Just bought my cobra!

[jfran430]

Ok well let me just start by saying i just picked up my first cobra for 6000!! It's a 97 COMPLETELY stock white on black leather from an original owner!!! I am very excited as you can tell. Now i just wanted to ask every a few questions about the car and get some advice on the work i plan on doing. I am going to go with an eibach sportline kit and i plan on running 275/40/17's on 17x9 black bullets all the way around. Will i have any clearence problems at all in the front beacause of how much the sportline lowers the car (i will also be putting in new isolators)? Because right now i have a fox and i have 9's in the front and they are WAY too big. They rub terribly, and i dont feel like dealing with that all over again. I want my full turning radius!! Another thing, i am putting on a Borla exhasut some how, i just dont know how yet. They do not make a catback for 97's so i am thinking of making my own. So my frist idea is to just buy the mufflers and have them welded in, but the problem with this, is i dont know the size of the stock mufflers or stock pipes and the guy at the ford dealership did me no help at all. (Yes i know i could also just measure everything myself but i figured i would ask first!) 2nd idea is to order a 97 or 98 gt catback(they have different hangers) but again i dont know if they will bolt right on, and once again the guy at the ford dealership did me no help at all. 3rd and final idea is to buy a cheap cheap catback, take off the mufflers and just use those pipes with the borla mufflers. So let me know what you think of those three ideas! Other plans will be shocks and struts, and CC plates for right now, and possilby a bupmsteer kit and steeda ball joints, but i may hold off on those for a little while. Well let me know what you all think so far, i would love to hear what you all have to say!
John
P.S. I will post pictures soon lol i promise.

 

[Nick12269]

john i hate you im gonna have to stop by the next time im home to see this one but post some pics!!

 

[Kilgore Trout]

pics or ban...

 

[LaserSVT]

Damn! I paid 6K for my 96 last month and it was the fourth owner and 110K on the clock. I just put the Flowmaster American Thunder cat back two weeks ago and everyone comments on how nice it sounds. I had Magnaflows, they were a bit quieter and more mellow. They were just the cans welded tp the stock pipes. The stock pipes are 2 1/4. The hangers should all be in the same place, I remember seeing ads for exaust and them saying fits 96-98 Cobra/GT, if not it would be cheeper and easier to change the hangers than buying two systems and one being SS and the pipes aluminimum.

P.S. Post some pics!!

 

[jfran430]

Yea see thats what i thought too, because i have seen a bunch of exhaust that say they wil fit both gt's and cobra's, but i think the problem is that borla's are a 2 1/4 pipes. I want a 2 1/2 but im sick of flows. Somehow ill get a borla on there lol. Yea nick ill get some pics soon. I should be picking it up sometime this week. I'll def let you know though so you can stop by.

 

[jfran430]

Alright another question i have is what is the best CAI to put on a cobra? I know the best thing to do with foxes is to put a K&N and pull the air silencer. Any recomendations??

 

[LaserSVT]

When I asked this last month I found out the JLT will give the best gains but you loose the strut tower brace. The best thing to do IMO is remove the silencer and put a K&N filter in it. Or put on the K&N FIPK, but thats like 130-140 bucks. CAI is a waste on these cars unless you are just doing it for looks. I just removed my silencer and dropped a K&N in it.

 

[jfran430]

Alright so i have ahd the car for a week now .. haha finally brought it home after about a freakin month and a half of bull**** with finances and blah blah but now i finally got it.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2909806
I'm not sure how to post pictures and if this is illegal i apoligize lol, but here are some pictures of her. I will do a suspension set-up and throw some black bullits on for the spring (deep dish in the back). Then hopefully some 4.10's and a full exhaust over the summer. I cannot wait to see what this car is really made of haha. No major problems as far as i know, only a few minor such as it needs headlight housings which i had planned on getting smoked anyways and the back tint is all screwed up so ill get the whole car redone. Let me know what you think!

 

[LaserSVT]

I was thinking about it and Late Model sells Mac 2 1/2" chrome pipes for muffler back with the hangers for $170 and Borla makes a 2 1/2" muffler universal style so you have to have the h pipe to muffler pipes custom. I have the Eibachs on mine with 255's in the front and it will rub sometimes but I think my struts are shot. Really though the Eibach non-progressive springs are too low, the car rubs on everything. Get the Pro kit with the dampners and progressive springs. The kit is like $680 and I have heard nothing but good stuff about them, its what I am gonna change over too once I am not a broke dick. BTW nice Cobra but need more pics. I still say go with 3.73's if the car is gonna be a daily driver. Just put 230 miles on the car today and atleast 90 miles were at 110 mph and I averaged 23.8mpg and the car can light the tires through the first two gears and bark em in third.

 

[blackfang]

K&N or a JLT and nothing less than 4.10's hell even 4.30's will be good to go. Enjoy your car!

 

[jfran430]

So you're saying that the sportline kit will be too low? .. i will be putting 275/40's up front and 315/35/17's in the back (will be pulling the quad shocks also for clearence, and upgrading my control arms so i wont have any problems). I think the pro-kit doesnt make much of a difference IMO, especially with new isolators. So i figured the sportline kit would be perfect. Let me know what you think. And there should be about 4 or 5 pictures on cardomain. Let me know if its not working correctly.

 

[LaserSVT]

You will have to roll the fenders for that size but should be ok. IMO the progressive versions of the Eibachs have a much nicer ride without sacrificing handling and are not rediculously low like my non-progressive versions. If you want a really nice setup get the Maximum Motorsports gripp box. Its $1700 and has Bilstiens, springs, sub frames, cc plates, solid steering shaft, rack and swaybar and a-arm bushings, panhard bar and lower control arms. All matched to each other is the way to go. If I had the cash that is the direction I would go. I really like the Eibach spring, shock and strut kit they have for like 6 or 700 bucks. Since I already have sub frames it is a nice setup. My buddy's 98 PI GT had stock setup and he put in the Eibach setup and it was unreal!! The car was glued to the road and the ride was 100 times better than stock.

 

[LaserSVT]

Just thought I would give you a couple pictures of my stang with the Eibachs (non-progressive) and Bilstien. Wanted to show how little fender gap there is. I have 255/45/17 on the car and very rarley it will rub up front. My h-pipe hits every speed bump though.

I know its dirty , I just washed her now.

 

[flashstang04]

Couple of suggestions....

A) Dont consider anything less that 4.30s. (These rev. WAAYY more than your fox)
B) 315s in the rear

 

[Menace Stang]

congrats dude, car looks really good.

 

[Helomech74]

Very nice looking. I'm hoping to finalize a deal on mine in the next couple of weeks.

 

[Zax]

pics pics pics