Last fall I got the Terminator itch again and I acquired a 2004 Competition Orange Cobra convertible. It is car number 1067 and has 19,XXX miles. This to me has always been the holy grail of Terminators based on the low production number for the combo (72), thus the name "Unicorn". The car came to me via Connecticut. I had the car shipped to me here in Kansas City via enclosed carrier.
When the car arrived there were a couple surprises but nothing worth crying too much about, all in all I was happy.
At the same time I also owned an '04 SY vert as well. I have since sold the SY vert. But two drop top snakes in the garage was a nice sight to see before bed every night. :coolman:
I toyed around with the idea of just flipping the CO vert, but I decided against it and set out to build the car. This thread will chronicle my efforts.
The car came to me with some decent mods already on it, which included stage 7 steggy ported blower, steeda 3.0 upper pulley, metco 4# lower pulley, sct BA2600, KB BAP, steeda triax shifter, MAC longtube headers, MAC o/r h pipe, MAC 3" catback, welded in FLSCs, IRS differential brace and delrin front IRS mount bushings. It also has a CDC lightbar installed. The car came mounted on OEM chrome cobra wheels. After doing some due diligence I came to find out that this car is 1 of 13 to come from the factory with the machine finished wheels. I purchased a mint OEM set mounted on goodyear gatorbacks for originality.
One of the first things I did was swap out the Triax shifter for a MGW unit and a cobra bob shifter gasket.
I drove the car a few times as I received it and enjoyed it, but I decided I needed to make this car unique and rival the build of my old Sonic Blue coupe. I really miss that car...
I had a baseline dyno done on the car to find out what it was putting down with the setup and it made good power (505rwhp).
[video=youtube;yk-S3J2IkwM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk-S3J2IkwM[/video]
I then told myself that I wanted the car to make more power, have a great stance and look sinister. I wanted to keep the stock eaton on the car, but run e85 fuel. My goal is 550rwhp, plenty for the street and my driving habits. I set out purchasing parts from the marketplace here and on the 03/04 cobra parts facebook group. I've had good success so far with both forums.
Basically to get to the 550rwhp number I told myself that the ground work was already there and that I needed to up the fuel. So far I've purchased twin ford gt supercar pumps, 80# injectors, modified FPDM, 2.95" Reichard Racing upper pulley, the set of metco dual bearing idler pulleys and upper idler pulley and bracket. I'm still needing a FORE dual pump fuel hat (they wont sell just the hat anymore :shrug
. I also need a handheld SCT tuner. Then I'll tear into the fuel system and get it re-tuned.
After getting the power things figured out I decided that I wanted to get the car some nice wheels. I had CCWs on my sonic blue and I wanted to try out some True Forged wheels for this car. I got a set of Chicanes with satin black centers, chrome assembly bolts and polished lips with custom snake center caps. I purchased them from the marketplace on SVTP and couldn't be happier. Rear tires are 335/30/18 hoosier drag radials and fronts are 255 BFG KDW's. Front wheels are big brake cut incase I want to go with a BBK in the future.
Once the wheels arrived I had to get these suckers to fit, the rears are massive... I purchased an eastwood fender roller and got started. I was a bit hesitant to roll the rear fenders, it was my first time. But with a heat gun and some patience it turned out great.
After that I decided that I needed to get the stance right so I ordered some H&R race springs off of tirerack. I also picked up some MM low pro IRS bolts, FTBR FT1600, and MM aluminum rack bushings.
Install is very straight forward on the springs.
The underside of this car is disgusting. It sickens me to see it so grimy. I will have the car back up in the air sometime this summer and get it detailed and looking fresh. My SB car was so clean underneath, albeit an unfair comparison, that car had ~6k miles, but my expectations are higher for this CO car.
I installed the wheels and tires and got the car back on the ground. I am very happy with the stance. I am running no isolators. I wrapped the tops and bottoms of the coils in red duct tape just to create some sort of barrier from metal on metal contact. I did the same on my SB car and never had any issues.
