Buying an 04 Cobra in the next three weeks...

  • Sponsors (?)


Vic_Ferrari said:
The air fuel ratio is crazy because the tuner is not doing his job...WAY too common.
Most will go very lean down low (where it's making peak torque and needs to be fueled more) lean, then very rich at WOT to try and compensate.
My car is 11.8 across the board at WOT.
I don't understand what is so hard about achieving this.....but many tuners can't seem to "get it".

Of course, they'll all tell you it's "ok to be at 14.1 at 3500 as long as it's rich up top."
BS.
My car makes peak torque at 3300, and it NEEDS fuel there.

These clowns running their cars "so rich" only at high RPM are driving time bombs waiting to explode, not to mention...they are losing power down low and up high.

Too rich....you're slow.
Too lean, you;re slow (and on the verge of somthing very bad happening).
I don't even want to talk about ignition timing....
No wonder Ford voids the warranty on a Cobra is they see a chip was in it.
Just because someone has software doesn't make them a "tuner".

Sorry for the rant......just makes me angry to see tuners let stuff like this slide.
It ain't that hard!
Anyone ever hear of a scan tool?


excellent post, Vic

Hey, I'm all for you guys throwing pulleys at these cars and wasting vettes all across america. Just please take Vic's advise here and get the car wide-band tuned. I can't believe the frequency of cobra owners that swap a pulley in their driveway and never get it tuned..... :shrug:

that is a recipe for disaster, I don't car what kind of forged components are inside the motor or what magazine guru said it will withstand a "ton!"

Get the sob tuned and do it right. The car's a big investment and a quality wide-band tune is minor dough compared to a rebuild... :nonono:
 
OK, since no one else mentioned it I will pry the 800 lb Gorilla out of the corner.

WHEEL HOP!!! Research it and live with it or spend a lot of money to maybe fix it. If I had known about it before hand I would have waited for a Mach 1 or the new GT.
 
What is a wheel hop, and how would you fix it?

Also, I saw a throttle body for the 03. Anyone use one of these yet?

Also, if anyone has any links for any of the stuff we have talked about, I would appreciate it.

I have CnLPerformance.com and ofcourse Bassani and Magnaflow, and I found JDM.
 
To answer some questions in no particular order:

Meat: Agreed C&L doesn't make much power on it's own, but it supports other modifications well if calibrated properly. It's a must for serious airlow increase (upper AND lower, whipple, kb, etc...)

MianiFan: Do you live in Florida?
I have the accufab throttle body......I like it, but the gains are mostly "seat of the pants"
As for you questions, by "A few adjustments", I meant some minor changes in tuning.

jordan:
JDM ran 10.80 or 10.81@130 last week on the stock IRS.
The 1/2 shafts were upgraded and did not break.
Theay heated up the tires, and made a REALLY hard launch (5,000 RPM) to find the breaking point. The upgreded shafts remained intact...the rear end broke.
They are constructing a girdle to keep this from happening.

Springs will reduce wheelhop.
"hard launch kit" will reduce wheelhop....the two together almost eliminate it.I share Jim's theory in that....with the proper shock/springs, and the correct 1/2 shafts with the girdle.....you can drag just as effectively with the IRS as you can with a live axle.
We'll find out.
One of my best friends just bought a live axle.
I'll be going the other route.
May the best ass win =o)
 
...

MiamiFan1354 said:
Also, other than pullys, is there any other way to mess with the boost on the supercharger?

You can port the blower.
Aptens does this, and JDM also has a source (who I think does a more aggressive port that Aptens).

Anyways......remember, the actual boost psi number is unimportant.

Show me a car making 14 PSI and I'll show you a car making 12 that makes more power. Boost is simply "backpressure" causing a pressure increase in the manifold from a forced mass of air coming in. If you port your heads (or port your blower, or add headers, etc....), your boost PSI may drop, but the mass of air coming in will increase...usually resulting in more power at less boost.

