Just bought these two items. Absolutely best price possible and free shipping. Didn’t want a situation where it was out of stock when I needed it. Uninstalled stuff can be returned anytime for a refund.

http://www.latemodelrestoration.com/item/M5230MGTCA1/2011-Mustang-Gt-50L-Ford-Racing-Gt500-Axle-Back-Exhaust-Kit

http://www.latemodelrestoration.com/item/LRS-CW1/Wheel-Nut-Cavity-Cleaner

I’m paying the dealer to install it when the car comes in so I have full warranty. These are Ford Racing parts. Obviously I’m keeping the original mufflers.

I’m not doing any custom tunes until the drivetrain warranty expires in 5 years. By that time I’ll know if there are any issues with the engine. If not, I’m safe using a BAMA tune and a quality cold air intake.

These mufflers: extra 9 hp and lighter weight. But I got them for the sound without being too loud.
CAI: 11 hp
Tune for 93 octane: 20-24 hp

This is all rear wheel hp. So the flywheel hp would go from 420 to maybe 475, plus shifting would be better. No manual with the same tune would beat it.

The Ford Racing tune and air filter is not worth the money for the little bit of power added, even if it’s covered under warranty. It’s about 7 hp overall. However it does add 60 pounds of torque at 1500 rpm. But that won’t do me much good, really, unless I was using gigantic monster slicks in the rear. Otherwise takeoffs would spin tires even easier than it can do already.

BAMA gives you 3 tunes for any and all of the 3 octanes, generically offering Street, Performance and Racing, but you can mix and match parameters.
I’d do 87 Performance with original shifting, 93 Performance with Performance shifting, and 93 Racing with Racing shifting, which I would rarely use. Takes about 5-15 minutes to reload a tune. Original factory tune is backed up.

BAMA is by far the best company (American Muscle) with the best warranty. Most people also report MPG gains, especially with using Performance. They also offer a Nitrous mode for 91 octane only. I think just that one is not warrantied.

BAMA is the most careful not to get into detonation issues or getting something too lean or rich, yet their numbers are as good as anyone’s. You can also shut off the speed limiter or adjust rpm limiter, though I’d leave the latter alone for sure.

Once you purchase your 3 tunes, you get more tunes free for life. This means if a tune doesn’t work out, or you get different size tires, or get different rear end gears, etc. This way your instruments still read right, etc.

I’ve done research. IF the engine blew up, the dealer can tell if the computer was flashed, though they would not know what was changed and how it was changed before you loaded the original tune back in. So you’d likely have no warranty. An engine is about $10k installed. IF the #8 piston blows up (detonation/runner issue done wrong), BAMA covers $8k of the cost. That’s why I think they’re the most careful.

The scary thing is that if you took it to a dealer while traveling out of state and they needed to reflash it for some reason, you really better have a detailed receipt to show your original dealer if the engine blows up later. I would also have the dealer contact my dealer by phone to let them know what they did so it could be entered into the database. Otherwise you’d be on the hook for no warranty.

These engines seem to be as reliable as any. You know how the Internet is. The people with problems likely did something stupid.

I’m switching from Hess gas to Shell, as usually Shell here is just as cheap or even cheaper. The Hess gas is just as good, but the Shell has useful additives that likely would help the engine. The important thing is never buy gas from a place that is really a “no name” brand or doesn’t do much business, so the gas sits in their tanks longer.

I want to get the car broken in fast so I’m planning some day trips off of interstate highways. I’ve never been to Burlington, VT, so that might be a valid itinerary.

The Mustang’s engine power at the engine is 420 hp, about 373-376 at the wheels. The Shelby mufflers, surprisingly, turn out to add about 9 hp at the wheels, nice bonus besides sounding better.

At some point I’d be looking to add CAI (cold air induction). By itself, maybe 11 hp more at the wheels. This is basically updating the air filter and tubing so that it’s sucking in cold air away from the engine while also using a state of the art filter with less air restriction and better filtration. It also can be washed instead of being tossed every 15-20,ooo miles. Probably good for 80,000 or better.

So now that takes us to 393 hp at the wheels, or maybe an engine rating of 440-450 hp. That’s the same as the Boss 302 version of the Mustang.

Now let’s add a custom tune. This is reprogramming the chip that runs everything. Typically this will add at least another 20 hp overall to the peak hp and torque, and maybe as much as 40 more to the very low end torque in some cases.

You buy a programmer that plugs into a port under your dashboard. A company emails custom tunes to you and you load them into the chip. As you’d expect, it changes the engine setup, but since I have an automatic, it can also change how hard and quick the transmission shifts, from a little more than stock, to very strong for racing.

These overall tunes are typically rated as Street, Performance, and Racing. Some people report BETTER gas mileage in Racing mode, probably because of optimization of power from the fuel to air ratio. The programmer also stores the original factory tune in case you want to put that back in. I expect I’d want to use the Performance mode, but I’d try all three.

Mufflers: $310 plus 100-200 to install by a dealer if I want to have a warranty.

CAI: $300 (more if you get it separately from the programmer, package savings here)

Programmer: $379

Tune: 3 tunes for free when you buy programmer. They also have a program where you can get additional tunes for life for free.

This is what they look like together:

http://www.americanmuscle.com/airaid-race-cai-tuner-1113gt.html

After much research it appears the Bama company knows what they’re doing better than anyone else.

I want to do this sometime when I can get up money for it. $1009 to take the car from 420 to 460-470 hp. That’s mufflers, CAI and tuner. I can load in different tunes whenever, takes less  than 15 minutes the first time and even less after that.

The car starts out being able to use any gas, but the tunes optimize it to take only 91 or 93 octane to get more power. I’d do 93. More importantly, shifting for the automatic would be more crisp and firm and would make for better acceleration. At that point no manual shift car could touch this, even if it had the same engine tune.

If I wanted even quicker acceleration with a loss of high end speed, I could install 4:10 rear gears for about $250 including labor. Not likely for me, but remotely possible.

I could do the tune or the CAI by themselves, but it makes more sense to do them together.

I should also point out that the car comes from the factory with the top speed limited to 147 mph. With reprogramming, I can remove that. I can also fine tune the red line RPM limit, which I’d adjust for safety. Hey, it already revs to 7,000!

Without speed limiting, the car would probably be good for 160, maybe more but not sure. I’ve noticed that it pulls really strong up to 135, rather impressively from 135-150. So likely 160, and with more power added, possibly 165. The Shelby at 662 hp makes about 202 mph. You need a LOT more power to get from 165 to 200!

However here in New England I’m not likely to find a stretch of, um, private pavement to bury the speedometer at 160. Though there is a speedway nearby.

Here I am without the car being delivered yet, and I’m already researching ways to make it punchier!