Let me just start out by saying, yes I know I’m an idiot for not physically going and looking at the car before I bought it. I spend a lot of time out of town for work so it would have been hard to get time off to look at the car in person. So now, I bought an 04 Cobra and had it delivered to my house a few weeks ago. The car was pretty much built for the track. It has a SRA, the battery relocated to the trunk, they moved to fuse panel into the driver side wheel well, and completely got rid of the windshield washer reservoir. The motor is slightly built with a ported blower and some supporting mods to go with it. The exterior of the car is in decent condition as far as the paint goes. The side skirts on both sides aren’t sitting flush with the quarter panels, it looks like they were just hastily put on there without trying to get everything to match up correctly. The rear bumper has sort of a warped look under where license plate goes, but looking at other Cobras online it seems like that’s a common trend with these cars. I absolutely could be wrong though. The wiring for the fog lights are pretty much non existent as well which I’m pretty bummed about. I’m trying to just give yall an idea of what the condition of the car is in. Now to my actual question, would it be worth the money to try and have this car put back to stock condition as much as possible. Moving the fuse panel and battery back, getting rid of the SRA and going back to the IRS. Getting the body work done for the side skirts and cleaning up other minor issues on the exterior and interior of the car? I’m sure theres some other things im leaving out too but that’s the general idea of what is sitting in my garage at the moment. I appreciate yall taking the time and reading this nonsense lol.
Is it worth trying to restore my 04 Cobra??
- Thread starter Wills99Cobruh
- Start date
-
- Tags
- 04 cobra restoration
The answer depends on your patience, your pocketbook, and other things that only you can answer.
As time goes by, finding cleaner examples becomes harder because there are a lot of idiots with money and time wears parts.
Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com
As time goes by, finding cleaner examples becomes harder because there are a lot of idiots with money and time wears parts.
Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com
I’d say the first two comments just about sum up what I was going to say. They hit the nail on the head. Buying someone else’s idea of a race car never ends well. I’d also say depending on what you bought it for it could also be worth selling it to someone who has the idea of drag racing a car versus going back to stock. The license plate area on the rear bumper is a common issue. I had it on my black coupe. I used a heat gun warmed it up, and laid 3 or so books on it to flatten it. Worked rather nicely overnight.
It is usually cheaper by quite a bit to sell what you have when it is a mutt and buy something that isn't a mutt, unless you just like working on cars.
Factor in what you paid for it plus what you think it'll cost to get it to where you want. If that number exceeds 25k, I'd sell it and look for another one that meets your expectations. Exceptionally clean examples tend to hover around the 25-30k range.
Keep in mind as time goes on, cobra specific parts are getting harder to find and prices have really increased over the years. It'll nickel and dime you for the small parts.
Keep in mind as time goes on, cobra specific parts are getting harder to find and prices have really increased over the years. It'll nickel and dime you for the small parts.
The car showed up with the wires showing on both rear tires and a dead battery. I replaced the battery with a red top Optima and drove it around the block. It felt like crap at first. It almost seemed like the front two tires had flat spots or they were walloped. Yesterday I replaced all 4 tires and was really the first time I took it out of the neighborhood and it seems like it runs strong. It a pretty viscous sounding car to be honest. I’ve made myself paranoid from reading about issues with the intercooler pump and alternator issues and also running the car lean and grenading the motor so I’ve been hesitant to really get on the car. I have a dyno appointment on Nov. 10th to see I can get any kind of feedback on how the car is setup.
ABSOLUTELY DO NOT get on the car till you get it tuned
Attachments
Oh, for sure… I didn’t plan on it. I’m overly paranoid about doing some real damage to the car.
I agree with you… that’s kind of the way im leaning at the moment.
It doesn't look too bad, I wouldn't waste the time trying to go back to stock. Make it comfortable, clean her up a little bit, and drive the **** out of it
I mean it’s not a total pile of junk.. it’s just not what I was expecting.. but again that’s totally my fault to begin with. The other issue now is finding someone who will even want to touch the car. There’s about 2 shops in San Antonio and the one with the best reviews stopped working on new edge Mustangs bc of their age.
If you go back to the IRS, you'll need to replace the exhaust. Might be Stingers on there now based on that last picture.
It doesn’t look as bad as you described. Get it tuned and drive it for a bit before you decide what to do.
Yep, I agree with this. The OP description made me think a very bad car showed up on the trailer, but the pictures don't look bad at all. I actually like the cleaned up engine bay look.
Seems to me it only needs some TLC and it could be a fun car. So, I say put some money in to it and the OP should have a good car and a ton of fun.
that doesnt seem so bad. If it checks out on the dyno I'd leave it be.
the bumper is standard mustang crap, wouldnt worry about it personally. The side skirts you can probably sort out yourself, might need some new plastic push pins and maybe a heat gun if they've warped.
throw some scott rod panels in the engine bay and it'd be pretty damned clean in there.
the bumper is standard mustang crap, wouldnt worry about it personally. The side skirts you can probably sort out yourself, might need some new plastic push pins and maybe a heat gun if they've warped.
throw some scott rod panels in the engine bay and it'd be pretty damned clean in there.
Coming from someone who wants his battery in the trunk, wants a wire tuck, and has considered building an SRA…this is the a great start for me lol different strokes for different folks I guess.
Those are very simple mods and easily undone. The IRS would be the most costly to undo.
It was wire tucked and battery relocated. If they did it right, very few wires are actually cut or modified. It is just how the wires are run. I bet the fog wires are still there, just don’t reach any more from the wire tuck. Look hard, I bet they are there and can easily be extended so you can have fogs again.
It was wire tucked and battery relocated. If they did it right, very few wires are actually cut or modified. It is just how the wires are run. I bet the fog wires are still there, just don’t reach any more from the wire tuck. Look hard, I bet they are there and can easily be extended so you can have fogs again.
Users who are viewing this thread
