Guess how much I paid

[eman11500]

I'm kinda new to this forum, and I'll explain why in a few seconds. So if there's anything I do wrong, please feel free to tell me!

A week ago today I found a local person on a Face Book that was selling this 97 mustang GT. So here's what I'm gonna do.. I'll list the issues and some pics and let you guys guess how much I paid for it.

The bad:
-Odometer stopped working the day I bought it (broken plastic gear)
-Trunk latch needs a plastic piece for the key to connect to the wire
-Gauges light up dimly and needs new led's
-Paint is TERRIBLE, and will have to be painted within the next week or two
-Tires had ~25% tread (replaced all 4 yesterday)
-Air condition blows hot air (i'm thinking maybe the compressor)
-Couple tiny dents

The good:
-Squeaky clean title
-No leaks at all
-140,000k and still running strong
-Straight Body
-Interior is flawless (no joke)
-bone-stock everything

Now for the pictures!

 

[DeepList]

$1000

 

[Ferocious]

I'd say $2500 or so. 75% of the things wrong with it are 5 minutes / $5 fixes.

The paint should be the only thing that brought the value down.

 

[Wichers123]

500

 

[MustangChris]

800.

 

[eman11500]

I paid 1700 for it, do you guys think that price is fair? KBB valued it at 4100, which I know is a stretch. i'm thinking about making it a budget showcar/somewhat daily driver.

 

[DeepList]

I paid 1700 for it, do you guys think that price is fair?

Meh... it's a bit more than I would have paid. But a lot depends on what the local market is, and where you're located.

KBB valued it at 4100

That seems high. You did "private party" right? And what condition did you choose?

 

[eman11500]

Meh... it's a bit more than I would have paid. But a lot depends on what the local market is, and where you're located.



That seems high. You did "private party" right? And what condition did you choose?

See for yourself. This is my area with 140k miles plugged in.

 

[MustangChris]

that's "very good condition" pricing.... you're much closer to the 3397 price. Even that would be high. I'd value yours at about $3k MAAAAAX.

so $1,700 is a good deal!

 

[eman11500]

Honestly I wouldn't have paid anything over 3k for it either haha. But thanks!
New tires were put on yesterday with the money left over after buying and a fresh coat of paint will be coming in ~2-3 weeks :laughing4:

 

[MustangChris]

nice man! :-D it'll look much better after some paint.

 

[MustangChris]

also, scroll through our how-to section. we have a write up on how to fix the odometer gear.

 

[eman11500]

Only thing is that after paint I dunno what to do. I can't figure out if I want to make it a "budget showcar", or if I should start throwing some lowering springs on it or a tune. :confused1:

 

[MustangChris]

start with lowering springs... our suspension gets old after this much time and needs refurbished. that way you're not throwing money at a project you dont know what the end-game looks like....

avoid the tune until you have *at least* full bolt-ons, otherwise you're spending $500.00 on 5 horsepower (wooooooo.)

things on our suspension that fail by now:
ball joints
spring isolators
rear control arm bushings

We even have a member on here who went to lower his stang -- it didnt lower with the new springs. We told him to make sure they were sitting in the perch properly on the a-arm. Turns out his spring's lowest coil rusted to the a-arm and snapped off at some point. He didnt realize this happened because the rusted coil was so corroded it looked like part of the a-arm......


so... i suggest suspension. It'll help performance and it will help looks. so whichever route you go with the car you didnt "do something wrong" for either plan to work out.

 

[eman11500]

Lowering springs it is! I'll probably just get the 1" because of my driveway and the hills in North Carolina. I do have one more question though, are spacers harmful or harmless in your opinion? I was looking more towards a 1.5" spacers just for the staggered appearance but can still rotate the tires.

 

[MustangChris]

if you get HUB-Centric spacers they'll be fine. This ensures the load is still placed properly on the hub.

If you get the cheep-o "Plate" spacers, they put excess stress on your wheel bearings (so I've been told.)

 

[Ferocious]

Spacers are harmless as long as you don't propel your car down a track 50 times in a row.

I daily mine with spacers and it's just fine.

 

[Pete@FTR]

Spacers are great and can improve handling as well as looks. Just make sure you get hubcentric spacers (like the ones my company makes). Shoot me a PM if you're interested, there's a discount for forum members.

Spacers are harmless as long as you don't propel your car down a track 50 times in a row.

Not sure what you mean by this, I know many people who drive on the track professionally or as a hobby that use wheel spacers constantly and don't have any issues.

Edit: Unless you mean drag in which case you have almost no reason to run wheel spacers, just extra unsprung weight.

 

[MustangChris]

^thanks for the discount

 

[RichV]

Spacers are safe, just make sure you have long enough lugs if you use the studless style.

Also, change the shocks along with the springs. Then start freshening up the bushings as well.