Sounds like you should have bought a faster car.
But, since you didn't and now you want to make your slow car faster and with FocusSport around the block. Go visit them!
Typical first mods are intake, and exhaust. You just have to decide how far you want to go with both in terms of money and emissions. Your intake choices are pretty clear, short ram or full length CAI, then the throttle body. Still, not going to make your car as fast as you want... Your exhaust decisions get a little tougher, cat-back is the easy part and several choices are available. Then you have to decide if a short header and hi-flo cat, or a race header is appropriate for your local and state laws. The flexpipe is a no brainer.
So, let's assume you spent all that money on a CAI, t/b, and complete exhaust upgrade. Depending on the choices you made, you are out anywhere from $1000 to $1500. And guess what, your car still isn't fast enough! Faster than you were at stock, but "fast" ?
The next step you should take is at least adjustable cam sprockets/gears. This will allow you to tune in your new intake and exhaust. Approx. $250 and you'll want to have them tuned in at a tuning shop on a Dyno. FocusSport can do that for you, not sure what they charge for that.
Still, "fast", hmmmm... Drop another $1500-$2000 in a cylinder head and camshafts, get it all hooked up, and now you can probably say your car is "fast". But, since you opened the engine up, there goes your warranty, if that's a concern.
Oh, and screaming at your car to get out of 2nd gear... if it's not ready to shift, why would you want it to. It's going to shift at around 6200 rpms as I recall, if you have the pedal to the metal and that should be around 80mph I think.
[ 10-29-2002, 10:42 PM: Message edited by: myFordPerformance.com ]