The Pope 232
New Member
Howdy,
Long time lurker, I finally decided to join because I have a few questions.
My name is Jonathan, I'm 24 & currently working my way thru a master's in criminal justice while holding down 2 jobs. I drive a '95 YJ & of course my '99 Mustang.
Little back story on the car. Like anyone else in the mustang community I have a story. From the time I earned my permit until I got my license I practically begged my parents to let me buy a mustang. I wanted an old '65 Mustang to work on, even though I knew jack about cars back then. My inspiration came from my friend, who was given a 2005 mustang in 2009 after her grandfather passed away (it was his car) and drove it when we were juniors & seniors in high school. And, since I had a crush on her, I figured the only way to get her attention was to buy a mustang...that and I liked the speed, the style, it was just a good looking car. I had a few cars before the mustang, but one was totaled thanks to a drunk driver, and the other I sold. That said, I wasn't too hot on the SN-95 (New Edge) generation when I realized I couldn't afford a 2005-2009 body style. So, I started looking at fox body mustangs. I went to look at 2 or 3, but they had high mileage, needed too much work, had automatic transmissions, or were rusting out. Suddenly the more affordable new edges started to grow on me. I stumbled across my '99 Mustang around 12:30 AM while browsing craigslist on the same night I had looked at a foxbody. Next day I drove out & met the kid who was selling it. The mileage wasn't too bad, and it was extremely clean inside & out. Seriously, I think he q-tipped all the dirt out because it was immaculate for months, I wouldn't have to clean it for almost half a year. (I still did.)
So, I bought the car off him & brought it home. It had the 35th anniversary package, cloth seats, stock suspension, 16" wheels, some kind of aftermarket cold air intake, stock grille, smoked headlights, all that. It had 85k on the engine & 128k on the body. That was in 2012, now the car has 147k on it, and 104k on the engine. As for the girl? Never got her. Though it was satisfying to hear her say she wanted to trade her S197 for my SN95.
At first I thought there was no reason to modify the car because I figured it was a waste of money & I liked it the way it was. As with anyone though, I found the mod bug & started spending money on it. I put in Koni shocks, and a few weeks later Koni struts. With that came a Mach 1 shift knob, and a Mach 1 grille delete with chin spoiler. It wasn't until recently that I put 17" bullitt wheels on the car, because in 2015 I was hit by a van & insurance totaled the vehicle. I was devastated. I knew it could be replaced, it's just a material object, and there are plenty of mustangs, but it was my first mustang. In all honesty, the damage wasn't even that bad. It was a dented rear corner panel, but it called for more than 75% of the car's value to replace, so they totaled it. Not sure how, but insurance made a gaffe & let me keep the car, and a nice check with it. They said they wouldn't repair the damage & somehow gave me my mustang back. It was real shady, but I was happy to be out of the Mini Cooper rental they had given me (I'm 6'5" so that was a squeeze to fit in) and back in my mustang. The mustang sat for the summer, because the check I received, plus some savings, allowed me to buy a '95 YJ. I toyed with the idea of selling the mustang & buying a GT, but I couldn't find one in my price range, and even when I did they were either automatic, or had high mileage. People on Long Island continually demand 7, 8, 9, even 10k+ for their new edge GTs, it's a little nuts.
So, I brought the car back in the fall of 2015, put new brakes on it, changed the fuel pump (it was failing), put in new smoked headlights, new SR performance lowering springs, and eventually those Bullitts. I tried to DIY my own rear seat delete, but that failed. All the while I dumped money into my wrangler & learned more about cars & working on them. I realized that I can't sell the Mustang, it's just too sentimental to me, and in light of that, I recently started collecting parts for a V8 swap. I was hoping to find a wrecked GT to do so, but again, Long Island new edges are hard to come by. Anyway, I started by purchasing an intake & plenum off eBay, and am slowly working towards the more expensive parts. I've honestly been looking at crown Victoria motors from 2003 through 2005, and it looks like you can use a 2009-2011 4.6 as well? I'm assuming the 2011 4.6 is still a 2v for the crown Vics instead of a 3v.
That's it for now, I've been studying Jetsetter's V8 swap on here for some time, priced out as much as I could as far as parts, and can only hope I'll be ready to swap by the spring of 2017. In the meantime my brother's duramax cracked the block, so we're doing an engine swap on that LB7.
I attached a pic of my Mustang as she sits.
