99-04 Mustang Worth Modding?

So my first car was given to me by my grandpa, it's a 2001 Mustang Bullitt.
I never really had much money to do much with it in high school and college.
I just graduated and got my first real job in May. Starting to save up some money and really want to build something a little bit.

I dont need it to be super fast. I'd like it to be fun to take to the local road course and dragstrip. I have friends that do both. I kind of want a jack of all trades but a master of none. I'd like it to be capable of running like 11.9 but still be a good car to daily drive.

I've read there isn't much to do with these cars though without swapping the motor which I think will go even beyond what I want to spend when all is said and done.

I'm torn because I really want a good platform to build but I don't really have room for 2 cars if I buy another so I'd sell this, but at the same time its a bit of a rare model and my grandpa passed away and this car holds some sentimental value because of him giving it to me. It was also my first car. So if I could build this one I'd love to.

Just most fast 99-04's I see are either cobra motor cars or swapped with a ls or coyote.

keep it and find a friend to let you store it somewhere safe or something.
the sn95 especially new edges are starting to hold value and go up.
Even more so the special models.

I personally think the new edge bullitt is the best looking mustang since the 60s/early 70s.

Auto or manual? It's got sentimental value so I understand wanting to build it up. Just stick to bolt ons,tires,suspension,and a little weight reduction

you can make like 450 with a 150 shot of nitrous and basic engine mods, that will land you in the 11's easily

just get a cobra rotating assembly, new pistons, pistons rings, fuel, bolts and gaskets, basic shit yo handle a 150 shot of nos, get a smaller gear aswell

or if you want a pushrod engine get early cobra engine mounts, and drop a crate 351w, that way you can get an 11 second car without nitrous, probably more expensive though

Not sure why someone would want to engine swap such a nice limited car

DOHC modulars are much better than the SOHC ones, SOHC heads are simply too shitty

a bullit mustang with a DOHC engine from a mach 1 or a cobra sounds fucking sick

i wouldnt really trust anyone else with it.
My place im renting now is a 2 car garage but renting with my sister and she gets one side. No room to leave it in driveway with a cover either and whatever car I have I want to have garaged with the exception of a beater.
manual.

I have a few things already I did in high school.
Borla Catback. BBK OR x-pipe. BBK Longtubes.
Eibach Lowering springs. Steeda control arms.
Steeda Short Shifter. JLT Cold Air Intake. SCT Tuner with 91 tune. 3.73 Gears.

Right now it has run a best of 13.4@104mph in the 1/4 mile with street tires and I feel like I'm already kind of at a power wall without going FI or a motor swap.

I definitely have more suspension to do to get it better suited for the road courses though.

You don't need to swap to add power, actually look up what people have done to the stock motor. A full exhaust and a tune might give you some scoot. For road course stuff, get a maximum motorsports panhard bar and upgrade your brake hoses to braided stainless, and run something like hawk HPS pads if it's just occasional.

Nice, just leave as is. Add the suspensions mods, good tires,brakepads and fluid. Any more pics?

Nitrous if you're mainly trying to push it down into the 12s

Surely that will blow his engine r-right?

Hi user, not too familiar on domestics because im an import guy but the concept is all the same.

I would start with Headers/exhaust/ intake.
after that go get a tune to squeeze what power is available to you, but just hidden. tunes can work wonders, so throw her on a dyno and see what happens.

after I would invest in some better suspension. then some grippy tires.

yeah, another thing I've thought of
I'd like to stay away from nitrous. Would rather have the power all the time or not there at all.
have the exhaust and tune.
I guess I could hop on a blower kit just the 4-7k for a full kit seems steep for where it'll still fall short. a built 2v 4.6 is still extremely pricey.

have all those already, these things just dont love bolt ons as much as some other cars

You didnt put poly in the upper control arms did you? If you did, that's gotta go. Major binding issues. There's a reason maximum motorsports doesn't make a kit for the uppers.

if you just really like the sn95, i'd recommend trading in your bullit for a mach1 instead of doing an engine swap

>I'd like to stay away from nitrous. Would rather have the power all the time or not there at all.

well you are fucked because unless you want to spend tons of money you are not getting more than 320 horses out of a SOHC modular in N/A form

if you want avaliable power either get a turbocharger / supercharger, which is almost the same as nitrous, you'd still need basic mods just like with nitrous, or drop a 4v

hot rod mag pushed a bone stock sohc 4.6 to 550 hp before it blew up, it was from a crown vic, with just new piston rings, new gaskets and valvespings it could probably get to 400 safely

If you must go FI get a Vortech kit, they're known to be good

The mod motors like boost.
If you're handy you could put together a fairly cheap turbo setup. Would run what you want but would not be ideal on a road course.
The stock 2v can hold enough for your goals. I'd run a blower personally. A procharger/vortech would do great.

However soon as you put something like that on you dont have much room to grow with the 2v 4.6

A 4v swap is your best bet.

If you're open to really butchering the origalness of your car an LS swap is actually cheaper and easier than you think with all the bolt in/plug-n-play stuff out there.

If I was in your shoes with your goals though I'd run the procharger. Shoot for 400whp on 91/93. Put money into the suspension for road race oriented stuff. It'll still do decent at the drag strip with a set of bias plys.

Pic related, my 02 GT. Similar bolt ons to you. Still super slow. These cars just dont make NA power with the 2v. Mine will get a LS 6.0/T56 If I keep it.

The weak point of older Mustangs are the brakes and then the suspension.

For the brakes, get a good quality set of rotors, pads, and braided lines. That will get you good stopping power and less brake fade without breaking the bank. Get a set of Koni sport shocks/struts and bigger sway bars for both the front and rear. If you can afford a Watts linkage over a panhard bar, do that instead. Adding the sway bars may induce oversteer or understeer, so you'll have to get your suspension tuned.

Obviously get a good set of tires as well for track day use.

Don't bother. Save money for a house.

I could afford a house now but I don't want to committ to living here for more than a few years.

I'm not spending 50k+ on the car. Maybe 10k at most. That's 1/6th of my salary. I'm not going to squeeze every penny and not enjoy my hobby in the present just in the hope I get something some day that doesn't even ultimately matter a ton to me at the moment.