There has been so many questions lately about buying a used Terminator lately that I decided to put together a document to assist a used Terminator buyer.
I have cut and pasted posts from the good members here to start this document. Please note that I am NOT claiming that I authored this information. I merely collected it from threads here.
I thought it just might be helpful to put together a document that SVTP members can point to in assisting a potential buyer. So far I have not come across such a document.
What I think would be helpful is for you Terminator Guru's to read the document and suggest any changes. I will make the changes and post here the final product for SVTP.com to use as they see fit.
Here it is so far:
_________________________________________________
Buying a Used Terminator (2003 and 2004) Cobra
Contributed by members of SVTP
Questions to ask the seller:
1) What are the reason(s) that you selling the car?
2) How long have you owned the vehicle?
3) Has the vehicle ever been driven in rain or snow? If so, how often?
4) What type of garage has the vehicle been kept in, if any?
5) For what purpose(s) was the vehicle used while in your possession?
6) Are you a smoker and/or has the car been smoked in?
7) Where was the car purchased? And at what dealership/shop has maintenance/warranty work been performed?
8) Are there any existing visual defects on any painted surface of the vehicle that will require significant detailing work to remove?
9) Are there any existing/known mechanical issues (engine, drivetrain, suspension, chassis, etc) with the car at all?
10) Has ANYTHING (glass, wheels, body panels, tires, seats, transmission, engine, etc) been replaced or repainted since the vehicle was purchased?
11) What has the car been into the dealership for in the past, in terms of maintenance, warranty or any other mechanical work? (including Technical Service Bulletins, general warranty work and even things as simple as oil changes)
12) In what condition are the tires (front and rear) at this point and, if they are not the stock Goodyear Eagle F1 275/40R17 tires, of what make are they?
13) What specific modifications have you done to the car?? Please list any and all. (intake, exhaust, chip, pulley, shifter, clutch quadrant, shocks, springs, etc)
14) What is its build number (on Certificate of Ownership from SVT)?
15) What was the build date and at which assembly plant was it manufactured?
16) What is the VIN number so that I can run a Carfax on it?
17) Are you the first owner?
18) What documentation do you have with the car? (The 03/04 Terminators came with a black zipper pouch that contained four booklets including (a) “Mustang Owners Guide”, (b) “SVT Mustang Cobra Owner’s Guide Supplement”, (c) “Scheduled Maintenance Guide” and, (d) “Warranty Guide” Does the seller have this pouch with all of these booklets?
Third party verifications:
Get the VIN number and run a Carfax to help you determine the ownership history of the vehicle and to determine if it has been in any major accidents. Be aware though that this is not 100% reliable.
Before buying any used Cobra, take the VIN to a Ford dealer and have them run it through their warranty system (OASIS) to verify that the car has a warranty and to determine what warranty repairs have been performed.
Checking for modifications:
In terms of mods, look at the end of the Blower drive snout, in the center of the pulley. If there is any form of a dot in the middle of the shaft, it has probably had a pulley.
Look at the gas tank cover, towards the front edge of it, where the exhaust bends to go around it. If this edge is blistered it has probably had a catback on it, or the car has been run hard.
Listen for things like the overall body structure being loose.
Look at the throttle body bolts, intake clamp screws, little things for signs of being messed with.
”The Tick” is really loud. Seems to be most prevalent when the engine is lukewarm. If it is the real tick, it will only get louder with rpm. There seems to be a more common tick that is rather quiet, that goes away with rpm. This is not to be confused with injector noise. Put it this way, you will KNOW if it has the tick. Here’s a link to the sound of the Tick- http://www.madmav.com/brian/cobra/movie/MOV01323.MPG
Make sure the clutch takes up hard and low.
Look at tires, abnormal wear, rubber residue in wheel wells, new tires on low mileage car.
Look at brake pad wear (is remaining pads indicative of hard braking such as racing)?
Noises in engine, whine in trans & rear end.
Look at oil, even if it is new, look in the filler cap for burnt oil residue, indicating infrequent oil changes or hard driving/ high operating temps.
Look for signs of cooling system leaks, running low coolant with aluminum heads is very bad.
Educate your self about these cars as much as possible:
A link to the color production…
http://www.stangshiftergaskets.com/CobraProductionNumbers.htm
A link to the Terminator FAQ document…
www.alfageek.com/03faq.htm
Differences between the 2003 and the 2004 models:
2003 Versus 2004
The 04s have the same heads as the second run 03s (after 11/02).
The factory tune is a little different on 04s because it fixed the stalling issue on deceleration that some 03 owners experienced. The 03s can be reflashed to fix it too.
The 04's got a revised driveshaft to fix the vibe at 80 that a lot of 03's had. The 03s can have their D/S replaced under warranty to match the 04.
The radio decks are different. The '03s come with an AUX 20 pin port in the back and the '04 has a satellite radio button on the face of the deck.
The cargo pouch on the headliner of the 03s was deleted on the 04s.
The cats are bigger on the 04.
Also, color choices are a little different:
03s were available in Zinc Yellow, Black, White, Dark Shadow Grey, Mineral Grey, Torch Red, Satin Silver, Silver Metallic, Redfire and Sonic Blue.
04s were available in Black, White, Torch Red, Silver Metallic, Redfire, Screaming Yellow, Competition Orange, and Mystichrome.
Production numbers:
2003: 8,394 Coupes and 5,082 Convertibles for a total of 13,476.
2004: 3.768 Coupes and 1,896 Convertibles for a total of 5,664.
