2003 Cobra - New restoration/project

hatchke said:

Clutch is definitely making some noise, hoping it's just from not being driven much. It's a little tapping from the lower driver's side of the driveline where the inspection cover is (or would have been, had it not been left off).

Click to expand...

Could it be the throw out bearing making the tapping? Does it change with engine RPM and slight pressure on the clutch pedal? Try to feel if the clutch pedal is pulsing with the engine on.

Looks like a nice cobra, the OW is a great color.

Take a look and try to identify what clutch is has.

Some aftermarket ones area noisy.

If I listen to my car in the garage where it’s echoing, you’d think I’m on borrowed time. But that’s with a twin disk in there.


Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com

Coupe351 said:

Could it be the throw out bearing making the tapping? Does it change with engine RPM and slight pressure on the clutch pedal? Try to feel if the clutch pedal is pulsing with the engine on.

Looks like a nice cobra, the OW is a great color.

Click to expand...

That was my first thought as well. Only curious thing is that it all but disappears when the car is totally warm. I also could have loosened the clutch table enough for the shift fork to be vibrating a touch I suppose. The noise definitely changes (stops) with clutch modulation, especially when it's under load or engaging/disengaging.

I had all but forgotten how many adjustments exist on the clutch assemblies on this generation of car lol.

MG0h3 said:

Take a look and try to identify what clutch is has.

Some aftermarket ones area noisy.

If I listen to my car in the garage where it’s echoing, you’d think I’m on borrowed time. But that’s with a twin disk in there.


Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com

Click to expand...

I'll definitely take a look in there and see if I can find anything/names/etc. At 75k miles I guess it *presumably* could be the OEM clutch? With it being pullied etc, it seems unlikely to me, but you never know I guess.

I'm not SUPER worried as the noise goes away, clutch grabs fine since I adjusted it and feel is about as I'd expect from one. About to pull the plugs and get started on compression so fingers-crossed

-duplicate post-

Good news is compression came back all pretty good, ran from 149 - 165 across all 8. Bank 1 being a touch lower than Bank 2. Possibly due to the motor being warmer from the cranking? No telling, but I wasn't concerned about the deviation and consider the motor to be healthy enough to continue. Not budgeting for a rebuild or anything just yet.

Spark plugs were all unremarkable, 6 & 7 were a little darker than the rest but they all just looked like loosely gapped FoMoCo plugs. Have some appropriately gapped TR6 in now and the car seems plenty happy now between the fresh oil, plugs and the new JLT intake.

I swapped out the fender-well unit for a straight-shot unit. The fender filter was DISGUSTINGLY dirty, so no wonder the car seems happier.







Didn't get a chance to check through the clutch more, but just still think it's interesting that the noise disappears when the clutch is engaging/disengaging, and really only as idle when in neutral. A tiny rev also stops it entirely. I'lll check more tomorrow.

That's good news, Mike, about your compression test results. I'm sure the motor is much happier with the new plugs and JLT RAI intake and filter. Just what it needed, nice breather of fresh air.

I'll be checking back for more updates.

@hatchke You seem like a good person for this car. You have systemically looked after making sure its up to speed on maintenance based on what has been done previously as well as making sure the car is healthy before beating it to all hell, like I would do
Definitely glad to see another owner who pays attention to the details. Have fun with her. I'd say to watch out for the bug, but it seems that you came to the party with it.
Won't be long before you have a 3.0 whipple, fuel system, and ethanol.....haha!!

Shadow Grey 03 said:

@hatchke You seem like a good person for this car. You have systemically looked after making sure its up to speed on maintenance based on what has been done previously as well as making sure the car is healthy before beating it to all hell, like I would do
Definitely glad to see another owner who pays attention to the details. Have fun with her. I'd say to watch out for the bug, but it seems that you came to the party with it.
Won't be long before you have a 3.0 whipple, fuel system, and ethanol.....haha!!

Click to expand...

Thanks! I appreciate that. I'm pretty... particular and intentional when it comes to working on and modifying things.

Todays progress:


Before:

After:


They look like small things but the details were killing me lol. You can see how the car was when I got it with the bumper alignment underneath the trunk as well as the how the exhaust wasn't even.

Removed the wheels/spacers to find that the MM short IRS bolts were already there! Someone along the way knew what they were doing, I wish I could find the previous owner of this thing.

Also officially measured the pulley to be a 2.8". Ordered a new 3rd brake light since mine is all cracked up on the edges :/ - they're surprisingly expensive for what they are.

Should be all in good shape to "start" being a DD for when the BMW goes back under the knife on Tuesday to have a leaky/bad turbo sent back to Pure. It'll be down for a few days I imagine so i'll finally have a few days with the mustang by itself.

Looking good! I now need a styling bar for my 04 Oxford vert!

Sent from my SM-G781W using the svtperformance.com mobile app

Here's a fun one - anyone have any idea what this thing is before I chase down all the lead wires and check diagrams?



Inside


First/closest tap


Obviously black snakes through the bay and goes to battery ground, but... what is this thing?

My first guess is some sort of launch control or two-step box. Dials presumably set to 5900 which feels kind of random because that's a pretty serious launch. I also found a toggle underneath the steering wheel/kick panel area. Also unsure of what that is but possibly connected.

I'd rather not just try a bunch of random stuff and see what happens lol. It just doesn't quite all add up.

hatchke said:

Here's a fun one - anyone have any idea what this thing is before I chase down all the lead wires and check diagrams?

