Stock 2001 Cobra upgrade project

[1TWINCHARGEDSNA]

I own a stock 2001 Cobra SVT sitting at 90k miles and wanted to give it a bit more power while still using it as a daily driver. Very little to no prior knowledge on upgrading an engine but have decided on working towards making my car the best that I can. My original thoughts were a hellion twin turbo kit but as I said I have no prior experience and was looking for help.

 

[Martel]

I would personally suggest working on the suspension first so the car can handle the power.
Subframe connectors
Rear bushings
shocks springs
brakes
K-member
control arms
This sort of thing.

 

[killspray]

What power level you looking for? You will for sure need forged rods and pistons. Depending on what block you have (WAP vs Teksid), you may need to upgrade that as well. I had a Hellion single kit and my only regret was not upgrading the Turbonetics turbo to a Precision turbo. Hellion makes a nice bolt-in kit.

I would conservatively plan/research/budget for:
Rebuilt short block
Upgrade that TR-3650 to something that can handle the power
As Martel mentioned, your suspension
...especially if you a stock IRS
New return style fuel system including pumps, lines, rails, injectors, etc...
New clutch

That would be a good start on where to look. Just to give you a heads up though, our cars do not have the solid foundation that the 03/04 Cobras come with. They come stock with forged internals, better flowing heads and a T-56 tranny that can hold some decent power stock and even more with an upgraded input shaft. It will cost a new edge cobra a lot more to get to the same power level is what I'm trying to say.

 

[1TWINCHARGEDSNA]

Thanks for the imputed guys of I'm reading the kit properly, it's the 96-04 twin turbo kit from hellion, it says it comes with a k-member kit. I have seen a few threads say that you can push the Stock internals up to 400-450 safely and was not sure if that was accurate But my goal is somewhere in that range. Martel what kind of suspension would you recomend? Killspray the TR-3650 is the stock transmission right what would you recomend in its stead.

 

[01yellercobra]

What power level you looking for? You will for sure need forged rods and pistons. Depending on what block you have (WAP vs Teksid), you may need to upgrade that as well. I had a Hellion single kit and my only regret was not upgrading the Turbonetics turbo to a Precision turbo. Hellion makes a nice bolt-in kit.

Unless he's building a 1400hp beast either block will be fine. A WAP block is strong enough for 99.9% of us.

The rule of thumb is 450rwhp range for the stock internals. You're still taking a chance. Some engines make it thousands of miles. Others make it down the street. So you need to start saving your pennies for a built short block.

The biggest things for suspension are upgrading all the bushings in the IRS and getting subframe connectors. Then decent springs and shocks/struts. The difference the bushings make in the IRS is worth it.

As for the trans it really depends on your plans with the car. I had a stock 3650 behind a blown big bore stroker. Never had an issue with it. But I didn't do 4k clutch dumps or take it to the track. And when I got on it I was usually rolling in second. Mostly for traction reasons. However, if you have the budget look into a T-56. IMO it makes a big difference in driving the car.

 

[Dirks9901]

JMO, i wouldn't take on a TT project for a daily driver 01 cobra. Bolt ons, suspension and call it a day.

 

[32vApe]

Like Martel said work on the suspension first. If 400-450 is the goal, there is no need to spend all that money on a tt kit. A ported short runner intake manifold, cams, long tubes, cai with a 90mm maf, and a good custom tune will get you close to 400 whp n/a. It will be more reliable and you will only need injectors not an entire fuel system. Some 4.10 gears will also help.

 

[01yellercobra]

Guess I'll throw in my two cents. For 450rwhp get a blower. Less headache then a turbo and you can hit your power goal with no issue. For fuel you'll need 39lb injectors and a 340lph pump. Not really much of a bank breaker.

As for reliability, I DD my blower set up for a few years with no issues. It wasn't until I went for big power things started happening.

 

[Badasssapper67]

Unless someone is giving you the twin turbo set up, your money NEEDS to be spent prepping the car for the power FIRST. All that power will just break things with wheel hop frame flex etc.
And I don't know about you but if I could more power and more power by just cranking down the waste gates I'd blow my car up just pushing it for the extra rush.
It's hard to be patient but if you DD your Cobra you HAVE to get it set up first or you'll be wearing out your sneakers.

 

[killspray]

^^^^

 

[1TWINCHARGEDSNA]

While my current short term goal is in the 400-500 range I wanted the kit I've been looking at because it is able to compound boost with a blower. After all this feed back it seems I was working backwards and should start with a less expensive task of a blower over the 12k for the TT kit any recomendations? Was thinking idea take the root route for the supercharger over the screw or the centrifugal. are kenne bell go I seem to hear about those a lot

 

[1TWINCHARGEDSNA]

My long term goal is still not decided yet but it may be in the upper hundreds depending on what goes on

 

[01yellercobra]

Skip the compound boost thing. You can hit big power numbers with blowers or turbos. The only way to run a Kenne Bell now is to do an eaton swap without the eaton. If you really want the turbos go for it. It's your car. But plenty of power can be made with a centrifugal set up. Even a little P1 can make enough to blow a stock engine.

 

[RX1Cobra]

I'm gonna sound like a broken record but for your power goals and being a DD I think an eaton swap is a great option. They're simple, engineered by Ford, built on with minimal fuss and make good power with room to grow in the future.

My 01 on stock boost makes 440 to the tires. All I have that isn't right from an 03 is a K&N CAI (with stock plastic elbow), O/R x pipe, cat-back and a tune. The motor is all stock 01 and the blower setup and fuel system are all stock from the 03.