best year

StangCrazy302Gt · Nov 11, 2007

hey guys .. im usually in the 5.0 section and was looking to buy a 94-98 body style what was the better of the motors in terms of reliability and best for modding. thanks

CobraRed_96_GT · Nov 11, 2007

98 would be for straight off power, but if your going to swap pi parts what ever has less millage.

04YELLOWGT · Nov 12, 2007

Well 94-95 have the 5.0 motor in them.... they are pretty much dogs as far as performance goes. (No offense to 94-95 owners) The 96-98 have the 4.6 with the NPI heads came and intake and make more power than 94-95.

As far as reliability goes the 5.0 has always been know for reliability. Performance it depends on what you want to do and what motor your comfortable with. You can swap out the NPI H/C for PI H/C and make more power than a stock 99-04 Mustang due to the 96-98 having higher compression than the 99-04.

EPIK · Nov 12, 2007

Get a 94-95 & pick up a Trickflow H/C/I package...Much easier & cheaper than doing a PI conversion & it will have more power too....As for 94-95's being dogs, yes they are pretty slow from the factory, but so are 96-98's.... I should know because Ive had a 96 GT & i currently own a 95 GT....Both cars are equally reliable, but the 96-98 gets much better gas mileage.

Gearbanger 101 · Nov 12, 2007

EPIKGT said:
Get a 94-95 & pick up a Trickflow H/C/I package...Much easier & cheaper than doing a PI conversion & it will have more power too.

More power, I might agree with, but cheaper....not a chance! You'll pay over twice the price for the Trick Flow H/C/I package that you will new PI hardware.....which leaves money for other bolt ons to make up that difference in power.

StangCrazy302Gt · Nov 12, 2007

pi ? im drawing a blank rite now... well if the 4.6 is better on gas, what year 4.6 with that body style is better .. wasnt there a sohc and a dohc version?? sorry im a 5.0 owner.. just looking to add a dailey driver that i can mod a little for dd use

EPIK · Nov 12, 2007

Gearbanger 101 said:
More power, I might agree with, but cheaper....not a chance! You'll pay over twice the price for the Trick Flow H/C/I package that you will new PI hardware.....which leaves money for other bolt ons to make up that difference in power.

Yeah....I was wrong about the price.... But the results will still be better on the 5.0 since they respond to mods better.....

Bolting on a good H/C/I package on a 5.0 will give u close to 300 rwhp with a good open exhaust & proper intake.... A PI conversion wont even come close to that...

EPIK · Nov 12, 2007

StangCrazy302Gt said:
pi ? im drawing a blank rite now... well if the 4.6 is better on gas, what year 4.6 with that body style is better .. wasnt there a sohc and a dohc version?? sorry im a 5.0 owner.. just looking to add a dailey driver that i can mod a little for dd use

Now were talkin...96-98 Cobra is the way to go...It has a 305hp DOHC motor while the GT's have a 225 HP (overated) SOHC motor...

I loved my old 97 Cobra...It was a perfect daily driver...plenty of power, decent gas mileage, & they look soooooo sexy!!!

urban96 · Nov 12, 2007

+the 5.0 has the low end TQ that the 4.6 dosent seem to have.

i say it depends on what u want to do with the car as far as mods go

2002BLGT · Nov 12, 2007

IMO if you can find a 99-01 in your budget you will be alot better off , or buy a 96-98 GT with high mileage for cheap and get a junkyard 99-04 low mileage engine to swap in there ..... the 96-98GTs are ok , but PI heads make a huge difference ....

CobraRed_96_GT · Nov 12, 2007

EPIKGT said:
Now were talkin...96-98 Cobra is the way to go...It has a 305hp DOHC motor while the GT's have a 225 HP (overated) SOHC motor...

I loved my old 97 Cobra...It was a perfect daily driver...plenty of power, decent gas mileage, & they look soooooo sexy!!!

i believe 225 is for the 98, 215 was for 96. Neither of which are overrated being as tho they put down on a dyno 12-15% less than that (drivetrain loss)

CobraRed_96_GT · Nov 12, 2007

StangCrazy302Gt said:
pi ? im drawing a blank rite now... well if the 4.6 is better on gas, what year 4.6 with that body style is better .. wasnt there a sohc and a dohc version?? sorry im a 5.0 owner.. just looking to add a dailey driver that i can mod a little for dd use

96-98 Cobra: 4V DOHC 305hp300tq

2V SOHC:

98 GT: 225/290
96-97 GT: 215/285
99-04 GT: 260/302
96-98 w/ PI H/C/I: 275/310 (guess from adding 15% to wheels numbers)

PI means Performance Improved, they are the heads/cams/ and intake manifold ford used on 99+ GT's. On a 96-98 block they add compression due to us not having the dished piston heads 99+'s do, so it makes a bit more power, nothing huge.

