Where to begin?

[marjen]

I am hoping you guys will be able to help point me in the right direction. I am a bit of a late bloomer as a car enthusiast. Never really cared what I drove for years. Then I got a 2009 Maxima when they first came out and LOVED that car. That got me into cars a lot more. I traded that in for a 2013 Fusion when they came out. Loved the look of the car, but it was not nearly as exciting as the maxima, even though I got the Titanium.

When I saw the first images of the new Mustang, I new I would be getting one. So I purchased an ecoboost premium last month. Loving the car so far. Now I am looking to see what I can get out of it. I dont know much about engine and performance upgrades. It seems they are all expensive and not sure what benefits they all provide. I dont have an unlimited budget. I am looking to smartly get the most performance I can out of the car. SO where to begin? What are the best bang for buck upgrades performance wise and that will protect my engine? Do exhausts increase performance or just make a lot of noise? Does lowering a car add any value or do people just like the looks? Where should I spend my money first?

I am hoping this becomes a beginners guide to squeezing the most out of the ecoboost for those of us not quite in the know. Thanks and look forward to the responses. So far I am really liking this forum.

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[JimmyTwoTimes]

First, with an ecoboost, get a tune. American Muscle or another vendor here can point you in the right direction. A few hundred bucks and you can get SERIOUS performance gains with just a computer.

 

[Apwrx]

Best bang for the buck IMO is a tune.
Edit:jimmy beat me to it, I second what he said

 

[marjen]

Hey guys. I have been thinking about that and reading the tuning posts. I guess I am worried about what could go wrong? It sounds like its similar to flashing the firmware on a phone or computer. What if something goes wrong during flash, or after, does it hose the car? Is it better to wait until its out of warranty?

 

[Papaya]

Hello Marjen.
I know that you have already your 19" winter package installed after finding the right lug nuts.

If you are that late like me - kids big and have there own car now - and you are not that crazy to run on tracks all weekend long - a conservative tune should it do at the first time. I did go with COBB and there AccessPort V3 were I can get slowly into tuning maps. They give you 5 to choose with another 5 different "under maps".

If you go on there website and check out the map section than you figure out what I am writing about.

Livernois is another company with a lot experience in EcoBoost tuning. But like you, I have to look at my $$$ spend. COBB had a special going on so I paid $475 for there AP V3.

Next is maybe a catback for me. But I don't like to get that crazy if you know what I mean.

 

[marjen]

Yes you know I might be in trouble when it takes me a week to find the correct lug nuts lol.

It sounds like I might need to start saving for a tune. In my early research, I was looking at Cobb. Reading about unleashed tuning also, they seem to be getting some good results, but need to see some more opinions first.

This will be a daily driver, but I have a 90 mile round trip to work, would be better if it was more fun!

 

[Renner]

Cobb Tune was my first step and 100% glad I did it

 

[Waylap1]

I have had three turbo cars that I had a tune installed. Two Saabs and an Audi.
The performance gains are incredible! You wouldn't belive the power and torque that was hidden. Unfortunately for me, each of those cars did start having issues. When you take a perfectly fine car that you need for a daily driver and it starts having issues, then it makes you sick.
The issues were, rough idle and missing, caused by stick coils being over worked. This caused CELs, which suck bad when you have state inspections.
Other issue....TOO much power for the automatic transmission, which started to slip...torque converter?
You may never experience any problems with a tune but know the risks.
You can also wait just a little while to see others results from a reliable tune but I wonder just how many people will be honest on here about having issues. They talk up tunes, pay good money for them and then if something goes to crap, it might be embarrassing.
Don't get me wrong, Tunes are awesome! BUT will your car be able to take it?
I'm on the fence currently between the EB with PP or a base GT. If I go with the EB, I definitely won't get a tune just for caution from previous experience.
If I ever buy a used EB, I will make sure it never had a tune.

 

[Renner]

If you are having issues with a tune just remove it or at minimum use the stock map. Also with most tunes you need to make sure you have the right plugs...the right gap, the correct supporting mods as well. If all these are in play and the car is still giving you issues you can always revert back to stock. The only cautious time I am with a tune is during install...once that is over its all just fine tuning to get it to run smooth as silk.

Buying a EB and not using 93 with a tune...at least for me..is just crazy talk. To each their own though

 

[04SloSnake]

I will tune my Ecoboost without really thinking twice but there are some things to consider. My 06 GTI had about 3,000 miles on it when I put the REVO tune on it and it nothing but problems. Fortunately they had nothing to do with the tune so warranty was a nonissue until the DSG transmission started to slip. At the time I could not afford to fix things I was responsible for breaking so it put me in a tough spot. Modding cars takes responsibility and understanding that you are taking a risk. If you are worried about the long term effects of a tune wait and look at customer reviews and go with a reputable tuner.

I don't think anybody would hold back about problems of a tune on the forums. Usually people are very vocal on the internet when they are dissatisfied with a product or service.

 

[Waylap1]

The product... The tune itself is fantastic! I think what happens though is that people rave about them, rightfully so but then their cars components can't handle it and things start going wrong.
You get to play and get all excited and then when your nearly brand new car is toast, it can be difficult for some to admit they ruined their own car.

 

[doulos4jc]

I dont have an unlimited budget. I am looking to smartly get the most performance I can out of the car. SO where to begin? What are the best bang for buck upgrades performance wise...

^ this
Here's my priority list:
1. Tune
2. Oil Catch Can- no perf. gains
3. Intercooler
4. Exhaust
5. Springs

My #1 priority is keeping it DD friendly.

If I go with the EB, I definitely won't get a tune just for caution from previous experience.

You made a valid point, no need to hijack the thread by arguing it.

 

[JerseyDevil]

It's already been shown that stabilizing AIT on these cars pays big dividends in power. So Tune and Intercooler should always be the first 2 mods one should do in no particular order. We just received our Shop Car and will be test fitting our Intercooler this week with ait, pressure drop, dyno and FlIR information to follow. Here's a pic of a customers BMW 2008 335i AIT 2-3-4 gear run, the Ecoboost Intercooler is quite a bit larger than the E92 BMW and we spec'd the core in regard to ambient face, core volume, charge and ambient row height and ambient and charge fin density to lessen pressure drop and maximize and maintain AIT drop.



Here's a pic of our Abarth 500 Intercooler which along with our Mini and BMW designs are always standard in Intercooling. We developed the stepped core concept back in 2006 and obtained a provisional patent pending on multidimensional cooling. We are also the only bar and plate manufacturer to utilize rounded face and charge air bars to lower pressure drop on both the ambient face and charge face. Our intercoolers are all custom to each vehicle we do not use off the shelf cores or end tanks. Our goal with all of our products is to leave no power on the table, while providing world class design, look and fabrication.

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[Herr_Poopschitz]

Note that this isn't a Saab or Volkswagen - neither of which are known for stellar reliability in the first place.

The automatics in these cars are very strong. If a manual trans, they will typically have issues if they're abused anyway, but might need an upgraded clutch to hold extra torque eventually. Typically unless using sticky tires, stock radials sort of act as a 'fuse' that keeps high loads off of the drivetrain and keeps things safe. For casual street use, the 'other component' argument isn't a very good one. If going to the drag strip on a regular basis, it should go w/o saying that upgraded parts will be required since the factory didn't design for that kind of sustained usage.

 

[marjen]

Ok so I need to look at tuners. What is an intercooler? And what are these oil catch can things?

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