In this episode of Hot Lap, I'm gonna show you guys what some of the best first modifications
for brand new 2018 GT are.
Hey guys.
Today we're gonna be looking at some of the first modifications that you might consider
doing to your new 2018 GT Mustang.
We call these mods the first five mods and, of course, they're just suggestions to help
you get started.
Like usual, you have a ton of different options when it comes to brands or what direction
you wanna take your build in.
So I picked out five modifications in total that all benefit the 2018 in some way, shape
or form.
We're gonna show you an example of each modification and give you a good look at the car before
and after each part is installed just so you can see what kind of difference the parts
made.
And I will say right now that the car that we have in the shop here with us is not a
base model.
It does have some options like MagneRide and active exhaust.
We just wanted to show you guys that even if you do go with some of these options on
your car, you still can modify it if you want to.
And the mods we'll talk about today are good for all 2018s regardless of trim, upgrades,
or any of those details.
You'll just have to make sure that you pick up the correct items for your car depending
on what options you have.
But before we get into any of this, I have to say that if you like videos like this one,
make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don't miss out on anything.
Now let me show you what I always consider one of the first best modifications you can
do to your car no matter what generation it is.
Lowering springs always make the list of suggested first mods.
They're something that a lot of Mustang owners like to do early on and for good reason.
Lowering springs give handling performance benefits and looks improvements too.
They lower the center of gravity.
They help the car stay more centered and more balanced and they help with nosedive during
braking and squatting under acceleration.
When it comes to the 2018 Mustang though, the MagneRide option enters the picture.
If you have MagneRide, you need to pick up a MagneRide compatible spring.
The car that we have in the shop with us today does have MagneRide, and so that changes the
lowering spring options quite a bit.
Ford Performance already have a MagneRide compatible spring available, so that's exactly
what we installed on this car.
And just for general information, the big construction difference without getting too
technical here is in the rear springs.
The two rear springs are wound the opposite direction of each other.
That means that both rear springs and isolators are side-specific.
That's just the obvious and upfront difference, and that's without even getting into the spring
rates of a MagneRide compatible spring.
The Ford Performance W lowering springs are gonna lower the car 20 millimeters all the
way around which is about three quarters of an inch.
When you compare this drop to a typical lowering spring, this might not sound like it's gonna
make much difference at all.
I will admit that this is a small drop in the world of lowering springs, but it is still
gonna give you a great look and it does make a difference for sure.
If you have MagneRide, you can't really lower your car too much.
And luckily enough, the 2018s don't look like they're lifted from the factory.
So a smaller drop does make enough of a difference.
And not to mention MagneRide is more about handling performance than the overall looks
of the car anyway.
The lowering springs are a bit of a more involved install.
They take a few hours.
You will need a spring compressor and, of course, an alignment after the install.
And I'd say that you need some basic experience before trying to install them yourself.
That leads us to the next modification that we'll talk about which is exhaust.
Most people who buy a Mustang want it to sound like a Mustang, loud, powerful, and healthy
like a muscle car should.
Upgrading your exhaust gives your Mustang a completely new attitude.
Exhaust upgrades quickly became a topic of discussion with the addition of the active
exhaust option in 2018.
It's not an inexpensive upgrade.
And some people that went for this option may wanna just keep their stock exhaust.
But for those of you that have active exhausts and still wanna check out the aftermarket
world, hold on one second because not only does this car have MagneRide, but it also
has active exhaust.
We installed an active exhaust Corsa Xtreme cat-back with black tips on this car, and
take a listen to how it sounds.
If you wanna keep your active exhaust, which I'm sure everyone does, you need an active
exhaust cat-back to install, and this cat-back fits that bill.
When it comes to sound, the Corsa Xtreme is one of the loudest cat-backs that you can
pick up.
The cool part about adding the Corsa Xtreme with active exhaust is that you can quiet
it down with quiet mode.
It almost sounds stock in quiet mode.
So you really get a wide range of exhaust notes and volume with an active exhaust Corsa
cat-back.
This cat-back is made from 304 stainless steel.
It has Corsa's double helix X-pipe.
It's a three inch cat-back with four and a half inch black chrome tips, and it does come
with adapters so you can install it with a stock exhaust like we did here, or you can
opt for a full three-inch upgrade if you wanted to.
It's definitely one of the top of the line choices when it comes to exhaust.
And a cat-back install is pretty easy even for someone that doesn't have much experience.
You'll probably need some help dropping the stock cat-back down since it is a little bit
heavy.
but other than that, it's a very simple install.
Next we'll head into the car to look at another upgrade option.
