Jbauer

Hey all, so i'm an import guy, but i'm open minded to all sorts of things. Anyway, I own a jetta (most unreliable cars out there) But at work, we have this ranger that gets abused so bad, and it still runs so well and i love it so much, i now want to own a ford. At first, the urge wasn't that great, but then i test drove one (mustang), then i test drove a camaro, but i dislike the way chevys feel (especially their square dashes) and i've been hooked ever since on the mustang. The way a ford V8 sounds, i just love it!

So, hey, if something feels good, I intend on doing it, So i've put the jetta for sale and i plan on buying a GT mustang very soon.
Now, my friend, who knows a thing or 2 more about domestics than I, told me that all 4.6 mustang motors up until 99 are crap, and break often and are VERY unreliable. Can you guys tell me more about this?

Also, the 4.6 is a SINGLE cam!?

And what should i look into when buying one of these? On my VW, changing the timing chains involved me having to drop the trans, not fun at all, and after 100k miles or so, they chains racket and make alot of noise, however, my friend told me that on these american cars, the chains could easily last the life of the car, is this true?! also, how hard is it to do the chains if i end up having to? I'd hate to buy a new used car, then blow the motor, because of my stupidity, i assume all V8s are interference motors, right?
Also, are these cars reliable? ..that is my main concern, i am going to school, (automotive, ironic huh?) and work full time so i can't afford to be stranded on the road. I'm sort of OK with working on cars, i can follow directions, it may take me a while, but i usually get it, the jetta is my first car so it's the only car i've really worked on, i have no experience working on american V8s.

whew! wow, thanks to anyone who read all that, i'll be spending some more time on the technical forums, speaking of that, how are the bolt ons for these cars? one thing i hated about VW besides the reliability was that there wern't alot of bolt ons, i assume with the mustang, there are some neccessities that everyone knows about?

Thanks for any replies!

Jbauer

also, something i've been dying to know, how much HP did the 302 make?

blueovalboy7

Welcome to the forums, you definitely will want to drop by the 4.6 Modular Mustang subforum and talk to the guys about which years are better and the like, but there are quite a few bolt ons you can do with those GTs, the guys in the 4.6 will know which produce better results. Good luck selling the Jetta and finding your Stang.

Also on the power question for the 302, it depends on what years you're talking about.

Jbauer

thanks, i'll be checking out the 4.6 pages soon, the 4.6 is modular? so that means that all the parts are interchangable right? heads, etc?

blueovalboy7

Honestly the modular motors are like a foreign language to me, I haven't had any first hand experience with it so I just don't know, the 4.6 guys will though, I know those engines can be made lethal it just depends on what you're wanting to spend.