Hey MattM! Lets talk about your new Cobra!!!

[Uncle Meat]

I just got my '03 Cobra Saturday and I try not to drive it alot but I can't help it. It's like I'm addicted to it. The guy I bought from did a couple of modifications to give about 500hp at the tires.

Do you know exactly what the modifications are? Is the tune "Safe"? Have you had it checked independently at a dyno shop? Just want to make sure you get as much enjoyment out of your new ride as possible without having to worry about it going lean and burning up on ya is all!

U.M.

Let's see, he put a Barllo exhaust w/o cat, smaller pulley on the super charger, re-programmed the computer, Pro 5.0 shifter, K&N mass air filter and sensor, and a torque pulley. What should I do to get it checked out? And, can the dealership do a dyno test?

Okay... I can see you are pretty new as far as these 03/04 Cobra's are concerned so let's clear a few things up first...

Barllo exhaust? I'm thinking you meant Borla, yes? Are we talking just a cat-back or was the mid-pipe replaced too?

Smaller pulley on the supercharger... do you know what size? 2.76, 2.77. 2.80, 2.93, 3.10?

Re-programmed the computer. Was this done with a chip or a hand-held programmer? If it was flashed with a hand-held programmer did the previous owner give you the programmer along with the car when you bought it?

Pro 5.0 shifter. Got one of them myself...

K&N Mass air filter and sensor? Are we talking about a K&N FIPK and an after market MAF?

Torque pulley? I'm thinking you may be confusing this with an idler pulley?

As far as getting your car checked out... I HIGHLY suggest you find a speed shop or dyno facility with WIDE BAND capability where you can get your car checked out to make sure your tune is "Safe". 500 RWHP from the few mods you've listed is not totally impossible, but it is highly unlikely.

If you truly value your new investment it would be in your best interest to find out EXACTLY what has been done to this car and to get that tune checked out ASAP! All you need is for the engine to go lean under WOT for just a brief period of time before damage can occur. Don't take someone else's word that the tune is "Safe" spend a few $$ and find out first hand whether you're driving a monster or a time bomb waiting to explode!

Most dealerships do not have dyno's. Find some other local car nuts and ask them where the nearest dyno facility is...

U.M.<!-- / message --><!-- google_ad_section_end --><!-- sig -->

 

[COBRA90GT]

:Word:

 

[MattM]

Yes it is an idle pulley. I knew he told me what it was, but now once you said that I remember him telling me that is what it is. And, I talked to him yesterday and he said it was more like 470 RWHP. Yes he did give me the Predator hand-held programmer with the car. As far as the pulley size on the super charger I don't know. And, yes I will find dyno shop. Thanks for your concerns and the information.

 

[Uncle Meat]

Yes it is an idle pulley. I knew he told me what it was, but now once you said that I remember him telling me that is what it is. And, I talked to him yesterday and he said it was more like 470 RWHP. Yes he did give me the Predator hand-held programmer with the car. As far as the pulley size on the super charger I don't know. And, yes I will find dyno shop. Thanks for your concerns and the information.

Please feel free to post up any questions or concerns about your car which you may have. If someone here can't help you or give you the answer you need I'm sure we can point you in the right direction!

U.M.

 

[MattM]

OK, I found a dyno shop that I can take it to. The guy said something about $79 to see what the horse power is and an extra $35 to see what the air to fuel ratio is. What is it that I need to know from this test to Know if the modifications that were done won't hurt or will hurt the car?

 

[mkkrs1]

you need to ask for a kiss before he screws you with that price . around here we get 3 pulls with A/F for $55.00. I believe your numbers will be around 440-460 if you don't have headers and are still using the factory H pipe with cats.

 

[Uncle Meat]

OK, I found a dyno shop that I can take it to. The guy said something about $79 to see what the horse power is and an extra $35 to see what the air to fuel ratio is. What is it that I need to know from this test to Know if the modifications that were done won't hurt or will hurt the car?

That's not a really bad price if you're just coming in off the street. As stated above you can get a dyno run for cheaper, but usually only if you go as part of a group which is then afforded a discount.

Spend the money for the A/F readings, this is what you really need to know! The A/F ratio throughout the RPM range will at least give you an idea on how well the car is tuned and if it's safe or not. Peace of mind and knowing for sure that you have a safe tune is worth the $114 they are charging you, trust me. Make sure you get a copy of the dyno read out for that price and take a floppy disk with you so you can get the electronic run files for your dyno pull too.

