Ventured over to this part of the forums, sold my 2007 4.0 Mustang last week, going to pick up a 1998 3.8/5-speed CLEAN red with black interior stang Monday. The car appears to be completely stock. It runs VERY well, I was also VERY impressed with the power the little car had. It has just over 98,000 miles, new red paint, ultra clean black interior, engine is OK, needs detailing though. Appears to have name brand filters, rides very smooth, the only problem I could find was the fuse box cover is missing and the tires dont look like they were rotated. Other than that the car looks great. Paying $3200.

Just thought Id venture over here and gather info, whats the stock HP output on these cars? and whats the stock ET? also been reading up on some basic mods, trying to see what I can expect from the car. From what l could tell by driving it 1st gear seems pretty low, I could do 60mph @ 5,000 rpm in 2nd, 65mph @ 2,500rpm in third, seemed like a pretty big jump. That didnt seem right but from what I could tell thats what the car was doing. A lot more pep than I expected, it SCATS in 2nd right up to 60. It really didnt seem too far off in performance from the two 96 GTs I drove. Really excuted about getting it. Been a while since I have seen a car with a cassete player, it still has the factory cassete AND CD player. Found it at a little body shop run by a little hispanic guy, he seemed honest as could be, not sure where he go the car but he said the paint looked bad so he repainted it. and cleaned it up. No lights are on such as CEL. I guess im mostly trying to re-assure myself about buying an older used car. I dont know why I worry, I thoroughly checked the car out.

Sorry for the long post..........

 

unless the other owner replaced the head gaskets they will blow out soon, as for power, it's a dog, like 150hp. you will need a few grand just to get it up to respectable levels of power. if ur planning on modding i would suggest getting a 99-04 model. 40 more HP stock over the 98, no head gasket issues either

 

not likely- they fixed the head gaskets in 96.5. Ive never heard of a 97-98 randomly blowing out a HG like a 94/95.


stock gears are 3.08's, power is 155 at the floywheel- expect high-16's out of the box.

they are quite moddable, and a splitport swap or M90 will really wake it up.

 

I have a 97 5-speed, got close to 135k miles, never had a single problem and put probably 40k on it. Fun car!

 

The "fun" factor with the car is high, with me at least. Im coming from an auto, the 5-speed Im really digging. Also what fuel mileage can I expect? only got around 23-24 mpg average per tank with the 07, 27 on the road in perfect conditions. (yeah yeah, people argue with me but I figured the mileage I know) Work with a girl that has a 96 and she gets abount 25mpg she says.

The little car LOOKS great, honestly I expected a total slug, 16sec ET is awesome (to me) considering its very lowe power output. Super Six performance has a power pak that adds 80hp for $2100. Not a bad price I think for intake, cams, heads, etc. That would bring the 145hp to 245hp. Im sure that would dip the car well below 15sec. My heavy 07 did just over 15sec with its 210hp 4.0. Another question, what do these cars weigh?

 

Looking into small mods to start off with. Lower pulley, and maybe something like this: http://www.stage3motorsports.com/pro...ttle-Body.html BBK CAI and 56mm throttle body, just curious how good the BBK CAI is, it SAYS 12-15hp gain, Id barely hope for that with the CAI/throttle body and pulley COMBINED, even then Id guess 10hp gain total. Also looking into exhaust systems, maybe full length headers, Free flowing cats, H pipe, and some Magnaflows. At this point im just guessing and looking.

 

Pure highway with middle grade fuel and a K&N Airfilter I can get 30.

 

Good luck with it. Sounds like you got yourself a nice hobby car ahead.

 

One question, why did you sell your 07 which is faster, more reliable, and gets better mpg for an older Mustang?

The 98 V6 is nowhere near a 96 GT in performance. The 98 usually runs high 16s low 17s depending on the driver in stock form.

I had a 98 V6 and there are a few things you can do to really wake up the car, but it's still gonna be slow, but you can get a huge MPG boost.

1.) Get a tuner - go with SCT - even if the car is a manual you can still benefit. For a 98 with an SCT advance the timing 2 or 3* across the board and curve the fuel back 2%. They run just a smidge rich. If you have an auto don't hesitate to bump up shift pressure/firmness either.

2.) Get a cold air intake - doesn't matter how you do this but for some odd ball reason the 94-98s get better MPG when doing this. Performance is neglagible but the gain to the pocket book isn't. A real CAI or a K&N drop in/air silencer removal will both work.

3.) Get true dual ehaust - this mod made a decent improvement on my old 98 both MPG wise and a semi decent performance wise. Get a kit with 2.25" piping though, the 2.5" piping losses too much back pressure on a V6.

Now these 3 mods won't have you blowing peoples minds with your performance, but assuming the ignition system is in good shape and you don't drive like a maniac you should be able to get a nice 24-26 mpg mixed driving and around 30 all hwy. In stock form you will not get that.

 

I used to get 30ish when I had my 95 and it only had a drop in K&N filter. You won't notice a huge power increase, but it will definitely sound a little different and get better mileage(throttle response). Now the 2000 I used to own, horrible mileage, and not enough power to justify the consumption.