Inside

First/closest tap

Obviously black snakes through the bay and goes to battery ground, but... what is this thing?

My first guess is some sort of launch control or two-step box. Dials presumably set to 5900 which feels kind of random because that's a pretty serious launch. I also found a toggle underneath the steering wheel/kick panel area. Also unsure of what that is but possibly connected.

I'd rather not just try a bunch of random stuff and see what happens lol. It just doesn't quite all add up.

Click to expand...

Looks like a speedo calibration box. Does the car have gears?

96dreamer said:

Looks like a speedo calibration box. Does the car have gears?

https://www.jegs.com/InstallationInstructions/300/397/397-speed.pdf

Click to expand...

oh crap, THANK YOU - I think you're 1000% correct. I didn't even consider that option. Car came with an Xcal2, and I guess those probably didn't adjust for tire or gear ratio at that point?

Based on the settings, the car presumably has 3.73's in it? Which could make sense as to why my gas mileage was a bit down on the trip back home. I got just a touch over 20 on a long highway trip. No idea if the car had been geared before.

Now I have to continue to wonder what the switch under the dashboard is lol. I'll dig into the wiring of that and see what shakes out.

IIRC, fourth gear at 55mph RPMs will tell you the ratio. It's been a while so I could be misinforming you.

Also, don't the newer Xcals and tuners do this programmatically? Should I just leave this thing alone and let it do it's thing? I had also considered getting a newer Xcal (not sure if it's even worth it) to have the car tuned, just so I "know" it's been tuned appropriately.

Unless there's a way that the Xcal2 can tell me this already? I've only used the newer one on my GT500's so I'm not sure.

99+ can have the speedo adjusted through the tune. And usually the speed cal stuff is under shifter bezel because it taps into the speed sensor. I'd say some kind of two step is more likely. You're going to have to see where it taps into.

01yellercobra said:

99+ can have the speedo adjusted through the tune. And usually the speed cal stuff is under shifter bezel because it taps into the speed sensor. I'd say some kind of two step is more likely. You're going to have to see where it taps into.

Click to expand...

That's what feels so weird about it too. It doesn't seem to follow the install instructions but googling around for the Ford racing speedo calibration box and that's EXACTLY what it looks like - even the internal board.


That being said, I don't really understand why you'd want to use one on a newer mustang unless you also didn't want to tune it or buy a tuner? I'm inclined to chase down the wiring and maybe remove the thing.

Its a Ford Speedo calibrator. x is the gear ratio it's programed for, reading 095 on the box and a 3.55 original ratio.

(orig ratio / new ratio) = box settings
(3.55 / x) = .95
x (3.55 / x) = .95 * x
3.55 = .95 * x
x = 3.55 / .95
x = 3.73

hatchke said:

Thanks! I appreciate that. I'm pretty... particular and intentional when it comes to working on and modifying things.

Todays progress:

Before:

After:

They look like small things but the details were killing me lol. You can see how the car was when I got it with the bumper alignment underneath the trunk as well as the how the exhaust wasn't even.

Removed the wheels/spacers to find that the MM short IRS bolts were already there! Someone along the way knew what they were doing, I wish I could find the previous owner of this thing.

Also officially measured the pulley to be a 2.8". Ordered a new 3rd brake light since mine is all cracked up on the edges :/ - they're surprisingly expensive for what they are.

Should be all in good shape to "start" being a DD for when the BMW goes back under the knife on Tuesday to have a leaky/bad turbo sent back to Pure. It'll be down for a few days I imagine so i'll finally have a few days with the mustang by itself.

Click to expand...

Now see, I didn't even spot the uneven gap. Now, it is absolutely PERFECT! Good job, sir.

Right on! As others have said, great job. Nice to see someone treat her right again. I always seem to forget that these cars are getting older. And with that comes the previous owners shit.

Everything you have accomplished has turned out great, keep it up!

cobracide said:

Its a Ford Speedo calibrator. x is the gear ratio it's programed for, reading 095 on the box and a 3.55 original ratio.

(orig ratio / new ratio) = box settings
(3.55 / x) = .95
x (3.55 / x) = .95 * x
3.55 = .95 * x
x = 3.55 / .95
x = 3.73

Click to expand...

Ok great, thank you for the confirmation. That's what I had gathered as well, and not mad about having some 3.73' - especially without them being noisy at all. My last GT500 had FRPP 3.73's and we could never get them set to not get some gear noise.

CobraBob said:

Now see, I didn't even spot the uneven gap. Now, it is absolutely PERFECT! Good job, sir.

Click to expand...

Haha and once you see it you can't unsee it right!? The detail work is the work that I really enjoy doing. The stuff that no one would really notice, but that's the whole point of the project. Nice street car that someone would see and say "cool, I almost never see those things anymore and that one is clean"

Fastback said:

Right on! As others have said, great job. Nice to see someone treat her right again. I always seem to forget that these cars are getting older. And with that comes the previous owners shit.

Everything you have accomplished has turned out great, keep it up!

Click to expand...

Thanks! Haha yeah, the OG owner shit is always interesting to have to figure out too. I did look through the SCT yesterday and someone named "Fairway Auto" did a custom tune on the car but I've never heard of them nor can I find any info on it anywhere.

I think once the suspension gets in I may go ahead and get a basic tune done with the 2.8 and existing mods. Maybe do some basic fueling at the same time since it's fairly cheap to do and gives some headroom. Probably not needed for my mods but I've been down the road of hitting fuel limits on the M4 and it was a nightmare for me.