Nbrac27's 04 SY Terminator

[Nbrac27]

Hey everyone!

So it's been about 6 years since I sold my last Terminator, and I've finally gotten back into one and hope to keep this one for.. I don't know.. Forever? It's a 04 Screaming Yellow, and as of today (03/27/2024), it has 32,000 miles and running strong. (Knock on wood)

But anyways.. here she is as she sits now!

I purchased her back in October while I was overseas, and couldn't have been happier when I arrived home to see she looked like she just rolled off a showroom floor.

So before I go into the modifications let's talk about my current plans/projects for the car:
1. Replace the entire Mach 460 system with upgraded audio
2. Replace the amalgamation of exhaust work done with manifold-back Bassani
3. Suspension overhaul.. Shocks, struts, etc
4. Begin the quest for 700whp and be happy (Hopefully... lol)

Now, the mod list.. everything in GRAY came on the car when I purchased, WHITE is what I've installed / had installed, and YELLOW is my upcoming plans!

Modifications:
Engine / Fueling:
- Kenne Bell 2.4l
- JLT Carbon Fiber Intake
- BA2600 MAF
- Catch Can (Unknown Brand)
- Upgraded Heat Exchanger
- Focus 255 LPH Twin fuel pumps
- 60# Injectors
- MMR Oil Filter Relocation Kit
- Lund Tuned (Unknown power numbers, it was remote tuned. Will be getting it on the dyno in the near future)
- Fluidyne 3 Core Radiator (03/15/2024)
- Harpell Auto Fab Reservoir Tank (4/10/2024)
- Lethal Performance Return Style Fuel System
- ID 1300s
- Retune with either Lund or Kurgan

Drivetrain:
- Mcleod RST Clutch
- 26 Spline Input Shaft

Brakes:
- Drilled Slotted Rotors

Exhaust:
- Bassani O/R X Pipe
- Pypes M80 Mufflers
- Borla Tailpipes
- Bassani 3in CBE
- Bassani Catted X Pipe (Maybe...)

Suspension:
- Unknown Brand IRS Bushing kit
- Welded Subframe Connectors
- H&R Sport Springs (2/26/2024)
- Maximum Motorsports Camber Caster Plates
- Shocks and Struts (Haven't decided on which ones yet)

Exterior / Wheels:
- Smoked Taillights
- Saleen Rep Wheels 18x9 / 18x10 (Replaced)
- Carbon Fiber Wrapped Roof
- CCW 40 Bolt Classics 18x9.5 / 18x11 (02/15/2024)
- Toyo R888R Rears (02/15/2024)
- MRT Hood Struts (Awaiting Installation)
- Aeroflow Dynamics Side Skirt Extension V1

Interior:
- CM Components Rear Seat Delete
- Dual Guage Cluster w/ Aeroforce Guages
- Billetworkz custom Titanium Shift Knob (02/05/2024)
- SCT X4 (02/05/2024)
- Kicker CS Component Speakers (Awaiting Installation)
- Kenwood Excelon DMX809S
- Kicker 47KEY 4 Channel Amp
- Kicker CS Rear Speakers
- AEM UEGO Wideband
- AEM Fuel Pressure Gauge
- OvertakeAuto CF Steering Wheel

So that's everything for now! I plan to use this to 1. keep myself honest on what I want to do with the car, and document it along the way and 2. to show everything I'm doing to it and whatever issues I run into / fixes for them to maybe help someone else along the way who might run into similar things!

 

[2003RedfireVert]

Beautiful car!

 

[Nbrac27]

So let's talk about what I've done to it between getting back from Poland and finally seeing her, to today (About 2 months).

For the first month, it was great. The car made far more power than my previous terminator with a stock blower (obviously), and everything about it felt better.

Took her to the local C&C, met another local terminator owner and his brother with a wild twin turbo Mach 1.

A few days later, got the new CCW's mounted and balanced with the new tires. Absolutely loved the look of them, but man the stock ride height on these cars is insane... they may as well have been monster trucks.

So, next step was to fix that. Ended up going with a set of H&R Sports, which I couldn't be happier with. Ended up dropping the car about an inch all the way around, and looks much MUCH better.

Drove her around a bit, loved it. Then, one day was driving to the gym and suddenly, my car essentially stuttered, and then overheated. Pulled over, popped the hood and there was coolant everywhere... Begin three week long process of trial and error searching for what the problem was. Looked on forums, messaged people on FB Groups, asked around as much as possible and began my troubleshooting.

First Attempt:
Was told the reservoir tank caps sometimes, for lack of a better word, go bad and don't hold the pressure they're supposed too. Since I couldn't tell exactly where ALL the coolant came from when it overheated, but clearly much of it was coming from the res tank, I tried here first.

Nothing.

Attempt 2:
Was told the thermostat could be the issue. Got a new one, drained the system, replaced it, vacuum filled the system and burped it.

