Those of you interested in adding a Vortech supercharger to your 1999 Cobra might find my experience useful, well, the few of you remaining anyway as I'm a few years behind the curve on this.
I bought a Vortech V2 E-trim, bracket, discharge assembly, SCT BA2800 MAF and Anderson power pipe from a guy with a 99 Cobra for $1300. Bought 03 Cobra fuel injectors from another guy for $100. Bought a DivisionX 340 lph fuel pump from Lethal Performance. Purchased a 3.48” drive pulley and oil feed/drain lines from Superchargersonline.com.
That left me with figuring out the hardware situation. As it turns out, no hardware kit for 1999 Cobras and the 01 kit is different. Knowing 96-98 Cobras are similar I took a look at this:
96-98 Cobra hardware kit - $78
Vortech 96-98 Mustang Cobra 4.6L Mounting Bracket HARDWARE KIT [V4FK100-004] - $77.95 : SuperchargersOnline, Worlds largest Supercharger Resource. Get Serious About Power
Unfortunately the hardware kits don’t list the individual components but to verify that I would have the correct parts, I cross referenced the parts listing in the install manuals of 1999/01 Cobras with the 96-98 installation manual
99&01 Cobra Install Manuals
http://www.vortechsuperchargers.com/images/6.pdf
96-98 Cobra Install Manuals
http://www.vortechsuperchargers.com/images/7.pdf
Sure enough, all of the hardware was the same in between the 96-98 Cobras and 99 Cobras including this part which I thought came in the hardware kit:
SPACER, IDLER 4V GEN II, Part Number: 2A017-025 (Discontinued)
2A017-025 | Vortech Superchargers
Which would work with this GEN II idler pulley
Idler Pulley – 96-99 Ford Mustang Cobra (would work with discontinued spacer…) - $43
Vortech Metal Idler Pulley [V4FK116-021] - $43.00 : SuperchargersOnline, Worlds largest Supercharger Resource. Get Serious About Power
So I installed the supercharger and bracket with the hardware I had, and low and behold, the drive pulley on the supercharger does not line up with the alternator pulley.
Tuner says he can’t tune due to the chance of the belt slipping off or shredding.
After multiple emails back and forth with Vortech, I am told I need this “Gen III” pulley to go with the Gen III spacer I have
Actual idler pulley needed since idler spacer 2A017-025 is discontinued (note – website says it’s for 350Z) - $92
Vortech 2.5 Idler Pulley Assembly for 350z [V1210517] - $92.00 : SuperchargersOnline, Worlds largest Supercharger Resource. Get Serious About Power
“Vortech” water pump pulley, 99 Cobra and 01 Bullitt (is actually a Ford part, just a smooth rounded pulley about 6” in diameter, so buy that from somewhere else cheaper) - $69
Vortech Water Pump Pulley for 1999 Ford Cobra & 2001 Bullitt [V4FK016-081] - $69.00 : SuperchargersOnline, Worlds largest Supercharger Resource. Get Serious About Power
After all this I also need to deal with the intake air temperature sensor. The stock sensor plugs into the intake pipe and is secured by a rubber grommet. We decide to bypass this method. I buy a IAT sensor for a Ford Lightning - Amazon.com: Motorcraft DY-1159 Intake Air Charge Temperature Sensor: Automotive and my buddy who does tool and die makes a threaded bung for the sensor. I then get a local welder to weld the bung to the Vortech discharge pipe.
So I finally get the new pulley idler pulley installed and now the supercharger pulley is hitting alternator. So we shim that out to line up and I’m off to the tuner the next day. Tuner makes a dyno pull – 381 hp at 6.6 lbs of boost and a 10.0 A/F ratio. He leans it out to 11.8 and the car makes 411/376 at 6.8 lbs of boost and then 415 on a follow up run, good enough for a non-intercooled setup on a stock bottom end. He doesn’t like what the DivisionX fuel pump from Lethal is doing though. It is good enough for now, but it is spiking the fuel pressure too high at WOT and he’s worried about blowing out the sensor on the fuel rail. So now I have to change out the fuel pump again.
Here is the dyno graph –
Overall, I'm happy with the result. Car feels much stronger now, especially above 3500 rpm. I know there is a lot left on the table though as the car will pull timing to compensate for higher intake temps when hot out, but that will be addressed at a later time. Anyhow, that’s the journey so far for me, I will update with developments as I change out the fuel pump and add an intercooler/smaller pulley later.