Another modification that I usually suggest for any MT-82 car is a shifter upgrade.
The remote shifter location of the MT-82 has long been known to cause issues like lockout
even with the improvements that Ford has given over the years.
Upgrading your shifter can help with this, but you need something other than just any
shifter upgrade.
I picked the Barton Hybrid 3 shifter for this job because it's a completely upgraded unit
and not just a short shifter handle.
It's CNC machines billet aluminum, stainless steel, has weather tight seals, a solid stainless
steel front bushing and rear bracket that are made to stop vibration and deflection.
It's an entire shifter replacement.
You will need to lower the transmission in order to complete the install.
You don't have to drop it out completely, but you will need to lower it some.
The work of the install is totally worth the upgrade in my opinion.
This shifter gives you mounting options.
You can match the transmission or to the body of the car.
If you mount to the trans, you'll run the solid linkage and eliminate the tie [SP] of
the body of the car.
If you mount to the body, you'll use a different bracket and the upgraded linkage will help
the shifter to be remote but still keep accurate shifts.
The linkage that I'm talking about with this shifter is a different type of linkage.
It has a three bushing design.
And, of course, this shifter works with the stock shift knob.
The next mods we'll look at go hand-in-hand, and so we'll talk about them together.
A cold air intake and tuner easy to install and always give good performance gains when
paired together.
A tune no matter what point in time you choose to do it is always a great modification.
You don't have to change anything on the car.
It doesn't require you to install anything.
And a tune doesn't require any tools.
It just takes time to download and then boom, you have horsepower and torque delivered.
Now when it comes to cold air intakes, no matter what style you do, they're usually
better looking under the hood than the factory intake.
They're a mod that anyone can install.
And when you pair them with a tune, they give nice performance benefits.
We have the C&L Racer cold air intake on the car here and use the SCT Rev-X Tuner to get
a VMP tune on the car.
And first thing's first, let's talk about dyno results.
Our stock pull with our manual 2018 GT gave us numbers of 433 horsepower and 390 foot-pounds
of torque.
After we installed the C&L cold air intake and paired it with the VMP tune, we saw numbers
of 455 horsepower and 398 foot-pounds of torque.
That makes for a peak gain of 22 horsepower and 8 foot-pounds of torque.
Even better though, we saw curve gains of 26 horsepower and 20 foot-pounds of torque
at 6700 rpm and again 20 foot-pounds of torque and the lower rpm at 3200.
Pairing a cold air intake with a tune is always recommended.
The tune is gonna help you get the most performance possible from the cold air intake.
And a tune by itself even without a cold air intake makes a big difference in the car.
Tuning the car will not only deliver horsepower and torque, but it's gonna change the drivability
and the throttle response and give you a more fun car to drive.
Taking a look at the C&L intake, it's very easy to install.
It is a tune required intake which means that you'll need to pair a tune with the intake
in order to keep your car running correctly.
This is an open element style intake.
It completely eliminates the airbox.
You also eliminate the built in mass airflow housing with this intake.
C&L gives you a separate cast aluminum MAF housing instead that you'll swap your factory
sensor into.
The intake tube is made from roto molded plastic and the intake comes with a reusable oiled
filter.
Then you have the Rev-X Tuner here with a VMP tune.
Loading a tune on a car is very easy.
It takes about 10 or 15 minutes and simply requires you to plug the device into the car's
OBD2 to port, connect to a Wi-Fi, and hit a few buttons and then just wait for the tuner
to do its thing.
The Rev-X tuner is great to work with.
It connects to your Wi-Fi.
So once you connect it to your Wi-Fi and login, the tuner will auto update.
You no longer have to plug-in for firmware updates anymore.
This is PC compatible.
It will read and clear your trouble codes and you can data log with it or display real
time gauges if you wanted to.
This tuner comes with one custom tune from the VMP.
So what you do is submit some information about your car to VMP and they'll have a calibrator
write you a custom tune for your car.
VMP has a great reputation for being able to make power and torque but still deliver
a tune that has great drivability.
So those are gonna be my suggestions when it comes to the first few mods for a 2018
GT Mustang.
These are mostly performance based, but you also get some improvement in looks with the
lowering springs.
As usual, the mods that we talked about today in this video are just suggestions for you
to help you out when you start to modify your 2018.
And we also wanted to show you guys that even if you went with some options like MagneRide
and active exhaust, you can still mod too if you want to.
Let me know what you guys think in the comments below on what you would modify first on your
new Mustang.
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And for all things Mustang, keep it right here at americanmuscle.com.