StangCrazy302Gt · Nov 12, 2007

all of this info is great i learned alot... but now im just confusing my self more.. my goal is a dd car ,as i am trying to make my fox more of a high hp track weekend driver.. back to the dd car.. i would want to spend less for mods and do basic bolt on's as it will be my dd car, but also would like to keep the door open for other mods in teh future .. i hop ethis helps more.. and im looking for 5,ooo sticker on teh car im on a tight budget

StangCrazy302Gt · Nov 12, 2007

p.s thanks alot so far for the info guys helping alot

CobraRed_96_GT · Nov 12, 2007

well a 5k budget and a car that you can make fun from bolt ons unfortunatley is an oxymoron for OHC stangs. You can get a 94-95 5.0 sn-95 body style for cheap and it'll respond okay to mods. But a 96-98 SOHC stang wont, but the H/C/I is crazy cheap. I picked up those parts for $190, but expect around 400-500 if you don't spend months looking in local listings. 99+ SOHC and 96-98 DOHC arn't bad for modding, but are more than 5k.

tiptone · Nov 12, 2007

You're likely going to be limited to the 94-95 or 96-98 models with a $5K budget. You might find a high mileage 99 for that, but it's doubtful. Buying a 99 would be like buying either of those with some mild mods already done to it, so If possible try and stretch the budget to what it takes to get 99+ model. It will start off faster and respond to all mods better.

EPIK · Nov 12, 2007

With a 5k budget u should be able to get a high mileage 96-98, & get a used low mileage 99-04 2V & have yourself a good daily driver with decent gas mileage. Or u can pick up a clean 94-95 5.0 GT & get ok gas mileage. I picked up my 95 GT with 79k miles for $5,500 A few months back, so u can still find clean ones out there for good deals...The 96-98's are even cheaper I think??? & yes the 96-98 with a PI swap are much faster than a 94-95 stock for stock, but once u start modding the 5.0 has the advantage i would say dollar for dollar....

This is how it looked stock when i got it...
View attachment 348589

Here it is now....

LaserSVT · Nov 12, 2007

IMO the 96-98 Cobras rule! You can find a nice one for 6k (mine was 6 grand three months ago) and have a great dd with good mileage. I get about 22mpg and my foots always on the loud pedal. If I drove like a sane person I would get 25-26 mpg. Cobras respond great to exhaust and computer upgrades. Gears make a huge difference too, I have 3.73's and love them. Most Cobra owners say dont go smaller than 4.10's but since I want to go FI and drive it every day 3.73's seemed logical. As for power I only have a o/r H-pipe, Flowmasters and a chip and my car puts down 299.8 rwhp and will spin the tires all the way through second and bark them in third.

BTW EPIKGT, that is a real killer looking 5.0

EPIK · Nov 12, 2007

LaserSVT said:
IMO the 96-98 Cobras rule! You can find a nice one for 6k (mine was 6 grand three months ago) and have a great dd with good mileage. I get about 22mpg and my foots always on the loud pedal. If I drove like a sane person I would get 25-26 mpg. Cobras respond great to exhaust and computer upgrades. Gears make a huge difference too, I have 3.73's and love them. Most Cobra owners say dont go smaller than 4.10's but since I want to go FI and drive it every day 3.73's seemed logical. As for power I only have a o/r H-pipe, Flowmasters and a chip and my car puts down 299.8 rwhp and will spin the tires all the way through second and bark them in third.

BTW EPIKGT, that is a real killer looking 5.0

Thanks...& yeah the 96-98 Cobra's do rule....Yours is clean too....Im gonna one day get a 94-98 cobra front bumper, 95 R hood, & S281 spoiler on my 95....

Heres my old 97...The 96-98 Cobras are the best looking SN95's minus the 95 Cobra R...

CobraRed_96_GT · Nov 12, 2007

Epik comes through with the pic whoring once again

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