Helping buddy smartly coyote swap an 03 cobra. 4.6 needs rebuild/parting out.

[tt323ci03cobra]

My buddy wants to coyote swap vs rebuild a blown up modular on his 03 cobra. He wants 750-800whp on pump gas.

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A. Gen 2 or gen 3 mustang coyote, whipple it, done. Relatively most straight forward, more expensive but overall most straight forward.

B. Gen 2 or gen 3 f150 coyote, put a more appropriate cam setup in it, sc it. Overall cheaper, but needs headers and cams and intake manifold. The firing order and sound is a big draw imo. Lower cost, etc.

C. Gen 4 coyote. He likes the dual throttlebodys, and a ford racing whipple is also straight forward. Actually most expensive, and ECU is basically locked if I understand correct.

D. Suggestions from you guys that have much more experience here


I didn’t list the shared complexities of getting a t56 or tr6060 to work as he will probably have the same shared computer, transmission, and physical placement issues either way and is fine figuring those things out.

What advice and wisdom can you guys help me with so I can refer him here and hopefully help him see some clarity of the build?

I’d also love to attach a poll but forgot how to.

 

[4GTNSVT]

Gen 1 coyote. Doesn't matter truck or car. If truck just put gen 1 mustang intake cams in it. Then any blower you want. They are good for 700hp...we made 705 to the tire on a stock gen 1 mustang with a 2.3 whipple. Only thing we did was oil pump gears for piece of mind.

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[03 Cobra DSG]

Either coyote option is probably cheaper than having a mod motor built correctly these days.


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[DSG2003Mach1]

guy down here swears by gen 2 truck motors from LQK. Oil pump upgrade, lock the cams and go. He's been beating the piss out of his for several years including drag and drives etc. Based on weight and trap its pumping out around 1200 with a single turbo. I believe its a th400 and holley running it all.

 

[tt323ci03cobra]

Sick.

My gut hunch is go the f150 coyote with the older modular firing order, and since the engine will have to get swapped into the car, while the engine is out on a crate, pull it in the garage, open it up, put a better factory ford cam set off the shelf or cleanly used from the mustang line used but cleaned up and proper camtrain, gear, reluctor wheel, titanium retainers, stronger valves etc, new gaskets, arp studs, a great oem style intake manifold, and feed it with the twin 60/61’s he had on the modular, build custom turbo kit. Even easier sell his turbos and just get a gen 4 3.0 whipple or 2.65 tvs.

 

[tt323ci03cobra]

If he went that route, are the pistons the same on the f150 and the Mustang? Like would you need different valve reliefs cut into the piston to hypotherically run coyote mustang gt heads on an f150 shortblock or is that a common head swap?

In sum how involved is swapping a mustang gt coyote head and intake (top of the long block) onto an f150 coyote shortblock?

If it’s straight forward then he should go that route, and decide turbo with his current twins and custom piping or easier whipple/tvs

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

If he went that route, are the pistons the same on the f150 and the Mustang? Like would you need different valve reliefs cut into the piston to hypotherically run coyote mustang gt heads on an f150 shortblock or is that a common head swap?

In sum how involved is swapping a mustang gt coyote head and intake (top of the long block) onto an f150 coyote shortblock?

If it’s straight forward then he should go that route, and decide turbo with his current twins and custom piping or easier whipple/tvs

his current combo is running 8.50s with ease and again my understanding its a gen 2 truck motor with upgraded oil pump, gears, head studs, aftermarket cams, boost proof ported boss intake. Now he does have egts in each primary etc so he knows exactly what's going on.

mustang cams will change the firing order.

 

[tt323ci03cobra]

Ahhh, ok so the cam dictates the fire order that’s cool, i didn’t know that

My buddies car is a street cat, kindigit wide body Kenny brown full suspension irs with 6p wilwoods and 295 fronts haha. I think he’s good for a low 10, top of the 9’s at 140-145 range on a drag radial. Car handles insane though. It’s about 4” wider front and rear. It also has a Kenny brown 6pt and recarros

 

[robvas]

750-800 on pump is GT500 territory, not sure you can do that on a 5.0

Gen 4 crate is the single throttle body, tunable (basically a Gen 3)

Not sure how you'd get a "real"' Gen 4 working in there, or that you'd want to

 

[Coyobra]

I've done multiple swaps, gen 1, 2, and 3. My opinion is the gen1 truck motors are the best bang for the buck but finding them with low miles is getting difficult. Out of your options Id go gen2 Mustang but I think 750-800whp on 91 with a stock motor is pushing the limits.

 

[tt323ci03cobra]

I think he’s seen a lot of e85#’s and was used to the turbo numbers he had before on pump gas, that all makes sense.

Looking at it a gen 1 or 2 f150 mill with the sc on pump gas should do 600-650whp, and the mustang gen 2/3 might do 675-725whp on pump gas

I think he’d have to stay turbo to hit 750whp on pump gas with an f150 coyote gen 2, and probably aim for 700-725whp with a gen 1 f150 on pump gas (turbo).

All told if he wants to hit 700whp sc’d for the torque and drivability easily with some headroom, it sounds like the gt coyote is gonna have to be his go to. For a car that will get driven hard Saturday and Sunday afternoons in summer heat, it’s probably a bad idea to wring every last whp out on pump gas.

 

[tt323ci03cobra]

I've done multiple swaps, gen 1, 2, and 3. My opinion is the gen1 truck motors are the best bang for the buck but finding them with low miles is getting difficult. Out of your options Id go gen2 Mustang but I think 750-800whp on 91 with a stock motor is pushing the limits.

Very helpful, thanks again for the insight and advice