Pridemore54's Cobra Build

[pridemore54]

Warning: This is likely to get long-winded

Needing somewhere I can try to document current mods, ongoing changes, and get any necessary feedback from the community so figured I would make a thread. This isn't some crazy SEMA build thread, so please adjust your expectations accordingly haha.

In fact I have a ton of learning to do just to understand the current mods and how they all work or effect performance.

An 03 Cobra in Sonic Blue has been my dream car since I was 18. That year (2013) I bought a 04 Mustang GT local to me that just so happened to be Sonic Blue. I instantly fell in love with the color and the car. I still remember being in Tech School (Air Force "A-School") and watching every dang terminator video on youtube that I could find. Staying up way too late to listen to "whine compilations" lol.

So I finally bought my dream car on Oct 24th, had it shipped from Utah, and delivered on the 26th. I am the fourth owner if my memory serves me right. I bought it directly from the previous owner who seems to be a great guy. Unfortunately he suffered some serious health issues about a year ago and just kind of lost interest and time for the car shortly after.

He included a ton of receipts from both him and the first owner which I spent some time going through and organizing. It would seem the first owner was all about suspension and handling. He pretty much had all the suspension mods done, then the third owner was all about the power mods. Both of them seemed to have left all the installation and tuning to pro performance shops in their respective areas. Current tune was done on the dyno and was reported to be 775whp @21psi, in Utah at ~5000' elevation. However the last dyno sheet I have with the car seems to be about 670whp. The timing of it seems to co-align with when a 2.3L VMP was installed. We will see when I get it to a local place for a dyno run just to verify.

I'm going to go through and list what is (or at least should be) currently installed on the car. I'll throw an (*) next to anything I have a receipt for or was told is currently installed, but haven't personally verified yet.

Engine:
- Whipple gen4 2.9L Crusher w/ 3.5" pulley
- JLT intake*
- VMP 5" throttle body*
- Car came with an SCT X4 tuner.
- Current dyno tune is for E85 with meth injection. I was told there was no 93 tune however the tuner does have one in its memory. Definitely won't roll the dice on that though.
- Metco 4# Lower Pulley
- Metco Idlers, (1) 90MM and (3) 100mm
- Fore full return fuel system
- Twin 465LPH fuel pumps*
- 90# FIC fuel injectors
- Alky control meth injection
- Lightning Performance heat exchanger
- K&N valve cover breathers.
- Moroso coolant tanks. Powdercoated to match wheels.
- Head cooling mod

Drivetrain:
- Steeda Tri-ax shifter
- Mcleod RST twin disk clutch*
- Torsen T-2R limited diff
- Metco Driveshaft Safety loop
- MSD 2-step

Exhaust:
- BBK 1 5/8" Long tube headers
- BBK high flow catted X pipe
- Borla ATAK catbacks

Suspension:
- Modular Motorsports Caster Camber Plates
- Eibach lowering springs
- Koni "yellow" adjustable shocks
- Weld-in subframe connectors from MM
- Steeda sway bar*
- Polyurethane bushings for subframe, IRS, control arms, front and rear diff mounts.
- Brembo Gran Turismo brake kit with supporting master cylinder and braided brake lines
- Rovo Durban wheels, 18x9 front, 18x10.5 rear. Powdercoated
- Toyo R888r's, 275 front, 315 rear

Interior:
- AEM Wideband Failsafe (Boost/Wideband combo) gauge. Love this thing.
- Driver's side racing harness. Haven't even looked at it to see what the brand is yet
- Aftermarket shift knob.
- Door Sills. Powdercoated to match wheels

Exterior:
- Lightning Force Performance Heat extractor inserts. Powdercoated to match wheels
- Fiberglass side skirts from Carbon Driven
- Carter Custom diffuser
- Custom trunk liner
- Tinted tail lights

Need to verify:
- Full suspension. Suspension is probably where I'm currently the most ignorant (especially IRS) and cannot identify most things just by looking at them.

There's likely a couple things I'm missing or need to find but that should be the bulk of it.

