'98 Mustang Father/Son Project

[28HopUp]

Although I only recently joined the MCA, I have been a Mustang owner/enthusiast since I got my driver’s license in 1982. Back when I was in high school, I drove a red 1966 Mustang coupe that my father had bought brand new in September 1966. It came with a c-code 289 and C4 transmission. How I ever lived through those early driving years is beyond me! Thankfully I survived, and the car has given me over 120K miles of joyful driving. It’s no longer my daily driver, and frankly it needs to be re-restored, which will happen in the next year or so. We have other Mustangs in the family, including a 1985 SSP Mustang (California Highway Patrol #E408395) and my wife's daily driver, a 2005 4.0L/auto convertible.

My wife has allowed me to cultivate our son’s interest in cars (with me as his father he didn't stand a chance!). Jack is 15yo now, and is now taking driver’s education in school. For years, my wife and I had planned to let Jack drive the '66 Mustang, but she became concerned about the car not having safety features like airbags, ABS, crumple zones, etc. So last year we began keeping an eye out for a project car for Jack and me to work on together. We figured if Jack has his time and money invested into a car before he gets his license, then he'd be more likely to take care of it. So we started looking for an airbag car or truck that needed work. Jack’s only requirement was that it needed to be a stick shift.

I had been keeping an eye out for another SSP Mustang, but nothing jumped off the page at me. I ran across a 95 Mustang GT convertible that was priced right and fit the term "project car", but I didn't like the idea of putting him behind the wheel of a powerful GT. So we kept looking. In August 2010, I found a nice prospect on AutoTrader. I spoke with the seller, and decided it was worth the 1 hour drive to check it out with the family.

The car was a '98 Mustang coupe with the 3.8L V6 and 5 speed transmission. Fourth gear was gone, the AC blew hot air, the windshield was cracked, the front brakes were thin, and the tires were worn. But the body was nice and rust-free, and the interior was clean. It was perfect! I showed Jack how to check out a car, and also how to haggle with a seller. A deal was struck, and we took the car home that weekend when the notary was open. Jack's savings was gone in an instant! Needless to say he was VERY excited. He joined 4 Mustang forums, and is trying to learn all he can about the car. I got the car insured, had the windshield replaced, and got two new tires. Here's a picture from when it was first tagged -




Some may say that this car is too nice to be considered a project vehicle, but these SN95 Mustangs are still plentiful and relatively inexpensive (depending on your location). Ones that need work can be found quite cheaply, yet the SN95 Mustangs still appear modern enough to be a relatively new car. Having the added benefit of modern safety features was certainly something we wanted for our soon-to-be young driver.

We've made further progress with the car, which I will update in subsequent posts.

[28HopUp]

In October 2010, Jack & I drove from Delaware to North Carolina and back in our F-150 to pick up a used 8.8" rear-end with 3.90:1 gears and a t-lok from a 2000 Mustang GT. We knew the seller from another forum. Yes, 919 miles in 16 hours is a long way to drive, but we got the perfect rear for Jack's car. Installing that turned into quite a project for us because of the old adage - "You know how one thing leads to another?"

We decided to pick up a set of lowering springs locally from a member on still another forum, so we got some Eibach Pro-Kit springs with only a few thousand miles for relatively cheap. A problem we encountered was the spring isolators were shot, and we could not find them locally. Thank you internet shopping! So we were ready to swap the rear-ends, but when it was time to remove the 7.5" rear, the rear bolt in the LCA's was rusted in place. No amount of heat, air pressure, or brute force was going to make it move. So we ended up buying new LCA's from Maximum Motorsports, along with the fastener kit.

The front springs were a breeze, and the car was sitting pretty on the 16" "waffle wheels". Then I saw a local Craigslist ad for a set of 2007 Mustang wheels and tires. These were 17x8" Bullitts with Pirelli tires for only $100! That was an easy decision, let me tell you!

Since the S197 wheels have a different offset than those for the SN95's, we originally opted for 1.4"/35mm hubcentric spacers for the back. Here's how the car looked as of March 2011 -











The color is Dark Green Satin Metallic, which has a Ford paint code of #FU (no, I didn't make that up!). Although the paint was starting to fade, it's amazing what a new set of shoes and a drop will do to improve the look, doncha think? Next on the list was to pull the transmission for a rebuild, new clutch, then getting a divorced dual exhaust. Being a dual-airbag V6, it should be a great first car for Jack for not too much coin.

