1997 Cobra project

[akurma]

Nice project, especially a Pacific Green! Is that your MS3 in the first picture?

Nice to see someone is saving a Pacific Green.

Yes it is my speed3, actually bought it totaled from a salvage yard, I have a build thread on that I'll link shortly. To be completely honest, it's much faster then my 2V lol maybe even this cobra. But Thank you guys! I couldn't let this cobra be parted out and scrapped, especially a pacific green!



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[Tillerman77]

I had a 2011 MS3 until last year. I would say it is as fast as the Cobra in stock form. The MS3 was great, but I really wanted a change of pace from FWD for my fun car.

 

[akurma]

yeah there pretty quick little cars, mine is modded a bit I auto X it as well

 

[akurma]

Alright its been awhile since my last update, life has gotten crazy busy with me starting a new job and all but i do have a small update for those that have followed this thread. this past weekend i was able to track down a complete steering column from a 97 cobra from a local mustang guy off of craigslist. he had a badass white cobra convertible with a Vortech on it. Anyway i bought the column off of him and installed it the next day. My father gave me a hand and it went in with ease and no issues i was worried that PATS would throw a fit with the ignition cylinder being taken out then put back in but it didn't. So i can now start the cobra with the key just like any other car with. I have ordered a new set of BBK long tubes, but apparently they are on national back order everywhere, ordered from three different companies that said they were in stock online but then got a phone call saying its back ordered so who knows when they'll show up, besides that i have to order the clutch which ill do when i get the long tubes then its go time. until then your stuck with this lousy update, in the mean time im going to detail the hell out of the interior, as you can see the carpet is just awful

EDIT; added short video (and yes i know im holding the phone the wrong way) of a quick pull in the cobra nothing special in fact i think it sounds pretty terrible with the exhaust leak and at the end you can see how badly the front rotors are warped with all the shaking.

 

[akurma]

Well i see Photobucket got greedy and is now charging people to post pictures on other websites, guess i'll go back and try and fix the pictures

Anyway another small update, after having new BBK long tubes ordered for two months and getting pushed back four different times i decided to call it quits with them and found a pair of stock exhaust manifolds on ebay, priced it out with a new catless H pipe and MIL eliminators, it ended up being cheaper then buying the BBK long tubes alone. Plus i won't have to deal with the hassle on installing longtubes. anyway here are the pictures of the new exhaust going on. I ordered a Ford Racing clutch kit that should also be here this week and hopefully installing all this next weekend. Happy 4th everyone!

EDIT: for some reason i can't upload more than one picture per post, any ideas?

 

[jgt58]

Subscribing!

1996 mustang cobra... many mods...

 

[jgt58]

Did you find out anything about the Ford calibration sticker? My cobra also has it on and no one knows what the hell it is

1996 mustang cobra... many mods...

 

[akurma]

Did you find out anything about the Ford calibration sticker? My cobra also has it on and no one knows what the hell it is

1996 mustang cobra... many mods...

After some googling it turns out it's the Engine Control Module (ECM) code for the car

 

[jgt58]

After some googling it turns out it's the Engine Control Module (ECM) code for the car

It says that it's been altered by ford technicians

1996 mustang cobra... many mods...

 

[akurma]

finally got around to working on the cobra, front rotors and pads along with an oil change. next up is dropping the trans to replace the clutch and install new headers, which look awful i don't know why people love long tubes so much lol

 

[Tillerman77]

What rotor/pad combination did you use?

 

[akurma]

What rotor/pad combination did you use?

Went with Centric front rotors and pads. For the rear i had a set of Powerstop drilled and slotted rotors and pads from when i was going to do a rear cobra brake swap on my 1999 GT but decided not to so i used them.

 

[Tillerman77]

Does your car still have the IMRC system in it or did the PO install deletes?

 

[98 svt]

"seemingly rust free"?

Hopefully you got a good deal. Looks like a lot if work ahead of you. It's always great to see someone saving a Cobra!

 

[akurma]

Does your car still have the IMRC system in it or did the PO install deletes?

Im not sure if it still have them or not, next time i drive it ill have to see if i feel a power difference around 3,500rpm. unless there is an easier way to tell without taking the intake manifold off lol

"seemingly rust free"?

Hopefully you got a good deal. Looks like a lot if work ahead of you. It's always great to see someone saving a Cobra!

I said seemingly because that was before i had a chance to get it up on a lift and really check it out. it is rust free minus the rotted out long tubes and the typical undercarriage surface rust all cars in the Northeast have. I like "saving" cars that have been neglected, i've done it with a few others (my mazdaspeed3, a 2000 impreza 2.5RS, G35x) and it's always rewarding in the end

 

[NVRL8TE]

I morph into McConaughey every time I see a 96-98 Cobra being saved.

Alright, alright, ALRIGHT!

 

[Tillerman77]

Im not sure if it still have them or not, next time i drive it ill have to see if i feel a power difference around 3,500rpm. unless there is an easier way to tell without taking the intake manifold off lol

Check for the 2 IMRC cables between the engine and the firewall. If they are there, it likely means you have an intact IMRC system.

 

[akurma]

Just gonna leave this here... I'll update tomorrow

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[akurma]

Check for the 2 IMRC cables between the engine and the firewall. If they are there, it likely means you have an intact IMRC system.
View attachment 1407763

Can confirm those cables are there, so looks like It still has IMRC

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[akurma]

Big update, i'm going to apologize for the quality of some of the pictures up front

Finally got around to the heavy lifting on this project. Since it's labor day weekend i decided to do some labor intensive work lol. Put the car in the air with plans on dropping the trans to change the clutch out. Then quickly realized i can't drop the trans with these stupid long tubes in the way, fought for a good two hours trying to squeeze a ratchet/wrench/swivel extension you name it up between the K member and motor and couldn't get all the header bolts out. However on the bright side whoever installed these long tubes were smart enough to put antiseize on the bolts so luckily none of the bolts snapped, but still a simple clutch job turned into dropping the entire front end :drink Now i know i could have taken the motor out a different way, like taking the intake manifold out, and threading a bolt in where the alternator is and the bellhousing but i was honestly worried about the weight put on those two points and trying to finagle the engine and transmission out together as one without damaging or getting stuck on the underbody/firewall. Anyways it took me and the help of a few hands 16 hours to get it all out, could had gotten done faster but this was my first time pulling a motor and honestly not nearly as bad as i thought, although two of the K member bolts did snap simply because they were so rusted, one of the bolts was actually much thinner than the others. after the front was dropped i ended up cutting the headers off, one of the headers was so brittle it actually bent when i went to pick it up.Only mistake i made was i forgot to drain the transmission fluid, thought a glove taped to the output shaft would be enough.. boy was i wrong!

Now i do have a question regarding the clutch, the pressure plate has a "Valeo" stamping on it and if i remember correctly Valeo is the OEM manufacturer for Ford, and if i remember correctly again the factory pressure plate is silver in color not red? so is this an "upgraded" clutch kit ? i can't find any Valeo clutch kits with a red pressure plate for a cobra? if it was the factory unit, the pedal was ridiculously stiff and grabbed really high up.