Lots of progress!!

[96S/Cobra]

My car has been down for quite some time now, but hopefully things will slowly begin to be pieced back together real soon.

Here's the car as it sits up on jack stands

Here's an underhood shot of where the Kenne Bell used to sit

Here's the new trans I just picked up. It's a 2000 Cobra R spec T56 with an upgraded 26 spline input shaft. It has the 2.97 1st gear, unlike an 03-04 Cobra T56, which has the 2.66 1st gear.

Here's the Quicktime steel bellhousing along with a new clutch that I picked up from Promotion Powertrain

Here's the new (to me) FMIC, Vortech V1 T trim, and a new Tial 50mm BOV

I'm hoping to have the car up and running as soon as possible. It's been broke for almost two years, so I'm really excited to get everything back together.

I know, I know, I should have just skipped this step all together and went with a turbo/built auto.

Just pulled the engine/trans out the other day, so at least I'm one step closer. I'm pulling the front cover off to have it powder coated like the valve covers. Now I need to pull the passenger side header, swap trans/clutch, and get this thing back together!!

And check out these headers. They are CERAMIC COATED BBK LT's with approx. 2k miles on them..... wtf is up with the rust? I paid the extra $ for the ceramic coated ones so I wouldn't have to have to worry about them rusting away (at least for a little bit longer).

I got the Canton oil pan tapped for the Vortech drain line.

Then got the flywheel as well as the new Promotion clutch/pressure plate bolted up and torqued down.

Finally got the new T56, Quick Time bell housing, passenger side header, and starter installed on the engine. Everything goes back in the car as one whole unit.

And here is a pic of the car back inside after a quick bath, patiently awaiting the arrival of it's "reworked heart and soul"

Got the IMRC delete plates on, 60# injectors, fuel rails, alternator on, and the Vortech mounted.

Here's a quick shot of the new T56 trans, prothane conversion mount, and Quicktime shatter proof bell housing installed

Here's a pic of the new fuel system that will be installed. Twin Walbro 255's, and twin filters, pre and post pump

Here's a pic of a catch can that we made, instead of spending big $ on one, we just made one

Last pic, here you can see that I did a bit of customizing to my intake. I no longer run an EGR, etc. on the car, and I didn't need the vacuum port for the pcv valve, since I will have lines running to my catch can, so I cut them off, ground it down, and will have the holes welded up, ground down the welds, and then it will be powder coated the same as my intercooler piping.

I made an aluminum plate to mount between the fuel tank and the back bumper for my fuel set up. I took a piece of card board and made a template, then transfered it to a sheet of almminum, cut it out, and painted it.

Here it is placed up under the car.

Here it is with the whole fuel set up mounted on the plate. It consists of a -8 line feeding into a 100 micron pre-filter, then a Y block into twin 255 Walbro pumps, then another Y block back down to a 10 micron post-filter, then into a -8 line that runs up to the fuel rails.

Here is the two separate 30A relays for each pump.

Here is the power/ground wires to feed the pumps from the relays, along with the water/meth line that comes from the alcohol tank/pump and runs under the car up to the intake.

Here are a few shots of the alcohol tank and pump mounted on a piece of mdf board that I wrapped in carpet to match the rest of the trunk.

And here is the Treadstone front mount intercooler that finally got mounted. There are custom made brackets to mount the fmic along with the fog lights.

Here are a few shots of the intake piping and powder coating. The color of the powder coat is called silver vein or hammered vein. It is a textured black and silver finish. I didn't want all black piping, because it would be just too much black under the hood because of the black powder coated valve covers and front cover. The one shot shows the Tial blow off valve mounted on the inlet piping. I wasn't sure about the color, because I had never seen it before. But I took a chance and I really like the way it turned out.

Well it's coming along quite nicely, but we all know how these things take lots of time and money. And these pics have taken place over the past month or two, and I am now just getting around to making a build thread. I am hoping to have it on the road in the next week or two, but I guess we'll see. So what do you guys think of the progress so far?

 

[98 Saleen Cobra]

damn man sick ass build!! I love the powdercoating color too!! is the engine built? How much boost are you looking for with the T-trim? Power what are you looking at as well? Also do you have the right spring in that Tial? I know that you have to change the spring for a different one for the S/C applications.

