Brick's Picks - AmericanMuscle's Mustang Expert

Brick Spurio, and yes Brick is his real name, has been with AmericanMuscle from what seems like the very beginning. He started as a loyal customer showing up every weekend buying parts and giving out Mustang related advise. Brick became such a fixture at AmericanMuscle that we just had to give him a job. Brick has brought a wealth of Mustang knowledge to the company from simple installs to complex racing setups and everything in between.

A Mustang Enthusiast since before he could legally drive, Brick started racing the day after he got his license. According to him, he had a, "1966 Mustang Coupe 289 three-speed. I thought it was the fastest thing ever. I went racing, got my doors blown in and got bit by the speed bug." Ever since then Brick has been obsessed with making things go even faster, and when racing season starts, he gets the itch to get back on the track.

And now AmericanMuscle wants to share Bricks years of Mustang knowledge with you. Look for "Brick's Picks" on the bottom of the product pages for Bricks Rating and thoughts on the different products AmericanMuscle has to offer the Mustang community.

Brick's FAQ

The question I get asked the most is "What mods should I make to my car?
This question can have different answers depending on what type of driving you are looking to do, but the basics are all the same. INTAKE, EXHAUST, and GEARS. Please read below to learn more.

• Mustang Cold Air Intakes - Click to learn more

The first and most popular modification to make to your Mustang is a Cold Air Intake. A Cold Air Intake is a great and inexpensive way to add horsepower and performance to your pony. A Cold Air Intake is designed to allow colder denser air into the engine through a stream lined tube and open air filter combination. The stock factory Air Boxes can be very restrictive, robbing you of power. Seeing that a motor is essentially a large air pump the less restrictive the air flow path going in and out of it the more power you can make.

A side note on Cold Air Intakes - The 1987 through 2004 Mustangs can have a Cold Air Intake installed without the need of having the cars computer retuned or reprogrammed. But the newer 2005+ S197 Mustangs do require the cars computer to be retuned for a Cold Air Intake to function properly, unless other wise noted by the manufacturer.



• Mustang Throttle Bodies - Click to learn more

A new Throttle Body is a great way to get better throttle response and increase power. A Throttle Body controls the amount of air flowing into the engine, in response to the driver via the gas pedal and is a great addition to a Cold Air Intake. So by increasing the size of the Throttle Body you can increase power, but people make the common mistake of buying the biggest Throttle Body available for their car and this is not always a good thing, bigger is not always better. By installing a Throttle Body that is to big for your car you can experience bogging down on accleration, stalling, and RPM surge these are caused by to much air and not enough fuel. You will need to purchase the correct size Throttle Body that is best for your cars setup.



• Mustang Underdrive Pulleys - Click to learn more

Under Drive pulleys help increase your Mustangs performance for two reasons. The first reason is that the Underdrive Pulleys are a different diameter then the stock parts they replace and free up Horsepower and Torque by reducing the parasitic drag caused by your cars belt driven accessories. The second reason is that the Underdrive Pulleys are much lighter in weight then the stock factory pulleys and make it much easier for the engine to spin, thus freeing up Horsepower and Torque. Underdrive Pulleys slow down your accessories by about 25%, which usually equates to about 8 to 10 extra Horsepower.



• Mustang Rear Gears - Click to learn more

By upgrading your Mustang with a steeper rear gear ratio you can greatly enhance the performance of your pony off the line. Steeper Gears do not actually add horsepower or torque to your mustang, but what they do is get you up and moving quicker and into the "power band" faster. The power band is the point in the Horsepower/Torque curve where all the power is located, the "sweet spot". So what size gears do I chose? That really depends on your cars set up, but on a naturally aspirated car with basic bolt-ons a good guide line is 3.73 for a manual transmission car and 4.10 for an automatic.



• Mustang Chips and Tuners - Click to learn more

A Chip or a Handheld Tuner are used to reprogram your Mustangs ECU (computer) the brains of your car. They both contain the same file information, the only difference is how they interface with your cars computer. A Chip is an actual electronic device that plugs directly into the J3 port on your stock ECU and stays in place. A Handheld Tuner is plugged into the OBD II port, located underneath the dash on the driver’s side and is removed after the program has been uploaded to the cars computer. NOTE: You only need one or the other, not both. By reprogramming or retuning your cars computer you can achieve more horsepower, torque, and better throttle response. I normally recommend completing all of your bolt-on modifications to your Mustang first than have a Chip or a Handheld Tuner custom programmed for those modifications. This will give you the most out of all of your mods and better performance. You can read more about Chips and Handheld Tuners by visiting this link.

Brick's Supercharged 2003 Mach 1	Brick's Supercharged 2003 Mach 1
Brick's 1994 (Gas Saving) V6 Daily Driver - Before	Brick's 1994 (Gas Saving) V6 Daily Driver - After

Nothing beats taking your Mustang to a car show or the track on a nice summer day. Mustangs are great fun to drive and modify whether you have an SVT Cobra or a V6 daily driver. But always be sure to obey your local traffic laws and remember to buckle up. Keep on Stanging and Banging...