I want to hear your individual thoughts on what you would change on a stock SN95 Mustang.
What would be the first thing on your list to do and so on and so forth. There are a lot of unique things about the SN95. You can easily over do it and spend money in the wrong place. What are your thoughts? Let's start a topic on this...
The first thing? Well the motor, of course. Nah I'm just kidding.
I bought my '98 GT off of the showroom floor, and after losing races to Nissan Maximas and barely outrunning Honda Civics, I quickly realized that this platform had some glaring deficiences. Over the years I came to believe that if Ford had followed my own "3, 3, 3" formula for the SN95 (300 horsepower, 300 ft/lbs of torque, 3 inches lower riding height), then I would have declared myself the owner of the PERFECT American performance machine. I certainly NEVER would have gone to the dark side where I spent the next 10 years playing with 4th generation F bodies.
Back to your original question of going in order, I would recommend the first thing you change is the suspension. Why in God's freaking name did Ford place 3.5 inches of gap between the tire and the fender? Not only is it ridiculously fugly but it makes the car handle like a truck. The stock shocks are OK, but again they're not up to the task of living up to the performance legacy of the Mustang. Now, suspension is what I consider to be a mandatory thing, as in if you buy an SN95 it doesn't officially belong to you until Ford's stupidity is fixed with the appropriate parts. In my car, just yesterday I installed Koni STR.T's and SR springs. The car looks and handles like it SHOULD HAVE from the factory back in 1998. Shame on ME for waiting 16 years to finally start fixing this car.
As for the next step, that's entirely up to you and your budget. If you have the money, I'd say to follow my "3-3-3" mandate, and start making your way to 300 horspower and/or 300 ft/lbs of torque. Me? I've still got my 4th Gen F bodies to care for, so money won't flow as quickly to my SN95 as it should. I did buy an S281 spoiler from American Muscle yesterday, because I never did like the factory spoiler much. I'm just glad my SN95 finally looks and handles the part; I just don't know when I can get to the 300 hp/300 ft.lbs parts of my formula...