That's it for now. I'll continue to update the thread as parts come in. I'm planning to polish up the bassani 3" catback that I've got for the car. I've also purchased a MAC prochamber because I really disliked the sound (redneck pickup truck like) that the o/r h pipe produced. I still need to have the windows tinted and I've got a guy building me a custom set of retrofitted projector headlights.
When the car arrived there were a couple surprises but nothing worth crying too much about, all in all I was happy.
At the same time I also owned an '04 SY vert as well. I have since sold the SY vert. But two drop top snakes in the garage was a nice sight to see before bed every night. :coolman:
I toyed around with the idea of just flipping the CO vert, but I decided against it and set out to build the car. This thread will chronicle my efforts.
The car came to me with some decent mods already on it, which included stage 7 steggy ported blower, steeda 3.0 upper pulley, metco 4# lower pulley, sct BA2600, KB BAP, steeda triax shifter, MAC longtube headers, MAC o/r h pipe, MAC 3" catback, welded in FLSCs, IRS differential brace and delrin front IRS mount bushings. It also has a CDC lightbar installed. The car came mounted on OEM chrome cobra wheels. After doing some due diligence I came to find out that this car is 1 of 13 to come from the factory with the machine finished wheels. I purchased a mint OEM set mounted on goodyear gatorbacks for originality.
One of the first things I did was swap out the Triax shifter for a MGW unit and a cobra bob shifter gasket.
I drove the car a few times as I received it and enjoyed it, but I decided I needed to make this car unique and rival the build of my old Sonic Blue coupe. I really miss that car...
I had a baseline dyno done on the car to find out what it was putting down with the setup and it made good power (505rwhp).
[video=youtube;yk-S3J2IkwM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk-S3J2IkwM[/video]
I then told myself that I wanted the car to make more power, have a great stance and look sinister. I wanted to keep the stock eaton on the car, but run e85 fuel. My goal is 550rwhp, plenty for the street and my driving habits. I set out purchasing parts from the marketplace here and on the 03/04 cobra parts facebook group. I've had good success so far with both forums.
Basically to get to the 550rwhp number I told myself that the ground work was already there and that I needed to up the fuel. So far I've purchased twin ford gt supercar pumps, 80# injectors, modified FPDM, 2.95" Reichard Racing upper pulley, the set of metco dual bearing idler pulleys and upper idler pulley and bracket. I'm still needing a FORE dual pump fuel hat (they wont sell just the hat anymore :shrug
. I also need a handheld SCT tuner. Then I'll tear into the fuel system and get it re-tuned. After getting the power things figured out I decided that I wanted to get the car some nice wheels. I had CCWs on my sonic blue and I wanted to try out some True Forged wheels for this car. I got a set of Chicanes with satin black centers, chrome assembly bolts and polished lips with custom snake center caps. I purchased them from the marketplace on SVTP and couldn't be happier. Rear tires are 335/30/18 hoosier drag radials and fronts are 255 BFG KDW's. Front wheels are big brake cut incase I want to go with a BBK in the future.
Once the wheels arrived I had to get these suckers to fit, the rears are massive... I purchased an eastwood fender roller and got started. I was a bit hesitant to roll the rear fenders, it was my first time. But with a heat gun and some patience it turned out great.
After that I decided that I needed to get the stance right so I ordered some H&R race springs off of tirerack. I also picked up some MM low pro IRS bolts, FTBR FT1600, and MM aluminum rack bushings.
Install is very straight forward on the springs.
The underside of this car is disgusting. It sickens me to see it so grimy. I will have the car back up in the air sometime this summer and get it detailed and looking fresh. My SB car was so clean underneath, albeit an unfair comparison, that car had ~6k miles, but my expectations are higher for this CO car.
I installed the wheels and tires and got the car back on the ground. I am very happy with the stance. I am running no isolators. I wrapped the tops and bottoms of the coils in red duct tape just to create some sort of barrier from metal on metal contact. I did the same on my SB car and never had any issues.
That's it for now. I'll continue to update the thread as parts come in. I'm planning to polish up the bassani 3" catback that I've got for the car. I've also purchased a MAC prochamber because I really disliked the sound (redneck pickup truck like) that the o/r h pipe produced. I still need to have the windows tinted and I've got a guy building me a custom set of retrofitted projector headlights.
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