She's down in Florida getting an extreme makeover...

[Antex]

Matt, is Al saying that in the middle of the 03' run, Ford modified the heads in some way to improve some issues they were having with the first run Cobras? So then in actuality, there were three seperate Terminator head castings?

At any rate, this is awesome news and can hardly wait till you get it back from him and up and running. Don't know if Al is planning on messing with the heads any, but have you considered checking out Steig's upgraded head porting? He's saying 60 RWHP for his top of the line 4v head port job...........As you can see Matt, I don't have any problems spending your hard earned money!!!!!!! ;-)

I don't know - all Al said was that he's seen this happen before with the early 03 heads like I've got. I'll present the question to him the next time we touch base.

I'm not going to be going overboard with things. No porting, just beefing the heads up. I told Al I want it to hold up to my bracket racing, some all out heads up racing on big boost (22-24), but most important still being able to run 93 octane on my street tune. I'll still be putting 7 - 8,000 miles a year on her, plus having my fun on the weekends at the track. Would I love to get down in the low, low 10's - you betcha! But that's a whole new ball game and another step up will be needed with the driving mod...

 

[Hissssnsvt]

Cool....... That will almost do it..oke: ....lol.....


J.R.

Should do it considering the car has already been 10.0's...oke: What happened to early retirement...:shrug:

I don't know - all Al said was that he's seen this happen before with the early 03 heads like I've got. I'll present the question to him the next time we touch base.

I'm sure Al has seen burnt valves in other cars besides only early '03 heads as this is a fairly common problem on all '03/04 terminators running big boost. Burnt valves are usually a sign of not enough octane or bad fuel and too much timing or a lean condition.

Your new setup sounds like a beast, good luck with it next season...:beer:

 

[micksnip]

heads

Interesting comments from Al about the "early 03' edition" heads. There's so much conflicting information about the whole Terminator head castings floating around. I was under the impression, that despite other info out there, that when all was said and done, there were two seperate castings: 1) original that came standard on all 03/04' Cobras, and 2) the Jan, 05' recastings which greatly improved the coolant circulation issues to cylinders 7 & 8.

Matt, is Al saying that in the middle of the 03' run, Ford modified the heads in some way to improve some issues they were having with the first run Cobras? So then in actuality, there were three seperate Terminator head castings?

At any rate, this is awesome news and can hardly wait till you get it back from him and up and running. Don't know if Al is planning on messing with the heads any, but have you considered checking out Steig's upgraded head porting? He's saying 60 RWHP for his top of the line 4v head port job...........As you can see Matt, I don't have any problems spending your hard earned money!!!!!!! ;-)

Dwight-
I believe the second iteration (love that word) of the heads only provided more spark plug threads-9 threads instead of 3 or 4-to prevent spark plug blowout. From what I've read, there were no improvements in cooling passages or anything else. I think (here's my paranoid alter coming out) that Ford designed the 2nd head to placate the 03/04 owners with "the tick" and the never released TSB on spark plug blowout, but svt performance kept referring to the "newly designed" head (the 3rd "iteration") that was "right around the corner"/ready to be released/blah, blah, blah-yeah, ready to be released right after the majority of 03 warranties ran out or the owners voided the waarranty with mods. So, what ya got is the new head released for replacement of a number of 04 tickers with intact warranties-maybe. Most of them got head #2. But primarily #3 was available for outright purchase from Ford.
Now, we all know that any company goes through a lot of R&D before releasing any product. They can't tell me that this new design was still "on the bench" all this time and not available. They had to be holding out on the release till a certain time-the time when they wouldn't have to give a set to any 03 ticker. They had to know about the tick problem before the first 03 came out in May 02(my ticker was #174), and had to have a solution in the pipeline soon after. Oh, and how SVT kept telling ticker owners the problem wasn't mechanical and wouldn't hurt anything? HA!
Just my $.02...well, maybe it was $.04.:rolling:

micksnip/Mike

 

[JRS BLOWN SNAKE]

Should do it considering the car has already been 10.0's...oke: What happened to early retirement...:shrug:

AHHHHHH, you must be talking about King's car. Nope, not for me. Retirement is still priority one. Just gotta keep peeps guessing.... I'm thinking maybe FORD GT........:uh oh: Just have to pick a color..:rockon:

 

[Antex]

I'm sure Al has seen burnt valves in other cars besides only early '03 heads as this is a fairly common problem on all '03/04 terminators running big boost.

