Just bought a 98 Stang GT 5spd

[Turbo92PGT]

Hey everyone! My name is Andy, I live in Washington State and just recently purchased a 98 Mustang GT 5 spd. With a 4.6L engine. I looked and looked for a 94-95 GT with the 5.0. BUt couldn't find any good ones. I picked the car up today (christmas eve) and am pretty pleased with it. Has pretty good power and seems to drive pretty well. Only problems with it are

Cigarette LIghters dont work (both)
Grinds a tiny bit when I shift into reverse
and now it has a pretty bad coolant leak near the intake manifold

I would like to know a few things
Where is the best place to buy performance parts such as Cold air, t/b, etc for the 4.6.
What transmission do I have?? (T5, t45) or whatever
What rear end gears I have? (I have factory 17" wheels if that matters)

and one more thing, why does it hit fuel cut right at 6 grand (redline)

 

[Milenko]

Congrats on the purchase, nice Christmas gift.

Check out partshopper.com, californiamustang.com, dallasmustang.com, steeda.com, and of course ebay.

I believe you have 2.73's...not sure though...

 

[Wills Black 98]

congrats! yeah, you probably have 2.73's unless it has the factory upgrade to 3.27's. you can get underneath and look on the axle it has a metal tag that will say which gears you have. the fuel cuts off right at 6 grand because you dont need to take it any past 6,000 your not even making enough power to make it worth it... you redlined it on the first day? haha, it took me weeks to do that!

 

[stangtrooper97]

Good purchase Andy. What color did you get? Everybody knows that the red ones are the fastest. Your transmission is the t-45. As long as you stay at the current power level and don't abuse it and miss shifts, it should last a while as long as you get a shifter. The shifter is a must. Changing cylinder heads to some from the 99+ cars will make your car feel brand new. And a good place to buy stuff for the 4.6 is a place called www.mustangtuning.com. It is a fairly new place but they have good prices on lots of stuff and free shipping on most orders. Hope this helps and welcome to the modular club.

Pete

 

[984.6gt]

You have 3.27 Gears, and your Manifold has a leak by the thermostat, Ford supposudly fixed this in 97, but my 98 had the problem too, they fixed mine under recall, but not sure they were supposed too, you can but performance parts anywhere, I suggest getting a subcription to MMFF.

 

[Wills Black 98]

oh yeah, i forgot to tell you 98's were the absolute best year mustang, ever!

 

[stangman]

oh yeah, i forgot to tell you 98's were the absolute best year mustang, ever!

i concur i've had two 98's, & now that i've been thinking about it for a while i am kinda pissed that i traded mine. so i'm starting to look for one i can pick up cheap & make it a project beast congrats on the purchase man

 

[TavisB]

oh yeah, i forgot to tell you 98's were the absolute best year mustang, ever!

Yes they are

 

[Turbo92PGT]

WOW!!! Thanks for all the replies. You guys are very helpful! I have been a member for a few years on a website called "probetalk". YOu would post something, and a week later maybe have one or two replies. Within an hour I had 7 or 8. THanks alot. THe speedometer is off by quite a bit, or atleast it seems to be. I was doing "90" on the freeway. Or so my speedo said, but I wasnt going faster than anyone else, and it sure as heck didnt feel like I was going that fast. The rear ends are a "posi"?? am I correct? and also how can I go about finding out what my rear end ratio is. I found the tag you talked about, but it just has a whole bunch of numbers on it, none of which make any sense. Would my gt mustang give a 97 Cobra conv any kind of a run? I've ridden in one of those a few years ago, but I cant quite remember. Can you be more specific as to where that leak might be coming from. I tighted up a sensor (coolant temp?) using a 19MM open end wrench on it, hoping it was leaking from there. I dumped a bunch of water on it, hoping to clear away all the antifreeze and then drove the car. The coolant is just as bad

 

[No Control]

The local ford dealer should have the intake manifold for around 250 beans. I've got the same leak, and am debating wheither to swap the heads (new intake included) or to just fix it as it is. Good purchase, though!

BTW, what color?

 

[Turbo92PGT]

Oh ya! FOrgot to tell you! Its a black one with Black leather interior. Power windows/locks, air bags, mach stereo. Sounds really nice, I think its going to be a good car for me. I'm kind of afraid of it though, just because I know im not going to be able to keep my foot off the gas.

 

[COramprat]

Check with Ford about the coolant leak...it may be fixed under recall. The reverse grind is normal (or it is normal for mine). If the cigarette lighters are not working, check the fuse. Might be blown. Pick up a Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords or 5.0 Mustang magazines. They have alot of aftermarket companies advertising in there.
Look inside the driver door for a sticker. Under AXLE there will be a code. If it is an E you have 3.27 gears. If it is sometning else then you have 2.73's. I notice your screen name is Turbo92PGT. Do you have a Probe?