Nothing.

Attempt 3:
At this point it was getting worrisome because it was starting to look like it might be the headgasket. I got a tester kit, tested the car, and it came back negative for exhaust fumes in the coolant.. wasn't convinced, but moved on. It seemed like all of the steam when the car was overheating was coming from the radiator area.

So, purchased a Fluidyne 3 Core, and pulled the old radiator. Here's some pictures from the process, with the final one being the stock radiator after pulling it out.

Long story short, problem, SOLVED! The stock radiator ended up being my issue, and now with the new Fluidyne in everything is back to normal!

 

[MG0h3]

I’d see about flushing it and repairing it.

Those are sought after radiators


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[NAPERCOBRA]

Love the screaming yellow congrats and keep the pics coming


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[LS WUT]

This is a very well put together Thread. Imagine if all the for sale ad’s were this good. Boy would that save some time lol.

Awesome Car brother! Never been a fan of yellow, on certain occasions they look good! Looking for ward to the process.

 

[03' White Snake]

So let's talk about what I've done to it between getting back from Poland and finally seeing her, to today (About 2 months).

For the first month, it was great. The car made far more power than my previous terminator with a stock blower (obviously), and everything about it felt better.

Took her to the local C&C, met another local terminator owner and his brother with a wild twin turbo Mach 1.

View attachment 1834344

A few days later, got the new CCW's mounted and balanced with the new tires. Absolutely loved the look of them, but man the stock ride height on these cars is insane... they may as well have been monster trucks.

View attachment 1834345

So, next step was to fix that. Ended up going with a set of H&R Sports, which I couldn't be happier with. Ended up dropping the car about an inch all the way around, and looks much MUCH better.

View attachment 1834348
View attachment 1834346

Drove her around a bit, loved it. Then, one day was driving to the gym and suddenly, my car essentially stuttered, and then overheated. Pulled over, popped the hood and there was coolant everywhere... Begin three week long process of trial and error searching for what the problem was. Looked on forums, messaged people on FB Groups, asked around as much as possible and began my troubleshooting.

First Attempt:
Was told the reservoir tank caps sometimes, for lack of a better word, go bad and don't hold the pressure they're supposed too. Since I couldn't tell exactly where ALL the coolant came from when it overheated, but clearly much of it was coming from the res tank, I tried here first.

Nothing.

Attempt 2:
Was told the thermostat could be the issue. Got a new one, drained the system, replaced it, vacuum filled the system and burped it.

Nothing.

View attachment 1834347

Attempt 3:
At this point it was getting worrisome because it was starting to look like it might be the headgasket. I got a tester kit, tested the car, and it came back negative for exhaust fumes in the coolant.. wasn't convinced, but moved on. It seemed like all of the steam when the car was overheating was coming from the radiator area.

So, purchased a Fluidyne 3 Core, and pulled the old radiator. Here's some pictures from the process, with the final one being the stock radiator after pulling it out.

View attachment 1834353
View attachment 1834354
View attachment 1834355

Long story short, problem, SOLVED! The stock radiator ended up being my issue, and now with the new Fluidyne in everything is back to normal!

Nice car. Keep up the good work with her.

Burp procedure can be very tricky. Need to fill from the cross over tube and fill it slowly to not trap air. Some of us even drill a small 1/16"-1/8" hole in the top side of the thermostat to help with trapped air. Glad it is figured out now. I've had them be finicky for 2 or 3 good heat cycles before it would work without puking coolant.

 

[BlksvtCobra01]

Congratulations, Cobra looks clean.


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[Nbrac27]

I appreciate it everyone!

So today ended up trying to put the hood struts on (No drilling necessary ones), and of course it can never be that easy, sheared a bolt on each side of the hood...

So that's a huge pain in the ass, I'll get pictures later on when I get back home and show how I end up trying to extract them as well and replace them with LMR hood latch bolts... I've never extracted a snapped bolt before so we'll see how it goes.

On better news, here's a picture of the Harpell Auto Fab Reservoir, have to say the quality is amazing straight out of the box. Going to be draining the system again, putting it on, and then refilling and burping it. After draining and refilling the system about 6 times trying to find the overheating issue, I think I'm starting to get the hang of it lol. Following the Reische how-to guide really helps.

Thinking about getting a SC Coolant tank next to match.

Also, picture of the rear end since my new plate just got here. It's a throwback to the plate I had on my old built STI, and being from New England originally, "Wicked" is part of my daily dialect lol

 

[CobraBob]

Very nice SY Cobra! I really like the CF wrapped roof. Goes nice with the black wheels. I hope you find the overheating issue. If you hadn't burped the system as many times as you did, I'd still believe the issue is air in the system. You're doing all the right things. Hopefully the end is near so you can start really enjoying your screaming Screaming Yellow Cobra.