 

[APMotorsports]

I have a quick question, with the quicktime bell housing do you have to still remove the BBK passagener header to get the tranny out???

 

[Tabres]

That's actually not a bad idea for the mounting plate for the pumps. I assume you're using a pick-up tube for them?

 

[Cookieman00x]

Very nice build, it definitley shows you put alot of planing and work into the car and and didnt just slap it together. Congrats.

Whats your power goal?

Why put the tidal so far after the blower? I was under the impression its best performance is within 18" of the blower to reduce compressor surge.

Are you using a slot style maf? If so which type?

 

[98 Saleen Cobra]

I was going to say the same thing with the bypass valve. I thought it's supposed to be put on the downward pipe right after the blower.. hmm.

 

[harvboi05]

Very nice build, it definitley shows you put alot of planing and work into the car and and didnt just slap it together. Congrats.

Whats your power goal?

Why put the tidal so far after the blower? I was under the impression its best performance is within 18" of the blower to reduce compressor surge.

Are you using a slot style maf? If so which type?

hes using a slot style for sure, its just before the bend going into the TB.

OP: bc you have water/meth before you gunna stick with that and run conventional pump gasoline?

x2 on "whats ur power goal?"

edit:

what fuel rails are those?

 

[96S/Cobra]

Thanks for the compliments everyone, I really appreciate it!!

I'll try to answer a few of your questions:

Is the engine built? Yes, it has the factory cobra crank, forged Mahle ceramic coated pistions 8.8:1 cr, forged Eagle rods, SHM blower cams, and ARP head/main studs, etc.

How much boost? It seems that the boost varies greatly between different combinations. I am running the 2.85" high grip pulley, so it should be somewhere in the 18-20 lb. neighborhood.

How much power? I don't have a specific # in mind, but I would think it should be somewhere around 600+ rwhp. The ultimate goal is to have a car that runs great, idles good, has awesome street manors, make respectable power, and that I can drive it anywhere with the comfort of a/c, comfortable seats, and my cd player rocking out. I don't want no stripped out, bare bones car, that rattles and is a pain to drive. This car is 99.9% street driven, and has only been to the track a handful of times. Don't get me wrong, I love the track, but my main goal is to enjoy it on the street.

As far as the Quicktime bellhousing, I have not had to pull the car apart considering I just got it together, but I do think that I will be able to remove the trans from the bellhousing, and then the bellhousing from the engine to access the flywheel and clutch, all while keeping the BBK LT's on the car. That is the only reason I pulled it all apart. Two years ago I broke the trans, well you need to pull the passenger side header off to get the trans off, so I pulled the engine/trans/lt's out all in one piece. And it went back in together in one piece.

The Tial bov location is just fine. The spring in it will work perfect with my T trim. The fmic mounting/piping, fabing, welding, and powder coating were all done by a friend of mine who owns a local performance shop. I am a fairly decent mechanic, but I don't have the tools/ability to weld aluminum and powder coat my own stuff, so that part I had him do. And I called him today, double checking about the placement of the bov and the internal spring, and he re-assured me that everything is perfect. In his shop he builds custom turbo kits, install blowers, etc for mostly mopar vehicles, but people from all over the U.S. bring cars to him. Right now he is putting a twin turbo kit on a Viper (one of sevaral he has done), and an F1A on an SRT 10 truck. He just finished up a twin turbo kit on a Z06 right before I brought him my car.

I am using the MMR in-tank pick up tube, which feeds the twin 255 Walbro's.

I am using an HPX 05+ slot style MAF. My tuner told me to run this type of maf, so that's what I bought.

As far as the water/meth: You are absolutely correct. I only want to run pump gas. Because I drive the car on the street mostly I can't afford race gas. But with pump gas (which is 93 octane here in Missouri), the fmic, and water/meth I am hoping for a decent amount of power (again, I'm assuming 600 or so rwhp). I guess we'll see.

The fuel rails are UPR rails. They seem to be a really nice piece, and were moderatly priced compared to some others out there (but this was 4+ years ago when I bought them)

And again, thanks for the comments and replies. It makes me feel good that others appreciate all the hard work and time that it takes to build something.