Things to do and could probably use advice/thoughts with:

- Fix headlights. The current bulbs do not seem to be made for the factory housing. They kinda suck and switching to bright changes how the light reflects but does not yield further visibility.

- Had an alignment done the other day and the tech noticed my diff was leaking. No idea how badly, I haven't noticed a liquid underneath the car except the AC so I need to get under it this week to check it out. Went ahead and ordered a slew of amsoil fluids to have on hand including diff fluid and a handpump. I'm also going to grab the FRPP diff cover if one isn't currently installed.

- Swap out the shifter. Either this shifter sucks or something is going on. Putting it into first from a complete stop usually takes two or maybe three tries. Reverse is even worse. It doesn't want to go in but when it does, it takes wayyy too much muscle for it to finally "notch" into position. While slowly rolling, first clicks right into place. Worth noting, there's no grinding or anything else I'm aware of that would indicate it's a synchronizer issue. I'm praying swapping it out for an MGW solves this.

- Vented Catch Can. These breathers are slinging oil everywhere after boost and it's already getting old. The motion raceworks seem to be highly liked and also look really good so that's the route I'm likely going to go.

Goals/Plans:
I intend to keep this as just a fun, streetable car that can put bus lengths on 99% of anyone who wants to FAFO.

Ideally I'd like to start building another 4.6L 4v long block on the side that is far "overbuilt" for the intended output. I'd like to touch 1000whp with that engine but trying to do that while keeping it a streetable car that can actually put the power down is likely nothing more than a pipe dream. The 1000whp would literally just be for bragging rights so we will see how that ends up.

 

[13COBRA]

Beautiful car!

 

[GoGreen04]

Nice cobra! Congrats. The tanks look like the Canton/ Moroso ones.

 

[pridemore54]

Nice cobra! Congrats. The tanks look like the Canton/ Moroso ones.

Thanks man! I'll check into that. Now that I think about it, I believe I saw a receipt that had some kind of Moroso part. That may have been it

 

[01yellercobra]

Nice car. The shifter is more than likely a clutch adjustment. The cable might need to be tightened up a touch.

 

[pridemore54]

Nice car. The shifter is more than likely a clutch adjustment. The cable might need to be tightened up a touch.

Interesting. I guess if it was a clutch issue I assumed it would grind or something? I've never had to adjust a clutch cable so I will have to look into all that. Thank you.

That's actually one of the biggest personal adjustments I've had to make with driving this car. The clutch engagement is completely opposite of what I'm used to. It doesn't start grabbing again until the pedal is nearly all the way back out. Plus the pedal itself seems quite close to the driver. By the time I let the clutch all the way out my knee is touching the back of the steering wheel. I can't remember if my other two new edges were like that or not.

 

[MG0h3]

Interesting. I guess if it was a clutch issue I assumed it would grind or something? I've never had to adjust a clutch cable so I will have to look into all that. Thank you.

That's actually one of the biggest personal adjustments I've had to make with driving this car. The clutch engagement is completely opposite of what I'm used to. It doesn't start grabbing again until the pedal is nearly all the way back out. Plus the pedal itself seems quite close to the driver. By the time I let the clutch all the way out my knee is touching the back of the steering wheel. I can't remember if my other two new edges were like that or not.

If it’s a twin disc, it’s an RXT.

They tend to have a higher engagement point than others, but it does start engaging right off the floor. You’ll hear it if you’re in a garage/wall next to the car.

The only way to change the engagement point is to shorten your pivot ball which requires pulling the trans.

I shortened mine when I upgraded to a 1200RXT from the reg RXT and I actually preferred the stock length.

This is part of why you have a light pedal. You’re using more leverage/longer swing with the ball further out.


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[01yellercobra]

A combination of an adjustable pivot ball and different quadrant can change where it engages. I was able to get mine to engage closer to the floor. I also installed a Steeda pedal stop so the pedal is more level with the brake.

The RST is a twin disk as well. I don't think you can tell which one is which without it on the bench though.

 

[pridemore54]

If it’s a twin disc, it’s an RXT.

