This is a small outline of my 1993 cobra build.
the cobra is a vibrant red clearcoat, with cloth opal interior. No sunroof and the tape/radio. it is build number 3755.
I got the cobra by trading my fully built coupe, caged, every possible modification that could be done. we went title for title, and both drove off happier than pigs in sh!t.
there were a few things wrong with the cobra but i knew that for the trade i would have taken it with a blown up motor. funny thing about that, but ill get to that in a bit.
the original owner, from what ive understood, after contacting him, was somewhat of a perfectionist. he was in his early sixties and him and his wife took the car around to carshows. he removed several of the oem parts and replaced them with aftermarket parts,(gt40 tubular upper, fms f303 cam,fms shorty headers, king cobra clutch, v2-s-trim blower with snow methanol injection) he took alot of the factory brackets bolts and the blower parts and sent them off to get chromed. he did keep all of the factory parts if he ever wanted to install them.
the car was near flawless but it had all the aftermarket parts on it, and i didnt like that, or the chrome. i contacted the original owner and asked if he was willing to sell the oem parts to me and he said yes. i transfered money to him and he sent the parts. yay!epper:
the car in its condition put down 466rwhp and 413 rwtq with 12psi of boost , not bad for an stock 93 cobra motor with an f cam.:beer:
but it had its problems. there was a broken valve cover that i originally thought was causing the smoke show. i had thought that under boost there was oil being pushed out of the broken valve cover onto the headers. and there was, ALOT! but come to find out that wasnt the problem. to make this story short i will save you the details. needless to say it was 4 broken pistons!!!!!!.
i decided to put this car back to stock and get rid of the vortech. i have always been infatuated with stock motors and oem parts making the most out of what they could do.so i started the work. my goal was to take this stock motor and parts make 330 rwhp and 350 rwtq.
i pulled the motor apart and took the block to the machine shop, there it was decked.010, bore checked and honed so i could keep the stock 302 bore.
cleaned, and new cam bearings installed. i purchaded MAHLE flatop forged pistons, EAGLE SIR rods, fms wrist pins, moly rings, and arp bolts for the rods. it was the same rotating system that came in the BOSS 302 KIT.
i kept the stock crank and had the rotating asy. balanced, it came in at .25 gram of each other.
NICE! it was 200grams lighter per slug than the oem bricks.
while the motor was being worked on i took the heads and started in with the old carbide bit. i worked my magic and spent alot of time in the bowls and exhaust side. i had several hours into these heads and when they were finished i was impressed, so were the guys at the head shop. i had a total of .060 off the head deck, installed new beehive springs 130 on the seat and 330 over the nose.i then put a new valve 3 angle valve job on it. since i had new parts on it i figured it was worth 10* locks and retainers
while porting the heads i deciced to port the lower intake, opening the ports to match the heads, i wound up breaking through all the runners and welding up the holes
.it came out nice.
since i had opened up the heads and lower intake for better breathing capabilities i decided to extend the ability of the upper intake.
i first opened up the restrictive throttle body opening to match my 75mm tb.
the pinchpoints where the upper intake bolts go were widened to make it less restrictive. i then cut 2.5 inches of runner out of it.
while it was open i also increased the plenum volume by 1 inch per runner, and recontouring the runner to plenum transition. then welded it all back up and painted it.
i put longtube headers on it, but noticed that the flange welds protuded into the exhaust path.
i had the carbide bit take care of that, then blended it, they also matched the exhaust port perfectly.
by this time the balancing was finished and the machine work was finished on the block. i picked it up and took it to the house, and assembled the rotating assembly. i degreed the tfs1 cam and it was way off. i might add that you should always degree your cam upon installation. it came in with a icl of 109.5, yikes! i advanced it to come in at 106.5.
i buttoned it all up and took it for a spin. i drove it like i stole it !! i prefer to break in my motors that way....i think i get the best ring seal. i could go on but i dont have the time.
after a few hundred miles i took it to the dyno, i had a hiccup with the intake, there was a hairline crack so i had to resort to a completely stock upper along with the stock airbox and plumbing. after tweeking the twEECer, we only got 305rwhp and 335 rwtq. i was impressed but thought it had more, in it.this is the upper that had the crack in it, notice the stock cai.
.
i rewelded the upper intake and installed the 4inch custom cai with an 85mm pro-m meter cal. for the 24's. the tune seemed off , even with the other parts installed it seemed " soft" below 3000 rpm. it also had a few other problems. the af was reading 11.5 at wot on my innovate lc-1 and xd-16. wow, super rich! i contacted mike on the eectuning.org he goes by the name decipha. and let me say that guy is top notch!!!!! i asked him if he could tune my car via a remote tuning session. he lives in new orleans LA. and i live in austin TX.
he said sure and we went to tuning on the car.....the original tune was in his words a joke and to not let that tuner touch it again. he picked up noticable power everywhere!!!!! probably in the tune of 50ft lbs under the curve and an easy 20 hp peak. im not sure, since i havent had it dynoed again but ill keep you posted!
here is a list of parts that got me over 300rwhp on a stock 302 cobra
75mm tb
stock air box and pipe
stock upper cobra intake
ported cobra lower
24lbs injectors
302 shortblock
longtube headers into xpipe
tfs1 camshaft 109.5 icl
1.7 stock rockers
ported gt40 heads
3.73 gears
t-5 trans
bad tune
parts that should get me to my goal of 330hp and 350tq
tweecer r/t tune
shorty cobra upper
4inch cold air intake
85mm pro-m meter in fender
advanced tfs1 cam to 106.5icl
new correct size pushrods and shims
i had a list of pics to post in this thread but just found out i cant post pics, kinda defeats the purpose of the thread, sorry about that.:bash:
the cobra is a vibrant red clearcoat, with cloth opal interior. No sunroof and the tape/radio. it is build number 3755.
