Progress Thread Hunt complete... 97 Cobra

LilBerx

Active Member
Jan 11, 2012
340
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Logan, UT
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1997 Cobra Black/Black #4946 of #6961, 99% BONE STOCK
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I figure that I should start a thread with the info on the cobra that i ended up getting...

I have been searching for quite a while now for a 96-98 cobra... the one i ended up getting was the FIRST one I talked to someone about...

going to try and make this short....

Bought this off the second owner... he bought it last July off the original owner who was about 50.... I posted a WTB ad, on a local mustang forum... and I got a few bites quick. the 97 quickly grabbed my attention.. I was going to look at it one weekend, but abruptly i had emergency surgery on my appendix... basically he called me a flake and that i wasnt serious about buying... so i kept searching while i was on disability from work for two weeks. found a hit on a 96, had tan interior tasteful mods, the interior leaned me away a little, it had 84k miles....

Out of the blue last week i text the guy with the 97 asking if he still had it... he did, I jumped instantly, told him i would be down that weekend with money... well i got off graveyards that weekend. so my friend came and got me in the morning from my house. she drove me about an hour and a half away. Instantly i knew it needed tires... they were bald as :poo:, but evenly worn...

But some how... my lady friend talked me into it (thank god).... i ended up with this....

i know you guys will get a chub over this.......

Came with the following...

both sets of keys and remotes.
Original leather bra
(2) SVT driving school papers
(2) SVT authenticity Certificates
a extra valve cover sticker with the builders names
The 97 cobra information
window sticker
the paper that the original owner worked on negotiating the price with the dealer.
The SVT maintinence leather log book with all papers.
oh and it has sexy mudflaps ;)



YES i know, its dirty, i havent vacuumed it, i only sprayed it off with water at the car wash and used a shammy.... wax will be in session tomorrow, then when it warms up some clay!

Don't laugh at my mismatched tires.. (wait i already did ha)
i drove to salt lake for a nice pair of tires, and the tire shop couldn't find them, so it has two different pairs on it for the time being so i could make the 100 mile trip home safe,

I must say, I am in love with DOHC modulars now....

Plan wise... not much, MGW short throw. next week it will be getting some tint for sure.. thinking 5% all the way around, and probably 373's so i can do some decent efficient freeway cruising... and im sure exhaust will fit in there somewhere.
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how she sits right now.....
all i did was put the cobra front emblem on...
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Very nice. My second favorite Cobra next to the '03. :nice:

Went looking for a nice black on black one here in Ontario before buying my '90 Coupe, but owners wanted crazy amounts of money for them ($15-$18k), so I decided against it.
 
Thanks Brian, this car is definitely something else... I'm driving my fox right now, to the parts store to grab some stuff, and I don't really miss it, rattles, stinks, but I do miss the low end torque! But it's going bye bye next week.
 
Well I got the cobra emblem on, and wow it makes it look so much better, I was planning on giving my car a full detail today. But then I decided I had hurry and change my oil... Schaeferrs is my choice of oil, it was a top up between 5w20 full synthetic, and 5w20 synblend, I went with the syn blend... The guys in town that build drag cars in town, they won't use anything but schaeffers syn blend. He said its good for at least 7k miles. I went with a k&n 2010 filter.

Almost 7 qts is how much oil I used!! I just paid over 75$ for a oil change. But it will be worth it.

Here's bad news...
So I raise the car, drain all the oil out till it stops dripping, i put rags on the rack and pinion(it was right below the filter) then I go to remove the filter... What do ya know, it is stuck.... I try for about my minutes, and nothing... So I have my friend who is in the yard shooting :poo: with a pellet gun come as help me. He couldn't get it, so I took the trusty fox to the parts store and got a oil band wrench... He undid the filter, it was stuck the hell on there!!! He finally got it out., but before he got it out, he used the rags I had set to clean his hands.... He pulled off the filter, what do you know, The dumb :poo: let oil get all over my A arm, rack and pinion, and some lines... I was so mad! The underneath of the car didn't have a drip of oil before. :(
Cleaned it the best I could for now.

I thought it was crazy that this thing took almost 7 quarts!!!

But here is a picture of the bumper, I dropped her off at the paint shop, and she will be getting the holes filled and bumper painted.

Oh ya, I forgot to mention that the panty dropper is going in most likely next Wednesday to get a set of 373's. yes I know, (go 410's) but I want a efficient car that will still pick up and go, not a race car.
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4.10's are still plenty efficient and should be the gear of choice on our cars. With the 4.10's it's going to get you into the 4.6 powerband and let you really enjoy the car, even if its just going to have a few mods done to it.
 
Go at least 4.10s. My granddad put 4.10s in his Mach 1, which doesn't suffer from as bad a lack of low end torque as the 96-98 Cobras do, and it's still not too much gear. I can assure you that you won't regret it, especially with a car as down on low-end torque as a 96-98 Cobra.

I'm sure some of the old-timers around here will laugh when I say that some oil and grease on the underside will surely keep it from rusting..... :rlaugh:
 
Before you go tearing apart the rear end LilBerx, let me ask you....what are your over all plans for the car? Do you plan on keeping it stock-ish....or are you opposed to adding some go fast parts?

If you've got some money to spend and want to improve all around drivability and don't mind digging into it a little, the Kenne Bell supercharger just might be the hot ticket. It'll pick up the low end torque values considerably...as well as power levels across the board. That'll allow you to pick up the low end grunt these cars so desperately need, without the need to get too aggressive with the rear gear....allowing you to retain your stock fuel mileage on the highway. It'll make a fun car, even more fun, without you having to buzz the top end of the tach all of the time to achieve it.

http://www.kennebell.net/KBWebsite/SC_pg/Cobra (96-98)/layouts/mustangcobra4.6.htm

If you plan on keeping the car a while and with todays fuel prices, that blower could pay for itself in fuel savings in a handful of years if you can restrain yourself from shoving the fun pedal into the oil pan. ;)
 
I've been having multiple thoughts running through my head, and it's a toss up... I work 12 hour shifts 14 days a month. So I have lots of time to think... For now I think I am going to keep it stock... I am going tonight to slc with my lady friend to pick up a MGW. But for now I am just going to tint it, 5% all the way around.