I'm pretty sure Al was talking about the extent of the damage he has found with the early 03 heads as compared to the later terminator heads.

 

[JRS BLOWN SNAKE]

I'm pretty sure Al was talking about the extent of the damage he has found with the early 03 heads as compared to the later terminator heads.

I burnt an exhaust valve in my Red 03. Ported eaton back then. High boost and got some bad gas at the track. 3 of us burnt valves that day..:xpl: We all got our gas from the same spot ...

Any way it's looked at, detonation is killer. Even on a street tune, I would still run higher octane at the track. Boost is sustained longer on the 1320, then on the street, normally. The higher octane will cool it off. Maybe a 2-5% loss in power, but 3-5,000.00 more in your pocketbook..

 

[Antex]

.

I would still run higher octane at the track.

I agree & I have always run race gas at the track since day one..:beer:

 

[93cobra#3326]

dam matt sucks to hear your luck. hopefully your new setup will withstand the abuse better.
hey guys i heard once the later 03's came with a blue stripe on the drivers head and this ment it had a newer style head. my 03 has this stripe. (my 04 doesnt) anyone else know of this to be true??
-B

 

[lRageATMl]

Damn matt that sucks... but at the sametime it's good.

It gives you the exuse you needed to beef up the motor :beer:

 

[JRS BLOWN SNAKE]

dam matt sucks to hear your luck. hopefully your new setup will withstand the abuse better.
hey guys i heard once the later 03's came with a blue stripe on the drivers head and this ment it had a newer style head. my 03 has this stripe. (my 04 doesnt) anyone else know of this to be true??
-B

Yep, blue stripe was suppose to be the updated heads. The 04 production cars I've seen do not have the stripe. Supposedly only 03's had the issues.

Anyways, How's it goin? Are ya sprayng the house down???? Been to the track yet?

Take care, J.R.

 

[Hissssnsvt]

AHHHHHH, you must be talking about King's car. Nope, not for me. Retirement is still priority one. Just gotta keep peeps guessing.... I'm thinking maybe FORD GT........:uh oh: Just have to pick a color..:rockon:

Yeah, I saw where you posted in his for sale thread. I stopped trying to guess what your doing along time ago. You change you mind more then most women I know!oke:

Anyway, back on topic...

I'm pretty sure Al was talking about the extent of the damage he has found with the early 03 heads as compared to the later terminator heads.

I wonder if Al could send you some pics of the damage. If I had to guess you probably hurt the motor on your last good pass at Ford Fever. Seemed like after that run the car was down on power your next few runs and smoking pretty badly. The extentive damage may have been the result of running the car after the intial damage was done.

 

[Antex]

I wonder if Al could send you some pics of the damage. If I had to guess you probably hurt the motor on your last good pass at Ford Fever. Seemed like after that run the car was down on power your next few runs and smoking pretty badly. The extentive damage may have been the result of running the car after the intial damage was done.

I agree 100% with your analysis...:beer:

 

[JRS BLOWN SNAKE]

Yeah, I saw where you posted in his for sale thread. I stopped trying to guess what your doing along time ago. You change you mind more then most women I know!oke:

HAHA...It's great to live in the land of opportunity..

 

[shawnsvtcobra]

Best of luck with your new engine gonna be awesome.

 

[mpchad]

Best of luck with your new engine gonna be awesome.

Yeah, hopefully you hit the 4 digits in horsepower..... wouldn't that be nice???

 

["It'll Run"]

Sorry to hear the news Matt, I had no idea buddy....

 

[Antex]

Sorry to hear the news Matt, I had no idea buddy....

I really can't complain - got a lot of track miles outta her. Like Prasad said now I've got the excuse needed to beef 'er up...:beer:

 

[5.0snake]

Can't wait to see you Dial UP the boost matty! That thing is gonna run like a raped ape. You got plenty of seat time so you know how to drive, now its time for some JR 6,000 launches!!

 

["It'll Run"]

I really can't complain - got a lot of track miles outta her. Like Prasad said now I've got the excuse needed to beef 'er up...:beer:

True indeed.....:beer:

 

[Antex]

Here's some congratulatory news on Al Papitto whos' doing the rebuild on my engine - He just ran a 9.27@143 with his N/A 5.4 Cobra:


http://www.modularfords.com/forums/...-best-ever-pass-today-at-bradenton-69057.html