Appreciate the insight on that other stuff. I'll keep that in mind going forward. It does seem that the RST is a twin disc as well according to the receipt below and what I googled.

A combination of an adjustable pivot ball and different quadrant can change where it engages. I was able to get mine to engage closer to the floor. I also installed a Steeda pedal stop so the pedal is more level with the brake.

The RST is a twin disk as well. I don't think you can tell which one is which without it on the bench though.

Thank you, I'll start looking it all of that stuff. Never broke one of my old mustangs transmissions or clutches so never had to learn this stuff lol

 

[1Kona_Venom]

I like your car. Surprised to see BBK parts

Sent from my SM-G975U using the svtperformance.com mobile app

 

[pridemore54]

I like your car. Surprised to see BBK parts

Sent from my SM-G975U using the svtperformance.com mobile app

Thank you. Yeah if it were me, it would have been Kooks headers for sure. Might swap it over whenever the new engine is done

 

[CobraBob]

That's a nice SB Cobra. Impressive list of mods. That Brembo brake kit is a nice one.

 

[pridemore54]

That's a nice SB Cobra. Impressive list of mods. That Brembo brake kit is a nice one.

Thank you. And agreed, I was very happy to see it had upgraded brakes already done. Just realized I dont have a picture of them so I snapped a one of the front and rear

 

[04oxfordvert]

Beautiful car bud, the more sonic blue cars I see in the forum the more I want one!

Sent from my SM-G781W using the svtperformance.com mobile app

 

[muscleatsrice]

Hello beautiful!


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[pridemore54]

I was finally able to get under the car a little. The bottom of the diff is well soaked and it's currently dripping onto the exhaust and to the floor. No telling how much fluid is actually left in the diff.

Currently battling if I should try hand pumping some oil in it so I can enjoy the warm weather this week before putting it up on stands for a while to remove the diff, Or if I should cut my losses and just start working on it anyways. Probably should just get to working on it since I have a 5 day weekend.

If anyone has a cheap hookup to the Ford Racing diff cover let ya boy know. Might as well while it's on the bench.

 

[DCguy]

If the exhaust is soaked in fluid I probably would avoid driving it around like that....no telling what could happen.

Good time to pull it all apart and see whats going on in there.....Black Friday sells are in full swing so you shouldn't haven any problem finding a sale somewhere and picking up what you need.

 

[LS WUT]

Man.. sounds like she just needs a lot of work. I gueeesssss I’ll take her off your hands since you insist!

Kidding aside man, love the car. It’s got a lot of goodies, I’m sure you’ll have her worked out in no time. Goodluck man, I’ll be following this one.

 

[pridemore54]

Ordered the FRPP Diff cover. Got a good deal on it from American Muscle actually.

However, I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't have gone with the modified version from FTBR and paired it with their diff lowering mount, aluminum and Delrin bushings for the diff mounts since it will be taken apart to that point anyways.

Any insight if it's worth ditching the Maximum Motorsports Polyurethane bushings for the FTBR stuff? Keeping in mind this is still just a street car. Not sure what to expect as far as NVH increases. Car drives and handles pretty awesome as it is tbh.

 

[2003RedfireVert]

I did poly. Mine a street car. It was significantly cheaper to go poly and everything I read said it will be a big improvement over the rubber…not as good as delrin but good enough for me.

I just got my IRS back in after doing poly bushings, the delrin/aluminum rear diff bracket, MM tie rods, painted everything, etc…I have not driven my car yet so I can’t give real feedback on the poly but I’m sure it will be fine. Make sure your really clean out the bushing sleeves. They are not fun installing on the cradle.

As I mentioned above, I did put the aluminum rear bracket with delrin bushing on with a standard FRPP diff cover. It fits fine. Yes I should have clearanced the diff cover but it did fit. It’s tight but I wasn’t buying another diff cover and I forgot to clearance it and I’m not dropping the irs again lol if I hear wierd clunking or notice it causing an issue I’ll clearance it but it looked OK after I got it all installed.

Your mileage may vary.