old guy needs fun modern-ish driver

SN95's ..the years 94, and 95 had the 5.0 Windsor pushrod engine. the 96-04 had the 4.6 "Modular" V-8 with te overhead cams. Now the "cobra" had a 4.6 with 32 valves or two cams in each head or a 4 valve per cylinder arrangement. the Cobra engine is what ya want but they blow up. i do beleive there are crate engines for them i wouldnt shy away from a cobra that needed an engine if the price was right for the body. the modular V-8 isnt like the windsor, there is only so much you can do with them you can swap cams put exhaust on it etc. most just drive em if you want to tweak mod and wrench id go with the 5.0 Pushrod windsor. If you want to drive so with the modern overhead cam setup like said crate engines available. Not worth trying to do head gaskets etc. the heads are aluminum they usually dont seal right etc.

P.S. I worked for Ford for more than a few years I used to dealer prep the SN 95s.

not much goes wrong with them and the wife drives a 6 cylinder 2001SN 95 right now. She saw it on a used car lot and had to have it. flaming red etc. the mileage was low so i told her go for it. the 6 cylinders are cheap though. Good thing about Mustangs is the aftermarket support.