93 vs 94 timing cover!

ttocs

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Yeah the '94/'95 engines have a "reverse rotation" water pump that are more difficult to work with since there are essentially no high performance reverse rotation pumps out there. I think I found one once, but upon closer look it appeared to be stock. I have not seen an electric pump for these front covers either, but they may be out there.
Since my car has a 351W, the accessory brackets are different, at least the alternator bracket is. I'm not inclined to mess with the factory bracket setup since it works so well, but this does prevent me from moving to a dry sump system. I have an Accusump 3 quart oil accumulator, lines, fittings, etc. but have not installed it yet. Since I'll be putting the new motor in fairly soon I will want to have that installed to protect my sizeable investment.
Maziere makes a pump that fits 94/95
 

CobraRGuy

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I have two of these brackets. I have the original, which is at Precision Machines in Lodi, and one that was a spare I got with the Jason Priestley #46 car. That one is in storage so I'll need to go there to get it. I can tell you that neither of them look like the one you provided the picture of. I'll try to go by storage after work, but we've got a pretty serious storm moving in at this moment, so maybe not. I can tell you that both have had threaded fittings welded on where the alternator bolts to.
Again, I have no idea why Ford did this. Perhaps they decided that using the stock bracket would make the serpentine belt too long on the 351, and maybe that was considered not robust enough for endurance road racing, which is what these cars were intended for (targeted at) which was IMSA Grand Sports "Street Stock" series.

Here's what the alternator on the '95 Cobra R looks like.
Alternator.png
Clearly this alternator will not bolt to the stock SN95 bracket. It has been many years since my engine compartment looked like the engine compartment in Musturd's picture. Judging by that, I can see why they had to move the alternator.

When I wrote "Since my car has a 351W, the accessory brackets are different", what I meant was not "the stock SN95 brackets will not bolt to a 351W", but that in order to make the 351W work in this car, they must have realized they did not have a choice but to move the alternator. When you put an engine in that has a taller deck height, the cylinder heads, along with all of the accessories move up and out. Things start interfering with each other. Something has to change, and the alternator location seems like it must have been the culprit that necessitated this particular change.
Just because something will bolt up to the engine on a stand does not mean it will work in the car.
There are a lot of things I know about these cars that possibly no other '95 Cobra R owner knows. This is not only because I've spent so much time with the hood up, but under the car as well. I also spent nearly two hours on the phone picking the brains of Steve Anderson who was Ford's Program Manager for the '95 Cobra R just prior to his retirement from Ford. There are a lot of misconceptions about these cars that are not correct.
My original post on this topic was to express my desire to NOT mess with my accessory brackets even though it precludes me from running a dry sump which this aluminum race block is set up for. I try not to read posts and jump at the chance to try to prove others wrong. I know my car, not yours...

Thanks, Perry

IMG_20180721_133500334.jpg
 

Musturd

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Here's what the alternator on the '95 Cobra R looks like.
View attachment 30073
Clearly this alternator will not bolt to the stock SN95 bracket. It has been many years since my engine compartment looked like the engine compartment in Musturd's picture. Judging by that, I can see why they had to move the alternator.

When I wrote "Since my car has a 351W, the accessory brackets are different", what I meant was not "the stock SN95 brackets will not bolt to a 351W", but that in order to make the 351W work in this car, they must have realized they did not have a choice but to move the alternator. When you put an engine in that has a taller deck height, the cylinder heads, along with all of the accessories move up and out. Things start interfering with each other. Something has to change, and the alternator location seems like it must have been the culprit that necessitated this particular change.
Just because something will bolt up to the engine on a stand does not mean it will work in the car.
There are a lot of things I know about these cars that possibly no other '95 Cobra R owner knows. This is not only because I've spent so much time with the hood up, but under the car as well. I also spent nearly two hours on the phone picking the brains of Steve Anderson who was Ford's Program Manager for the '95 Cobra R just prior to his retirement from Ford. There are a lot of misconceptions about these cars that are not correct.
My original post on this topic was to express my desire to NOT mess with my accessory brackets even though it precludes me from running a dry sump which this aluminum race block is set up for. I try not to read posts and jump at the chance to try to prove others wrong. I know my car, not yours...

