Hello All! New Here And Have A Roush Question.

[Clayton621]

Hello all. I am new to the forum and have a question. As a teenager I always owned camaros and my friends always had mustangs. I was always frustrated with how easily they could work on their cars, and no one really had much desire to work on a 94 Z28 LT1 engine, just because there weren't many parts, and the engine was tough to do anything to. I remember the first time I saw a 96/98 (not sure what year but it was that body style) cruising down the street with side exhaust and that distinct sound. I loved it. Fast forward 20 years and last week I saw what someone claimed was a 97 stage one roush for sale with 75,000 miles for 4500$. I went and checked it out, and it sounded awesome, had that side exhaust I loved, I offered him 3800$, and he took it. Now, I'm ignorant to roush' , but what this guy told me what during 97, they didn't make a roush stage 1 from the factory. He said you basically bought a GT, took it to an authorized roush dealer, and they put on the side skirts and body kit. My question is, is this accurate? It is a GT, and it's bone stock with the exception of the roush body kit, and badges on the windows and dash. I feel like I may have been duped, but I loved the look so much I rolled the dice. Also, I am wanting to supercharge it, but from what I've read, the stock GT motors in that year can't handle much abuse, so my plan is to get a stock 96/98 cobra engine, and work from there. The reason I like that year cobra engine is A). The sound, something about that engine repping up does something to me. B). I've read that with 4 valves a cylinder they breath really well and do great super charged. Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? Did I get duped? And if so, is a cobra engine swap a good idea? Thanks for reading! Glad to be here and finally have my mustang with side exhaust!

 

[squeak93]

Roush has always had the "do it yourself" option. You could buy a bone stock car (v6 or gt) and toss the Roush catalog at it. You then could take it to Roush for certification. You could also buy a "dealer" built roush car from an authorized roush dealer and I'm sure get it directly from roush at some point.

The stock GT motors handle as much power as the cobra counterparts of the years. No need to swap to a 4v anymore with the nice variety of aftermarket ported stock heads or trick flow heads. A nicely built 2v will run just fine and sound amazing (cheaper parts support too in regards to cams etc).

I had a car with side exhaust once, it looked and sounded amazing (Spintech mufflers) but man it would choke you out with exhaust fumes in traffic.

 

[COramprat]

I beat the hell out of my 96 GT and it still ran well when my son wrecked it. Typically they can handle up to 425 HP before they eat themselves so as long as you stay in that range you are good.