Friend bought an 03.....

[whatwhine]

Hey guys,
Friend of mine picked up an 03 Mach yesterday, DSG, 5 speed, 85k miles. Got some mods already.
Mostly crap work though.
Cut stock springs, welded in flowmasters, underdrive pullies, short throw, drilled slotted rotors, 18" fr500 black wheels....
.He's not a forums kinda guy so I wanted to help him get some answers. Chime in where u can please.

Anything That needs to b addressed right away? (well known issues)

What motor oil do yal suggest?

Tranny fluid?

Best lowering springs for great ride with lower stance?

Best cold air intake?

Should he ditch the under drive kit? I'm not a fan of them on the newer cars, his belt has wear grooves on the backside and squeaks.

Best shocks and struts?

Has an SCT tuner, had a 91 perf tune (canned) loaded, car ran like it only had half throttle. I reloaded stock tune, pulls hard again.
Called the previous owner, he only ran 89 octane. How bad is that? He filled it up for us on 89 the morning before we picked it up. And we noticed the gauge only reads 3/4 full. Guy says that's as high as the gauge reads.

From now on it gets 91 or better.

I kno it's a lot of questions, I've been searching and reading and there's a lot of info. Just trying to find the best current advice for a 10 year old car.

Thanks all

 

[whatwhine]

Been reading up over on Mach registry too..... Lot of good info here and there.

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

at 85k miles and running lower octane than it was tuned for Id put fresh plugs in it for starters.

if the gauge really wont read full it probably needs a new fuel level sending unit.

trans fluid - look on M1R for the suggested type and fill level (it was revised from whats in the manual). You can decide for yourself on using the "secret sauce" mix or not

belt squeak - get a spray bottle and mist a little water on the best, if the noise stops its the belt itself or an alignment issue. If it doesnt theres a pulley with a failing bearing somewhere, take the belt off and try spinning the idlers to try to narrow it down (both of mine or pretty worn at 75k miles)

cold air - honestly Id just look for a used one and get whatever is cheapest, not enough difference between them to matter imho.

 

[sdg97232]

If he keeps the underdrives id get a billet oil pump gear asap (if it doesn't already have one)

The oil question is going to bring lots of mixed opinions ......i always used and will always use royal purple i beat the shit out of my cars and have never had an issues
....others will stand by what ever they run.

Springs = h@r race

Intake isnt going to give him much.....i had a jlt ram air on my azure 04 and it fit like crap and didnt do much for performance i have a k@n fipk on my zinc 03 and it fits better but the car stalls more with the fipk (common problem with machs running intakes) simple fix for most tho iac block of plate with a small hole drilled into it helps prevent stalling.

Cant say about the shocks and struts thats all going to depend on what he wants from the car my azure 04 had a drag suspension under it with lakewood 90/10's and 50/50's man it hooked like mad but "aggressive" lane changes were an eye opening experience my zinc 03 has a full 03-04 cobra irs swap with bilstines much better ride quality and way better handling but no where as much traction from a dead stop.

Theres endless threads on what octane to run on stockish machs but i look at it like this if the ford engineers seen it fit to recommend 91 or better then thats what im running. of course theres always ppl that will say its not needed on stockish machs but that will be his choice id say stick with premium.

Imo the best starting mods would be gears (4.10's or better), short throw shifter (iv owned ALL brands at one point or another mgw is hands down my favorite) and sticky tires i was running mickey thompsons et streets on my azure 04 they suck in the rain and are hard on stock drive train components but man they HOOK!

Hope this helps iv spent alot of time with these cars and they are amazing with a few mods they hold there own for sure!

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

the stalling issue should be resolved with any tune worth a darn...Ive never run an IAC plate and once tuned mine never had the cold air related stall again.

 

[whatwhine]

Ok thanks guys. Over on machregistry there's a lot of talk about NOT running under drives. I'm talking him into buying/finding stock pullies and possibly replacing the harmonic balancer while we're there.

Best plugs for the Mach? Ngk tr6?

And I meant what weight oil?
Previous owner ran Pennzoil (ew) 5w20.....and Fram filter. What weight and filter do yal suggest? I was thinking 5w30-10w30 and a motor craft filter.
He's a Mobil 1 full synthetic guy.....

Thanks again

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

I personally dont care for the under drives...if he does replace the crank pulley/dampner (these engines are internally balanced) make sure you check the bolt. If its a stock bolt they are one time use only! Buy a new bolt or something re-usable like an ARP or if you go innovators west their bolts are reusable. Also you wanna buy a hardened bolt that matches the crank pulley bolt a but a little bit longer, use that bolt to start pressing the crank pulley on then witch to the stock bolt and torque to spec (otherwise it may not grab enough threads and damage the threads in the crank).

if hes gonna up the timing with a good tune TR6s are good to use IMHO

Ford calls for 5w-20. If you wanna run a different weight thats a whole other can of worms, if you do some searching there are threads on it. Personally I would run a motorcraft (aka purolator as far as I know) filter.

 

[whatwhine]

Cool. We're gonna start working on it tmrw. He just detailed it and is trying to get it inspected and all that jazz.

 

[03MachAB]

idk how true it is or not, but I've been told the under drive pullies are useless. so if you're in there already i don't see why you guys shouldn't get the stock pullies back in there if you find some for a good price.

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

idk how true it is or not, but I've been told the under drive pullies are useless. so if you're in there already i don't see why you guys shouldn't get the stock pullies back in there if you find some for a good price.

they do free up a few hp, nothing seat of the pants would ever realize though. The main concern seems to be the blame they get for broken oil pump gears that then wipe out a motor. Ive heard they should be fine up to 7k rpm and Ive heard theyre not ok at all...i choose not to mess with them

 

[whatwhine]

They will b coming off. Do you guys recommend any particular harmonic balancer? Want to go ahead and put a new one on.....
AM sells a Professional Products balancer for machs.....

 

[4a7191a]

i concur with these other guys.
i would also recommend a fuel filter at those miles. no telling when it was changed last. i run the march fluidamper crank dampner on my mach1. its one of the few id trust to use.

 

[whatwhine]

Thanks fellas. I'll try to post pics this week.
Also, playing with his Made me think about selling my 12 and picking up a Mach for myself.


http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/2011-mustang-gt-v6-buy-sell-368/887998-2012-premium-gt-29k-obo.html#post12338794

 

[04Mach1Blurr]

Fuel filter, plugs, trans flush, coolant flush, oil change (I prefer Mobile 1 fluids, oil at 5w30, and filter), Brake fluid change, check the pads, also possibly a diff fluid flush if it hasn't been opened recently, Bilstein struts, shocks, Maximum motorsports caster camber plates, H&R race springs for better handling and a bit stiffer, eibachs for a softer ride. As for an intake, you can keep the stock intake tube, just drop in a filter and clean the Mass air flow sensor. Remove and install OEM pulleys, new serp belt. Check wheel bearings (simply by jacking up the car and seeing if the wheels wobble and move in an incorrect way)

It sounds like a-lot, but just do it correctly and the car will last well and drive well.