[28HopUp]

In July 2011, our plans took a slight detour. We had the T-5 transmission rebuilt, and went ahead and had a RAM HDX clutch put in at the same time. Although we planned to yank the trans out ourselves and have it rebuilt by the shop I ended up using, I decided to grab a pen (for my checkbook) instead of a wrench. We just have too many projects going on right now. But at least the transmission was finally now fixed.

The following week, we took the car in for dual exhaust. The shop who installed the exhaust on my SSP was called into duty again. The shop cut into the factory y-pipe after the cats, and ran true duals with an H-pipe crossover and Thrush Welded series mufflers, with both pipes exiting at the rear bumper. The cost wasn't bad, and the car sounded much better without any drone.

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I guess I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. This past year, Jack was a Freshman in high school. Rather than have him work a real job, my wife, Debbie, and I agreed that his focus needed to be on school. So we bribed him all year to get good grades. We figured he needed to see that hard work would be rewarded, so he got on the honor roll every marking period and ended up saving a tidy sum.

Upon completing his Freshman year, he was itching to spend his money on the car. Who was I to argue with that!?!?! So he went to the American Muscle website and ordered some body parts for his car. The parts selection was his, and he ended up buying new OEM-style headlights (the stockers were badly faded), a Cervini's Cobra R hood, and Cobra bumper. We ended up needing a new headlight nose panel, which you can see here being installed by Jack -



Jack and I installed the hood and bumper, and took it to the body shop that painted my SSP in 2009. Here it sits at the body shop awaiting paint -




Since the paint was starting to fail on the roof and quarters, the whole car will be repainted back to Dark Green Satin Metallic. Here are a couple of pictures from the initial sanding -

[28HopUp]

Although the car was supposed to be a side project for them, the body shop made quick progress. Here are some pictures after paint with the rear of the car is assembled, and the hood is on and aligned.






The rockers, sides scoops, a and c pillars, cowl, door handles, mirrors, and front bumper are still to go. They will also need to assemble the interior panels.

[28HopUp]

We picked up the car a few weeks ago from the body shop -










The Dark Green Satin Metallic color has really grown on me. It comes off as being black in low light, but the green really pops when the light catches it.

It REALLY is turning out to be a nice car, but it's surprising how inexpensive the project really is. We weren't going to put him in a $600 beater, and we certainly weren't going to buy him someting new either. But these SN95 Mustangs are dirt cheap (relatively speaking) and the 3.8L V6 will run forever (particularly the latter year versions). The paint and body work was an added splurg, but he worked hard last year and got good grades. We want him to recognize the benefits of working towards a goal.

Future plans call for a "split-port swap", which is basically changing over from the single port heads to the better flowing heads and intake from the 1999-2004 3.8L's. Porting, roller rockers, and a new cam will be done too, and that will be handled by us in our garage. This combination should be good for about 230rwhp, which should be MORE than enough for this car.

So that's where we currently stand with our project car. It's been a lot of fun working together. I've taken Jack out in the car to a big local parking lot to practice shifting gears, which has been fun (I only have a few new gray hairs!) But I will keep updating this thread as we continue to make progress on the car together.

[Mikeradman]

That's a nice looking car there. Congrats!

[28HopUp]

Thanks Mike! It's been a fun little project, and one that neither of us will regret I'm sure.

Tonight, we're going to pick up a spare 3.8L split-port motor from the gentleman who sold us the lowering springs. I figure we might as well keep a spare engine around in case we need it or decide to go with a turbo/supercharger build-up down the road. Since this Mustang will be a daily driver once Jack progresses through the graduated driver's license program in Delaware, we will need to keep the car's downtime for repairs to a minimum.

[jakesn95]

wow thats very cool. I used to have two of the little sn95's with the 3.8L does the lower intake manifold from the 99-04 3.8 bolt rigt hon to the older the 3.8's ? i was gong to do that swap when i replaced the gasket once apon a time to get the bhp of 190 that the 99 mustangs had but wasnt so sure it was that simple.

[28HopUp]

Thanks Jake!

As I understand it, you can swap both intakes (upper & lower) and split-port heads from a 99-04 3.8L onto the older single-port engines (94-98). You might be able to do a split-port swap onto the older 3.8L engines as well, but I'm not 100% sure. But you must match the lower/upper intakes to the correct head design in order for the swap to work (i.e. you can't simply swap the intakes). This will be our first time doing the swap, but I have several friends who can help us along the way if we encounter any problems. Once the mechanicals are handled, then we will have it towed to a local speed shop to be dyno tuned (due to the new camshaft).