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My New Car...


Wease

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As I've posted on here before, I've been looking for my next "fun" car to replace my 2000 WS6 Formula I sold last July. I've been wanting a 03/04 Cobra pretty much since they came out, and that's what I got. There were only 4 colors I was looking for; Screaming Yellow ('04 only), Sonic Blue ('03 Only), Dark Shadow Grey ('03 only), or Competition Orange ('04 only). I did find a mint, 8K mile Screaming Yellow in Dayton, all stock. Guy would not budge from his $31K price tag. WAY too much. And with only 299 Screaming Yellows ever made, and 281 Competition Oranges, they are really hard to find. :( I didn't want to go TOO far to get what I wanted, but it had better be perfect. :)

 

So a couple of weeks ago, I found an 11K mile, 2003 Dark Shadow Grey Cobra on Autotrader. It was in Clarksville, Tennesee. The guy who owned it was a Captain in the Army, he bought it new in 2003, but had been back and forth between the Middle East and Tennesee ever since. Hardly ever drove it in the three years he owned it. Never raced at the track, had only an Amazon CAI on it, spent it's time in the garage under a cover. It was a true garage queen. He really wanted to get rid of it, as he was about to head back to Iraq for another 2 years. He was asking $29,500 for it (also WAY too much), and with just seeing pics, I offered him a fair $25K. He thought about it, researched it (and realized he had asked too much), and took my offer. I met him in Louisville, KY (halfway for us), liked what I saw, and bought it. It's in fantastic shape, I had to really look to find a couple of scuffs on the bumper than my clay bar already took off. :D

 

I started modding it right away. Put on the smaller antenna, cobra in the grille, an MGW shifter (BIG difference over stock, you have no idea), and the stainless steel "COBRA" inserts on the rear bumper. Just tonight I put on a Mac 3" catback. HUGE difference over the stock sound. They are really quiet when stock. It is SO much fun to drive with that blower. :) Love the sound, love how it pulls hard all the way, and it should make 390 - 420 RWHP as it sits right now. I'm hopefully gonna get it dyno'd this weekend if Brian has time. The obvious pulley swap, ported blower, etc. to get me to 500+ RWHP / RWTQ will be either later this year or next. I'll also probably be putting on some stock looking chrome rims and doing the spoiler delete mod as well. Anyways, here are some pics, I'll try to bring it out one of these days:

 

http://www.wease.net/My_DSG/My_DSG1.JPG

 

http://www.wease.net/My_DSG/My_DSG2.JPG

 

http://www.wease.net/My_DSG/My_DSG3.JPG

 

http://www.wease.net/My_DSG/My_DSG4.JPG

 

So now I'm back up to 5 cars... :marc:

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So are you bringing that to the Cofba drag day? I want a shot at a near stock Cobra before you go crazy on it!

 

Yes, I'll be there with both cars, as my brother's coming in to drive my '86 up for me. Should be a good race between us, but I haven't decided if I'm gonna run DR's or not. CAI/Catback Cobras should run low 12's and trap in the mid teens... :nod:

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I'll need the driver mod - you, as well as anyone, know that my car should run low 12s on D/Rs. I think I am going to run street tires and a bad clutch 1 more year. Ford rearend > GM rear end. Can't wait to see it and go for a ride!
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I'll need the driver mod - you, as well as anyone, know that my car should run low 12s on D/Rs. I think I am going to run street tires and a bad clutch 1 more year. Ford rearend > GM rear end. Can't wait to see it and go for a ride!

 

I went 12.0 @ 116 with nearly the same setup you have right now. But that was on DR's and right before I broke the stock rear. :( Street tires and a slipping clutch vs. my Cobra as it sits now should be a good race. :)

 

And don't forget, Cobra's have an IRS, so you have to be careful on how you launch it. But for a few hundred bucks, I can upgrade some parts of the IRS and be fine with it. There are Cobras on the stock IRS in the 10's. :nod:

 

I might bring it by the COFBA meeting Saturday, I'll have to see if I have time or not... :D

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Kevin (Trackbird) told me his buddy has an 03 that he was cutting 1.6X 60s on the stock IRS - he has swapped it with his friends 8.8 out of a GT now though.

