MG 2001 Cobra Terminator Swap - Build Thread

[josephcostello]

Been busy with the interior. First thing I did was pull the carpet and shampoo it. It was surprisingly clean? Lol.

Did the trunk panels and mat while I was at it.

And spent even more time trying to get the aftermarket oil pressure sensor to work That i installed. I have wired it every which way and it’s not giving me a reading at all. I think the sensor itself is faulty. Honestly not at all impressed with the aeroforce gauges considering how much I paid for the whole setup. They look great and are very helpful but they are finicky. And the wiring configuration is terrible IMO. Still trying to figure these out but I gave up on it….for now.

This was my 3 step method on the plastics. Light soapy water wipe down, cleaner wipes which I’m a huge fan of. And Lucas oil stuff to top it off. Lucas oil stuff is alright but with time I’ll be upgrading to everything from AMMO NYC.

Honestly the interior was pretty disgusting.

Lots of Tessa tape on the clips and any spots where possible rattles could arise.

Some repairs were needed on various mounting tabs. Someday I’m going to buy an extremely low mile v6 from an insurance auction and gut the insides for all the interior pieces.


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[josephcostello]

Now for my favorite part of the interior, the seats. I have neglected the alcantara on these seats for way too long.

I heard hood things about sonax alcantara cleaner so I gave it a try. My method included steam cleaning the alcantara, applying the cleaner with a foam pad, and repeating this process 2-3 times. Then I vacuumed it to pull up the dirt and cleaner, steam cleaned it again, and did a final wiping. It was tedious but I’m extremely particular with my seats .

I wiped the vinyl portion with the cleaner wipes and Lucas oil stuff.

Interior half together. Rear plastics were a bit hard to get back in.

Brand new scuff plate for the trunk.


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[josephcostello]

Shampooed the 10th anni mats. I plan to keep these nice.

And just like that the insides are back together. The flat bottom wheel is honestly so nice with these seats as it allows more clearance for your legs.

I am so happy with how this came out. To me, this is the perfect set up. I lowered the MGW and adjusted it to be comfortable for me as far as throw and arm position with the seat in its proper place.

Drove it this morning to the gym and the interior overall is quieter with a lot less road noise from the rear. Glad I spent the hours with the sound deadoning as it definitely helped. One rattle I gotta fix, but overall the interior is soo tight and I am so satisfied. The radio will be replaced eventually. I also have a custom shift knob Being made currently which you guys are gonna really like.


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[LS WUT]

Once again with another banger. Bad ass progress my dude. Such a pleasure to read. I really need to get me some dark suede for my cars. They look so much cleaner in my opinion. Really completed the look.

 

[josephcostello]

Once again with another banger. Bad ass progress my dude. Such a pleasure to read. I really need to get me some dark suede for my cars. They look so much cleaner in my opinion. Really completed the look.

Sure does. Interesting story how I got those. My dad handed me a mustang magazine when I was 17 and I looked in the classifieds section for cobra parts. By chance a guy had posted 10th anniversary seats that were sitting in his shop since 04, with about 2,000 miles on them. I ended up buying them for $500, found some rears locally from another car and cruised around a bit with them. Then I realized I wanted dark charcoals so I posted them for trade. A guy with a silver metallic coupe hit me up to trade sets with $200 on his end. But man do I wish I kept that set of 10th anniversary seats, they were so cherry and literally perfect. But I was/am just a dumb kid who wasn't thinking straight.

 

[LS WUT]

Haha, I feel that in a spiritual level. Always wanted some 10th anniversary seats. Over those dark charcoal have a special place in my heart. I had a 04 Redfire with a a 2.3 whipple. Regret selling that car everyday. However the dark seats in the 04’s are mint. I love them.

 

[03DSGMach1]

Shampooed the 10th anni mats. I plan to keep these nice.

And just like that the insides are back together. The flat bottom wheel is honestly so nice with these seats as it allows more clearance for your legs.

I am so happy with how this came out. To me, this is the perfect set up. I lowered the MGW and adjusted it to be comfortable for me as far as throw and arm position with the seat in its proper place.

Drove it this morning to the gym and the interior overall is quieter with a lot less road noise from the rear. Glad I spent the hours with the sound deadoning as it definitely helped. One rattle I gotta fix, but overall the interior is soo tight and I am so satisfied. The radio will be replaced eventually. I also have a custom shift knob Being made currently which you guys are gonna really like.


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Can I ask where you got the steering wheel? It really ties the interior together


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[josephcostello]

Haha, I feel that in a spiritual level. Always wanted some 10th anniversary seats. Over those dark charcoal have a special place in my heart. I had a 04 Redfire with a a 2.3 whipple. Regret selling that car everyday. However the dark seats in the 04’s are mint. I love them.

They really are, these are nice but I think the vinyl took a bit of sun damage at some point as you can tell in the pictures. If I had the chance to buy an even nicer set I would.

 

[josephcostello]

Can I ask where you got the steering wheel? It really ties the interior together


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From redline goods. It’s a flat bottom 10th anniversary remake. I will say it was not cheap but the quality is superb. I have no regrets buying it. My friend bought the same one (not the flat bottom) and he was blown away by the quality as well.

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[LS WUT]

They really are, these are nice but I think the vinyl took a bit of sun damage at some point as you can tell in the pictures. If I had the chance to buy an even nicer set I would.

Well all I’m gonna say is, they look amazing to me. I daily drive my cobra, so mine have some damage on the bolsters. However if you ever wanna let those go. Keep me in mind!