U.M.

 

[Dr. Wu 2000]

Uncle Meat hooking a brother up

 

[MattM]

Cool Thanks. Exhaust: Borla w/ catbacks

 

[COBRA90GT]

FWIW, it's singular - "catback," not "catbacks."

 

[Dr. Wu 2000]

FWIW, it's singular - "catback," not "catbacks."

sorry, that made me laugh

 

[Uncle Meat]

Well technically there are two "cats" and two "backs".


U.M.

 

[jwaknbeef]

The car Matt bought was mine. It has a Steeda 2.8 upper with the idler and was tuned by James at RWTD. The tune is fine and the car is not a ticking time bomb. It has been in the same configuration for two years without any problems whatsoever. The exhuast is the Borla Stinger Cat-back and it also has the Bassani x-pipe with removeable sections for the cats. It is currently without cats. I never had the car dynoed but I would think it should put down around 460-470. It has the FIPK from k&n on it also. The car is fine Matt, the only reason you should dyno it is if you want to know how much power you make. But depending on the dyno you use you could get different results not to mention the temperature or even the humidity on the day the car is dynoed can also sway the numbers. Take it to the track if you want to know what the car is really about. That is the only real test of how fast your car is. Even if you smoke the tires off the line you can get a good idea of how fast you should go by your MPH in the quarter mile. The air/fuel ratio is fine or you would have heard pinging by now. If any of these guys really know about 03-04 Cobras they know the pistons are the weak link in the motor. If the car was running lean for the past two years I hardly think it would still be alive. I was in no way hard on the car as I planned to keep it forever, but unfortunately my finances would not allow that. So my friend you have a mildly modified 03 Cobra that was babied, with the exception of a few wasted vettes and the occasional freeway romp. You lucky bastard. Enjoy the car bud.

 

[jwaknbeef]

Well technically there are two "cats" and two "backs".


U.M.

If you wanna get technical there are four cats.

 

[PonyboyIsaac]

all i have to say is, what a lucky bastardo

 

[jab123]

convert

I am interested in turning a 1999 six cylinder mustang into a v8 has anyone here tried this change or is it to complicated to achieve.

 

[SVT98Snake]

The car Matt bought was mine. It has a Steeda 2.8 upper with the idler and was tuned by James at RWTD. The tune is fine and the car is not a ticking time bomb. It has been in the same configuration for two years without any problems whatsoever. The exhuast is the Borla Stinger Cat-back and it also has the Bassani x-pipe with removeable sections for the cats. It is currently without cats. I never had the car dynoed but I would think it should put down around 460-470. It has the FIPK from k&n on it also. The car is fine Matt, the only reason you should dyno it is if you want to know how much power you make. But depending on the dyno you use you could get different results not to mention the temperature or even the humidity on the day the car is dynoed can also sway the numbers. Take it to the track if you want to know what the car is really about. That is the only real test of how fast your car is. Even if you smoke the tires off the line you can get a good idea of how fast you should go by your MPH in the quarter mile. The air/fuel ratio is fine or you would have heard pinging by now. If any of these guys really know about 03-04 Cobras they know the pistons are the weak link in the motor. If the car was running lean for the past two years I hardly think it would still be alive. I was in no way hard on the car as I planned to keep it forever, but unfortunately my finances would not allow that. So my friend you have a mildly modified 03 Cobra that was babied, with the exception of a few wasted vettes and the occasional freeway romp. You lucky bastard. Enjoy the car bud.

Question-

No intention to flame at all, but I am curious.

If you have never had the car dyno tuned, how can you be certain that it is fine? Just because it hasn't blown yet doesn't mean that it won't. The detonation may be so minute that it will take time to ruin the cylinders and pistons.

I just had my car tuned and it ran great and sounded fine, but the A/F was almost 13:1.

The fact that you said that the car was babied and occasionally romped on is a dangerous statement. Meaning that it could have lean issues and just not know it since it was so babied. These cars are extremely hard to hear detonation in under WOT....especially with a bassani x and borlas...and the scream of the 2.8 pulley.

You say James tuned it....how? A mail order chip? Also- what timing is he running.

My honest opinion is that if you haven't had it dynoed and have no real idea what the a/f ratio is, you are flirting with danger. Like I said...it may take a while before the damage reveals itself.

