Restoring a Unicorn - Nate's 2004 Competition Orange Cobra

[texas_robb]

Thank you! Its hard to make time for the car right now, but its fun to track the progress on it!

Congrats on the cobra! Make sure you post some pictures when you pick it up! What are the details?

03 3 owner car, 52k miles. Pretty stock with just a 2.93 upper. Wanted something pretty stock to build myself.

 

[NateDogg]

I’ve been busy with the IRS over the past couple of weeks. The powder coating came out great!!

The hardware looks awesome! A local shop took care of the of the diff install. All the bushing went in nice and easy and the IRS is about ready to go back in.

Ryan helped out pulling out the bearings in the knuckles so I could send them off to powder coat. New bearings and a FTBR hub w/ 3inch ARP studs went back in.

I’m just finishing up painting the half shafts and then I have some work to do under the car and then I’ll be able to put it all back in. I’m very happy with how this turned out.

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[NateDogg]

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[CobraBob]

The rewards of your time and money are really showing, Nate. Beautiful steed there!

 

[sam92lx]

nice touch on the half shafts

 

[NateDogg]

Thanks guys.

I wasn’t sure what to do with the half shafts. I didn’t really see the point of the upgraded half shafts but I knew I couldn’t put these rusted old one back in.

But they turned out great. Not bad for $30 worth of supplies and a few hours of work.


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[sam92lx]

Thanks guys.

I wasn’t sure what to do with the half shafts. I didn’t really see the point of the upgraded half shafts but I knew I couldn’t put these rusted old one back in.

But they turned out great. Not bad for $30 worth of supplies and a few hours of work.


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I totally agree. $2,000 on a set of axles is ridiculous.

 

[NateDogg]

All together and ready to go in!! I’m glad this is part of the journey is almost done.

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[NateDogg]

Started to scrub the under carriage so I can put the IRS back in. It came out surprisingly clean. There are a couple spots that I need to sand down and hit with some paint. But it looks 100x better.

Once it got too dark to see under the car I decided to prep the interior for the new seats.

Vacuumed and washed the carpet, changed out the hideous orange door cups.

I need to install the shifter and ebrake bolts that match the seats. I also got a custom made dual pod cluster that is much better than the automated one I had before. So i went ahead and painted that to match (just have the before picture)

The plan is now to get the IRS installed, finish the interior and then link up with SVTGarage to install the magnum, new clutch, headers, valve covers and TVS. Undecided if I want to install the fuel system now or wait awhile.

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[Fat Boss]

Outstanding. Looks great.

 

[CobraVenom01]

Absolutely awesome bro!! It’s coming together so good. Can’t wait to help with the magnum and TVS etc. Excited to have it in the garage and get it on the channel.


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[NateDogg]

Sanded down and spray some Vietek factory grey primer. Not an exact match but pretty close and much better than the surface rust.

Everything is cleaned and is ready to the IRS.

Hoping to get it put in in the next couple of days.

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[NateDogg]

Made some more progress today. I wanted to clean up the garage a bit which meant I needed to get the seats in the car.

So I ozoned the interior to get rid of the musty smell the car had. The car sat for about 5 years and there is evidence that some of that time it sat under a tree. It smells great now.

I had to remove the old ebrake book and installed on that matches the seats.

After that I installed the rear and front seats. I ran into a problem with the rears because the rear seat bracket doesn’t fit. I swapped my old charcoal sets with a local guy for a set out of his 03, and they are different. I’ll be swapping the frame back, but until then, I’m only able to get the top hardware in.

Front seats went in no problem and look amazing. I also installed the AZA steering wheel and the dual gauge pod I had made. Popped in the dual aero force gauges aswell.

I ordered some more interior paint. The cluster pod doesn’t match good. There was barely any paint left in the one I had and it came out lighter than I had hoped.

Still need to glue the shift boot to the bezel and after that the interior will be completely done. Feel pretty good to check off one complete part of the restoration check list.

The IRS is under the car and ready to go up. Going to mess with it tomorrow before work.

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[NateDogg]

Here are some cleaning pictures. There is a night and day difference in the areas behind the wheel well.

I’ll clean the wheel wells up just as nice once I have it out of the garage. I didn’t want all that nasty mess all over the garage floor.

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[sam92lx]

I never liked custom ebrake and shifter boot because they just didn't fit the style of the oem interior. I can 100% say it's because of the factory seats!! Matching the seats and boots, is definitely the right call. Looks awesome Nate.

 

[SDsnake]

Sanded down and spray some Vietek factory grey primer. Not an exact match but pretty close and much better than the surface rust.

Everything is cleaned and is ready to the IRS.

Hoping to get it put in in the next couple of days.

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Looks good. Can you post a pic of the can and a link to purchase? Cars looking great!

 

[SDsnake]

Made some more progress today. I wanted to clean up the garage a bit which meant I needed to get the seats in the car.

So I ozoned the interior to get rid of the musty smell the car had. The car sat for about 5 years and there is evidence that some of that time it sat under a tree. It smells great now.

I had to remove the old ebrake book and installed on that matches the seats.

After that I installed the rear and front seats. I ran into a problem with the rears because the rear seat bracket doesn’t fit. I swapped my old charcoal sets with a local guy for a set out of his 03, and they are different. I’ll be swapping the frame back, but until then, I’m only able to get the top hardware in.

Front seats went in no problem and look amazing. I also installed the AZA steering wheel and the dual gauge pod I had made. Popped in the dual aero force gauges aswell.

I ordered some more interior paint. The cluster pod doesn’t match good. There was barely any paint left in the one I had and it came out lighter than I had hoped.

Still need to glue the shift boot to the bezel and after that the interior will be completely done. Feel pretty good to check off one complete part of the restoration check list.

The IRS is under the car and ready to go up. Going to mess with it tomorrow before work.

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Im not typically a fan of deviating from the original seats but they look killer and the boys did a great job installing the covers!

 

[NateDogg]

Finally got around to gluing the shift boot. I’ll let this cure for the next day or so and then mount it to the bezel.

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[CobraBob]

Started to scrub the under carriage so I can put the IRS back in. It came out surprisingly clean. There are a couple spots that I need to sand down and hit with some paint. But it looks 100x better.

Once it got too dark to see under the car I decided to prep the interior for the new seats.

Vacuumed and washed the carpet, changed out the hideous orange door cups.

I need to install the shifter and ebrake bolts that match the seats. I also got a custom made dual pod cluster that is much better than the automated one I had before. So i went ahead and painted that to match (just have the before picture)

The plan is now to get the IRS installed, finish the interior and then link up with SVTGarage to install the magnum, new clutch, headers, valve covers and TVS. Undecided if I want to install the fuel system now or wait awhile.

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Magnificent! Wow! I did a big double-take on these photos. What a huge difference.

And OMG, that's detailing perfection right here.

 

[NateDogg]

Looks good. Can you post a pic of the can and a link to purchase? Cars looking great!

https://lmr.com/item/MET-34212/mustang-undercarriage-primer-factory-gray-79-04