______________________________________________
That's it so far.
Suggestions or comments?
I have cut and pasted posts from the good members here to start this document. Please note that I am NOT claiming that I authored this information. I merely collected it from threads here.
I thought it just might be helpful to put together a document that SVTP members can point to in assisting a potential buyer. So far I have not come across such a document.
What I think would be helpful is for you Terminator Guru's to read the document and suggest any changes. I will make the changes and post here the final product for SVTP.com to use as they see fit.
Here it is so far:
_________________________________________________
Buying a Used Terminator (2003 and 2004) Cobra
Contributed by members of SVTP
Questions to ask the seller:
1) What are the reason(s) that you selling the car?
2) How long have you owned the vehicle?
3) Has the vehicle ever been driven in rain or snow? If so, how often?
4) What type of garage has the vehicle been kept in, if any?
5) For what purpose(s) was the vehicle used while in your possession?
6) Are you a smoker and/or has the car been smoked in?
7) Where was the car purchased? And at what dealership/shop has maintenance/warranty work been performed?
8) Are there any existing visual defects on any painted surface of the vehicle that will require significant detailing work to remove?
9) Are there any existing/known mechanical issues (engine, drivetrain, suspension, chassis, etc) with the car at all?
10) Has ANYTHING (glass, wheels, body panels, tires, seats, transmission, engine, etc) been replaced or repainted since the vehicle was purchased?
11) What has the car been into the dealership for in the past, in terms of maintenance, warranty or any other mechanical work? (including Technical Service Bulletins, general warranty work and even things as simple as oil changes)
12) In what condition are the tires (front and rear) at this point and, if they are not the stock Goodyear Eagle F1 275/40R17 tires, of what make are they?
13) What specific modifications have you done to the car?? Please list any and all. (intake, exhaust, chip, pulley, shifter, clutch quadrant, shocks, springs, etc)
14) What is its build number (on Certificate of Ownership from SVT)?
15) What was the build date and at which assembly plant was it manufactured?
16) What is the VIN number so that I can run a Carfax on it?
17) Are you the first owner?
18) What documentation do you have with the car? (The 03/04 Terminators came with a black zipper pouch that contained four booklets including (a) “Mustang Owners Guide”, (b) “SVT Mustang Cobra Owner’s Guide Supplement”, (c) “Scheduled Maintenance Guide” and, (d) “Warranty Guide” Does the seller have this pouch with all of these booklets?
Third party verifications:
Get the VIN number and run a Carfax to help you determine the ownership history of the vehicle and to determine if it has been in any major accidents. Be aware though that this is not 100% reliable.
Before buying any used Cobra, take the VIN to a Ford dealer and have them run it through their warranty system (OASIS) to verify that the car has a warranty and to determine what warranty repairs have been performed.
Checking for modifications:
In terms of mods, look at the end of the Blower drive snout, in the center of the pulley. If there is any form of a dot in the middle of the shaft, it has probably had a pulley.
Look at the gas tank cover, towards the front edge of it, where the exhaust bends to go around it. If this edge is blistered it has probably had a catback on it, or the car has been run hard.
Listen for things like the overall body structure being loose.
Look at the throttle body bolts, intake clamp screws, little things for signs of being messed with.
”The Tick” is really loud. Seems to be most prevalent when the engine is lukewarm. If it is the real tick, it will only get louder with rpm. There seems to be a more common tick that is rather quiet, that goes away with rpm. This is not to be confused with injector noise. Put it this way, you will KNOW if it has the tick. Here’s a link to the sound of the Tick- http://www.madmav.com/brian/cobra/movie/MOV01323.MPG
Make sure the clutch takes up hard and low.
Look at tires, abnormal wear, rubber residue in wheel wells, new tires on low mileage car.
Look at brake pad wear (is remaining pads indicative of hard braking such as racing)?
Noises in engine, whine in trans & rear end.
Look at oil, even if it is new, look in the filler cap for burnt oil residue, indicating infrequent oil changes or hard driving/ high operating temps.
Look for signs of cooling system leaks, running low coolant with aluminum heads is very bad.
Educate your self about these cars as much as possible:
A link to the color production…
http://www.stangshiftergaskets.com/CobraProductionNumbers.htm
A link to the Terminator FAQ document…
www.alfageek.com/03faq.htm
Differences between the 2003 and the 2004 models:
2003 Versus 2004
The 04s have the same heads as the second run 03s (after 11/02).
The factory tune is a little different on 04s because it fixed the stalling issue on deceleration that some 03 owners experienced. The 03s can be reflashed to fix it too.
The 04's got a revised driveshaft to fix the vibe at 80 that a lot of 03's had. The 03s can have their D/S replaced under warranty to match the 04.
The radio decks are different. The '03s come with an AUX 20 pin port in the back and the '04 has a satellite radio button on the face of the deck.
The cargo pouch on the headliner of the 03s was deleted on the 04s.
The cats are bigger on the 04.
Also, color choices are a little different:
03s were available in Zinc Yellow, Black, White, Dark Shadow Grey, Mineral Grey, Torch Red, Satin Silver, Silver Metallic, Redfire and Sonic Blue.
04s were available in Black, White, Torch Red, Silver Metallic, Redfire, Screaming Yellow, Competition Orange, and Mystichrome.
Production numbers:
2003: 8,394 Coupes and 5,082 Convertibles for a total of 13,476.
2004: 3.768 Coupes and 1,896 Convertibles for a total of 5,664.
______________________________________________
That's it so far.
Suggestions or comments?
