New MS6 owner and stoked! couple Q's...

[Street Sleeper]

hey all,

just purchased a red 06 MS6, and i love it!

i just sold my 1995 Thunderbird SC (supercoupe): Blown 3.8 V6. lots of mods, running a 14.1 @ 96mph. i had owned it since 2000, and relied heavily on forums and member support for issues related to that car. it was a much smaller group considering the age, but wanted to find a good ms6 forum now of course.

So, hello. i'm very new to this car, but not to cars in general. had a 68 GTO before my tbird. so, V8, V6 and now a four so, i like to drive all kinds of different cars to get a taste of it all. all different feelings, but all great. Honestly i didnt even know about the ms6 until i did a search for 2006 top sports cars/reviews. i found the speed3, and looked at it, and then saw a link to ms6 and i was sold.

i've looked briefly thru the threads and i know there is tons of info out there, bu thought i'd ask a few breif newbie questions to get started.

1. the dealer says my car is the GT. it has cloth seats though, and i thought the GT had leather standard? however i have heard of another guy with the cloth/gt setup. Can someone set it straight for me?

2. lowering springs. my first mod. i've seen that alot of folks have H&R. i had eibachs on my tbird, and was so-so. what other brand would be comparible?

3. Intake or exhaust first? exhaust/muffflers. want to do catback someday, but for now, what mufflers would you all recommend. i want something loud, but not tincan loud.

4. any basic starter DYI mods or upgrades/improvements i can do that are simple and cheap that should be gotten out of the way? obvious items like K/N, etc.

aight, thanks guys, sorry for any redundant questions that probably get asked all the time. see you around.

 

[EricsMS6]

0. Welcome and congrats!
1. AFAIK, GT's have leather and Sports have cloth. Do you have a sunroof? Sunroof + leather + GT
2. H&R's are very popular, although there are a lot of other alternatives, too. People with money to burn opt for full coilovers.
3. Best bang for the buck is a test pipe to eliminate the undercar cat. Intakes can be had relatively cheap; I got my Fujita CAI off ebay for $125 shipped brand new.
4. All the basic bolt-on mods are going to be pretty easy. A K&N drop-in filter is almost half the price of a good CAI, that includes a filter anyways, so you'd be better off getting a whole new intake system anyways. There are simple things like boost controllers, blow-off valves, and the like that you could easily do.

 

[Street Sleeper]

no sunroof or leather or nav. still possibly a GT or did the dealer miss label the sport? im wondering if i paid a GT price for a sport..?? (nailbyt) should i follow this up with them if so? I paid around $21k w/ 13,000 miles on it a few weeks ago.

yeah, coilovers would be great but jus a liiiiiil, outta my price range right now.

thanks for the heads up

 

[lestat13]

3. + 4. Easy/Intake:
I haven't heard of MS3s hydrolocking, but MS6 guys on here have hydrolocked, so I HIGHLY suggest a SRI instead of the CAI. Same power but cheaper, easier to get to and clean filter, and insurance against hydrolock. Testpipe is another effective, safe, easy, cheap mod for power and a bit of sound. Corksport rear motor mount insert is also recommended by many.

Going further:
a cat-back exhaust will give you great sounds, but increased volume and very little power gains. As an alternative, look into getting a downpipe. Fantastic increases in power while maintaining gas mileage and sound levels mostly. If you need more look into either a new TMIC/FMIC or Cobb acessport.

 

[EricsMS6]

I'm at work or I'd show you my $3 ACE Hardware bucket splash gaurd. No worries for hydrolocking now. I took a plastic 1-gallon bucket and cut the side of one half of it. It sits upside down covering the back half of the filter where the fenderliner's vents are. No worries. (first)

 

[Street Sleeper]

well, after visiting the dealer today for an alignment adjustment, i confirmed that i do have the sport, NOT the GT. i made sure the sales person knew that and understood what the difference was, so that other customers were not mislead. my main concern was price. we did a kbb and nada value check and i still payed under msrp for the sport tag than for a gt. so at least i didnt get taken, but still a bit shady if you ask me.

i think im gonna get the mazda cai. i've seen some videos with it, and i want that turbo sound! gonna get the mazda one so that it wont void my warranty. deciding if i want the dealership to install is another thing...

 

[tunersteve]

First thing I would do is spend $80 and pick up the AWR rear mount. You'll thank me later, and it's an easy install. Next, I'd do the TWM shifter & bushings. Both of these will greatly improve a daily driven MS6 for about $275 total. The intake will give you the sound and performance, but I would def. recommend these both over that right off the bat.

 

[SGT-MS6]

What SRI is reccommended? I've been waiting on the COBB but still haven't seen it become available?

 

[tunersteve]

What SRI is reccommended? I've been waiting on the COBB but still haven't seen it become available?

Well, there's really not a SRI available for the MS6 as far as I know. AEM, CP-E, Injen, Fujita make CAIs. For all of the stuff I mentioned, just do a quick search and you'll find tons of info on them.

 

[speed6r]

First thing I would do is spend $80 and pick up the AWR rear mount. You'll thank me later, and it's an easy install. Next, I'd do the TWM shifter & bushings. Both of these will greatly improve a daily driven MS6 for about $275 total. The intake will give you the sound and performance, but I would def. recommend these both over that right off the bat.

What Is a AWR tear mount? & if you install the test pipe do you have to tune the cpu?

 

[wannabe]

AWR Rear mount replaces the stock motor mount, it holds the engine in place better under load, so when you hit the gas the power doesn't go to the engine shifting, and instead goes to the wheels.

installing the test pipe does not require any changes to the ecu.

 

[speed6r]

yea?

my last MS6 had the test pipe and the check engine light stayed on.

 

[tunersteve]

my last MS6 had the test pipe and the check engine light stayed on.

I'm not really sure why. I've ran with mine now for about a month and had no problems at all. There's not any O2 sensor near it, so you shouldn't have problems. Did you happen to pull the code and verify that it was emissions based?

To the OP, there's a lot of easy mods for this engine right out of the box. Motor mount, intake, BPV, TMIC, shifter, test pipe. With those you'll feel a big difference in the car.