99MUSTANG5.3L

My car is an 01 Mustang w/ an 04 5.3L from an Avalanche backed by a 4l60e. I haven't had the car tuned yet(mail order tune only) and it runs pretty good but seems slow to pick up speed. So over the winter I'm thinking of adding 4.10 gears(3.27 now) and a Z06 cam/springs and 7.4" pushrods. Just looking for some feedback.

gofastwclass

iTrader: (2)

I have the same setup in my Thunderbird which is heavier, only has 3:23 gears and I tuned it myself. It really depends on what you consider "slow to pick up speed" and without riding with you or seeing a video of your acceleration we have nothing to compare to. Knowing what your goals for the car are make a difference but I would say in my opinion, 4:10 is lot of gear for a street car.

I don't know who tuned your car, however my first tune was done by a (supposedly) reputable shop who will remain nameless and it was so bad I wouldn't send my enemy to them. I used HP Tuners, went to a stock tune and picked up power I could feel, smoother operation and it didn't stall intermittently for reasons I was never able to pinpoint. I have made several tweaks to the tune myself and have picked up smoothness and power along the way while getting the shift points where I want them. I was amazed how much a bit of time spent tweaking timing, moving the shift points and kick down changed the attitude of the engine.

boostnut

iTrader: (7)

what torque converter are you running?

99MUSTANG5.3L

I'm running a stock converter. Let's put it this way, I raced a 2008-2009 Mustang Bullitt (in Mexico of course) which are rated at 315HP and 0-100MPH he had 3 cars on me. I thought I would hang with him better,he said he was bone stock. I lost ground to him on every shift point. Maybe before I jump the gun, I should go see the tuner. The car feels strong but I feel there's more in it. It hits the rev limiter on the 2 to 3 shift that's why I'm thinking I really need to get it tuned.

My goals are eventually to go turbo,tho I'm still debating on keeping it NA and just going with progressively larger cams. I know I will eventually need better heads to realize my goal of 400rwhp(NA). The car is not my daily,but I do want to be able to drive it anywhere without worry of reliability.

99MUSTANG5.3L

Gofast,how well does your car do against Mustangs and other competition? Do you have any track times? I have a Bullydog Watchdog in my car and one of the many features is 1/4 mile times. Maybe I will run out quick and find a secluded road and run off a couple just to see.

74novacustom

I am running the same cam and springs in my 6.0. With a 2500stall and 410 gears. With those gears first gear was a spin fest, Def need slicks. I just switched over to 373's and its not as violent off the get, but still very spunky, i can roll from 5mph to 25mph and anywhere inbetween and floor it and it will spin all way into second. 275/60/15s

This is my Daily driver so 373s are a little nicer on the freeway

99MUSTANG5.3L

Yea, mine spins real easy in 1st also but I'm blaming that on crappy tires right now. Eventually gonna stuff 315's out back(275's now).

gMAG

iTrader: (1)

I did a mailorder as well, and honestly, it ran better with the stock tune.
The car now stumbles at certain points in the power curve. It has 3.70's, which I believe to be ideal, as long as the tune is corrected.

99MUSTANG5.3L

I am going to call the tuner tomorrow. Hopefully he can get me in by the weekend.

gofastwclass

iTrader: (2)

Funny that you ask that... Depends on the Mustang. Any older 5.0 car is in the rear view mirror, 4.6 manual cars are more challenging with a good driver and all Thunderbirds (V8 and SC) are not even in the same class. I can't keep up with a friends C5 six speed Corvette and I lost an alternator the same night. That was a long time before my tune was stable and I'd love to try again with a good alternator and stable tune knowing I would still probably lose, I just want to know by how much. People willing to race in my area aren't even close to stock and I've never been to the track with the car so I have no times on the clock. I've got a H/C/I/geared/stalled 5.0 friend I want to race but we've never gotten to hook that up.

I think your issue could be in the tune. The original tune did not come to life until ~3200 and died off ~4500 which means no torque it also didn't want to rev and "felt slow." Flashing back to stock gained power but it still went flat up top and after me playing around I feel like the car pulls from around 2500 to 5500 or so. Granted all this is via butt dyno, watching the tach and reading scans in HPT. I have also A-B-C flashed the PCM and made the same run on my test route with consistent results.

That reminds me... I should dig up my original G-Tech Pro (from the 90's), take a few runs and see what it says.

74novacustom

Current Performance Did my harness and tune and it runs amazing. All Mail order.

But im switching to E85 soon so maybe i can afford to have NicD give it some love.