I just got my Nitto's mounted yesterday and luck would have it I got to test them that same day. I met up with a friend that i graduated with this past year and he just bought a 2003 Mustang GT and its an automatic. I have to admit that he wasnt cocky or anything about it but he claimed to have a few goodies under the hood which I am thinking is like a chip and a cold air intake. So we take it out to a country road and we both had a passenger so it was a pretty equal race. I let him give the go and we were off. The nitto's hooked great and I instantly had a car on him and by the time i quit at about 105 or so I was at least 5 cars ahead. I thought this was a good run bc I know the the new GT's are no joke and you can get your butt handed to you if your not careful about it, with my mods i figure I am about where i should be now that i can get traction. What do you guys think??

 

Aren't Mustangs a lot slower with automatics than they are with manuals? That's just what I've heard. Not trying to bash on your kill by any means. I've just heard that Mustangs with autos are substantially slower than the ones with manuals compared to the f-body A4 and M6, which are almost dead even with an awesome M6 driver. LT1

 

Depends on whether or not the Mustang had an automatic that has some mods or is stock. The stock one is a turd but with a few mods it can be made (like anything else) to run fairly good.

BTW the original poster: Nice kill!

 

Yes, auto mustangs are much slower

 

and you've modified one of the auto's so you have factual information other then what you've read, correct?

 

Actually went to Etown a few times w/ a GT, kid was stalled w/ bolt ons...Beautiful car, but I wasnt impressed, but thats just my opinion.

 

Funny that i actually ran into a manual GT last night in Indianapolis. It was a new white GT and it was a manual and you could tell by the way he was downshifting when i would get close to him. To make it short and sweet. He put up a good fight but could keep up. We never even got to race from a stop except for one time right after i had driving through a couple of big puddles of water and spun like no other. Oh and i won that race too. I was hoping to get next to him at a light and i could actually use my drag radials but it never happend.

 

No offense, but I would hope with a new engine, and your mods you could pull a stock GT.

 

No No.... other then the stall, did it have any transmission mods? As I said, the trans can be made to shift much better and be a lot more responsive. Things like changing the valve body, accumulators and solenoids are just a few things that come to mind.

 

Well i dont actually have the roller rockers or the lt4 km on the car at the moment and I never got a good race from a dig which means my stall converter is pretty much of no use as well as my drag radials. So with those mods out of the way and my car being an automatic up against a manual from a roll I would say I am fairly happy with the outcome.

 

I know he had a shift kit and 373's as for the other stuff i have no clue.

 

Ok and this is going to be a little bit technical that you can pass on to your friend with the GT, ok?

PA (Performance Automatic) located in Gaithersburg, Md. has great parts for the 4R70W (his automatic is the same one I run). If he hasn't already, tell him to give them a call to see what they can do for him.

Here are a few mods that are forefront to making that 4R70W shift good:

- Accumulators (deleting the 1-2)
- Modify the 2-3 accumulator (stronger spring)
- PA valve body (street strip or the manual valve body)
- Always run Mercon V trans fluid. If not, he will get "shudder".
- 5.4 solenoid (helping the trans to shift much faster & stronger)
- Never EVER run the car hard with OD on --- EVER!!! The O/D band is VERY weak and will fail quickly.

There ya go. There are a few small tidbits to help your buddy out. Hope this helps.

P.S. To the original poster: Sorry for the tech in your thread.

- Tim

 

I was originally referring to the way they came out of the factory...think that was the original question anyway. Any trans. can be built up to perform better

 

First you said "autos are much slower" and then you said "he had a few mods like shift kit and gears" and I was trying to give you some technical tips to give back to your friend with the 03 Rustang.

You're right, any trans can be built up to perform better and that was my one and only point.

Later.