16k mile turbo 03 cobra concerns

[Mack Verde]

Considering buying this cobra that my friend owns. It’s a 2003 3 owner satin silver 16759 miles no accidents. He’s had it 4ish years now and the car is SBE, Hellion single, built t56, Ford 9”, fuel system on e85 with ID’s, and a cage. To me I know the car has bad welds for the cage and torque boxes. I included pictures to help get some opinions. He’s firm at $25k. The car is tuned by Kurgan recently and made 700 through the 9” on 19psi.

Are those welds beyond relatively easy repair or no?

The car sometimes gets hot on trips and burps/spits coolant. I was thinking air pocket. Compression test was fine on the car.


Any opinions on the car are appreciated good or bad. These cars are getting rare and these miles are attractive to me. My main concerns are the torque box welds and cage welds being costly.

 

[Donny24]

Damn. Those welds are bad that’s a shame you would have to grind all that out and re weld or cut out and weld back


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[biminiLX]

If he’s a friend then you both should meet at a legit local chassis shop and get their input/estimate.
I’d be suspect of other areas on the build with welds like that but this is where you bring in the professionals for advice.
Might look worse than it is but I’d definitely want it repaired.
Let’s say it’s a $2k repair, maybe he takes that off the price or you split it?
It’s easier if you can bring in a professional so it doesn’t strain the friendship IMO.
Any other car pics?
-J

 

[Mack Verde]

If he’s a friend then you both should meet at a legit local chassis shop and get their input/estimate.
I’d be suspect of other areas on the build with welds like that but this is where you bring in the professionals for advice.
Might look worse than it is but I’d definitely want it repaired.
Let’s say it’s a $2k repair, maybe he takes that off the price or you split it?
It’s easier if you can bring in a professional so it doesn’t strain the friendship IMO.
Any other car pics?
-J

It’s a nice car outside of this but it does need love. I feel like it’s a buy in the 22-23k range with the love it needs. Wish I had more pictures but I do not

 

[Weather Man]

A Cobra with these mods is just a modded used car, value it accordingly.

 

[Mack Verde]

A Cobra with these mods is just a modded used car, value it accordingly.

You’re not wrong about that

 

[beau t]

The welds can be fixed either by you if your a welder (your time) or by someone who does it for a living which will cost you money, if i owned a shop and did this type of work i would insist on tearing all of the previous stuff out and redoing it all because if i was putting my name on it i would make sure all of it was done correctly ( does the cage look any better ) , (thats my 2 cents).

 

[Albatross]

Be very careful here!! Those welds are bad. And that's just what's on the surface that you can see. You will likely find more things that need to be addressed as you get deeper into it. At the very least, as biminiLX suggested, take it to a chassis shop and have it looked over. Structural welding repair will get expensive quick if it's more than just grind and re-weld.

 

[badcobra]

The torque box welds are easily repaired, just need a grinder and someone who knows how to weld. The cage is a different story. I would venture to guess virtually no chassis shop is going to want any part of fixing a poorly welded cage.

 

[CobraBob]

After reading the above posts, you most definitely want a professional shop to thoroughly check out the welds (the whole car for that matter) and give you an estimate for how much you can expect to spend to correct the bad welds. NO WAY should you pay his firm price of $25K, but that JMO.

 

[TerminatoRS]

Am I the only one who thinks 700 on 19psi and E85 out of a turbo seems a little low? Unless it's tuned very conservatively... If 700 were the goal, a blower kit would have been much easier and probably cheaper. No k-member, routing piping, BOV...etc.

 

[Mack Verde]

thanks for all the insight. he won’t budge from 25k and i feel most comfortable at 24,500 (most advice was this is a 22-23k or pass but i love low mileage cars). the general consensus was $500 ish to clean it up and $1500-2500 to cut out and redo it all

remember it was 19psi through a 9” and 325/50/15 tires so i am sure that soaked up 40-50rwhp

 

[Mack Verde]

dblpost

 

[biminiLX]

thanks for all the insight. he won’t budge from 25k and i feel most comfortable at 24,500 (most advice was this is a 22-23k or pass but i love low mileage cars). the general consensus was $500 ish to clean it up and $1500-2500 to cut out and redo it all

remember it was 19psi through a 9” and 325/50/15 tires so i am sure that soaked up 40-50rwhp

General consensus?
If he’s a friend, I’d think you’d both be most comfortable with an independent quote then discuss.
-J

 

[gimmie11s]

The overheating would absolutely not allow me to spend $25k on that car. Nope.

Not without having that sorted first.

Otherwise, you could be looking at pulling the heads.

 

[Mack Verde]

yup i agree with all the above. he is very firm at 25 and plans on listing at 26.5

the coolant thing is a concern as compression tests don’t always reveal a head gasket issue unless done hot and cold. it has coolant stains on the valve covers and IC piping so it’s happened a few times. some shops told me the welds are bad enough they’d pass on the car all together while some said easy fix. sad to see but it is what it is

 

[CobraBob]

He might very well sell it for $26,500 to an unsuspecting buyer who doesn't notice the horrible welds. And might not be aware of the coolant thing. YOU, on the other hand, ARE aware of both. No way would I give him $25K knowing the above. Be VERY certain that you want to proceed at $25K. You very well could regret that decision but it's all up to you.

 

[01yellercobra]

FWIW, a friend of a friend has been dealing with an over heating issue like this. It's passed every block test, but would randomly lose coolant and overheat. It's finally in a shop and I believe they found some of the head bolts were looser than others. How loose I can't tell you, but it shows something moved that shouldn't have moved.

 

[Mack Verde]

Thank you all again. I buy with my cars with emotions and these posts are a way to keep myself in check. Thanks for the unbiased opinions and even the situations I may not have thought of. Been on this forum since I was 17 and I still enjoy it 16 years later

 

[CobraBob]

Wow, you started your Tour Of Duty here when you were 17. That’s really cool.