Fixing up a 2003 Cobra

[robvas]

This isn't really a 'build' thread but I wanted to keep a record of everything. I bought this car about 6 months ago

I asked for a couple more pictures, and I saw a Whipple and some aftermarket fuel parts in the engine bay, so I started looking into this car further. Problem was, the guy didn't know dick about the car. I was going to fly down and drive it back 6-7 hours, but I'm glad I didn't. It ended up needing a motor mount, a pulley, and the alternator was rubbing on a coolant hose. Also had a bad driveline vibration.

 

[robvas]

I started talking to the owner, he was an older guy and it was obvious he didn't know much about Mustangs or even cars in general.

He told me it had a 4.10 rear end, and that's why the mileage was high. I could tell it had a solid axle swap. He couldn't get under the car to take pictures so I could see if it was leaking or rusty, but for some dumb reason I kept going. His daughter actually lives about 20 minutes from me, and he was coming up to visit that weekend so I just meet up with him at Bob Evans and gave him an envelope of cash and he gave me the title.

Now, I have shipped cars before and I've always had a great experience with Easy Auto Ship. This time it didn't go that smoothly. He wasn't answering the phone when they called. They never gave us a pickup date, he was on the other side of the state when they came to pick up, never gave me a dropoff date...

My wife thought I got scammed but I wasn't really worried. The car finally got delivered, and looked fine.

 

[robvas]

After I had the VIN I started searching the internet and found the car for sale a while back. Was able to piece together a mod history and timeline. I actually did this before I bought the car, so I felt a little better about buying it.

I got under the car one day to take a look at what was all there. Whipple, fuel parts, JLT intake, McLeod clutch, some rear suspension bits...

Local guy had a deal on a brand new set of Toyo drag radials on a set of the exact same wheels that were on the car (black Cobra replicas) so I bought those

 

[robvas]

I started fixing up a couple little things here and there. Starting taking TERMINATOR parts off of it. Bearing in a pulley, cleaned up the engine bay a little, and got a plate and insurance on it. Then I went and took it for a ride.

The very first thing I checked was the rear end. Speedo was dead on....for 3.27's! Not 4.10's. Eventually I'lll go back to 3.55 or 3.73's but if I bother with that I'm going to put in 31 spline axles and a new diff etc etc

It rode well, but it clearly had a couple issues. Bad vibrations at idle and when accelerating, high idle, and it felt like the spark was blowing out when you really got on it. You could just hear it.

 

[robvas]

Dropped it off at a local shop to have one of the motor mounts replaced. Asked them to replace the coolant overflow hose because it was touching the alternator, but they weren't able to order one, so after about 2 weeks I just went back to get the car. Still had a bad vibration.

Next up was to fix the wheel and tire situation. Bought a set of Cobra reps and some Sumitomo 275/40-17's from Discount Tire. Sold the black Cobra wheels (still have set of 17x10.5's BNIB if anyone wants them)

Still totally not in love with the way it looks (it just looks...plain and stock) but it's better than the black.

 

[robvas]

I replaced the coils and plugs to try and fix the misfire. The old plugs had opened up to almost .040"

Also put a new K&N air filter on (almost wonder if I should have went bigger than 4x7"), and got a new belt and tensioner.

Found a port on the back of the whipple that was wide open (looks like it was connected to the evap but the hose was pulled off).

The idle was now back down to normal and no more spark blowout.

 

[robvas]

Still had the driveline vibration. Tried flipping the driveshaft, all the U-joints seemed good, but finally checking the pinion angle showed that I wasn't parallel.

Back to the shop to have them replace the pinion seal as it was leaking all over, and they adjusted the control arms to get get the rear pinion to 0. Not quite where I wanted it (-2) but close enough. There is a tiny, tiny bit of vibration right when you hit it but it goes right away.

I'll probably grab a new set of control arms and then re-adjust when I install those. Has some no-names on the bottom so I'm thinking BMR uppers and lowers with spherical ends.

Also got the coolant hose to quit touching the damn alternator. Shortened some hoses, rotated the thermostat housing a hair...

 

[robvas]

The car is running pretty good now. Installed a boost gauge, did some datalogging was able to basically do a coolant flush after swapping coolant hoses so many times...

Bought a magnaflow X pipe with cats because I want to quiet it down a bit, and I'm tired of smelling like I mowed the lawn after a drive. Might install it today if my back quits bugging me.

Not sure if there is just a little bit missing power-wise, looks like it has 17.75 degrees of timing all through 2nd at WOT, does 60-100 in 4.5 seconds according to the log (not sure how accurate that is vs a dragy)

 

[2003RedfireVert]

I'm glad the car was bought by someone who cares. Looks like a nice example, just needed some TLC.

The more I see SRA swaps on these, he more I want to do it on my car. Also, I need a styling bar or 4 point roll bar. I don't like the idea of having my 2 kiddos in the back with the top down and not having something to help in case of a roll over....plus it looks great.

Do you plan on gettig the tune looked at?

 

[robvas]

I'm glad the car was bought by someone who cares. Looks like a nice example, just needed some TLC.

Do you plan on gettig the tune looked at?

I wouldn't mind another Maximum Motorsports roll bar in this car. Probably going to try and get a set of SFC's installed this summer.

I want to get a wideband in there too. Not sure about the tune yet. Might go E85 so I could knock that out at the same time, but then I need to buy injectors (60lb currently) and pumps so it's going to be more $$

One thing I wish I knew was if the input shaft had been upgraded.

Any big power upgrades at this point will start to get expensive.

 

[CobraBob]

Kudos on smoothing out any "buy" issues, and doing a great job with fixing issues you inherited. As it stands now, your Cobra looks awesome and has great performance. Huge thumbs-up, sir!

 

[Roots-type]

Nice work so far. I love seeing one on the upswing.

 

[robvas]

X pipe is here...interesting packaging. Hope it didn't get tweaked by UPS

 

[prs97]

Nice work OP. Glad to see the car getting rehabbed.

I saw a mineral grey car on the road the other day and it was beat to hell. At first I thought it was another V6/GT with the Cobra bumpers but nope- a clapped out Terminator in need of a fixin.

 

[robvas]

Switched them out. Raining so I can't for a ride to hear if it made much difference.

Anyone in Michigan want a UPR off-road X

 

[muscleatsrice]

Switched them out. Raining so I can't for a ride to hear if it made much difference.

Anyone in Michigan want a UPR off-road X

As hard as it is to find off road pipes right now, you could make a pretty penny on that one.


Sent from my iPhone using the svtperformance.com mobile app

 

[HudsonFalcon]

My car was a basket case when I bought it too. It’s a fun albeit, at times, frustrating journey but all worth it in the end. Good luck.

 

[wckdvnm]

As hard as it is to find off road pipes right now, you could make a pretty penny on that one.


Sent from my iPhone using the svtperformance.com mobile app

Same thought I have with my O/R H as I am going to go long tubes so I won’t even need it

 

[2003RedfireVert]

I have a bassani off road x for stock manifolds. I’m keeping it. Never know if I buy another new edge.

 

[Weather Man]

Good job OP!