Motor Swap? 03 Cobra? Crate Motor?

[DMALEMODEL]

Ok Everyone Heres The Deal. I Have A 96 Cobra That Is Getting A Face Lift. Im Happy W/ The Appearance Of My Car But My Goal Is To Have A Near Bullet Proof Engine That Puts At A Constant 600 Hp. Now I Want It To Last Me Many Many Years As My Stock Engine Has So Far. Now Ofcourse More Maintenece Will Be Needed To Keep Up A Motor W/ Over 600 Hp But I Understand That. *****so Here's The Question******
Do I Take My Motor. Throw It Away And Go W/ A Cobra Longblock Engine Built By Sean Hyland W/ A Vortech Supercharger? Or Do I Go W/ A 03 Cobra Motor And Throw In Some Upgraded Forged Parts And More Boost? Or Do I Wait Till The 05 Svt 5.0 Cammer Motor Comes Out And See What Kinda Luck I Have W/ That? Honestly Im Not Looking To Spend Over $10k If I Can Keep From It. And My Car Sees About 5k Miles A Year As It Is Not My Daily Driver, But It Is Driven Hard. Once Again Keep In Mind My Goal Is To Make 600+hp At The Flywheel Only!
Ok Guys Give It To Me.. What Do Ya Think? Im Willing To Try Anything As Long As I Can Be Proven It Works.
Thanks>>>d.j.<<<

 

[Tat98Cobra]

Ok Everyone Heres The Deal. I Have A 96 Cobra That Is Getting A Face Lift. Im Happy W/ The Appearance Of My Car But My Goal Is To Have A Near Bullet Proof Engine That Puts At A Constant 600 Hp. Now I Want It To Last Me Many Many Years As My Stock Engine Has So Far. Now Ofcourse More Maintenece Will Be Needed To Keep Up A Motor W/ Over 600 Hp But I Understand That. *****so Here's The Question******
Do I Take My Motor. Throw It Away And Go W/ A Cobra Longblock Engine Built By Sean Hyland W/ A Vortech Supercharger? Or Do I Go W/ A 03 Cobra Motor And Throw In Some Upgraded Forged Parts And More Boost? Or Do I Wait Till The 05 Svt 5.0 Cammer Motor Comes Out And See What Kinda Luck I Have W/ That? Honestly Im Not Looking To Spend Over $10k If I Can Keep From It. And My Car Sees About 5k Miles A Year As It Is Not My Daily Driver, But It Is Driven Hard. Once Again Keep In Mind My Goal Is To Make 600+hp At The Flywheel Only!
Ok Guys Give It To Me.. What Do Ya Think? Im Willing To Try Anything As Long As I Can Be Proven It Works.
Thanks>>>d.j.<<<

I would go with the 03 motor, and by the way - its already forged. Built by Ford, would be more peace of mind IMO than a SHM

peace

 

[rawsn8k]

Tat98Cobra is correct. The 03 internals are all forged. There are currenlty quite a few people producing 700+ hp to the rear wheels with no more that a few bolt-ons and an upgrade to the Kenne Bell. Thats around 800 at the flywheel. As far as the new 5.0 Mod motor is concerned, $10k won't touch the long block, let alone a supercharger that you would need to make the 600 flywheel HP.

BTW- I just saw an 03 Cobra motor with 1200 miles went for $5550 on Ebay. Here is the link.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2448324049&category=33615

RAWSN8K

 

[Friedchicken]

Only 600 bhp is your limit? An 03 cobra engine is good for that with only a 2.80" pulley, plugs and a tune. You need a non restrictive cold air kit and exhaust too, but engine-wise, you are looking at the cost to modify it being about $500-750.

There is alot of tuning support for the 03 cobra engine now, so that is a plus.

 

[jfllive]

I just picked up a 2004 Ford Performance Catalog yesterday. They sell the 2003 cobra motor complete for $12,000. Or you can the 2001 version for $6,000. They have a pretty good variety of other crate motors you could check out...

 

[jamesvt96/03]

for 10,000 dollars what you should do is find 2000 up heads keep your block have it built with forged internals. drop the compression to 8.5 to 1 put a super charger ( vortech v1 s trim. kenny bell , whipple or any other high performance package) on it. buy a t56 tranny 03 cobra drive shaft and companion flang for the 8.8 rear end. this way you have the (better than 03 cobra block which is iron) alluminum block that is capable of handleing over 1000 hp. the right heads. a 6 speed and you dont have to strip and rewire the whole car. im building a 96 / 03 cobra complete conversion. it started with 10000 dollars just for the complete drive train. after that nothing is the same and the small things are nickle and dimeing me to death. ford is real proud of thier cobra parts.

 

[BlownFiveLiter]

This is a five year old thread, James, but welcome to the site, nonetheless!