Here is a quick pic of my reverse solenoid lock out momentary switch I wired up. No two handed reverse shifting for me....

 

[98 Saleen Cobra]

damn man sounds awesome! with that pulley you are going to be overspinning the shit out of the T-trim lol. Let me know how it goes because I plan on putting a 10% O/D pulley on my car to up the boost. I'm running a 3'' right now and seeing 15psi. I'm hoping for around 17-18lbs. Since I'm in AL they have 93 at the pump so I was thinking a 15psi for CA and 91 and the 17/18 for 93 here.. Great build man this this is going to be a beast when it's done.

 

[96S/Cobra]

damn man sounds awesome! with that pulley you are going to be overspinning the shit out of the T-trim lol. Let me know how it goes because I plan on putting a 10% O/D pulley on my car to up the boost. I'm running a 3'' right now and seeing 15psi. I'm hoping for around 17-18lbs. Since I'm in AL they have 93 at the pump so I was thinking a 15psi for CA and 91 and the 17/18 for 93 here.. Great build man this this is going to be a beast when it's done.

Thanks for the props :beer:

Is the 550 rwhp in your sig your #'s on your car with the 15lbs?

If it is, I wonder if another 3-5 psi would give an additional 50 rwhp, just enough to eclipse the 600 mark?

 

[98 Saleen Cobra]

Thanks for the props :beer:

Is the 550 rwhp in your sig your #'s on your car with the 15lbs?

If it is, I wonder if another 3-5 psi would give an additional 50 rwhp, just enough to eclipse the 600 mark?

Yea the 550rwhp is on 15#'s of boost. actually it's more like 575rwhp I havent' updated my sig since the fuel system install. That's my 91 pump gas tune and 15* of timing. My 100 Oct tune is 22 or 21* degrees of timing and I'm over 600rwhp on 15psi. If I throw the 10% O/D I can almost guarentee I'll be 600rwhp on pump 93 and on 100 close to 650rwhp.. That's what I'm hoping for. Oh and I have the 04 Cobra cams in the car right now which are less aggressive then the 98's. My 98 Cams are going in the car in about amonth or so along with some bowl work. So really I guess you can say I should be in the 620 on pump and 670ish on 100. We'll see though. This is all in theory and what i've seen. The 98 Cams tend to yield about 30rwhp. Really it's just a number to me all I care about is how well it drives and reliability. The issue is when I move back to CA switching the pulley down to 15psi. So my combo would be a 3'' upper and 10 O/D crank. I have also thought of just getting a 2.90'' or something for the upper and have them throw it on there for my 93 gas tune and call it a day..

 

[brucesvt]

Very nice build,great progress

 

[crazycarlo]

That build is awesome man deff looks good. kinda what im gonna be doing with mine. Well some of it Im going blow thru using the same meter but Ill be using the Turbo XS RFL BOV and im using an s trim. Like uself I want a stout performer but i do not want a track/race car.

 

[2DXTRM]

Looks awesome!!

 

[PSUCOBRA96]

the BBK's are only gonna get worse, Mine didn't last for shit. All the coating is flaking off, what a waste of money, I figure when the time comes I am gonna use them as a mock up and have my cousin make me a larger pair as well as ones that will clear the trans and send them off to get a custom ceramic coating.

 

[96S/Cobra]

Once again, thanks again for the comments :beer:

Keep the comments, questions, and suggestions coming.

I will keep this thread updated as I finish out the build, and of course keep everyone posted on what kind of #'s it puts down once the clutch is broke in so I can strap it on a dyno and go wot.

 

[Gallows]

Nice looking build. Nice to see a different color powder coating to dress things up:beer:

 

[mysteed]

Very awesome build man and I love the way you deleted the EGR as it cleans up that side of the intake soooooooooo much.

 

[The Shermanator]

A question I'm sure everyone has - how much has this robbed the bank?

I would love to do something like this, over time of course, but costs would could be a limiting factor. That, and garage space.

 

[RIO RED SNAKE]

^^^im with you on that even tho i have a kb..would one day sample a vortech lol..or i just need to pulley up..but anyways car looks awesome..great thread..loved the pics and the car looks fantastic, i really like what you did with the egr delete on the upper intake..please get a snake decal off ebay to put in the hole!!