97 Cobra ?s

[white95]

If everything goes my way, I'll be entering the 4V game with a Cobra soon. I've always heard they love boost and need at least 4.10 gears to be happy. Don't they have charge motion plates like the 3v cars? I did a quick search for engine specs and I see they have forged cranks and teksid blocks. What is the "sane limit" for hp on the stock bottom end? Also, would the 99/01 cobra heads/intake bolt right on w/o much drama? I don't have time to read thru old posts to search for these answers, so any info in appreciated!!

 

[Shifty Powers]

Gearing depends on what your going to do with your car. DD/race it? 4.30s.. road race. ide say 3.90s. but 4.10s will be great either way.

Yes all have forged crank. Only some are teskids, i belive its the 98s that have the other block? i cannot remember the exacts for that for the life of me. someone will.

sane limit? 400-450 or so. and yes C heads will bolt up pretty easily.. but B heads are good, specially if you plan on boosting.. If anything get them Ported.

 

[white95]

Thanks for the info. I plan to use it primarily as my dd with some occasional road race and drag strip duty. I have to get my hands on it first though!!

 

[switch96]

I'm pretty sure all Cobra's were teksid until 2001, and even then there were a few (the rest were WAP). My car is fairly stock still, and i'm looking at 450+ hp at the crank with a Kenne Bell and no fuel additive. Easy 500 with Torco and smaller pulley.

 

[96_SVT_Cobra]

first off, do u plan on staying n/a or going with a supercharger/turbo. if u are staying NA i would say 4.1s since that is what i have and felt like they were a great gear. but since its been supercharged the 4.1s are just way too much. im actually going to do a 3.55 gear. i think 96 - some 01 cobras had a teskid block, mid 98 they switched from return to returnless fuel systems too, all cobras have the forged 8 bolt crank. the limit on the stock bottom is around 450-475. i personally would only do the c swap if i was staying NA since they make way better power than b heads do NA. but the swap should be drama free as long as u have all the right parts for it

 

[TxCobrA98]

hey man, sorry for the lack of information on my part.

96-01 have teksid blocks, forged cranks and hypereutectic pistons. gearing i would go 4.10s NA like everyone else says or somewhere around 3.55 for a boosted application. 4.10s will be high for a boosted car. also 450 is probably the limit on the rods/pistons in these motors. the block and crank will handle twice that all day long. I would just keep the B heads in the car and throw some boost at it. the b heads flow good. the motion plates in the 97 cobras are IMRC plates. (Intake Manifold Runner Control), which blocks off 1 set of the intake valves until 3250 RPMs, then all intake valves are opened. I deleted my IMRC in my engine build as I have a blower going on the car.

this car will be a great DD man and a great platform to start on. you will also have freshly rebuilt heads (new valve guides/seals), ARP main studs and head studs, main bearings and rod bearings, etc...

 

[cobra97]

I have a 97 cobra and love it. Kinda want an S-197 body style but dont want to drop the $$

The 96-98 cobras are good for about 450hp and around 10psi max boost on stock bottom end.

C heads are somewhat better, but not worth the cost.