When I ordered my 2005 Mustang GT in March, 2005, and picked it up the following May, it was still a rare sight and remained that way for a while. It was a source of great excitement and pride to have something so new and unique, and I got nice comments and interest nearly everywhere I went.
Immediately I got the mod bug, researching and installing aftermarket parts that brought out the Mustang's hidden power, and added interest and style to her exterior.
For the first year or two I had the Mustang, I babied her, renting a garage spot in Brooklyn and making sure to shroud her in a car cover after every drive. She retained that new-car smell longer than I thought possible.
Eventually, though, life got in the way. The Mustang grew hugely popular, of course, taking away from the uniqueness of my car. I broke up with a long-time girlfriend and moved into Manhattan, where a garage spot would have cost me an incredible $550 a month, so I passed and kept her parked on the street. This resulted in a variety of door dings, scratches, paint chips, bumper damage, etc. - even to the extent that once my Mustang was - gasp! - sideswiped by a New York City snow plow, ruining the entire passenger side, breaking the mirror off, and snapping the steering column.
When I moved from New York City to California last year, I ran into some new problems. I had been running a tune (basically software telling the car's computer how to behave) optimized for 93 octane gas. In California, though, they only have 91 octane, and the difference caused some problems for the car. I began getting check engine lights telling me I was running rich (not enough air) or lean (too much air - and a bigger problem than running rich). Once the price of gas started skyrocketing, I moved to an 87 octane tune. This significantly reduced the Mustang's performance, making it feel sluggish and heavy. It was no longer as fun to drive and own. I put up with this for a while, but in the back of my mind I was always kind of sad that I had this sort-of "falling out" with my girl.
First Inklings of an Overhaul
When Robin (my wife) and I bought a house this past fall, and I finally had a garage and therefore the means to work on and take care of my vehicle properly, I decided to reconnect with my Mustang and do what I needed to feel like I had a special car once again, then to treat her that way from now on. At this point she had about 45,000 miles on her after about 3.5 years (about 5,000 of those miles came on our cross-country trip from New York to Cali - we took the long route!).
The Process Begins
First thing I did was get back on the Mustang boards I use to frequent - http://forums.bradbarnett.net/ ("The Mustang Souce"), http://www.mustangforums.com/, and http://www.allfordmustangs.com/ - to begin reading up on how people were modding their Mustangs now, with 3 more model years out. My first task was to get my tune right and make sure I wouldn't be doing any damage to my engine from an improper air-to-fuel ratio.
What I found is that, in the three and a half years since I had last loaded my 93 tune, there had been a lot of development in this area. In particular, I heard about an outfit called Tillman Speed, out of Philadelphia, with a guy called Chris Rose who has an excellent reputation for wonderful "canned" tunes, i.e., ones he can send to you over email based on your particular mods (rather than setting up specifically for your car using a machine called a "dyno," which measures your horsepower and a/f ratio).
I purchased Tillman's 91 Street Race Tune ($40), and it was as if my Mustang dropped 400 lbs. Where before she was sluggish, now she screamed. Throttle response was incredible, and power was consistent and strong throughout the rpm range. It was really amazing seeing what I had been missing out on. The tune seemed to affect the whole car, loosening up the steering and making engine braking less effective. And, it was now utterly easy to break the wheels loose (i.e., squeal off the line, you know, "burn rubber") whenever I pleased.
In sum, for just $40 and 10 minutes of time loading the tune, Tillman Speed had made my Mustang fun to drive again. This, in turn, gave me the mod bug once again, big time.
In "The Idea (Part 2)," I'll describe exactly what this blog is about, and how I became settled on undertaking this project.
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