BUILD: 2003 mach 1 complete terminator swap

[selbyvince]

figured id post up my build thread for those that are interested in following along. this first post will be more of how it all came about as i am now about 2 months into the build, so i will catch everyone up :rolling:

subject: 2003 mach 1, all stock except a few small bolt ons. 57k miles

Objective:
1.(drivetrain) COMPLETE terminator swap minus IRS
2.(interior) COMPLETE 2004 cobra interior
3.(exterior) Complete terminator appearance

as she was when i got her:




Now, i know some of you are already going wtf why not just buy a 2003 cobra, well.. i had one, sold it. missed it, wanted another but found a better deal on a mach 1 thinking i would be happy.. and i wasnt. So first off, know i didnt buy this car with these intentions.

I at first bought a procharger D1SC and was just going to throw it on and call it a day and leave it be.. then before putting it on i decided, well, let me build me a cobra short block first, that way i can shoot to just come on out with some power instead of running low boost on factory motor.. so i bought a 04 block, rods, crank... THEN.... found a really good deal on a 2003 cobra engine, from supercharger to oil pan. included all wiring, ecu, gauges... the works... so im like, damn i wish i wouldnt of seen this.. lol... long story short i bought it. sold the parts i had aquired to build a short block, and then sold the D1SC.



so now im looking at the car and like, sweet, terminator swap in the mach.. sleeper time..lol wrong.. the first things i did when i got her home was order some black saleen wheels 18s, and some 305/40/18 mickey thompsons, tinted the windows, ordered bbk o/r x pipe, some borla stingers, and got me some tinted tail lights




we can all go ahead and admit, the cobra exterior is quite superior to the look of the mach 1, the only thing the mach had going for it was the hood. sorry to offend some of you hard core mach guys, but hey thats my opinion. so i had the intensions of leaving the exterior alone, but swapping over to a cobra decklid/spoiler and front bumper.

so im sitting offshore at work thinking this all over, and im getting ready to go get this terminator motor in florida that coming weekend, and im finding more and more cobra parts for decent deals pop up, so thats when i said screw it, im just going to build me another 2003 cobra.

long story short, i went to florida for vacation, rented a uhaul while i was there, went and picked up:
2003 cobra complete motor-s/c to oil pan, all wiring, ecu, intake, front and rear seats, decklid and spoiler, stock gas tank and pumps, and an irs :rockon: all for one low price that i will not spill :beer:

 

[selbyvince]

so i make it home and times to tear into this beast:
i stripped the car, i sold my complete motor minus the wiring harness, transmission, rear end, front and rear seats, gauges, hood, front bumper, side skirts, rear bumper, decklid and spoiler, stock gas tank and pump.... pretty much got her down to a shell in a weekend lol :dw:

 

[selbyvince]

AND NOW....the build begins :banana:

so..... i wanted to check out the condition of this supposid 4x,xxx mile motor so we tore into it to see what was up...and what i found, i liked lol.. it was NOT a oem 2003 cobra motor, and it did not have fourty something thousand miles... it was a blueprinted crate motor from ford, that didnt even look like it had 5k miles on it. super super super CLEAN. guy didnt know anything about what was done to the car when he bought it and stripped it, so he didnt know what he was sitting on, and on top of that...IT HAD A POSI RACE PORTED EATON, PLENUM AND THROTTLE BODY, along with a MAFia as well... and to top it all off, it also had the 05 revised heads on both sides :rockon: so im feeling even better about my good deal i had just made.

 

[selbyvince]

i plan to move up to a 2.9 whipple next year, so im building this car to for that, so you will see some pretty extreme modding, so just keep that in mind.

FUEL SYSTEM:
ok like mentioned above, im looking to do this once and once only, not looking to have to go back and upgrade anything whenever i go up to a bigger blower so im going all in the first time. i sold the factory cobra tank/pumps i bought, and bought:
glens sleeper tank, w/ feed and return line on front side.
2 jegs 500 filters
Magnafuel 750 pump
-10 steel braided feed line
-8 steel braided return line
105 lb injectors
aeromtive regulator
fore rails (waiting on their new rails to be released this month to order)

i went to ford, got all new gaskets and seals for the whole tank, mounted both filters and pump, put in emissions crap, and bolted it up




i now went to NAPA and got everything needed to wire up 2 relays in parallel to feed this big pump, here is the finished product:





Rear end:
ok so i decided to ditch the IRS, and got me a SRA built:
31 spline axles
31 spline diff
welded tubes
3.73 gears
added welded brace on front
03 cobra flange
gt500 diff cover
mm spherical upper/lower control arms etc..







Interior:
so i swapped over my board and odometer into my 03 cobra cluster so my PATS system would be happy, and i got those ugly grey suade insterted seats recovered with black, and got them with no cobra logo








Exterior:
ok so far as far as exterior goes, i have a rear bumper, decklid and spoiler, side skirts, and a front bumper

 

[selbyvince]

btw, everyone dont pay attention to all the stickers all over the car, my wife makes custom stickers and what not and is vendors on other forums, and my car is her test subject for pictures..lol

 

[selbyvince]

and this is where i am now:

i picked up a d&d built T56
pro 5.0 shifter
white 6 speed shift ball
cobra aluminum driveshaft
along with that i have a spec 3+ clutch
spec aluminum flywheel
and all new from ford: transmission bolt kit, clutch bolt kit, pilot bearing, and throw out bearing




I also ditched the new x- pipe and have a set of kooks long tube headers and short o/r x pipe going on

and these are my specialty plates i ordered for it:


and as my motor sits as of yesterday, going with black and redfire with a few things being polished.





few more random pics of the day before i tore it apart:






and this will now bring this thread up to date of my progress on this build. :beer:

 

[01stallion]

Sweet build you got going!!!

