What mods should I get for my car? How much will it cost?

As one of Australia’s experts on building fast late-model Fords (among many other car brands), we get a bunch of enquiries every day about how to make Barras ballistic, Falcons fly, Raptors rage, Territorys terrorise, and Mustangs maul. But, how fast you can go comes down to how much you want to spend, and what compromises you’re happy to live with in your street car – no matter what car make or model.

This is why we offer up to five stages for most late model performance cars (naturally aspirated, turbocharged or supercharged), starting under $2000. Different years, makes and models will mean the work done at each stage will change in scope and cost, so we have full breakdowns of each stage here on our website that will detail parts used, the cost, and a ballpark of what to expect from the finished cars.

While a dyno sheet with a big number is great, it’s important to note that we supply and fit parts to suit not just your budget, but what you want to get from your car. And sometimes we need to go backwards before we can go forwards.

Some people remember the days when stock cars could get a handful of modifications and double their factory-rated power. Or maybe people have read old tuning guides talking about how easy it is to get power out of particular engines, but there is often some hard truths behind these fables which don’t get discussed.

The age of the car will often guide how fast you can go; BA-BF Falcons are more than 20 years old now, and many need some fairly intensive maintenance carried out before we can start winding power into them. Cars are made from parts which wear out over time so, while many turbo cars were able to make big power when their fuel system was near-new, this can change once the car is a couple of decades old or has done a couple-hundred-thousand kilometres.

We often tell people they should budget for a fuel pump upgrade on their older model cars when they’ve booked in for power-adding modifications. This is a critical step to safeguard the engine as old fuel pumps can start to break down under load, which risks your car running lean and destroying your engine.

When picking which modifications you want to do to your car, always consider the car’s age and history, and whether you should tackle some preventative maintenance before adding horsepower.