Fahad Hizam

How to Tune your 2011 Mustang GT 5.0L



Posted: Wednesday, December 01, 2010

by Fahad Hizam
Meezer Group

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

Many tuners start with programming the car. This is the most effective modification that you can do to your Mustang. SCT is the leader in this field with no competition what so ever. Their pre-set tune was able to extract 28hp and 34ft-lb from the automatic 5.0, 32hp and 31ft-lb from the six speed manual transmission. These figures are from an off the shelf tuner worth $379!. With such increase in power, the 5.0 Mustang will, in no doubt, be able to run 0 - 60 in less than 5 seconds. The increase in performance from SCT Flasher will also result in better MPG. 1 to 2 MPG is a typical increment from 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 like Steeda has led the way in CAI for the late model Mustangs. It is a combination of performance, quality and look. Independent tests for Steeda CAI on the 5.0 Mustang have shown an increase of 12hp and 10ft-lb. A great result from a $370 mod, plus added deep sound and nice look under the hood. Now your Mustang should be running low 12's in the quarter mile.

The third modification involve the exhaust system. Some enthusiasts go for a cat-back upgrade, and some go for the headers and mid-pipes. Rarely do people go for full exhaust at this stage in one go, for costs reasons. A quality cat-back will be in the range of $850, an x-pipe is usually $500, long tube headers are close to $1,000. Personally I often go for headers and x-pipe. I believe it is where the power come from, plus I am not very keen on loud exhausts, which is commonly the case with aftermarket mufflers. Independent tests for Stainless Works exhaust show good dyne numbers from the full exhaust set, 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 be making close to 500 hp at the flywheel and capable of running low 12's to high 11's in the quarter mile. I hope this article gives you an insight of the recommended parts and brands by the Mustang community.

Fahad has been involved in tuning and racing Ford cars since year 2000. He has raced and tuned Mustangs and Crown Victoria's. He is one of the few people who raced Town Cars on slicks. Fahad is active in Ford tuning communities and runs a successful motorsport and tuning company .
Fahad Hizam is a racing driver and a tuner. He has been involved in Ma5da MX5 Racing since 2009. He writes tuning articles and reviews at Metuners Tuning Forums and runs a successful motorsport company.
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