Water Pump Questions

SNAKEYE said:

You guys that think you are running hot, putting in a 160-degree t-stat and lowering your fan-on temperature will cool things down

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im hoping the 3 row rad and 180 t stat will be enough, I would rather not tune the car as of yet.

850SNCobra said:

You're not alone in being a first time Cobra Owner, me too!
First time I got on the highway and hit 5th gear I noticed how warm mine got I was freaking out lol. Came here and found it's pretty typical for the needle to sit on or near the "A" in Normal on the temp gauge.

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"A" wouldnt bother me so much (although, between "R" and "M" would be ideal), it's when I start going into the "L" that I get concerned. To be fair it's been 90+ degrees here in New York and have a heavy foot.

850SNCobra said:

Love the cobra though, it definitely sparks conversations in almost any parking lot Lol.

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Oh, so true! I love that this car is rather rare. I've only seen one other 96-98 SN95 in the last 3 months out here, and it was a GT.

As much as I love the Edge, these Cobras are WAY cooler, imo.

TBH, I wouldNT touch ANYTHING after 04 at the latest, Mustang or otherwise. Cars kinda suck now, too much electronics, too much gadgetry takes away from the driving experience. I had a 2016 challenger Scat Pack six speed with 485 hp, and I could tell you that without a shadow of the doubt, this stock cobra is more enjoyable.

There are ways to get the radiator fan to come on without a tune.

I agree that the rarity factor is a plus. I've actually have had people come up to me and ask what kind of car is that. I myself like the overall "roundness" if you will.

Agreed on the rarity. I sold a 1998 GT a few years ago and I did miss the looks I got which was weird to me having had a 95 Cobra as a DD from 2003-2007 and the thing barely registered on ppl's radar except for dipshits asking me "huhuhhuh is that a REAL Cobra...". My 98 had a Cervini R hood, S281 wing, OEM Cobra front, basic suspension and was Atlantic Blue paint in very good condition and it turned heads like crazy when I had it from 2011 to 2014 which I did not expect.

Although now I have a New Edge in Spain and I might as well be driving a Ferrari all the looks the car gets...

For technical details... don't use adhesive or sealant on O rings, its not needed. Water pump... you already did it, its easy. For the stat... VERY LIGHT TORQUE on that external housing or you WILL crack one of the ears. Just get it snug and call it. All the squealing. Did you do the tensioner and idler pullies? I mean it can only be a few things making noise.

As far as how hot they get... these engines are designed to run hot, do a head cooling mod to drop the temp on 7 and 8 and get a real temp gauge so you can tell what you are actually running at vs "between R and M". Stock stat, with the cooling mod and a stock radiator and I never have any issues at all and I am not easy on this car...

SNAKEYE said:

There are ways to get the radiator fan to come on without a tune.

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Please explain, I couldnt find anything about this. Thanks

SNAKEYE said:

I agree that the rarity factor is a plus. I've actually have had people come up to me and ask what kind of car is that. I myself like the overall "roundness" if you will.

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Yep, the shape makes it look sleak. generation after generation of mustang has gotten bigger and bulkier. 96-98>edge. A clean original fox notch with 5 star ponys will beat em all tho!

scottydsntknow said:

As far as how hot they get... these engines are designed to run hot, do a head cooling mod to drop the temp on 7 and 8 and get a real temp gauge so you can tell what you are actually running at vs "between R and M". Stock stat, with the cooling mod and a stock radiator and I never have any issues at all and I am not easy on this car...

Click to expand...

I have an OBDLink scan tool that I monitor via bluetooth with my phone. As it starts crossing into "L" territory, the temp is at 220°. Between "R" & "M" is about 192° to 195°, which seems about right, even though I know modern cars hover in the low 200s as their norm.
As for the cooling mod, that seems like something that the 03/04 guys needed more than us. And looks like a PITA to install with engine and trans in car.

I think a better 3 row rad will keep the temps at bay more than anything else, but thought a slightly lower 180° t stat couldnt hurt either (stock is 188°).

There is a switched ground wire mod to manually switch the fan on as long as the switch is left in the on position. A certain wire coming from/going to the ECU is tapped into and run to a switch conveniently mounted where the driver can reach it, and then continues to a ground point. It definitely works, but requires personal intervention. I'll search around for it and get back here.
EDIT: Here's the fan mod link I found:
SSOTN - Misc.- Fanswitch

Alternately I came up with two ECT sensor mods that turn the fan on at lower temps. They both involve placing electrical resistance in parallel with the stock ECT. The easiest is to add a fixed resistance, the more difficult is to add a second ECT sensor.

Keep in mind that the stock fan-on temperature is 221-degrees F while the stock fan-off temperature is 201-degrees F. I found a chart in the service manual that shown how the ECT's resistance varies with temperature. As the temperature goes up the resistance goes down. At a certain low value of resistance the ECU turns on the fan. At a certain high value of resistance the fan turns off.

