that large. A more realistic comparison would be compare a 30 rwhp gain of e85 to the actual weight reduced. I think the total weight reduced 88 lbs, I think doubling that would be generous personally for actual effect. So id say its equivalent to taking 176 lbs off. So I think the accurate thing to do here is take base weight of 3776 and divide that by base hp 460 thats 8.20 lbs per hp. 3600/460 is 7.82 lbs per hp. 8.20/7.82 is 1.048. So the lighter car should be 4.8% of a better hp to weight ratio. Lets compare that to the 30hp gain from e85 tune, thats 490/460 thats 1.065 so thats 6.5% of a horsepower to weight difference.

If you do think 1 lbs of rotating mass is 3 or more of static weight then the difference of 88 lbs of rotating mass would be nearly equivalent or a bit better than gaining 30 rwhp

 

[BmacIL]

Here are some bench racing numbers.

Stock Mustang GT HP/Weight Ration
435hp / 3729lbs curb weight = 0.17hp per pound

Your listed upgrades
445hp (10rwhp gain E85) / 3375lbs curb weight (352 weight savings) = 0.13hp per pound

44lbs + 20lbs+ 24lbs = 88lbs * 4 (4 to 1 ratio) = 352lbs

your net gain is roughy .04hp per pound

You're overestimating the effect of many of these. Also, it's all for nought if much of it is being lost in slip or suspension deflection.

 

[2018GT]

Tune and tuner from Lund: $600
BMR cradle lockout to help put it down: $220
A lot more serious mod but BK081 rear LCA bearings: $180

Getting it to the ground is more important than making a lot more.

This.

First thing to do in these s550 cars in my opinion is install the cradle lockout.

I have the Cradle lockout, Steeda vertical links(i don’t think they made that much difference for my stock daily driver), and newly installed toe knuckle bearings. The cradle lockout is by far the most affective mod I have done so far, and I will be getting an e85 tune once my warranty is out.

 

[tj@steeda]

We have great success with the 10-speed automatics - https://www.steeda.com/2018-mustang-silver-bullet-drag-car

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