 

[03DSGMach1]

Awesome build! I've been in your shoes, well close anyway.

 

[99cobra907up]

Nice build.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

 

[selbyvince]

Thanks guys. Hoping to have it on the road by December

 

[05satinGT]

I am all for this build. I bet you're having a blast building this thing and when you finally get to drive it, I bet it will be such an awesome and rewarding feeling. I love the build, and you obviously do great work. Can't wait to see it done and make sure you keep us updated! You're keeping the car black right? Why redfire valve covers? Just cuz you like redfire? I'm not hating, just curious :beer:

 

[selbyvince]

I am all for this build. I bet you're having a blast building this thing and when you finally get to drive it, I bet it will be such an awesome and rewarding feeling. I love the build, and you obviously do great work. Can't wait to see it done and make sure you keep us updated! You're keeping the car black right? Why redfire valve covers? Just cuz you like redfire? I'm not hating, just curious :beer:

Thanks bro :beer: yes it will feel good that I basically built it from the ground up, easy route was just buying a cobra, but I am really going to be in the build about 21-22k after everything and I'm going to have a whole lot of car. No it's not a real terminator, yes it will be a clone/fobra, but idc, I had a true kenne belled 22k mile 03 cobra, I just enjoy building cars. This is my 5th stang, and this is the best part of owning one, idc about making money lol.

But the deal with the redfire, idk lol. I was looking for an accent color to use to offset all black, and I haven't really seen anyone go with that color and black so I figured I'd try and be different lol. To be honest I'm not a huge fan of redfire. But I kind of like it on the motor lol. I got redfire billetflow s/c pulley and will be getting the idlers as well.

 

[selbyvince]

And yes, the car will be getting the whole exterior repainted triple black after I get it back together. Paint will be last.

 

[bleedingfordblu]

way to ruin a mach, why not just get a v6?

 

[selbyvince]

way to ruin a mach, why not just get a v6?

obviously you didnt read anything or you would know. ruin a mach? haha. ok

 

[na svt]

And yes, the car will be getting the whole exterior repainted triple black after I get it back together. Paint will be last.

what's "triple" black?

 

[04Mach1Blurr]

way to ruin a mach, why not just get a v6?

I agree

obviously you didnt read anything or you would know. ruin a mach? haha. ok

I read your posts, you weren't happy with the Mach, its body style and drive train after selling your cobra. You might have made a smarter choice by selling the Mach and just buying another terminator. Besides the basic drive-train swap, you still are missing quite a few pieces for it to even be considered a full terminator swap.

You could have had a terminator for what you paid for everything I'm sure of it!
You could have bought a v6, and swapped everything into that and left a Mach a Mach for someone else to enjoy if you wanted everything out of this car except the hood and shaker perhaps.

Your missing plenty of steering components, front suspension, steering wheel, ect.

Congrats on the build though, should be a blast to drive after! I would look into suspension setups a bit more now to handle the extra weight and improve the overall handling and response. :beer:

 

[selbyvince]

i had the irs already and ditched, it, i have tokico d spec struts all around, i swapped over to gt brakes in the rear for 15s, has h&r springs all around, will be going to a coilover kit in the front as well as a tubular k member, not changing front brakes, steering wheel is the same minus air bag, but already have one of those to swap in, but i really dont want anything on this car to actually say "cobra".. and as far as selling it.. i owned this car for litterally two weeks before tearing into it, i wasnt going to sell it. im doing it for the fun, not for it to make sense to everyone else. they have plenty of people on this board that buy both machs and cobras just to part them out. so theres really no differnece, its a car, i made quite a bit of my money back parting this out to the point to start building vs buying a v6 and not of been able to sell the parts..

ive owned an 03 cobra, ive messed with plenty of them, i know everything that is needed to have a complete clone, but im not shooting to make a complete STOCK cobra clone, im upgrading as well. the only thing im really wanting is the body kit. im strongly considering shaving the cobra on the rear bumper, no cobra badges are going on this car, all badges will be removed/shaved

i understand what this car is, but there just wasnt anything "special" enough about it to make me not want to tear into it.. other people have their opinions, this is mine.

 

[selbyvince]

I agree


I read your posts, you weren't happy with the Mach, its body style and drive train after selling your cobra. You might have made a smarter choice by selling the Mach and just buying another terminator. Besides the basic drive-train swap, you still are missing quite a few pieces for it to even be considered a full terminator swap.

You could have had a terminator for what you paid for everything I'm sure of it!You could have bought a v6, and swapped everything into that and left a Mach a Mach for someone else to enjoy if you wanted everything out of this car except the hood and shaker perhaps.

Your missing plenty of steering components, front suspension, steering wheel, ect.

Congrats on the build though, should be a blast to drive after! I would look into suspension setups a bit more now to handle the extra weight and improve the overall handling and response. :beer:

yes i could have, for quite a bit less, but that wasnt the point..

and my buddy bought my complete drivetrain and put it in his 01 gt, motor,trans,rear end, interior... so technically... someone is enjoying the mach 1 :beer:

if it makes you feel better, my original plan was to keep the shaker setup, shave the rear bumper and have my wife make the mach 1 lettering to put in place of where the cobra was. kind of wish i would have

 

[04Mach1Blurr]

Na I still think its a cool build and will be fun to drive, have fun with it. Will look good when finished. I have a cobra front bumper as well, full terminator engine and blower still with the shaker, and a built IRS. I like handling and I dd my Mach. Enjoy it bud