My car lost almost 2 lbs of boost with my header install, but gained 30+HP and almost 40 ft lbs of torque. It didn't lose "air", it just lost restriction.
Naturally, if an engine can pump more air out, it's going to suck more in.
 
I like my steeda springs matched up with bilstein shocks and struts. Also got some KB sub frames and KB strut brace and shock tower brace. CC plates from maximum motorsports coming soon. I also have the #4 support found on the 03 cobras.
 
Vic_Ferrari said:
jordan:
JDM ran 10.80 or 10.81@130 last week on the stock IRS.
The 1/2 shafts were upgraded and did not break.
Theay heated up the tires, and made a REALLY hard launch (5,000 RPM) to find the breaking point. The upgreded shafts remained intact...the rear end broke.
They are constructing a girdle to keep this from happening.

Springs will reduce wheelhop.
"hard launch kit" will reduce wheelhop....the two together almost eliminate it.I share Jim's theory in that....with the proper shock/springs, and the correct 1/2 shafts with the girdle.....you can drag just as effectively with the IRS as you can with a live axle.
We'll find out.
One of my best friends just bought a live axle.
I'll be going the other route.
May the best ass win =o)

I have researched all the ways to reduce the wheel hop and I agree they do reduce it. My point is unless you are willing to radically and expensively modify the IRS, you will have hop. I have had major hop and the stock halfshafts have held up since they are very strong. In time I may upgrade to the level 2 halfshafts along with anti hop shocks since I am pretty much done with power mods. I have just resolved to live with the hop and modify my driving to deal with it since I like the way the car handles in the twisties.

I just wanted to make him aware of this annoying problem before he buys the car.
 
I GOT IT!! Black 2004 SVT Cobra is now in my garage!!! I'm happy an I can be, now, then orders start.. Gonna get her up above 400 by april.. Thanks again for all your guys help... I'll keep you updated..
 
Ok, I ordered the C&L 95mm kit, the bassani headers and Xpipe. Not sure what catback I want to put on it, was kinda hopin you all would have a good idea what would sound best?

And what about a throttle body? I saw the Acufab 65mm throttle body with inlet tube. Anybody use this? Says upto 25 RWHP, just seein if anyone else has this piece yet? Is it worth the $$?
 
MiamiFan1354 said:
Ok, I ordered the C&L 95mm kit, the bassani headers and Xpipe. Not sure what catback I want to put on it, was kinda hopin you all would have a good idea what would sound best?

And what about a throttle body? I saw the Acufab 65mm throttle body with inlet tube. Anybody use this? Says upto 25 RWHP, just seein if anyone else has this piece yet? Is it worth the $$?

Dude... Seriously think again about the C&L 95MM kit. Are you planning on getting a KB or Whipple in the near future or something? The stock MAF is good up to 475-500RWHP, why do you need a larger one? Same goes for the T/B and headers. Those are some pretty expensive mods (not including installation costs) for what little gains they produce. They also make it a little harder to tune correctly. I can understand you laying out all this extra cash if you plan on upgrading to a twin screw in the very near future, otherwise I think your money is best saved.

I'm also assuming you are not concerned about your warranty...

U.M.
 
550hp03cobra said:
Accufab Single Blade Throttle Body, Pulley Kit with tensioner..., 4 inch cold air intake, full MagnaFlow X-pipe and catback system... A chip is a great idea too... should end up around 500hp to the wheels but it is well worth it.... :nice:

Please enlighten us with your 550RWHP combo because the list you provide above might get 440-450RWHP depending on the pulley combo.

U.M.
 
Ok, so headers are not worth the HP gain to cash ratio.. Maybe I'll send them back and just get a cat back. The C&L comes at about 100, that's why I'm getting that. The TB was just a question I had. I changed the one in my GT and just wanted to know if anyone had used it. The first one I put in my GT screamed at me, so I wanted to see if anyone was having any problems with this one.