MattM PLEASE get your car dyno tuned with a A/F reading (preferrably in the O2 bung). Please do so before you do any more hot rodding so you are safe and don't hurt your motor.

 

[jwaknbeef]

Question-

You say James tuned it....how? A mail order chip? Also- what timing is he running.

My honest opinion is that if you haven't had it dynoed and have no real idea what the a/f ratio is, you are flirting with danger. Like I said...it may take a while before the damage reveals itself.

No flame taken so here you go.
Well, James is the owner of RWTD. If you were to go on other message boards you might find him on there. The tune was a custom tune via a Predator. I can also say I know the car has not had detonation due to the fact that the plugs did not show any signs of it after 25,000 miles of driving. I am sure you know that the plugs are the tell tale window into an engine besides the fact that wideband O2 sensors can actually give different readings weather they put it in the tailpipe or in the O2 bung. James has tuned hundreds of 03 and 04 cobras and if anything the tune will be a bit fat up top. I have never heard of anyone complaining about one of his tunes. So Matt, if you want more power get the car dyno tuned for a gozillion dollars and you might be able to squeeze out about ten to fifteen more horses. Otherwise if you really must have peace of mind by all means get it dynoed but make sure the wideband oxygen sensor they use is not just put in the tailpipe as this will not give the best reading. Just take alook at those old plugs I gave you the other day and search the internet for what the signs of detonation would look like on plugs.

 

[jwaknbeef]

I am interested in turning a 1999 six cylinder mustang into a v8 has anyone here tried this change or is it to complicated to achieve.

Sell the six cylinder and buy a GT, it will save you time and money.

 

[Uncle Meat]

I never had the car dynoed but I would think it should put down around 460-470. The car is fine Matt, the only reason you should dyno it is if you want to know how much power you make. But depending on the dyno you use you could get different results not to mention the temperature or even the humidity on the day the car is dynoed can also sway the numbers.

No Matt. Don't take it to the dyno just to see how much HP/TQ it's making... Take it to the dyno to get a A/F measurement.

The air/fuel ratio is fine or you would have heard pinging by now. If any of these guys really know about 03-04 Cobras they know the pistons are the weak link in the motor. If the car was running lean for the past two years I hardly think it would still be alive.

First off... how in the hell can you hear any pinging from your car when it's running a 2.8 pulley, a Bassani O/R X-Pipe and a Bassani cat-back exhaust? Is your ear THAT GOOD? I know when I mash the throttle on my Cobra I can't hear anything but blower whine and exhaust. No way I could hear pinging if it were to happen.

As for the pistons... Anyone who's ever owned an 03/04 would know the pistons are not really the weak point, it's the piston-to-wall clearance that's the problem. Ford/SVT set these engines up so tight the pistons will actually expand under extended hard use which results in scarring of the cylinders and skirts.

No flame taken so here you go.
Well, James is the owner of RWTD. If you were to go on other message boards you might find him on there. The tune was a custom tune via a Predator. I can also say I know the car has not had detonation due to the fact that the plugs did not show any signs of it after 25,000 miles of driving. I am sure you know that the plugs are the tell tale window into an engine besides the fact that wideband O2 sensors can actually give different readings weather they put it in the tailpipe or in the O2 bung. James has tuned hundreds of 03 and 04 cobras and if anything the tune will be a bit fat up top. I have never heard of anyone complaining about one of his tunes. So Matt, if you want more power get the car dyno tuned for a gozillion dollars and you might be able to squeeze out about ten to fifteen more horses. Otherwise if you really must have peace of mind by all means get it dynoed but make sure the wideband oxygen sensor they use is not just put in the tailpipe as this will not give the best reading. Just take alook at those old plugs I gave you the other day and search the internet for what the signs of detonation would look like on plugs.

Look. My car currently is, and always has been dyno tuned by James at RWTD. His tunes are top notch and are usually spot on, but even James himself will tell you to get the car checked on a wide band equipped dyno just to make absolutely sure! reading the plugs is a good indicator as to what's happening within the combustion chamber, but is by NO MEANS a 100% way of determining whether detonation has or is occurring.

It doesn't cost a gozillion dollars to perform a pull on a dyno. Plus who said anything about squeezing an extra 15 horses out of the car? Did you ever think some of us are just a little more concerned about our rides than you were?

I say take it to the dyno and make a pull or two just to ENSURE the A/F ratio is where it's supposed to be. Can't put a price on peace of mind...

U.M.