 

[patc84]

great looking car.

i got a SY coupe too.

can you post more pics of the roof wrap?

Thanks

pat

 

[Nbrac27]

@CobraBob thank you! Luckily I found the overheating issue, it ended up being the stock radiator. Once I got the Fluidyne one in everything was back to normal and for the past 2 weeks it hasn't crept over operating temp once!

@patc84 sure can! I'll try to get some pictures this weekend for you!

 

[Nbrac27]

So going to be tackling this issue this weekend... Sheered both of these bolts like they were made of paper...

And I fully expect the other two that didn't sheer off to do so when I go to take them off.

Has anyone had this happen before and can give some tips to get these out the easiest way?

 

[NateDogg]

Beautiful car. I love Screaming Yellow. Looks so sharp. Congrats on the car!!!

 

[blwn89gt]

I appreciate it everyone!

So today ended up trying to put the hood struts on (No drilling necessary ones), and of course it can never be that easy, sheared a bolt on each side of the hood...

So that's a huge pain in the ass, I'll get pictures later on when I get back home and show how I end up trying to extract them as well and replace them with LMR hood latch bolts... I've never extracted a snapped bolt before so we'll see how it goes.

On better news, here's a picture of the Harpell Auto Fab Reservoir, have to say the quality is amazing straight out of the box. Going to be draining the system again, putting it on, and then refilling and burping it. After draining and refilling the system about 6 times trying to find the overheating issue, I think I'm starting to get the hang of it lol. Following the Reische how-to guide really helps.

View attachment 1834460

Thinking about getting a SC Coolant tank next to match.

Also, picture of the rear end since my new plate just got here. It's a throwback to the plate I had on my old built STI, and being from New England originally, "Wicked" is part of my daily dialect lol

View attachment 1834459

I was literally looking at those no drill hood struts last night for my ZY cobra. That harpell reservoir is really nice.


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[CobraBob]

@CobraBob thank you! Luckily I found the overheating issue, it ended up being the stock radiator. Once I got the Fluidyne one in everything was back to normal and for the past 2 weeks it hasn't crept over operating temp once!

@patc84 sure can! I'll try to get some pictures this weekend for you!

That's great news. Especially for YOU. Enjoy your really nice SC Cobra.

 

[Nbrac27]

Well, guess I spoke too soon.

Drove the car to the gym this morning (maybe a 10 min drive), let it warm up, got it all the way there, no issues, wasn't driving hard at all.

Got it there, still fine, no temp changes. Was sitting in the car for about 5 minutes, had a guy come over and ask to see under the hood so get out, pop the hood (still no issues), show him around.

Then all of a sudden, near my driver's side wheel, it looks like someone opened up a water bottle and poured it out.

Check the temp gauge and suddenly it's climbing. So I shut the car off.

Look underneath, all the hoses are still tight, but it seemed like it was coming out of the T stat housing, but I couldn't be certain.


SO.

Looks like it's back to the drawing board. Limped it home after it cooled down, got it back into the garage, and going to get underneath it later on after work.

 

[01yellercobra]

Pick up a pressure tester. If you have a leak you'll find it quick.

 

[Bullitt1448]

Extracting the hood bolts won’t be easy with the hood on the car. It will be difficult to get the proper angle if you have to drill and any tooling you use could scratch the paint. I suggest removing the hood to work on it. Spay some penetrating oil on it as soon as you can and repeat until you are ready to attack it. With any luck you might be able to grab a numb of the bolt with vice grip and work it gently and very slowly back and forth if not you will have to drill it and try an easy out from the parts or tool store. Contrary to the name, it is never easy if you have to use them. There are also left hand drills available that sometimes will remove the bolts as you drill but I have never had much luck with those.
YouTube is your friend for vids
Good luck, it’s a tedious job but patience and working slowly will get it done, be sure to chase the threads once you get the bolts out. There is a possibility of breaking the captured nut loose in the hood if you try to force it too much too fast.

 

[Nbrac27]

Well.. got the Harpell Auto Fab res tank installed. Drained the whole system, checked all the lines and connections.. all fine.

Using my air compressor and coolant fill kit, put the coolant system into a complete vacuum which it held the 25hg negative pressure perfectly for almost 10 minutes with no sign of any leaks or anything.

So, refilled the car, burped the system again. Got the car up to temp. No issues.

Let it run at temp for about 10 more minutes, not a drop anywhere. Revved it a few times, no leaks.

So took it around my neighborhood a few times, came back home, popped the hood and looked underneath, no leaks anywhere.

Took it down my road a few times, got it up around 5k, got on it through 2nd-4th, brought it back home.. not a drop anywhere...


So at this point I have no idea where or why it leaked and overheated again, and why it's seemingly fixed.. again.

But I guess I'll take the W for now until something else happens lol