I got the cobra by trading my fully built coupe, caged, every possible modification that could be done. we went title for title, and both drove off happier than pigs in sh!t.
there were a few things wrong with the cobra but i knew that for the trade i would have taken it with a blown up motor. funny thing about that, but ill get to that in a bit.
the original owner, from what ive understood, after contacting him, was somewhat of a perfectionist. he was in his early sixties and him and his wife took the car around to carshows. he removed several of the oem parts and replaced them with aftermarket parts,(gt40 tubular upper, fms f303 cam,fms shorty headers, king cobra clutch, v2-s-trim blower with snow methanol injection) he took alot of the factory brackets bolts and the blower parts and sent them off to get chromed. he did keep all of the factory parts if he ever wanted to install them.
the car was near flawless but it had all the aftermarket parts on it, and i didnt like that, or the chrome. i contacted the original owner and asked if he was willing to sell the oem parts to me and he said yes. i transfered money to him and he sent the parts. yay!epper:
the car in its condition put down 466rwhp and 413 rwtq with 12psi of boost , not bad for an stock 93 cobra motor with an f cam.:beer:
but it had its problems. there was a broken valve cover that i originally thought was causing the smoke show. i had thought that under boost there was oil being pushed out of the broken valve cover onto the headers. and there was, ALOT! but come to find out that wasnt the problem. to make this story short i will save you the details. needless to say it was 4 broken pistons!!!!!!.
i decided to put this car back to stock and get rid of the vortech. i have always been infatuated with stock motors and oem parts making the most out of what they could do.so i started the work. my goal was to take this stock motor and parts make 330 rwhp and 350 rwtq.
i pulled the motor apart and took the block to the machine shop, there it was decked.010, bore checked and honed so i could keep the stock 302 bore.
cleaned, and new cam bearings installed. i purchaded MAHLE flatop forged pistons, EAGLE SIR rods, fms wrist pins, moly rings, and arp bolts for the rods. it was the same rotating system that came in the BOSS 302 KIT.
i kept the stock crank and had the rotating asy. balanced, it came in at .25 gram of each other.
NICE! it was 200grams lighter per slug than the oem bricks.
while the motor was being worked on i took the heads and started in with the old carbide bit. i worked my magic and spent alot of time in the bowls and exhaust side. i had several hours into these heads and when they were finished i was impressed, so were the guys at the head shop. i had a total of .060 off the head deck, installed new beehive springs 130 on the seat and 330 over the nose.i then put a new valve 3 angle valve job on it. since i had new parts on it i figured it was worth 10* locks and retainers
while porting the heads i deciced to port the lower intake, opening the ports to match the heads, i wound up breaking through all the runners and welding up the holes
.it came out nice.
since i had opened up the heads and lower intake for better breathing capabilities i decided to extend the ability of the upper intake.
the pinchpoints where the upper intake bolts go were widened to make it less restrictive. i then cut 2.5 inches of runner out of it.
while it was open i also increased the plenum volume by 1 inch per runner, and recontouring the runner to plenum transition. then welded it all back up and painted it.
i put longtube headers on it, but noticed that the flange welds protuded into the exhaust path.
i had the carbide bit take care of that, then blended it, they also matched the exhaust port perfectly.
by this time the balancing was finished and the machine work was finished on the block. i picked it up and took it to the house, and assembled the rotating assembly. i degreed the tfs1 cam and it was way off. i might add that you should always degree your cam upon installation. it came in with a icl of 109.5, yikes! i advanced it to come in at 106.5.
i buttoned it all up and took it for a spin. i drove it like i stole it !! i prefer to break in my motors that way....i think i get the best ring seal. i could go on but i dont have the time.
after a few hundred miles i took it to the dyno, i had a hiccup with the intake, there was a hairline crack so i had to resort to a completely stock upper along with the stock airbox and plumbing. after tweeking the twEECer, we only got 305rwhp and 335 rwtq. i was impressed but thought it had more, in it.this is the upper that had the crack in it, notice the stock cai.
i rewelded the upper intake and installed the 4inch custom cai with an 85mm pro-m meter cal. for the 24's. the tune seemed off , even with the other parts installed it seemed " soft" below 3000 rpm. it also had a few other problems. the af was reading 11.5 at wot on my innovate lc-1 and xd-16. wow, super rich! i contacted mike on the eectuning.org he goes by the name decipha. and let me say that guy is top notch!!!!! i asked him if he could tune my car via a remote tuning session. he lives in new orleans LA. and i live in austin TX.
he said sure and we went to tuning on the car.....the original tune was in his words a joke and to not let that tuner touch it again. he picked up noticable power everywhere!!!!! probably in the tune of 50ft lbs under the curve and an easy 20 hp peak. im not sure, since i havent had it dynoed again but ill keep you posted!
here is a list of parts that got me over 300rwhp on a stock 302 cobra
75mm tb
stock air box and pipe
stock upper cobra intake
ported cobra lower
24lbs injectors
302 shortblock
longtube headers into xpipe
tfs1 camshaft 109.5 icl
1.7 stock rockers
ported gt40 heads
3.73 gears
t-5 trans
bad tune
parts that should get me to my goal of 330hp and 350tq
tweecer r/t tune
shorty cobra upper
4inch cold air intake
85mm pro-m meter in fender
advanced tfs1 cam to 106.5icl
new correct size pushrods and shims
i had a list of pics to post in this thread but just found out i cant post pics, kinda defeats the purpose of the thread, sorry about that.:bash:
Last edited: