new to the 4V..

[therealshocker]

hey guys...

My brother just bought a 99 cobra. It has high miles (118K), but still runs like a champ. It has an O/R X and flowmasters, which will be changed out really soon to probably a magnaflow catback, maybe MAC. As far as motor, he bought it with a new JLT RAI and a Diablosport Predator. We bought it broken, we were told the ring gear was broke. We ordered some 4.10's for it, and yanked the IRS out to find out, it was indeed a the passenger halfshaft broken at the CV joint. We went ahead and put the 4.10's in and bought a new half shaft (lifetime warranty... waiting on the other side to break!).

The car is really peppy with the gears and all, but lacks in the motor region. I have a 02 GT with full bolt-ons, suspension, full exhaust and 4.10's... so I know a good bit about the 2V motor and solid axles, but still learning on this 4V and IRS business. What are the better bolt-ons for these motors?

With my car, the underdrive pulleys really helped my car rev a little quicker (his cobra seems like it takes forever to rev and drop back down to idle)... Maybe an accufab plenum/tb?

He is not much into racing, loves to cruise and gas on it every few red lights... anything else I should know about with this car?

Thanks, and sorry for the long post

 

[dirty_canadian]

the plenum and tb wont help, i would probably just do a full tune up(first with half a tank of 93 pour in a whole can of seafoam, then poor some seafoam through a pcv hose, then clean the maf with maf cleaner, run the gas through it(it will smoke a bunch), fill with fresh 93 then change the plugs to ngk tr55's, gapped at between 50 and 55, change oil and run 6.5-7 quarts of 0w30 german castrol syntec, motorcraft fl820s filter, change fuel filter then run that tank of gas through it and go get a dyno tune.

 

[therealshocker]

forgot to mention we just did a tune up on it... just not the dyno tune yet

and its getting nothing but 93 octane

im trying to persuade him from headers at the moment.... mine were a pain in the ass to do, and his looks like it would be much worse with the 4V heads

 

[dirty_canadian]

i did mac longtubes in my car and they were a bitch but i just dropped the kmember in my driveway and bolted them up, i did it alone in about 8 hours with no previous experience.

take the car to get a dyno tune somewhere, i didnt realize how bad mine needed it but it did, i got 26 hp out of a dyno tune because i bolted a bunch of stuff on and the car wasnt running right/leaning out above 6k

 

[01 Venom]

Headers are a PITA, they are expensive parts to buy, and they are a ton of work to get in there.

A good tune, CAI, Mid pips + Cat Back, Gears, maybe some UD pulleys, and you got a fun car to drive. Beef up the IRS a bit and put on some sticky tires she will run tough.

Other things to consider, port the intake that yields some good gains, Sub Frames.

 

[therealshocker]

Headers are a PITA, they are expensive parts to buy, and they are a ton of work to get in there.

A good tune, CAI, Mid pips + Cat Back, Gears, maybe some UD pulleys, and you got a fun car to drive. Beef up the IRS a bit and put on some sticky tires she will run tough.

Other things to consider, port the intake that yields some good gains, Sub Frames.

so basically he needs the pulleys and a dyno tune.... awesome.. thats pretty easy

as far as the IRS goes, I'm not really worried about it now with the lifetime warrany on the half shafts... The gears are new and everything looked good. The only thing that would be a weak point now is the input shaft... If the money had been there for the solid axle swap, I would have loved to do it and sold the IRS.... maybe next time it breaks

The suspension is the next thing to do for sure... its still riding on STOCK shocks/struts, and its pretty bad hahaha... it has lowering springs on it as well, just not sure what kind? It is lower than my car with the Eibach pro kit... quite the rough ride!!!

 

[therealshocker]

double post...

 

[quick01snake]

i agree w/ 01 venom above...mine is really fun to drive...

plus, 118K is nothing for mileage as long as it's been properly maintained...there are many out there with a lot more miles than that...

 

[01vert]

What color springs? maybe dark blue H&Rs, they are pretty low.

Some here dont advocate pulleys as the high revving motor and pulley combo is blamed for the powdered stock oil gears breaking. Search for pulley from a while ago and you should find tons of info.

