When is it a good time to tune?

[CanadianBacon]

Hey yall, new to the 4.6L mustang world! Just picked up a 96 GT, and added a cold air intake. Other than that it's 100% stock, in the spring I plan on doing a full exhaust(catted/xpipe and cutback) and possibly headers. I was thinking of shorty headers?

So on YouTube videos I've seen gains of non-tuned cars picking up hp with this, but my question is would it be a huge difference tuned vs non with these changes?
Is the SCT X4/SF4 a good option? My only other plans is maybe a PI head swap later down the road.
Thanks

 

[96blak54]

A tuned car with all the bolts ons can pick up a good 20hp over whatever horsepower got freed up by adding the bolt ons.

Yes, do the bolt ons, drive the car for awhile then get the tune. A tuned car is magical!