 

Yeah, I've seen some sick short times out of the IRS's, believe it or not. I've read that if you get wheel hop, let off the gas, as that's what breaks halfshafts. I really don't plan on beating on this one as much as I had beat on my Formula... ;)

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Yeah, I've seen some sick short times out of the IRS's, believe it or not. I've read that if you get wheel hop, let off the gas, as that's what breaks halfshafts. I really don't plan on beating on this one as much as I had beat on my Formula... ;)

 

 

Yeah...uh huh....right...and Adam is going to keep his Z06 stock.

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Yeah...uh huh....right...and Adam is going to keep his Z06 stock.

 

LOL, I never said I was gonna keep it stock. However, I'm not gonna beat the living piss out of it at the track, like I did my LS1... :D

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Gay, you should have gotten a Z06.

 

But if you have to have a Slowbra, that's the one to have. I'd personally keep the rear spoiler though. And probably ditch the IRS for a solid rear. But of course I would have just kept your Formula...imagine how quick it would have been with a rear-end and PTK single turbo for the price difference........

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Gay, you should have gotten a Z06.

 

But if you have to have a Slowbra, that's the one to have. I'd personally keep the rear spoiler though. And probably ditch the IRS for a solid rear. But of course I would have just kept your Formula...imagine how quick it would have been with a rear-end and PTK single turbo for the price difference........

 

I don't make your kind of money, Joe... :p

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Kevin (Trackbird) told me his buddy has an 03 that he was cutting 1.6X 60s on the stock IRS - he has swapped it with his friends 8.8 out of a GT now though.

 

The one Kevin was talking about is mine. It's actually from an 01, which is simliar (31 spline shafts, Eaton and has a KB support and solid dif bushings), but the '03-04 is upgraded a bit more from there, and I believe the clutches in the Eaton are CF... I just replaced the Factory Eaton and off-brand gears that were in it a couple of weeks ago and they were both beat to hell, but I don't think I can contribute ALL of that to racing, as the gears were never set up right from the day the previous owner bought it. I think he was launching the car at 6k. His car is all bolt ons, naturally aspirated, so he's a bit down on power from a stock '03 still, but that's still a hell of an aggressive launch.

 

You really can get a decent launch with IRS if it's set up right. This came out of Todd Kehrer's car, a somewhat local guy (Amanda/Lancaster area) so you may have seen it around (also it's the car in the B&M ad in all the Mustang squirrel mags this month). After tuning all last season with my solid axle (really he's now just using my housing, springs and brakes at this point) he has just now got it down to the same 60' times as with the IRS. It really made a big difference when he added the support brace (which the '03 already has) and the solid dif bushings. He always ran Hoosier QTP's, so I am not sure you would necessarily have the same stick as him with a DR, as they are a good bit stiffer, but it would be worth a try if you don't want to run a bias-ply tire. Obviously tire choice will play a major role in how well it works too. On street tires, even with my NOT-Cobra power I couldn't keep it stuck at all, but the wheel hop still wasn't all that bad (traction is much better now with the Torsen dif I swapped to, though).

 

Just thought I'd relate what was done to get those 60' times, so maybe that will help. It really doesn't seem to take much to make them work well, or at least okay for drag racing. Oh, and the ride quality is much nicer with the IRS if that's a factor.

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Sucks huh your spending all that $ and mustangs never lose :p

 

1. Who's saying I'm spending a bunch of money?

2. True, Mustangs never lose. That car, however, is a Cobra.

 

Sorry for the quasi-thread hijack, Wease. Back on topic, a ported/pullied 03 Cobra will be a monster. Too bad you don't street race. :)

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