Thanks, Perry

View attachment 30074
Dude lay off the alternator bracket . A standard 94/95 alternator bracket works on 351w . Yes the cobra r has a different one . For some strange reason .
 

CobraRGuy

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I have two of these brackets. I have the original, which is at Precision Machines in Lodi, and one that was a spare I got with the Jason Priestley #46 car. That one is in storage so I'll need to go there to get it. I can tell you that neither of them look like the one you provided the picture of. I'll try to go by storage after work, but we've got a pretty serious storm moving in at this moment, so maybe not. I can tell you that both have had threaded fittings welded on where the alternator bolts to.
Again, I have no idea why Ford did this. Perhaps they decided that using the stock bracket would make the serpentine belt too long on the 351, and maybe that was considered not robust enough for endurance road racing, which is what these cars were intended for (targeted at) which was IMSA Grand Sports "Street Stock" series.
Do you have pics of your bracket both side
I'll compare to the one I have
This is the spare bracket I got with the Priestley car. At the top is where the newer modular motor style alternator bolts on. The alternator itself is pretty much identical to the one my '96 F250 5.4L had.
The original alternator pulley is oversized to under-drive it for racing. I'm not using it at this time because driving at night with the lights on idling in traffic caused the original alternator to burn out. I went to a Powermaster alternator with a stock pulley and have no problems now.

20231115_180505.jpg
 

CobraRGuy

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Standard bracket works in a 351w I see what it is slightly different on a cobra r for the intake tube . Ac mounts power steering side so no problem there
Actually the original owner of my car, having driven it for a while, brought it back to Swanson Ford and asked the Parts and Service Director Bruce Swanson to put air conditioning in it. Bruce refused. Apparently the guy really wanted that, so he decided he'd rather have an Acura NSX. He then asked Swanson Ford to buy the car back from him which, of course, they did.
So, if it weren't for the original owner wanting to put A/C in this car, I probably wouldn't own it.
 
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Musturd

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Actually the original owner of my car, having driven it for a while, brought it back to Swanson Ford and asked the Parts and Service Director Bruce Swanson to put air conditioning in it. Bruce refused. Apparently the guy really wanted that, so he decided he'd rather have an Acura NSX. He then asked Swanson Ford to buy the car back from him which, of course, they did.
So, if it weren't for the original owner wanting to put A/C in this car, I probably wouldn't own it.


Yea that’s just the dealer not wanting to modify a car with limited numbers of 300 units . I’m very jealous of the cobra R beautiful car by the way . Still have the radio delete ? Or did it get a radio over Al these years
 

CobraRGuy

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The original owner did put a killer stereo in it, so Swanson promptly took that back out. Unfortunately the original block off plate is missing, so a similar one was trimmed to fill the hole. It looks fine but is a little ragged around the edges. Of course I'd much rather have the original in there, but this car has been cut, welded, drilled and extensively modified anyway. There are for sure times that I wish I had tunes. I could set up a hidden system and just just stream to it, but that's just another item on a still-too-long list.
Right after I bought it I took it to a NorCal SAAC event at Laguna for a weekend event. After I returned home I put it up on jack stands to do my creeper tour and noticed that the rear tires had been rubbing on the tail pipes on both sides. There was ~3" of clearance on both sides, so that means the rear axle was moving back and forth laterally at least 6 inches, probably closer to 7 inches because it looked like the tail pipes were being pushed outwards. I also noticed that my chest muscles were sore from holding myself in those horrible flat cloth seats with the steering wheel.
So those things are what led me to start this 20+ year $120K+ (not including the $31K I paid for the car) modification program. I'm not nearly as sick with this car stuff as some of my NorCal colleagues though. An example of that is below with Jim L's "Blown 302" 1,200HP $350K+ road race monster. I set him up with that spot in the paddock @ Sonoma so he took me for a ride. Fahhhk that thing is scary fast...

IMG_20210801_084507179_HDR.jpg
 

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