Questions about my combo...

The goal I have in mind for my car is to run 12s on motor and basically be my weekend/whenever I feel like driving it car, as I have a civic that I drive daily to save gas/wear and tear on the mustang.

I don't know an aweful lot about how to make a good combo, so I was hoping someone could help me a little. My car has a stock 95 cobra engine in great condition. I'm going to be getting the iron gt40s ported by a guy who I know does great work. He's going to be completely porting/polishing them, installing a new spring kit, back-cutting the valves (or whatever it's called) and decking them (or whatever it's called when you shave them down to raise compression).

My questions are really about everything else besides the heads.
1. Will I need to upgrade my 60mm TB, 70mm MAF, or 24lb injectors?
2. Will the cobra intake work well for this combo? Should I get it ported by TMoss or should I just gasket-match it myself and let that be that?
3. What cam should I go with?

I know I'm definitely going to be going with that specific route on the heads, because my friend has some e7s done in this same manner by the same guy and his car is VERY impressive for just e7s with a stock intake and b303 (287rwhp). But, I don't know about the other things and the guy wants to know what cam I'm going to be using so he can set the new springs right (if I remember correctly).

Like I said I will not be driving the car every day, so if it's a little bit of a handfull to drive that's fine, a rough idle will be fine, etc.

Sorry this is so long, any suggestions?
 
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The goal I have in mind for my car is to run 12s on motor and basically be my weekend/whenever I feel like driving it car, as I have a civic that I drive daily to save gas/wear and tear on the mustang.

I don't know an awful lot about how to make a good combo, so I was hoping someone could help me a little. My car has a stock 95 cobra engine in great condition. I'm going to be getting the iron gt40s ported by a guy who I know does great work. He's going to be completely porting/polishing them, installing a new spring kit, back-cutting the valves (or whatever it's called) and decking them (or whatever it's called when you shave them down to raise compression).

My questions are really about everything else besides the heads.
1. Will I need to upgrade my 60mm TB, 70mm MAF, or 24lb injectors?
2. Will the cobra intake work well for this combo? Should I get it ported by TMoss or should I just gasket-match it myself and let that be that?
3. What cam should I go with?

I know I'm definitely going to be going with that specific route on the heads, because my friend has some e7s done in this same manner by the same guy and his car is VERY impressive for just e7s with a stock intake and b303 (287rwhp). But, I don't know about the other things and the guy wants to know what cam I'm going to be using so he can set the new springs right (if I remember correctly).

Like I said I will not be driving the car every day, so if it's a little bit of a handful to drive that's fine, a rough idle will be fine, etc.

Sorry this is so long, any suggestions?


I would go with a 70 MM TB. If your keeping the stock heads then the Cobra is fine, if your ditching the Cobra intake then get a Trick Flow or an Edelbrock or something of the sort. Doing the heads,cam and intake with traction and decent driving should get you into the 12's. The cam is a tough call depends on if you want and over the shelf cam or a custom cam. Many people like the Steeda #19 cam and trick flow makes good cams as does comp and many others.
 
i believe when you mill the heads (shave down the surface) you have to mill the intake also for proper alignment. im actually going the ported route also. im bringing the heads to the machine shop tomorrow and will most likely have them do the intake aswell.
 
Thanks for the replies. I'll be sure to ask about whether the intake has to be done also. I would like to keep the cobra intake, I just wasn't sure if it would be up to the job, but I think I'll keep it. 70mm TB sounds good.

I would like to go with an off-the-shelf cam. Are there any sort of guidelines that I should go by in selecting one? I don't know a lot this stuff, but is there some way to generally tell if a cam is too big? I basically want the meanest cam I can get away with, but I don't want it to be too much (I'm assuming there is such a thing).

I think I remember reading the stock cobra cam is like .480 lift, so should I go for something like the x303 or z303 ford cams because they're a lot bigger or what? How do you really go about choosing a cam?

Thanks a lot.
 
The X and the Z ford cams are pretty radical cams, your idle would probably suck. Most people are pretty happy with the E303 cams its a popular choice and would go good with your combo.
 
the problem with "too big of a cam" is piston to valve clerance. i dont the the X or the Z will clear with stock pistons. im pretty happy with my e-cam but if i were to do it all over again i would most likely go with the trick flow stage 1.
 
the problem with "too big of a cam" is piston to valve clerance. i dont the the X or the Z will clear with stock pistons. im pretty happy with my e-cam but if i were to do it all over again i would most likely go with the trick flow stage 1.

If I were starting over doing a 5.0 Cobra engine build up Id do the Trick flow H/C/I set up that goes for like $2,400 from summit. Everything you need all with matched parts.

Seems as though your(thread starter) head situation is already taken care of so its just a matter of putting the rest together
 
I basicly have the combo your building.

My heads have been milled a LOT. The intake only needs to be milled after the heads have been milled around 60thou. or so. I had mine milled...if that gives you an idea of how much mine are milled.

I also have a Tmoss ported gt40 lower. I was also able to watch him port my lower. I will never forget what I saw. He really does know his way around the intake and were to make his cuts.

I did a lot of research on what GT40 heads like regarding cams...granted this was in un-ported form but I do not think you need to go TOO much larger than what non-ported heads would need. Not more than .530-.545-ish if you ask me on a very well done head at most...maybe I am wrong...but would like to be corrected if I am.

The research I found regarding the un-ported GT40's is. They like lift around the .500 mark with a split patt. that is a little larger on the exh. side. Say .008-.010 more lift on the exh. than intake. They also like a split dur. like 4-6 more also on the exh. side.

I ran the TFS1 cam with my GT40 heads back before they were ported and a stock ported GT intake. I ran a 13.5 @ 102 with a crappy 2.4 or so 60ft on street tires (no DR) the only time I ran that combo at the track.

I have been fighting issues with the new combo but getting them worked out as time allows (toy and I am busy...but who isn't). Last summer in 100* heat and horrible humid. with only about 28-29* of timing and the stock 4 cat H pipe I made 255rwhp and 281ftlbs...with a bit of a flatline after 4k and at 5k going back down due to what I found out were busted lifters. The combo has more in it for sure...
 
Alot of money and time will be needed to make 5.0 dip into 12s ALL MOTOR. Trick flow H/C/I set up with slicks with good driving will get you into low 13's or high 12's. or Just add spray and go 12's with slicks.
 
12's on motor should be no problem with a good launch. my best n/a run so far is a 13.5 @ 104 with a crappy 2.1 60' on street tires. since getting the nitrous kit and mickeys i have been running on the bottle every time i go. the car has been giving me a few different problems lately so i have not been to the track in a while but i should be back up and running soon. i think with a good launch i could of hit high 12's or close to it with the unported heads so im confident it will run 12's with ported heads. im bumping up to the 175 shot next time out so im hoping to be somewhere in the 11's :D