Long time lurker, I finally decided to join because I have a few questions.
My name is Jonathan, I'm 24 & currently working my way thru a master's in criminal justice while holding down 2 jobs. I drive a '95 YJ & of course my '99 Mustang.
Little back story on the car. Like anyone else in the mustang community I have a story. From the time I earned my permit until I got my license I practically begged my parents to let me buy a mustang. I wanted an old '65 Mustang to work on, even though I knew jack about cars back then. My inspiration came from my friend, who was given a 2005 mustang in 2009 after her grandfather passed away (it was his car) and drove it when we were juniors & seniors in high school. And, since I had a crush on her, I figured the only way to get her attention was to buy a mustang...that and I liked the speed, the style, it was just a good looking car. I had a few cars before the mustang, but one was totaled thanks to a drunk driver, and the other I sold. That said, I wasn't too hot on the SN-95 (New Edge) generation when I realized I couldn't afford a 2005-2009 body style. So, I started looking at fox body mustangs. I went to look at 2 or 3, but they had high mileage, needed too much work, had automatic transmissions, or were rusting out. Suddenly the more affordable new edges started to grow on me. I stumbled across my '99 Mustang around 12:30 AM while browsing craigslist on the same night I had looked at a foxbody. Next day I drove out & met the kid who was selling it. The mileage wasn't too bad, and it was extremely clean inside & out. Seriously, I think he q-tipped all the dirt out because it was immaculate for months, I wouldn't have to clean it for almost half a year. (I still did.)
So, I bought the car off him & brought it home. It had the 35th anniversary package, cloth seats, stock suspension, 16" wheels, some kind of aftermarket cold air intake, stock grille, smoked headlights, all that. It had 85k on the engine & 128k on the body. That was in 2012, now the car has 147k on it, and 104k on the engine. As for the girl? Never got her. Though it was satisfying to hear her say she wanted to trade her S197 for my SN95.
At first I thought there was no reason to modify the car because I figured it was a waste of money & I liked it the way it was. As with anyone though, I found the mod bug & started spending money on it. I put in Koni shocks, and a few weeks later Koni struts. With that came a Mach 1 shift knob, and a Mach 1 grille delete with chin spoiler. It wasn't until recently that I put 17" bullitt wheels on the car, because in 2015 I was hit by a van & insurance totaled the vehicle. I was devastated. I knew it could be replaced, it's just a material object, and there are plenty of mustangs, but it was my first mustang. In all honesty, the damage wasn't even that bad. It was a dented rear corner panel, but it called for more than 75% of the car's value to replace, so they totaled it. Not sure how, but insurance made a gaffe & let me keep the car, and a nice check with it. They said they wouldn't repair the damage & somehow gave me my mustang back. It was real shady, but I was happy to be out of the Mini Cooper rental they had given me (I'm 6'5" so that was a squeeze to fit in) and back in my mustang. The mustang sat for the summer, because the check I received, plus some savings, allowed me to buy a '95 YJ. I toyed with the idea of selling the mustang & buying a GT, but I couldn't find one in my price range, and even when I did they were either automatic, or had high mileage. People on Long Island continually demand 7, 8, 9, even 10k+ for their new edge GTs, it's a little nuts.
So, I brought the car back in the fall of 2015, put new brakes on it, changed the fuel pump (it was failing), put in new smoked headlights, new SR performance lowering springs, and eventually those Bullitts. I tried to DIY my own rear seat delete, but that failed. All the while I dumped money into my wrangler & learned more about cars & working on them. I realized that I can't sell the Mustang, it's just too sentimental to me, and in light of that, I recently started collecting parts for a V8 swap. I was hoping to find a wrecked GT to do so, but again, Long Island new edges are hard to come by. Anyway, I started by purchasing an intake & plenum off eBay, and am slowly working towards the more expensive parts. I've honestly been looking at crown Victoria motors from 2003 through 2005, and it looks like you can use a 2009-2011 4.6 as well? I'm assuming the 2011 4.6 is still a 2v for the crown Vics instead of a 3v.
That's it for now, I've been studying Jetsetter's V8 swap on here for some time, priced out as much as I could as far as parts, and can only hope I'll be ready to swap by the spring of 2017. In the meantime my brother's duramax cracked the block, so we're doing an engine swap on that LB7.
I attached a pic of my Mustang as she sits.