For the adding of electrical resistance in parallel with the stock ECT modification I found that 8.0K-ohms of resistance (may have to be made from several resistors connected in parallel/series, all minimum wattage) in parallel with the stock ECT yields a fan-on temperature of 205 -degrees F and a fan- off temperature of 179-degrees F. This only cost a couple of dollars for resistors from Radio Shack (no longer in business as I understand it).

As for adding a second ECT in parallel with the stock ECT , this requires the second ECT to be wired in parallel electrically with the stock ECT, AND immersing it in the coolant system. Electrically this exactly reduces the ECT resistance to one-half of just a single ECT sensor. This makes the ECU think the coolant is hotter that it really is, so he fan turns on at an actual lower coolant temperature. In fact fan-on is 180-degrees F while the fan-off temperature is 162-degrees F. This is the mod I eventually went with. As I have a Vortech supercharger the ECT sensor is conveniently located on the crossover tube right in front and up top in easy reach. I tapped into the cooling system's coolant with a tee fitting into the crossover tube's bong, re-located the stock ECT sensor to one end of the tee's crossmember and added the second ECT sensor to the other end and hooked its wires into the respective stock wires. All tolled it cost me about $65 as I recall.

Physically mounting a second ECT sensor to a stock engine I know nothing about.

Here's the fan mod link incase you missed it above:
SSOTN - Misc.- Fanswitch

Also, if you are lowering the fan-on temperature you need to lower the temperature of the thermostat. Here's a 180-degrees F unit available from NAPA:
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/MRD109

scottydsntknow said:

Agreed on the rarity. I sold a 1998 GT a few years ago and I did miss the looks I got which was weird to me having had a 95 Cobra as a DD from 2003-2007 and the thing barely registered on ppl's radar except for dipshits asking me "huhuhhuh is that a REAL Cobra...". My 98 had a Cervini R hood, S281 wing, OEM Cobra front, basic suspension and was Atlantic Blue paint in very good condition and it turned heads like crazy when I had it from 2011 to 2014 which I did not expect.

Although now I have a New Edge in Spain and I might as well be driving a Ferrari all the looks the car gets...

For technical details... don't use adhesive or sealant on O rings, its not needed. Water pump... you already did it, its easy. For the stat... VERY LIGHT TORQUE on that external housing or you WILL crack one of the ears. Just get it snug and call it. All the squealing. Did you do the tensioner and idler pullies? I mean it can only be a few things making noise.

As far as how hot they get... these engines are designed to run hot, do a head cooling mod to drop the temp on 7 and 8 and get a real temp gauge so you can tell what you are actually running at vs "between R and M". Stock stat, with the cooling mod and a stock radiator and I never have any issues at all and I am not easy on this car...

Click to expand...

Yup, all of the idler and tensioner pullies are less than or maybe a year old at most. Only thing that could be causing it at this point is the a/c clutch bearing or the belt. Let my uncle hear it, he thinks it's that a/c cllutch bearing too. After I put that water pump on I decided to live with the squeal for a few more days lol.

Well good news is that the ac compressor comes right out... Just sucks if you have to replace the whole thing you need to take it to an ac place.

One thing I have done as preventative maintenance for my accessories is install Steeda pullies. Not because I believe they add any power, but at 7200rpm I'd like my accessories to spin slower lol. The Steeda ones are certified and not some crap that piggybacks on the stock balancer.

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jimbobjohnbrown said:

Please explain, I couldnt find anything about this. Thanks

Yep, the shape makes it look sleak. generation after generation of mustang has gotten bigger and bulkier. 96-98>edge. A clean original fox notch with 5 star ponys will beat em all tho!

I have an OBDLink scan tool that I monitor via bluetooth with my phone. As it starts crossing into "L" territory, the temp is at 220°. Between "R" & "M" is about 192° to 195°, which seems about right, even though I know modern cars hover in the low 200s as their norm.
As for the cooling mod, that seems like something that the 03/04 guys needed more than us. And looks like a PITA to install with engine and trans in car.

I think a better 3 row rad will keep the temps at bay more than anything else, but thought a slightly lower 180° t stat couldnt hurt either (stock is 188°).

Click to expand...

The head cooling mod is super easy with the engine in the car, the lethal or on3 kits just bug into the freeze plug on top of the head, not the rear.

I did the old school mod when my engine was out using a modified spare "crack pipe" and an eBay fitting and some heater hose. The correct way to do it is to send the coolant forward to the radiator hose, not to tie the 2 heads together and then bottleneck all that hot fluid at the heater core. This mod generally drops temp at 7 and 8 by 20 degrees and just makes sense.





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I have had new pulleys and tensioners go bad quickly so it still could be that, particularly if you said it went away for awhile then came back. take some wd and spray it on what you think it might be and see if it goes away and/or a mechanic's stethoscope will help to narrow it down.

for those with the cooling problems count your fins on your condenser and see how many per inch. the 96's had too tight a group and made things run hot. there was a tsb on it years ago and ford replaced the condenser. that will help alot. also make sure you still have your deflector under the car to direct the air. they also removed the grille if I recall correctly.