I bought a Vortech V2 E-trim, bracket, discharge assembly, SCT BA2800 MAF and Anderson power pipe from a guy with a 99 Cobra for $1300. Bought 03 Cobra fuel injectors from another guy for $100. Bought a DivisionX 340 lph fuel pump from Lethal Performance. Purchased a 3.48” drive pulley and oil feed/drain lines from Superchargersonline.com.
That left me with figuring out the hardware situation. As it turns out, no hardware kit for 1999 Cobras and the 01 kit is different. Knowing 96-98 Cobras are similar I took a look at this:
96-98 Cobra hardware kit - $78
Vortech 96-98 Mustang Cobra 4.6L Mounting Bracket HARDWARE KIT [V4FK100-004] - $77.95 : SuperchargersOnline, Worlds largest Supercharger Resource. Get Serious About Power
Unfortunately the hardware kits don’t list the individual components but to verify that I would have the correct parts, I cross referenced the parts listing in the install manuals of 1999/01 Cobras with the 96-98 installation manual
99&01 Cobra Install Manuals
http://www.vortechsuperchargers.com/images/6.pdf
96-98 Cobra Install Manuals
http://www.vortechsuperchargers.com/images/7.pdf
Sure enough, all of the hardware was the same in between the 96-98 Cobras and 99 Cobras including this part which I thought came in the hardware kit:
SPACER, IDLER 4V GEN II, Part Number: 2A017-025 (Discontinued)
2A017-025 | Vortech Superchargers
Which would work with this GEN II idler pulley
Idler Pulley – 96-99 Ford Mustang Cobra (would work with discontinued spacer…) - $43
Vortech Metal Idler Pulley [V4FK116-021] - $43.00 : SuperchargersOnline, Worlds largest Supercharger Resource. Get Serious About Power
So I installed the supercharger and bracket with the hardware I had, and low and behold, the drive pulley on the supercharger does not line up with the alternator pulley.
Tuner says he can’t tune due to the chance of the belt slipping off or shredding.
After multiple emails back and forth with Vortech, I am told I need this “Gen III” pulley to go with the Gen III spacer I have
Actual idler pulley needed since idler spacer 2A017-025 is discontinued (note – website says it’s for 350Z) - $92
Vortech 2.5 Idler Pulley Assembly for 350z [V1210517] - $92.00 : SuperchargersOnline, Worlds largest Supercharger Resource. Get Serious About Power
“Vortech” water pump pulley, 99 Cobra and 01 Bullitt (is actually a Ford part, just a smooth rounded pulley about 6” in diameter, so buy that from somewhere else cheaper) - $69
Vortech Water Pump Pulley for 1999 Ford Cobra & 2001 Bullitt [V4FK016-081] - $69.00 : SuperchargersOnline, Worlds largest Supercharger Resource. Get Serious About Power
After all this I also need to deal with the intake air temperature sensor. The stock sensor plugs into the intake pipe and is secured by a rubber grommet. We decide to bypass this method. I buy a IAT sensor for a Ford Lightning - Amazon.com: Motorcraft DY-1159 Intake Air Charge Temperature Sensor: Automotive and my buddy who does tool and die makes a threaded bung for the sensor. I then get a local welder to weld the bung to the Vortech discharge pipe.
So I finally get the new pulley idler pulley installed and now the supercharger pulley is hitting alternator. So we shim that out to line up and I’m off to the tuner the next day. Tuner makes a dyno pull – 381 hp at 6.6 lbs of boost and a 10.0 A/F ratio. He leans it out to 11.8 and the car makes 411/376 at 6.8 lbs of boost and then 415 on a follow up run, good enough for a non-intercooled setup on a stock bottom end. He doesn’t like what the DivisionX fuel pump from Lethal is doing though. It is good enough for now, but it is spiking the fuel pressure too high at WOT and he’s worried about blowing out the sensor on the fuel rail. So now I have to change out the fuel pump again.
Here is the dyno graph –
Overall, I'm happy with the result. Car feels much stronger now, especially above 3500 rpm. I know there is a lot left on the table though as the car will pull timing to compensate for higher intake temps when hot out, but that will be addressed at a later time. Anyhow, that’s the journey so far for me, I will update with developments as I change out the fuel pump and add an intercooler/smaller pulley later.
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