03 anniversary on the way

delmarsteelers

Founding Member
Jul 1, 2002
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Savannah, ga
I just traded my 02 gt for an 03 anniversary cobra (9,300 miles), completely stock. I loved my GT I am going crazy sitting by my door waiting for delivery of this car.
I am wondering if you guys can fill me in on a couple of questions?

1) As a GT owner my GT responded very little to performance mods, what are the best performance mods for this car.

2) In 2003 there were head issues with the 4.6's from the romeo plant. Did they fix this before the anniversary edition came out?

3) Tell me anything I need to know about this particular car before I get my hands on it and screw something up. I learned the many bucks later on my GT.

thanks for any info you can give me. I love mustangs
 
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red2002gt said:
1) As a GT owner my GT responded very little to performance mods, what are the best performance mods for this car.
Best performance mods would be a cat-back and CAI. Those two mods alone will get you to 400RWHP. Of course you can always add a pulley to the mix, but that will void your warranty and will also require a custom tune. Are you concerned about warranty?
red2002gt said:
2) In 2003 there were head issues with the 4.6's from the romeo plant. Did they fix this before the anniversary edition came out?
Yes and no. Although the SSM states that only 2003 Cobra's manufactured before November ??, 2002 were affected there are reports from both 03 & 04 owners with head ticking issues. Fear not, it doesn't affect the power output what-so-ever. I've personally had my drivers side head replaced twice now under warranty for the "Tick".
red2002gt said:
3) Tell me anything I need to know about this particular car before I get my hands on it and screw something up. I learned the many bucks later on my GT.
There is a FAQ dedicated to many of the most common questions asked concerning the 2003 Cobra. I HIGHLY suggest you read it and THEN if you have any questions that aren't addressed by this FAQ feel free to post them up! Don't forget to search through this SVT Forum too, many of your questions have already been answered many times over!

Here's the URL for the '03 FAQ. Replace the *** with the letters f a g Stangnet filters don't like those three letters strung together for some reason? LOL!

http://www.al***eek.com/03faq.htm&e=10313

U.M.
 
The biggest question for yourself is are you concerned with the warranty. Replacement parts for the Cobra can be expensive if not covered by the warranty.

I finally said the heck with the warranty. You miss out on so much for 3 years or 36,000, but if you can wait then kudos to you. These cars can be dependable if modded smartly. Many people who are modded are racking up the miles with no problems. The biggest problems with the 03/04 Cobras is heat to cylinders 7-8 due to insufficient coolant flow and return to the heads at 7-8. Cylinders 3-4 tend to follow. Unfortunately a good tune can't compensate for heat too much unless you run your tune on the rich or conservative side. The good thing is that the majority of people who have lost motors did it by doing high speed runs i.e. trying go 160+ mph. Others have either blown vacuum lines off or starved a cylinder of fuel from high speed runs due to improper fuel mods. Most of these guys that do the latter are making insane hp numbers 620-650+. hope this helps and gives insight to the major potential problems. Any other problem is cake compared to lossing the motor.
 
Thanks for the all the info. I have been driving the car around all day and I love it. The 2 things that bug me with this car is; its to dang quiet, and the temp gauge is always at the 12 o'clock position. With my GT I was use to the gauge sitting at the 10 O'clock position. I hope thats normal?
I guess I have to change my login name now?
 
The temp guage sits at halfway all the time. As for the sound well then thats more of a reason to get a catback and CAI kit. That was the odd thing when I purchased my Cobra, I thought, "How is anyone gonna think this car is fast if they can't hear the exhaust."