Headers are at least a 6 hour job from most pros (charge wise) and are a pita, shorties do nothing for these cars.

Subframes, a MGW shifter, and you are on your way. Look for posts from nazman, best porter on the site for intakes.

Welcome aboard and have fun

 

[01 Venom]

Well paying attention a little to the IRS will do a few things, it will help reduce wheel hop which is a major problem for us and give it added strength.

Turning towards the susepension is a good idea to

 

[therealshocker]

Well paying attention a little to the IRS will do a few things, it will help reduce wheel hop which is a major problem for us and give it added strength.

Turning towards the susepension is a good idea to

wheel hop was the culprit for the broken half shaft....

i know the long tubes would be a great mod... i just dont wanna do it haha! i guess we will just have to man up and start turning wrenches one saturday... i just figured for the price of long tubes, new mid pipe and a tune, there might be another thing or two to do first.

Guess I need to stick to the basics on this one..

1. Cheap
2. Fast
3. Reliable
Pick 2

 

[therealshocker]

What color springs? maybe dark blue H&Rs, they are pretty low.

Some here dont advocate pulleys as the high revving motor and pulley combo is blamed for the powdered stock oil gears breaking. Search for pulley from a while ago and you should find tons of info.

Headers are at least a 6 hour job from most pros (charge wise) and are a pita, shorties do nothing for these cars.

Subframes, a MGW shifter, and you are on your way. Look for posts from nazman, best porter on the site for intakes.

Welcome aboard and have fun

they were a glossy black. They looked really similar to my eibachs, but just no label on them?

they may be cheap and half assed like some of the other things that were on the car

He got the car for a steal ($6500) because the rear was broken, but there are a couple of cosmetic things as well that needed attention. Half of the windshield cowl was missing, so we bought a new one from 50resto.com.. and he had put an aftermarket hood on it and SPRAY PAINTED THE HOOD WHILE IT WAS ON THE CAR!!! There is overspray on both front fenders and the front bumper.... We hope a good cut and buff could help that out. And the stock hood is back on... He also had someone airbrush fill in the bumper inserts and then airbrushed cobra underneath it(gonna try to wet sand it off)

Like I said, he got the car for a great price, just needs a little TLC

 

[01 Venom]

ya so the wheel hop may break it again some simple cheap mods will help it and be alot more fun off the line.

Billet Flow Differential Brace, Billet Flow IRS Brace, 03 cobra IRS Cross member support, and some bushing upgrades.

 

[Un4GivN]

ya so the wheel hop may break it again some simple cheap mods will help it and be alot more fun off the line.

Billet Flow Differential Brace, Billet Flow IRS Brace, 03 cobra IRS Cross member support, and some bushing upgrades.

I'm glad I read this thread, I was gonna ask why the hell my car wheel hopped so bad. Stupid IRS.

 

[01 Venom]

its not stupid, just needs a little help

 

[9snakebite6]

aluminum flywheel will help with the slow rev. or some people use a restrictor plate in the IAC. Longtubes really woke my car up. 4.30's are also fun in these cars

 

[01vert]

IAC with the slow dropping revs, forgot that, try cleaning it and if not replace or get a restrictor.

Make sure you look up some of the header installs on here, you need some extensions and universals if I remember correctly and some drop the K member from below to make the job easier, it is that much of a pita.

 

[CobraRed01]

115K miles...stock shocks and struts (original?)...spring rates unknown....original rubber bushings....no sub-frames connectors. Well, there's your problem...or a significant part of it. You know what you have to do.

 

[therealshocker]

115K miles...stock shocks and struts (original?)...spring rates unknown....original rubber bushings....no sub-frames connectors. Well, there's your problem...or a significant part of it. You know what you have to do.

my thoughts exactly after dropping the IRS out of it.... which by the way.... hurts when dropped on your leg............... cant get decent help anywhere these days!!!

 

[therealshocker]

also... was informed of the head recall for the 99 cobras. was it all cobras or were certain ones recalled? I checked the head, and saw no dot or anything that is supposed to be there after warrantied work....