Looking at a used 1998 Cobra $4500. Advice?

[kaostik]

Hey guys, haven't been on these boards in a while. Sold my last Mustang about 5 years ago. Anyways, I'm looking for a new summer project/toy and been looking for a used GT /Cobra.

I came upon a 1998 Cobra with 146k miles. I plan on seeing it tomorrow but it's a good hour and a half away from me. Seller is looking for $4500 which seems cheap so I'm expecting some issues. I only saw a couple pictures but I couldn't tell much by them. He claims it's rust and dent free, but no info mechanically.

I plan on driving this, or whatever I end up with here and there and plan on fixing it up somewhat, just not looking for a rebuild.

Opinions? Anything to check for? I've never really shopped for a used car where it's more than a few years old.

Thanks

 

[JustinG60]

in my opinion, having looked and purchased a 97 Cobra recently

first and foremost, start it and let it run for a while to check for overheating or at least showing over heating on the gauge. while talking inquire about anything that has been done that has had to have to cooling system messed with ...including having to remove the cross over pipe for any reason. i looked at a few where i got into talking, came back and saw the temp gauge past the "L" in Normal. every time they said "that's never happened before." well, lets get honest, it has because there's air in the cooling system, now the question is how long has it been like that?

now that it's warmed up, take it for a ride. check with the owner and explain you need to be sure the IMRC's are working, which requires a hard pull to redline, i offer the owner to do that part. these 4v's are meant to pull hard all the way through if it seems to be dying off above 4k then the IMRC's aren't working. my delete plated were $300 plus gaskets (not cheap but "can" be reused [i know they're designed to be but i don't like to reuse gaskets at all]).

this is a strange thing to look for but i recommend doing it because 2 of the 3 i looked at, even including the one i bought were like this. get under the front and look up. many Mustangs in a light front end accident are missing the bumper foam and possibly the bumper rebar, this causes the bumper to sag. if it is missing something then start trying to poke around at the upper core support because that usually breaks too but rarely replaced.

while i'm at it, if something does seem off on the front end or just being cautious, check out the airbags. make sure the airbag has the COBRA letters and not the horse, if it has the horse ...well... you know it's been hit pretty hard and cheaply fixed. also, check the tucked in corners of both air bags if the car has a black interior. the saddle air bags are cheaper than the black air bags, so people buy the saddle ones and interior paint them black. well, it's not always easy to get them in place without the paint peeling so you can see somewhere if the air bags have been replaced. a dead give away the passenger side went off is the dash will have oval cracking on the passenger side below the air bag...

i know some of this seems common sense but can be looked over easily as even i forgot to look for the front bumper foam knowing i had to replace it on the Mustang i literally drove there to trade for the Cobra haha

 

[kaostik]

Wow thank you for all that. I appreciate it

 

[kaostik]

Well that sucked! Motor was pulled for a repair. Maybe I'll come back in a month or so.

 

[kaostik]

Double post