1999 Cobra WITHOUT "The Fix"... What do I do?

kzite29

New Member
Established Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2017
Messages
27
Hey all,

I picked up this 99 cobra (Crystal white vert w/ 70,000 miles. Very shiny.) a couple years ago and have been working on getting her into great shape ever since.
When I was buying car originally, I came on here and various other forums and it seemed like the consensus was that all the 99's still on the road had had Ford's horsepower fix done to them back in the day. Well, it came over me to call up SVT yesterday just for my absolute certainty and it turns out my car never got it. Even the phone rep was surprised.

Things I do know:
- The car certainly doesn't make what it did out of the factory anymore, so that 10-20Hp might not be worth it. I know this, but I want it back anyway.
- The fix entailed 3 things. Intake manifold (honing, acid dipping, or what have you), exhaust (manifold back?), and an ecm reflash to match.
- The program where Ford fixed the cars for free ended so long ago that none of the mechanics at any of the 5 dealerships within 20 miles of me had even heard of it.

My question is just this. Is there anything I personally can do to match the original fix done to the cars? I don't have the capabilities in my garage to hone an intake. Are there still dealers/shops that will do this for a price that might be cheaper/better than ~15Hp in mods?

Thanks!
 

DSG2003Mach1

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Premium Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2004
Messages
15,910
Location
Central Fl
If memory serves they had flattened a section of exhaust to clear the IRS, I would imagine any complete cat back kit corrected that issue.

With other mods any new tune should take care of that part of it.

I don't know how much the intake was worth power wise but I would say for the price you could 1) have yours fully ported and polished somewhere or 2) buy a fixed one off a wrecked car but I dont know how to positively ID a fixed vs non fixed. 3) but a porcharger/vortech on it and it probably wont really matter anymore
 

01yellercobra

AKA slo984now
Established Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2005
Messages
21,126
Location
Cali
If the intake really does bug you I'm sure you can find one off an 01 to swap in. Or even a Mach 1 intake and just use your lid to keep the snake emblem.
 

kzite29

New Member
Established Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2017
Messages
27
Wow, thanks for the quick replies guys. I think I like the idea of porting/polishing the intake. I want to keep everything stock-ish, so I'll be staying NA, but that might be the little gain I'm looking for.

As far as tuning goes, we just moved out to IL so all my Atlanta connections are lost. I've always been wary of those email tunes from Bama and SCT or whoever does it for Mustangs nowadays. I guess on a lightly modded car with a "bad" tune from the factory it couldn't hurt. Could they account for the flow from a ported intake since it's a custom job?

Also, maybe this is just optimism, but I've never heard of anyone else still on the road without this fix. Would not fixing this maybe make the car... more valuable because it's one of a kind?
 

01yellercobra

AKA slo984now
Established Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2005
Messages
21,126
Location
Cali
Honestly, I don't see this making it more valuable. I have love for the New Edges as I used to own one and did a ton of work to it. But it's just never going to be "that car" IMO. It'll always be second best to the 03/04's. I say do what you want and enjoy the car. They're not good investments anyway.
 

DSG2003Mach1

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Premium Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2004
Messages
15,910
Location
Central Fl
Also, maybe this is just optimism, but I've never heard of anyone else still on the road without this fix. Would not fixing this maybe make the car... more valuable because it's one of a kind?

I dont think it would make it suddenly super valuable unless the 99s became super valuable to start with, which I have a hard time seeing especially if it's not kept super low miles in a bubble. If you did get a Mach intake you could keep the the cobra lower stashed away.

Youd get more bang for the buck throwing some 4.10s in the rear end though
 

railroad

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2003
Messages
2,118
Location
warrior, al
I have a 99 Cobra. The corrected intake has a blue green dot of paint on the passenger front corner. I was thinking the exhaust up grade was a cat back, being the mufflers were deemed too restrictive.
The early intakes were extrude honed and later editions were acid dipped to clean up any possible internal port flashing lines.
And finally the computer reflash.
I think the reflash had the most positive results.
There should be plenty of intakes out there. The compressed exhaust pipe was I thought not an issue.
I have used Lund for tuning on this and my 13 GT500. Both cars responded very well with NO issues.
My advise would be, do what upgrades you can manage and get a tune. You will not regret the tune.
 

shurur

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2011
Messages
3,760
Location
Lutz, FL
mine did not get the fix either.
mine has a blue green dot on it too. The dot is just an inventory mark of some sort and a red herring.
The sticker on the bottom of the intake and the casting number will tell you what you have.

mine dynoed at 263 rwhp and should have made 270+.

Folks told me that was about right for a 1999 fixed...this is not true. Any 99 cobra not making 270+ was not totally fixed. many dealers pencil whipped the fix.

1.
My intake was an unfixed '99 intake with AL flashing.
You can tell whether it was fixed, as an unfixed intake feels like a wet sock.
I picked up a 2004 mach 1 intake in the svt market section. Fixing the '99 unfixed intake is cost prohibitive, as the thing needs to be cut in half, ported and polished, then welded back together.

2.
If it was not tuned, that will have to tackled later by getting it tuned yourself; however, if you are making 260+ rwhp, you probably got the tune part of the fix done.

3.
I have not checked my mufflers to see whether they are the original dented ones, but I suspect this part of the fix did not add much to the final rwhp gains any way.

4.
Any remaining rwhp differences between cars are due to luck-of-the-draw in how the cams got degreed during engine builds, as cams were only lined up with cam gear markers and timing chain links during the hand-built assembly process.

When I get Kelly running again, I plan to dyno my car to see how much sae rwhp I gained from a proper lower intake and establish a new baseline for my na mods.

Extra:
If the intake was never fixed, you may find that the IRS spindles/knuckles were not recalled either. This will mean you cannot replace the cross axis joints without getting the newer updated spindle/knuckles.

mm has pics on how to ID whether you have the 99 IRS Spindles/knuckles or the updated ones...good times!!!

New IRS knuckles can be fould on ebay sometimes or from the FTBR site for big bucks.
 
Last edited:

Dirks9901

Paint>Vinyl
Established Member
Premium Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2005
Messages
5,016
Location
Colorado
Honestly, I don't see this making it more valuable. I have love for the New Edges as I used to own one and did a ton of work to it. But it's just never going to be "that car" IMO. It'll always be second best to the 03/04's. I say do what you want and enjoy the car. They're not good investments anyway.

This. 100%.

New Edge 4v are great foundations to build something to your taste.


Sent from my iPhone using the svtperformance.com mobile app
 

Users who are viewing this thread



Top