2001 Cobra vs 2004 Mach 1

[cobracide]

My 2001 Cobra had all the bolt ons.. ended up with about 318hp/316tq. For looks.. the Mach, but as mentioned a hood can fix that, if that's your deal. As far as the power curve, the cams in the Mach were definitely better - adding much needed low end torque. However once modding begins.. they are really close. My 4.10s worked wonders but the 5 speed begins to fall a bit short then.

 

[Blkkbgt]

Drive a new edge with IRS and unless you are only for drag, you will never look back. I was a huge believer in the solid rear forever. My brother always tried hammering the IRS mentality into me since his Tbird came equipped that way. Long story short I ended up brand new selling solid rear parts and exhaust in favor of an IRS swap. I currently own 3 mustangs all of which have IRS.
I should note none of the cars ever see the drag strip. +1 on the FTBR

This!

The IRS completely changes how these cars ride and handle.

I have an IRS swapped GT and you couldn't pay me to go back to SRA. If something happened to my GT and I got back into a new edge the first mod would be an IRS.

No matter what you do the SRA will never be as comfortable as the SRA. Everything you do to the SRA increases NVH. I've been down that road and hated it. The car handled great but God forbid you hit a pot hole or are stuck on an uneven road for miles.

The above is why I say get the Mach 1 and swap out the SRA for an IRS and don't look back. I'd put in a full FTBR bushing kit as well.

 

[robn30]

My 2001 Cobra had all the bolt ons.. ended up with about 318hp/310tq. For looks.. the Mach, but as mentioned a hood can fix that, if that's your deal. As far as the power curve, the cams in the Mach were definitely better - adding much needed low end torque. However once modding begins.. they are really close. My 4.10s worked wonders but the 5 speed begins to fall a bit short then.

Was that just external bolt on's? No cams or porting of intake or anything like that right? Did you put long tubes on it? Heard long tubes really help to wake up the engine along with a top end cold air kit.

 

[cobracide]

Was that just external bolt on's? No cams or porting of intake or anything like that right? Did you put long tubes on it? Heard long tubes really help to wake up the engine along with a top end cold air kit.

Just bolt ons - cat-back, under-drive pulleys, JBA shorties, spark plugs and a good tune.

 

[5.0 Hatch]

Your splitting hairs when it comes to a comparison. It'll be a driver's race at the end of the day.

 

[FIREBALL]

I bought my 01 cobra with super low miles, other than the regular irs suspension upgrades Ive added a Roush front bumper that really transforms the front and I switched to Carbeau leather seats. I dont care about 1/4 mile times. Ive thought about adding a Mach hood but then it wouldnt really look like a cobra at all. Kind of funny most of the photos here show the best of the Mach while the Cobras are kind of in the background. Show them in the same type photo and they both would look great.

 

[slowgreycobra]

When I went looking for another new edge, I was looking at the Mach 1s. I missed out on a few as they seemed to sell fast. I used to own a Terminator but the prices were getting higher than I wanted to pay. I instead decided to look at 01 Cobras and found a roller from one of our members here for a really good price. It had the right mods done to the car already and the external mods were pretty good in my opinion.

The negatives for the 01 Cobra are if your front bumper needs replaced. Good luck on finding a new one at a price that doesn't suck! Everyone thinks you have a supercharged Terminator who doesn't know mustangs. The stock hood is meh.

Everything else is actually pretty good on the car.

 

[biminiLX]

My ‘01 loved 4.30 gears. Could’ve taken 4.56s to be honest. Ran 13.0s and I did snap a stock IRS axle shaft before reaching a goal of 12s on 18” DRs. Looked great mineral grey with AFS 18” chrome and tint.
Similar in many ways but I like both and if drag racing go Mach. If you know it’ll never see a track, the IRS is great on the street.
The new TKX trans is a great upgrade to either car.
I’d probably wait for the cleanest example as both are going up in value.
-J

 

[5.0 Hatch]

My ‘01 loved 4.30 gears. Could’ve taken 4.56s to be honest. Ran 13.0s and I did snap a stock IRS axle shaft before reaching a goal of 12s on 18” DRs. Looked great mineral grey with AFS 18” chrome and tint.
Similar in many ways but I like both and if drag racing go Mach. If you know it’ll never see a track, the IRS is great on the street.
The new TKX trans is a great upgrade to either car.
I’d probably wait for the cleanest example as both are going up in value.
-J

What was your trap speeds? One thing I've noticed over the years is stock 99/01 cobras and mach 1 trap speeds vary greatly for some reason. I've seen everything from 102 to 110. Maybe variations in cam timing??

