The new Mustang is an amazing piece of machinery. Ford has done an excellent job in order to refine the legendary Mustang. With 412 hp and 6 speed, the car is capable of running from 0 to 60 in 5 seconds. Many would be happy with the way it is, the beauty relies in the car capital of even better performance. Basic mods give the car up and running with the big boys in the Chevrolet and Dodge clans.

Many tuners start programming the car. This is the most effective change you can do to your Mustang. SCT is a leader in this area with no competition what so ever. Their pre-set tune was able to 28 HP and 34ft-lb of extract automatic 5.0, 32hp and 31ft-lb of the six speed gearbox. These figures come from an off the shelf tuner worth $ 379!. With such an increase in power, the 5.0 Mustang, no doubt, be capable of running at 0 – 60 in less than 5 seconds. The increase in performance of SCT Flasher will result in better MPG. 1 to 2 MPG is a typical increment of an SCT tune.

Cold Air Intakes (CAI) are the next logical step in the progress of upgrading a Mustang. Many leading brands are available for the 5.0 Mustang, all with good results. Seems Steeda has led the way CAI for the late model Mustangs. It is a combination of performance, quality and appearance. Independent tests on 5.0 Mustang Steeda CAI showed an increase of 12HP and 10ft-lb. A great result from a mod $ 370, plus extra deep sound and beautiful look under the hood. Now, your Mustang should be carried low 12′s in the quarter mile.

Third, modify the exhaust system. Some fans go for a cat-back upgrade, and some go for the header and mid pipes. People rarely go for full exhaust flow at this stage at once, for cost reasons. A quality cat-back will be in the range of $ 850, an x-pipe is usually $ 500, long tube headers are almost $ 1,000. Personally, I often go for headers and x-pipe. I think it is where the power come from, plus I’m not very enthusiastic about loud exhausts, which is usually the case with aftermarket mufflers. Stainless Works exhaust Independent tests show good numbers in the dyn full exhaust around 25hp increase, and not much improvement in torque, but usually around 5ft-lb.

Well, these are the basics in upgrading your amazing 5.0 Mustang. The car should make close to 500 hp at the flywheel and is low 12′s to high 11′s in the quarter mile. I hope this article gives you an insight of the recommended components and brands by the Mustang community.