looking to sell my Mustang ii and buy an sn95. Anything to look for and look out for?

Hey guys and gals, my name is Gonzo and I am from Hawaii. Oahu is finally getting a race track back (last one closed in 2006) and I am damn excited. I currently have a mustang ii that has been pretty popular on IG @77_cobra_ii and I would love to keep it and race that but parts are rare for mods and shipping is a nightmare to Hawaii so I have decided to change it up. I have owned a 1998 GT before and am looking into buying either an sn95 or s197 to build for the track. I want to hear some thoughts as to what I should look for in an sn95 to know if it is a good buy. things i should be aware of and things i should look for, etc. I appreciate any help and info you are able to share! Mahalo plenty.

Gonzo
 
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What's your hp goals? Are you wanting to race it and keep it light weight? Do you have a preference on the body style between those years. I would try an stay away from anything 98 and older.

i have owned a 98 and 00 so i have had both styles. also looking into a s197 if that would be a good option. no pref besides the fact that the 98 is lighter from the factory. i will be stripping weight from it for sure. HP goals are yet to be determined depending if i want to build for road course or drag strip. If i remember correctly the 4.6 is pretty similar from 96-04? i may be wrong, it has been a while.
 
96-98 and some 99 mustang didn't have the PI(performance Improved) heads. They lacked on horsepower because the heads were so restrictive. So doing bolt on upgrades wont give much hp. I would go with anything that has the PI heads unless your planning on swapping the heads out. Then it doesn't matter. This is a costly expense which amounts to 2 grand if you do that. I would purchase anything above a year 2000 if it were me. My stang is around 400 hp Not RWH fully built NA 10.8 compression. I have yet to weight my car but will do so once I switch out my seats to lightweight seats, and my rear delete. I've shaved off about 400 pounds. I'm pretty sure Im around 3,000 pounds give or a take 100. Yet to have it at the track but its super fun to drive. So responsive and the power is there when you need it. The 4.6 motors are so popular that the parts are cheap and you can find a motor just about anywhere you look. The blocks are designed to withstand 1500 hp. So you can't go wrong with a 4.6 motor.
 
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96-98 and some 99 mustang didn't have the PI(performance Improved) heads. They lacked on horsepower because the heads were so restrictive. So doing bolt on upgrades wont give much hp. I would go with anything that has the PI heads unless your planning on swapping the heads out. Then it doesn't matter. This is a costly expense which amounts to 2 grand if you do that. I would purchase anything above a year 2000 if it were me. My stang is around 400 hp Not RWH fully built NA 10.8 compression. I have yet to weight my car but will do so once I switch out my seats to lightweight seats, and my rear delete. I've shaved off about 400 pounds. I'm pretty sure Im around 3,000 pounds give or a take 100. Yet to have it at the track but its super fun to drive. So responsive and the power is there when you need it. The 4.6 motors are so popular that the parts are cheap and you can find a motor just about anywhere you look. The blocks are designed to withstand 1500 hp. So you can't go wrong with a 4.6 motor.

the info for the heads is great. thank you. not sure if i will be going that far for a while so knowing that the 00 and up is the way to go is great advice. i had no idea that the 4.6 was good to 1500?!? One question though...what is RWH?
 
the info for the heads is great. thank you. not sure if i will be going that far for a while so knowing that the 00 and up is the way to go is great advice. i had no idea that the 4.6 was good to 1500?!? One question though...what is RWH?
Rear wheel horsepower. There is a valve train loss from the crank to the wheels. You can have 400hp but only put 360 to the rwh. Make sense? The block can handle high horsepower but only with the right internals. With forged internals you can have a block that will support up to 1500hp. Hope that helps. It all depends on what your hp goals are.
 
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Rear wheel horsepower. There is a valve train loss from the crank to the wheels. You can have 400hp but only put 360 to the rwh. Make sense? The block can handle high horsepower but only with the right internals. With forged internals you can have a block that will support up to 1500hp. Hope that helps. It all depends on what your hp goals are.

oh ok. i just didnt understand in the context you wrote. you said "400 hp Not RWH" instead of 400 crank hp which confused me lol. you did shine light on some things i was looking into so i appreciate that. if i was in a buying place there is a bone stock 01 GT 5speed for sale for only 4k. i want to get it but i gotta sell my car first :shrug: