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New Shoes for the Pony
I was very pleased with my mods to date and since my car is a daily driver, I could not justify shelving new rims and tires for aftermarket. But as luck would have it, my daughter got a 94 Mustang and the wife suggested putting my stock bullitts and tires on her car and that way I could get a new set. The final push was when Hertz was now going to rent basically my car (different hood and rear spoiler). I still wanted the classic look of the chrome Cragar bullitts ( back in the day they were just called Cragar SS and I guess the term "Bullitt" came from the movie and Ford's introduction of the Bullitt Mustang in 2001). I picked up new rims ( Deep Dish Bullitts 18x9 front, 18x10 rear) and Nitto 555's to run on them. I put 255-45-18 on the front and 285-40-18 on the rear.
And below are some pics of my car as she is right now. I tried not to change the overall look of the new mustang, just enhance it.
Changed the gas cap to reflect the GT 350 Logo, thanks to Toxic Grafix.
And changed the steering wheel logo........that took some thinking, but it worked.
I installed a polished radiator cover to add some bling for the upcoming show season.
To get rid of that pesky prop bar (and to avoid scratching my new radiator cover) I installed the Classic Design Concepts hood struts.
The install was straight forward and I liked the bright bracket on my mostly black engine bay.
Old School Header Install
Next OMG mod was a move to Long Tube Headers. I did a lot of research, and I found that consistantly "shorty" Headers were all show and no go. Dyno results showed a dismal 3 HP gain.
I wanted to maximize my naturally aspirated motor, short of new heads and cams.....my only option was Long Tube Headers. Stainless Works and Kooks showed promise, but cost ran close to 1500 for a set with a matching x pipe. I found a set of SLP Performance on sale and for right at a grand, I got a set of SLP LT aluminum ceramic headers and Powerflow catted x pipe. The price was right and I ordered them from LM Performance.
They arrived and I tapped a friend "Calvin" to help me install them. He had access to a garage and a lift to make it easier to install. We started by hoisting the car in the air.
Pulled the old H pipe out was the start, next the manifolds.
We pulled the old stock manifolds off and you can see the performance difference right here.
I started to work, pullling the studs out of the heads and bolting up the new headers.
Not that bad of a job, it took just over 4 hours and you see the result
I contacted Doug at Bama Chips, who sent me a updated tune for my car. The new Stangs are really finicky about their A/F ratio. With Long Tube Headers, they tend to run a bit lean and may not throw a code. After we torqued the headers down, I loaded up my new tune and fired her up.
WOW what a difference. I kept my Flowmasters and when you get on it now.....Bowties beware. I want to dyno her and take it to a test and tune run at the local strip and get some times.
Future mods: Supercharger is a long range plan. Mods in the near future, do some engine dress up, add some gauges in the cockpit, tint the windows. Thanks to all who helped: E & J Automotive, BMR Fabrications, Bama Chips, Steeda, TNT Mustang, Fast Lane Motorsports, Mustang Tuning, The Mustang Source, Black Mustang Club and Baltimore Street Mods. A special thanks to my wife, Sandra who was there all the way.
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Page 5 TIres, Rims & LT Headers