 

[josephcostello]

Well all I’m gonna say is, they look amazing to me. I daily drive my cobra, so mine have some damage on the bolsters. However if you ever wanna let those go. Keep me in mind!

Will do! Yes they are nice, no ass rubbing on the bolsters that's forsure

 

[josephcostello]

Finally got my idle issue resolved. Two vacuum leaks one at the elbow and one at the JLT (this is being ditched soon).

If you guys don’t gave one of these tools you need to buy one. It has saved me so many times and saved me enormous amounts of times on all sorts of things.

As you know I had problems with my original cervini hood. Basically both dimensions from stud to stud on either side were off by 1/16 which in turn threw off my hinge by almost a half inch that I didn’t have on the car side. There was just no way for it to work besides cutting the hinge which I was not going to do. Luckily I reached out to LMR who contacted cervini who told me the way to fix it was trim the holes on the hinge a bit bigger . LMR said BS and sent me a new one. It fit, perfect. Shout out to LMR!

And my MRT paint matched brackets. Not sure if I like them MG honestly. I may have them painted black when the cars painted.

I love the hood struts and I adjusted the latch so literally all I do is push it down lightly. No more dropping it from halfway up and slamming it. Really happy with how this all came out.

First time riding **** pit. my dad drove the car for probably 75 miles straight. He drove it a lot harder than I do . Even though he drives a CTS V he was giggling hearing the whine at the top of 4th. Almost forgot how raw this car was until I rode on the other side for once.

And I put the car back on stands. I always had a bit of slack in the drivetrain for some reason but it got more extreme to the point I wasn’t gonna drive it anymore. Turns out my driveshaft bolts were barely snug along with my trans mount bolts and a couple others. What do they say about rushing through things? . New upgraded u joints while I was at it.

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[josephcostello]

Look what finally came in the mail…3 months later.

Test fitting the stifflers SFC and web bracing

Pulled and waxed the AFS wheels.

Pulled the drivers seat because I’m having some work done to the car the next couple days.

Mufflers going in to pass smog here shortly and some other welding action

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[CobraBob]

Now for my favorite part of the interior, the seats. I have neglected the alcantara on these seats for way too long.

I heard hood things about sonax alcantara cleaner so I gave it a try. My method included steam cleaning the alcantara, applying the cleaner with a foam pad, and repeating this process 2-3 times. Then I vacuumed it to pull up the dirt and cleaner, steam cleaned it again, and did a final wiping. It was tedious but I’m extremely particular with my seats .

I wiped the vinyl portion with the cleaner wipes and Lucas oil stuff.

Interior half together. Rear plastics were a bit hard to get back in.

Brand new scuff plate for the trunk.


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Great job cleaning the seats. They really came out exceptionally good. I know it was tedious and time consuming but the result was certainly worth it.

 

[josephcostello]

Great job cleaning the seats. They really came out exceptionally good. I know it was tedious and time consuming but the result was certainly worth it.

Thanks! My favorite part of this car, lol!

 

[Jiffy]

Very cool - congratls on your hard work!!

I did (paid for, to be honest) the whole Terminator swap on my '02 Cobra - I sourced everything - drivetrain swap-out, seats, bumpers, side-scoops, hood, trunklid & spoiler, Brembos, Cobra-R wheels (copies), 2.3L Whipple, BAP, JLT, SBTB etc, found a KM/H Cobra Cluster in Canada etc.

It's never been PERFECT (the tuners in Australia had a lot of trouble getting it this close) but it's mostly 'good-enough'.

 

[josephcostello]

Very cool - congratls on your hard work!!

I did (paid for, to be honest) the whole Terminator swap on my '02 Cobra - I sourced everything - drivetrain swap-out, seats, bumpers, side-scoops, hood, trunklid & spoiler, Brembos, Cobra-R wheels (copies), 2.3L Whipple, BAP, JLT, SBTB etc, found a KM/H Cobra Cluster in Canada etc.

It's never been PERFECT (the tuners in Australia had a lot of trouble getting it this close) but it's mostly 'good-enough'.

An 02 cobra!? That's a rare one. Would love to see a picture of it, especially of the RHD.

 

[josephcostello]

Painted the raw metal on the Stifflers connectors. This paint was supposed to match? Oh well.

this was after the connectors were installed. You can see I had to add mufflers to pass smog. This whole exhaust system is going to be changed shortly.

I am very happy with the welds and quality of work.

Now to the bumper. I was dreading this part because I read that some people had to cut their bumpers to fit the heat exchangers.

Thankfully this was so much easier than I thought. Just needed to make two notches to clear the bottom HE brackets.

Cut one

Cut two. Just a little bigger.

Perfect! No problems with an upgraded/bigger HE behind a 99/01 bumper. The brackets do stick out a good inch below the bumper, but my cars low enough it’s not too noticeable. Not sure if I’m doing a splitter or not.

The 99/01 bumper and 03/04 hood is such a great looking combo IMO. All the problems with the hood were well worth it!

Car looks 100% the way i want it. All the rare parts


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[josephcostello]

Went and visited a good friend. Ironically enough 1 year minus 1 day from this day I took a ride in his car right when I was about to graduate college. Drove home that day saying I gotta do it and the rest is history. Now I pulled up to his house in my own. Crazy how things work out.

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[SVT Adam]

Well fricken done man. This thread has been such a pleasure to watch and enjoy. The amount of effort you've put into so many details has really shown and I can't wait to see it all in one color