Turbo musings

[Cat Breath]

Any of you 2nd gen Lightning or 03 Cobra owners consider swapping the blower out for a turbo? Seems to me you'd be able to get away with using the stock lower intake & water/air intercooler setup, just weld/have welded together an upper aluminum manifold to replace the Eaton and make or have made an exhaust.

Main reason I'm considering it is because I'm at high altitude. Feels like I'm getting robbed power wise (Almost didn't buy my Cobra when I took it for a test drive since it seemed so slow (while stock ran 102.5 mph 1/4 at bandi, CO, 5800 elevation)). Turbo will compensate for the altitude. Not to mention have much more power potential than the Eaton.

 

[SNK BITN]

Its only a matter of time and money till you see a turbo powered L or 03 Cobra. Now that would be bad a$$.

 

[SVTdubs]

I was wondering about a turbo 03 cobra also. How would that work? Turbos are way more effieient and would make tons more power at the same 8psi boost. Plus you can get a boost controller inside the car.. somebody please help us out in here.
Would you use a single or twin turbo. Im thinkin you cant use a twin but I could be wrong. Someone who knows something, help us out!!!

 

[SVTdubs]

I see twin turbo kits for 5.0 motors but who makes a twin turbo for a 4.6? Is it possible or do you only use a single turbo?

 

[Dustyn]

I would stay with the eaton blower. you will never have the low end boost that you have now with your supercharger. You could do a twin turbo setup and offset the turbos where one will pick up the slack and the other is trimmed for bottom end. All the people that make the turbo kits right now are not very reliable. TDC would probably be the best of any. You also have all kinds of tuning issues with turbos plus much more heat. Keep the warranty work with what you have.:beer:

 

[Cat Breath]

If I was at sea level then I'd probably be happy with my car. I wish I could move to the east coast, but the wife cant move right now. After having spent $2K+ on exhaust, blower pulley (2.83), & chip, the best the car has done at the strip up here is 13.5/108 (respectable times up here, btw). My modded cobra is slower than everyone elses stock cobra at sea level! :bash: The problem is that the air is thinner, of course. Less air density = less HP. Up here in Denver we have approximately 15-20% less air density than at sea level (as determined with Ddenver/Dsea level off a standard air column chart). Turbos can recover that lost air density by spinning faster. Us roots blower folk can't do that. The blower would not handle being spun as fast as I would need to spin it to recover the lost air density.

No one will ever make a turbo kit for the 03 cobra. Most turbo companies haven't considered making a kit for cobras in general due to percieved poor demand for them. I'm all on my own here, and that's fine. I've had a turbo'd GT mustang and know what some of the turbo specific tuning issues are. I've compared the compressor maps for appropriately sized (for me that means: a resonable rpm to be past the surge line for 1.7 & 2.4 bar, not too far past the max efficiency of the compressor at max cfm/pr, must allow higher boost (3 bar) for future track duty) twins and singles, and now I'm leaning towards either a single Turbonetics T66 or T72. I have a MIG welder and will be picking up a used TIG welder for the header welding. I would of course use the stock lower, w/a intercooler as well.

Here are my initial cost estimates:
T-72 $1360 Turbonetics

Stainles 321 tubing for the headers ~$1500 Burns Stainless

Either FAST (speedpro) or DFI w/wideband ~$2-2500 FAST DFI

home made aluminum upper to replace the blower ~300

And figure $1-$2K for misc stuff. Of course I'd have to keep the boost within what the stock fuel system can support until I'm ready to upgrade that.

Why bother with it all?: turbos are cool for one; Very few people on the planet have a turbocharged 4.6 Cobra; Only a turbo will give me the performance I want at the altitude I'm at; These cars are factory hotrods, waiting for people to come along and do stuff like this: Totally forged low comp short block, 4v alumn heads, fuel system to support 42lb injectors,... Most people purchasing/making turbo setups would love to have that kind of base to start with.

I haven't made any steps towards purchasing anything for this project, just contemplating.

As for the worrying about the warranty, I'm not. I bought this car to be my hotrod, and hotrod it I will. No flames about being an idiot for planning on nulling the warranty please.

:beer:

 

[No Quarter]

You are going to need to go to a tubular K memeber and lose the AC for a decent cross over. Twins would be hell to plumb up and if you are serious. Ditch your motor. Go with an aluminum block and fr500 heads hogged out. Also your turbo sizes are way to small to meet 4 bar on our motors. You're going to need a T80 at least to suppor that IMO.

You are'nt serious about using the stock cooler are you? What CFM does the a/w cooler see?

Lastly ... why? Seems to me that you could do it all WAAAAAY cheaper on a 99/01 Cobra and have the aluminum block. Does'nt the 03 use forged rods as well? Ditch those for billet pieces and you'll need a valve job in a big way.

Let me know how you do! :burnout:

 

[svo1990mustang]

I have to say first that a turbo 4.6 cobra would be a neat thing to see. :beer:

Well i'm a turbo Mustang guy but i don't know too much on the internals of the cobra engine, fordged of better internals are the way to go for turbocharging. I'm also not sure about the compression in those motors either, but i do know that the lower you go the more boost you can run, (the stock compression on the turbo 2.3's are 8:1. ) 4 Bar, MAN THAT'S ALOT that's like 60psi of boost!!! the most i've seen one of the turbo 2.3 engine put out was 30ish psi (stock is 15-16psi) and man was that car screaming.

If you want some more info from lots of Turbo Ford people try here www.turboford.org these are some of the most knowlegable and nicest turbo guys i have ever met, we can try to help you out as best we can. :thumbsup:

just my $0.02
Darryl

 

[James Wiger]

have you checked out http://www.turbomustangs.com yet?

hey svo1990mustang, are those SVO wheels on your LX.....cool!

 

[svo1990mustang]

Originally posted by James Wiger
have you checked out http://www.turbomustangs.com yet?

hey svo1990mustang, are those SVO wheels on your LX.....cool!

I wish!! actually they are 88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe rims, however i am switching to five lug soon. What is the bolt spacing on the SVO wheels? (5x4.5"???)

Thanks I'll check out that site, but have you checked out: www.turboford.org ?

Darryl

 

[MidLifeCrisis]

Hey guys! You want to see a shop here in Florida that has a TT system for a 4.6 Cobra motor?

http://www.mustangweekly.com/2001/december/twinturbo/tt-1.ASP

I called Mr. Lamotta to enquire about the system. $10K installed!

Be sure to hit continue to read the whole story. I saw this car up close a few months ago. Pretty sweet setup. The stock K frame does have to go! The turbo's are down below. He's only running 9lbs of boost I believe.

I was told by Mr. Lamotta that the car is now running mid 9's. (With slicks of course)

Bring on the TT Supra's. I'm tired of hearing about the dam things anyway!

 

[No Quarter]

Last I heard that shop was no more. :??:

 

[MidLifeCrisis]

Originally posted by No Quarter
Last I heard that shop was no more. :??:

I was just by there a few months ago. Business looked to be booming. Best Ford tuner in these here parts! But hes not getting 10K out of me. I've got two kids to get through college.