 

[COramprat]

Well while I was replying you answered my question....I saw you are a member of Probetalk also. I have a 92 GL. Did you trade the car in?

If your car is doing 90 when everyone else is keeping up I'll be you have 3.73's or 4.10's.

 

[Turbo92PGT]

I looked in the fuse panel (underneath the dash) and pulled a few of the fuses, hoping to find a blown one. No luck, I didnt pull them all out though, I might have to do that sometime just to make sure. I would really like to be able to use my radar detector. I just looked on the doorjam. AXLE : ME is the code. So is that the 3.27's or the 2.73's? Any ideas as to why my speedo would be way off?

 

[Turbo92PGT]

Oh ya! I've owned two of them. One being a 92 GT and the other being a 92GL. The turbo one was alot of fun, but it was a piece of crap. The GL on the other hand was really nice. I lowered it, put some 18" wheels on it, tint, intake, exhaust. (just for looks). THe car was really slow, but it handled really well and was pretty fun to drive.

 

[COramprat]

I looked in the fuse panel (underneath the dash) and pulled a few of the fuses, hoping to find a blown one. No luck, I didnt pull them all out though, I might have to do that sometime just to make sure. I would really like to be able to use my radar detector. I just looked on the doorjam. AXLE : ME is the code. So is that the 3.27's or the 2.73's? Any ideas as to why my speedo would be way off?

ME was 2.73's but like I said before...I believe the gear mod has been done

 

[Turbo92PGT]

I bet you're right. How would I go about finding out for sure what rear end gears I have? and how would I go about correcting the speedometer for them? The car really seems to have quite a bit of power. I'm going to have alot of fun with this car, tinkerin and such. Is there quite a bit of parts for the 4.6? comparative to the 5.0? Anything is better than the Probe. There were no parts for those, as well as no way to make good power out of the. Besides a boost controller (gt)

 

[96_Stang-a-roo]

Great choice of mustang.

Yes, you would give a 97 cobra a run but he would end up taking you. However, the difference (if the drivers are the same) is minimal. I dunno what they did wrong with those year 4v's but I had no trouble with them even when my stang was stock. a 01-03 cobra will spank you pretty good, though. You'll need alot more to keep up with them.

They boys here are right on the gears you have.

The Grinding into reverse is expected... Best thing to do is put it in 1st and then go into reverse, should get rid of it. I personally don't put too much faith in the t45. I rebuilt my t45 a year after i got mine. I'm a hard shifter, though, so maybe it's just me.

Your Car Cuts @ 6 grand becuase (like everyone else said) it, well, just doesn't get any better after 5500. In fact, for best performance you should shift below the redline. I used to shift my car @ 5-5500 b4 the headswap.

A great place to look for mustang parts are what people have already said and EBAY. I've gotten 90% of the parts on my stang from there... However, if you've never used ebay before keep in mind that people have been ripped off on there. Best thing to do is only to buy from people that have a high number of transactions (in the thousands). I've never been taken advantage of using this method.

What do you want out of your stang? If you give us a Horsepower, et, or "i wanna outrun ____" goal then we can give you a number of good formula's and price tag's that'll get you right there.

Congrats on the purchase!

 

[96_Stang-a-roo]

Hit me up on AIM if you wanna know anything or chat fords

 

[edwardohaskillo]

Congrads and welcome dude!

I would cruise these boards for lots of info. These folks (I don't think I've been around long enough to say WE) know a heck of a lot. Use the search function and you would be suprised what you can find.

I think it was in '99 when Ford came out with the Performance Improved (PI) heads. Factory rated hp increased from 215 to 260. Unlike the 5.0, there is a dearth of aftermarket heads. I think changing the heads will require a new intake also.

I would guess that the lighters are on a common fuse, so I would check 'em and find out.

I wouldn't be too concerned about the "tiny" grind to reverse. I don't know much about these spec. trannies, but most trannies have straight cut gears for reverse. Straight cut gears are stronger, but are a little harder to find w/o grinding, and they tend to whine. 'course I could be wrong.

There was quite a flame war re. Cold Air Intakes (CAI) a week or so ago. General consensus was that most were not worth their money from a performance stand point. Tight bends in the CAI right before the meter can cause problems.

These little engine's rods are 3.5" and made of powdered metal. Not like the 3" forged rods of the 5.0. So they are not as forgiving at high rpms. If I am not mistaken, the fuel shut-off revlimiter could lean things out and may be detrimental to her health. 'sides, the power is dropping at 6k anyway.

Folks here tend to love lower gears in the rear. 3.73 to 4.10 (Yes, 4.10!) are the most popular. If I were you I would not "fear the gear" as they say, and go with lower gears. I would also go with a Pro 5.0 or Steed Tri-Ax shifter, and put in subframe connectors. IMHO, it would be the best bang for the buck, might make the t-45 last a little longer, and tighten up your ride a little.

Hope this helps