03/04 cobra radiator in a 96

[eksplosivejoe13]

What is needed to make it fit? i know that the 96's have different radiators for some reason. has anyone done this? why do the 96's have different fitting radiators?

 

[pp_puncher]

The mounting tabs need to be moved outwards about 2 inches, but after that I don't know. The 03-04's had thicker cores and used the same fans as the gt's.

 

[vermilion]

interesting to see for myself.

 

[duff daddy]

its the tabs that need to be changed someone had a write up on it but I dont know where it is.... humm lemme see what I can dig up

 

[Lee12609]

EVERYTHING i find says its a direct bolt in??? i've been searching hard for 30 minutes and nothing says anything about moving tabs etc.

did find one person that says the 94-96 it wont work without mods, but 97+ its bolt in.....

i know 97 they changed something and some 96s got the upgrade, but what is different between the 96 and 97s that was upgraded by ford?

 

[SRT Handz]

03/04 Cobra radiator was a direct bolt in to my 98GT. It went in PERFECT. No fitment issues what so ever.

 

[MustangChris]

the 1996 GT has a year specific radiator (dono why.)
the 1997-2004 radiators are all interchangable GT.
the 2003/2004 cobra radiator will fit in any 1997-2004 mustang GT.
the 2003/2004 cobra radiator will fit in any 1996 cobra with the recall fix.


I will be putting in a 2003/2004 cobra radiator in my 1996 GT sooner or later... lol. i assure you I will make a thread about it.

 

[pp_puncher]

Ok if that is the case then move the mounting tabs out and you should be good then.

 

[duff daddy]

Yea sorry I got in to some stuff last night and never made it back but yea, 97 + works fine the 96 is the step child of sn95 radiator f- fest

 

[Lee12609]

finally found one writeup that said you have to move BOTH mounts outward 1" from center. hell, no matter what you have to cut and weld, so thats all that really needs to be said, if you can cut/weld then do it, if not then go another route.

clueless as to why ford had to move the mounts just to make the radiator more effiicient, but whatever.....

oh and from what i see 94-96 are all the same, is that true??

 

[pp_puncher]

oh and from what i see 94-96 are all the same, is that true??

Yes, mine has a sticker on it that says 5.0/4.6

 

[Lee12609]

thats what i thought, but someone said "96" was specific..

 

[duff daddy]

oh and from what i see 94-96 are all the same, is that true??

Yes, mine has a sticker on it that says 5.0/4.6

This is true of the fan shroud, I do not believe of the radiator.

 

[pp_puncher]

Duff you're right, now that I think of it, it was on the fan.

 

[duff daddy]

Im debating to keep the shroud, I may try my hand at making my own coolant expansion tank, I just dont know weight difference between the oe and aluminum, and I may move the tank to the rear (firewall) not sure yet...

 

[pp_puncher]

I say move (fabricate) it to the firewall in place of the A/C accumulator, and paint it black.

 

[greenscobie86]

I just finished swapping an 03 Cobra rad into a 96 Cobra without the cooling update.

i was able to use 3 of the 4 mounts...

Here is how I did it:

-Reuse the top left rad mount by flipping it/cutting it/notching it and using a spacer plate to bolt to the rad support....
-Reuse the top right mount(but it needs to be shorted in height a little bit(but will still fit without modification.) I'll cut and weld it at my friends house alter, but for now it works just dandy.
-Insert the bottom right mount(by the ABS hardware) into its rubber mounting point.... Simple
-Finally the left lower mount just hangs off the side of the original tab on the rad support but it is held securely in place by the lower hose...

It took me about 6 hours to do this working slowly and carefully cutting/notching/drilling little aluminum spacers to make the mounts work...

The car now runs cooler than it did with the 180deg 03 Cobra tstat, and the bigger rad.

NOW I have only one q(not to thread jack

Does anyone know where I could get a newer style rad fan harness plug from an 03/04 Cobra? The new rad fan has a new style plug which is ROUND so i cant use the new fan until i find a male connector for it...



Hope this helped some of you.
Cheers! :headbang:

 

[pp_puncher]

couldn't you cut and splice your old connector?

 

[greenscobie86]

^
I wish, but the connector coming from the fan(female) is actually integrated into the fan motor, so I couldn't take it apart....

So that's why I'd rather de-pin the male connector on the car harness side and pin the wires for the new style round connector. I've been trying to track down this elusive part and may have ran into some luck at the local FoMoCo stealership this morning... Hopefully the connector they ordered will be the one.

I'll update with pics.

 

[pp_puncher]

If not the salvage yards might have one..and you would pull it from a gt (99-04) b/c they use the same fan. When I had my '04 cobra the fan broken and I replaced it with one from a '01 gt, same exact thing.