1995 mustang, 2001 3.8 V6, supercoup heads, mild cam, Need to jack idle

Sep 23, 2004 5 Replies

Hey gents, I'm looking for some advice. I'm an old fart from the days of carburetors and distributors. I'm helping my kid out with his 1995 mustang project. We need to keep the insurance reasonable, so we opted to stay with a V6. We've installed a newer block from a 2001 stang, some warmed up supercoup heads, a mild cam, and an intake that has been opened up considerably.



The whole thing went together without a hitch and were looking to make some additional improvements.



Probably the biggest issue right now is that the ECU is controlling the idle at about 550 rpm. The engine runs at 550, but we would like to see idle at about 800 rpm to smooth things out. Is the ECU controlled idle adjustable at all or do we need to get a chip burned to adjust this. Who will burn us a chip and what info do they need to get the job done?



We need to modify the throttle body. The intake opening is about 5/16 larger than the throttle body. We would like to bore the throttle body and make a new throttle plate to improve air flow into the engine. Any ideas? Is there a bolt on OEM part that will do this? Or maybe an aftermarket supplier?



We still have the single exhaust, so we're looking to open that up as well. Any recommendation on getting this done . . . at a reasonable cost.


Have you thought about some chassis stiffening and suspension improvements? Some good subframe connectors, a strut tower brace and a suspension kit would really tighten things up, make it feel like a whole new car.

Jump over to

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there are some pretty knowledgeable guys over there when it comes to the 3.8's You might also try 3.8mustang.com or
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for performance parts and tech

TIM -aka- MUSTTANGUY "at" AOL "dot" COM

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at 22 Sep 2004, Willq [ snipped-for-privacy@mchsi.com] wrote in news:9Tr4d.94086$D%.59296@attbi_s51:

Find a GT take off exhaust and install that on there. Cheapest way. Bassani makes a kit that attaches to the existing Y part and brings it out to two pipes. It sounds great and according to them adds a few HP. It costs about $600 last I checked

On the idle, did you do the 'learn' test driving for the computer to get the right idle speed? RIght out of the box it never gets it right. Happens everytime when you disconnect the battery for more than 20 minutes.:-)

Thanks for the info, I'm not sure what you mean by "learn". We did let it set and idle for several minutes. Is there a set procedure for this?

at 25 Sep 2004, Willq [ snipped-for-privacy@mchsi.com] wrote in news:Anh5d.110128$MQ5.28456@attbi_s52:

Yup, drive it for a while. I believe it is in the owners guide. Drive it through city and highway so the computer can learn...

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