 

[biminiLX]

I can go look for slips but it was like 106-108 with the 4.30s
-J

 

[01yellercobra]

I bought my 01 cobra with super low miles, other than the regular irs suspension upgrades Ive added a Roush front bumper that really transforms the front and I switched to Carbeau leather seats. I dont care about 1/4 mile times. Ive thought about adding a Mach hood but then it wouldnt really look like a cobra at all. Kind of funny most of the photos here show the best of the Mach while the Cobras are kind of in the background. Show them in the same type photo and they both would look great.
Between the 01 Cobra and 03 04 Machs wasnt the only difference in cams the intake cam?

The Mach's also had a bump in compression. 10.3 or 10.5.

Something to think about is the auto Mach's have cast cranks. Only the manual versions have forged cranks.

 

[FIREBALL]

So what it looks like for engine differences are the Mach had a different intake cam and .25 more compression? they both have a forged crank except for Auto trans?? what else is there?

 

[robvas]

So what it looks like for engine differences are the Mach had a different intake cam and .25 more compression? they both have a forged crank except for Auto trans?? what else is there?

Heads are a little different

Ford Four-Valve Head Information Guide - Six Times Four

Horse Sense: While most Four-Valve modular owners are familiar with both B and C DOHC heads, few have even heard of the requisite A head that preceded them bot

www.motortrend.com

 

[FIREBALL]

Heads are a little different

Ford Four-Valve Head Information Guide - Six Times Four

Horse Sense: While most Four-Valve modular owners are familiar with both B and C DOHC heads, few have even heard of the requisite A head that preceded them bot

www.motortrend.com

Thanks for posting, Interesting article, too bad no mention of cam shaft differences. Sounds like for street and with a N/A our C heads are the best for mid range power. They mentioned a TSB for the rear head cooling problem and that there was a replacement head or fix???? but no details given.

 

[robvas]

Thanks for posting, Interesting article, too bad no mention of cam shaft differences. Sounds like for street and with a N/A our C heads are the best for mid range power. They mentioned a TSB for the rear head cooling problem and that there was a replacement head or fix???? but no details given.

Not sure where Motor Trend gets those articles, old issues of Hot Rod or something?

Cam specs, from another site but said they got this list from this site...

96-04 DOHC Cam Specs

These are the actual cam specs for all 96-04 factory ford DOHC cams (96-98 Cobra, 99-01 Cobra, 03-04 Mach 1/Cobra/Marauder/Aviator/Navigator, FR500, Cobra R, and Ford GT) sourced from SVTP.com Mach 1, 03/04 Cobra, Aviator, Marauder, Navigator, Continental, Mark8: Intake Camshaft RH-(YF3E...

www.sn95forums.com

 

[01yellercobra]

Thanks for posting, Interesting article, too bad no mention of cam shaft differences. Sounds like for street and with a N/A our C heads are the best for mid range power. They mentioned a TSB for the rear head cooling problem and that there was a replacement head or fix???? but no details given.

The cooling problem plagued all of the C heads. I think the DB version was the first upgrade and the DC is the final version. Something with how the passages were cast to help with coolant flow.

TBH I've never ran a cooling mod and never had an issue caused by overheating. Maybe I'd run one if I spent a ton of time on a track, but it seems street cars are generally ok.

 

[ZYBORG]

I am partial to the Cobra but the mach will be better if you plan on dragging it. If you are gonna leave it stock or close to it, Cobra.

also LOL at $20k+ for any of those examples….. ****ing delusional.

 

[Badaz01]

Lots of good input here. If exterior was the only thing that mattered it would be the Mach 1 again for me all day. I have never owned an IRS Mustang and the interior of the Cobra is better IMO, as some have said here. It does seem most so far would go the Mach 1 path which I can't argue with. 1/4 mile times aren't everything but I do like the better engine performance of the Mach but I would imagine the Cobra handles better with the IRS.

Do the 2001's suffer wheel hop really bad like the 03/04 Cobra's. Heard a lot of folks had to modify the IRS on the 03/04's to get them to hook.

The Mach’s had a better quarter time due to them having 355 gears stock and the 99/01 cobras having 327 gears. IMO I’d say either would be good just have to get rid of those turd 327’s.

 

[Double"O"]

I own a 01 Cobra with those mods and there is zero chance it would trap 110mph. Not even close. I'm the minority but I still prefer the cobra.

Yeah man
I had fr500 catback, mac prochamber or h pipe, cai, and an intake spacer and i was runnin 13.25-30s at 106....106 was all she would trap...stock i trapped 104ish most days

 

[Double"O"]

Mach 1's have aluminum blocks.

My 01 has a teksid lol...all 99s had the teksid, many 01s did too

But all the 4Vs from 96-01 had aluminum blocks...most teksid, some wap