looking at a 98 cobra

[autumn_again]

hey, whats up. i own a 94 gt, with high mileage. [207k+], original engine.

runs horrible, having lots of problems. had intentions of rebuilding, but now looking at going to a tech school which is 60 miles away, not sure if its such a good idea to try to rebuild it and get all the bugs out in time.

went to the dealership last night, looked at the used inventory, something semi low mileage, that still had the power i wanted.

i found a 1998 cobra. black leather interior, in mint condition, black cloth top, in mint condition, black paint, in mint condition. 48k miles. looks and sounds to be upgraded exhaust, looked like it had 3 inch tips on it, tried looking under to see a brand exhaust on the muffler, or pipe anywhere, and no luck, try again durin the day.

has cobra front brakes, looks to be lowered

looked in side the quarter panels, no caked on rubber like my car haha.

a couple interior accents, aftermarket wheels [never seen em before on a mustang, dont really like them, will put ones from my 94 on]

anyway. what i'm getting at, is what do you feel a fair price for this car is?

the whole car looks to be in great condition.

they are asking 14. which i think is probably way too high, and was thinking around 10 would be more reasonable.



anything to look for in particular for these models? i dont have much 4.6 experience, we've got a town car with SOHC 4.6 that bent a rod. but other then that it was a solid car.

 

[timeless2]

03/04 GTs are lucky to bring 14 these days. I think that one's high, even if it has the noble SVT badging.

 

[autumn_again]

yeah i definitely wouldn't pay the 14 they are asking.

i would probably go 12 the highest.

are there any big problems i should look out for?

 

[autumn_again]

also i'm kinda partial to the 94-98 body style, so thats one reason i like this car so much.

 

[2BADSTANGS]

Yeah, your 12k offer sounds reasonable, might start by offering less and negotiating up to that. Any V8 sports cars in my area (As long as there not super rare like a Cobra R.) are not bringing what there worth, could be due to gas prices. Theres a Termi sitting on a local dealerships lot in excelent condition with around 23k on it and there asking $178?? They would probably go a little lower on that if you haggled with them 'cause it's been there for a while. Point being, you should be able to pick it up for what you want to pay.

 

[autumn_again]

yeah i was thinking offer 10, if they go for it awesome, if not highest i'd go to is probably 12.

are these pretty solid motors? i have no experience with the 4vs.

 

[2BADSTANGS]

I believe that car has the Teksid block and is capable of handling somewhere around 800hp. I have no complaints about my '99. Heres a little insight on the motor from wikipedia Ford Modular engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[autumn_again]

i went and checked it out again, and its posted online now.

they are asking 13,400. + 500$ off for some internet off deal.

few things i didnt like was how the interior looked.

its kinda faded looking. and for a place that i'm going to be spending alot of time, i want to make sure its going to look how i want it to. if i can definitely bring it back to the black shine it should be, then i wouldn't be worried about it, but usually when people try to sell a car they make sure its in the cleanest possible condition.

stock exhaust also, from header to tip, so i'd want to throw a new catback on it almost right away.

really other then those few things the car was pretty good.

i think i'm going back tuesday to take another look and to talk numbers.

i don't know if i'm just being picky or what. not many cars really do anything for me.

i bought my 94 with the intentions to bring it down to the track, well i've had it for a year now and no progress made on putting any track time down because the cars always been down. something i've wanted to do all year. and i think if i brought it down to the track i would get very dissapointing times and just get even more frustrated with the car.

now with this i am hoping to bring to the track, but if i break something, i wont have the money to fix it because i'm payin the car off.

cars suck. haha.

 

[autumn_again]

was going to test driv the car out tonight, instead i worked some overtime.

just been thinking about it more and more. i definitely don't think i'd be happy with my car without throwing loads of money at it. need to rebuild the transmission again, need to redo my rear because its whining. now something in the front left is making a squeeking noise. need to rebuild the motor, and while i'm at it i want to give it some more go. new heads, & cam, full exhaust, needs a new hood, new headlights new headerpanel, new paint job. crazy how it adds up that might make it as nice as a new car.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

I believe that car has the Teksid block and is capable of handling somewhere around 800hp. I have no complaints about my '99. Heres a little insight on the motor from wikipedia Ford Modular engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Correct....the '98 did have the Teksid block....and it is capable of handling a lot of horsepower (which I've been led to be believe is closer to 1,200hp than 800hp) but they've still got the same crap rods and pistons rotating in that wonderful hunk of aluminum that the GT's have. So don't plan on pushing it past 450hp or so unless you like walking.

 

[autumn_again]

hah i was thinking of doing catback exhaust and maybe a CAI for now, and just have it really clean. then after i get out of school and get more stabilized i could build the bottom end up and throw a blower on with full exhaust.

i found a 96 mystic last night. they want 12.5 its got 41k miles on it. signed up on 1996mysticcobra.com last night but didn't get my account validated last time i checked, so i haven't been able to read into it.

trying to keep my options open. so this way i'm not like dead set on something, without knowing what else is out there.

 

[autumn_again]

reading into drag racing rules i've decided the 98 cobra wont be any good to me.

drag racing is definitely something i plan on doing quite a few times a year when i have a car that will take the punishment. and it was saying any cars faster then i think it said 13.75 that are convertible need a roll bar. i've always hated the looks of roll bars in convertibles and would never put one in one. although the law confuses me because my auto collision instructor ran a 13.1 in his bone stock ls1 trans am convertible quite a few times. no roll cage.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

I'm confused?

You made no mention in any of your posts of either the '98 or '96 Cobra's you were looking at being convertibles?

That being said, I don't see why you couldn't look around for a coupe if that were the case. An early Cobra is nothing more than a set of aggressive rear gears, some very basic bolt ons and LT headers/mid pipe away from running solidly into the 12's? Not something you'll ever do in your current '94 without tearing into the engine.

...not to mention with the standard 13" brakes, it makes slowing down a lot more sure footed in the Snake.

 

[autumn_again]

I'm confused?

You made no mention in any of your posts of either the '98 or '96 Cobra's you were looking at being convertibles?

That being said, I don't see why you couldn't look around for a coupe if that were the case. An early Cobra is nothing more than a set of aggressive rear gears, some very basic bolt ons and LT headers/mid pipe away from running solidly into the 12's? Not something you'll ever do in your current '94 without tearing into the engine.

...not to mention with the standard 13" brakes, it makes slowing down a lot more sure footed in the Snake.

ah sorry. i didnt directly say it was a vert, just said it had a nice cloth top, but my first post was huge so i had to look for it haha. the 98 is a vert. thats one thing i liked about it but at the same time had its downsides.

the 96 is a coupe. but i think its too old to finance.

thats the main thing i like about the 4.6 cobras. a smaller gear, some sticky tires and full exhaust will bring me very close to the goal i want to achieve with building my current motor.

no matter what i need to tear into my motor even if i dont plan on racing it, its got over 200,000 miles on it, burns oil faster then i can put it in. i think probably every 500 miles i need to add more oil because it gets extremely low. i've put new valve seals in, its just the bottom end is shot.



so many plus's about a snake. the better brakes, the better looks, the nostalgia of being a cobra. the extra power.

 

[Destroyer442]

I paid $8200 for my '99 Cobra (triple black) convertible. Car had 72k when I got it but also had an '04 Mach 1 motor w/9k miles, 4.10 gears, 18" wheels, etc.... . Anyway, $12k seems high. I found an '04 Mach 1 for that price.