How many motors.....

kspilly · Mar 21, 2007

So, I just found out my car will now be camping out at the garage until it get a rebuild. Had a light tap noise when cold, turns out it was a spun rod bearing!! Apperantly, my #7 piston has been going up and kissing the spark plug and the valves. Thing is, the car ran normally! All pressures reading where they should be, and running ten pounds of boost.

Anyway, this will be the second motor now that this Cobra has eaten. The previous owner ran it a little low on oil and killed the original, now this one is going. So it got me wondering if anyone else's Cobra has been through several motors, or if mine is just unlucky??

FYI: for the rebuild we're going to upgrade all the internalls, and throw a bigger pan on the bottom. Then it will be seeing more boost!! :dancing6:

97vertstang · Mar 21, 2007

wow bad luck but u shouldnt be having problems anymore with forged internals :thumb:

kspilly · Mar 22, 2007

Yeah, that's what I'm hoping for!! This had better be the last time this car sees itself getting rebuilt.

ju015dd · Mar 24, 2007

damn, sucks man. hope i dont have any probs for a long time.

blackfang · Mar 24, 2007

I am on my 2nd. The guy before me replaced his because it had a knock @ 2500

Red96GT · Mar 24, 2007

Where are you getting the work done?

kspilly · Mar 24, 2007

Keith's Pit Stop has done most all the work the previous owner had done, including routine maintenance. So, I have been bringing it there. They put the Procharger on, and have kept her on the road so far.

We're looking into pricing for the rebuild with better internals still, so it'll be a while til it's back on the road. But it'll all be worth it in the end.

uncltrvlnmatt · Mar 26, 2007

My 97 is on it's second engine. The original owner had a re-man engine put in somewhere along the line. I don't know why, when, or how many miles are on the engine in it now.

ju015dd · Mar 26, 2007

kspilly said:
Keith's Pit Stop has done most all the work the previous owner had done, including routine maintenance. So, I have been bringing it there. They put the Procharger on, and have kept her on the road so far.

We're looking into pricing for the rebuild with better internals still, so it'll be a while til it's back on the road. But it'll all be worth it in the end.

\

how much boost were you running? and how many miles were on the car/

kspilly · Mar 26, 2007

It was seeing around 9 pounds when I got it and put in a boost gauge. They had told me this was about all the stock Cobra block was good for and anything else would require upgrading the internals. The second motor only had around 30K miles on it when the bearing let go.

I barely drove it after I got it becuase of it not being tuned. I'd take it out for a scenic drive from time to time, but never doing the 'around town' runs. I knew we were kinda playing with fate due to running it on the tune that came with the Procharger. The A/F gauge always bounced back and forth like it should, but would go super rich once the pedal was buried. It would throw codes reading that the banks were running rich after being layed into, but didn't really run too bad. The pressures never varied, and the temperatures were actually reading lower then I'd expected considering it was blown.

It just sucks that it let go now, and not the end of the summer when I was planning to have it rebuilt so we could increase the power. Once it is all said and done, it'll be better off having boost friendly internals, and dyno tuned from the get go. O0

ju015dd · Mar 26, 2007

kspilly said:
It was seeing around 9 pounds when I got it and put in a boost gauge. They had told me this was about all the stock Cobra block was good for and anything else would require upgrading the internals. The second motor only had around 30K miles on it when the bearing let go.

I barely drove it after I got it becuase of it not being tuned. I'd take it out for a scenic drive from time to time, but never doing the 'around town' runs. I knew we were kinda playing with fate due to running it on the tune that came with the Procharger. The A/F gauge always bounced back and forth like it should, but would go super rich once the pedal was buried. It would throw codes reading that the banks were running rich after being layed into, but didn't really run too bad. The pressures never varied, and the temperatures were actually reading lower then I'd expected considering it was blown.

It just sucks that it let go now, and not the end of the summer when I was planning to have it rebuilt so we could increase the power. Once it is all said and done, it'll be better off having boost friendly internals, and dyno tuned from the get go. O0

yeah man, i got tuned couple weeks ago and gained 130 hp and a super safe and reliable tune

ripper · Mar 26, 2007

If you want a good forged motor i can give ya the name and phone number were i got mine. Just pm me. Price cant be beat.

kspilly · Mar 26, 2007

When the new motor goes in, it's getting broke in, then going strait to the dyno!! I had a rather heavily modded Focus before this Cobra, and after several hours on the dyno, it was a new car. O0

freakshow12 · Apr 26, 2007

I am in the same boat. #7 went on my 97 with an s trim. I am doing the cooling mod as well. #7 is the weak spot on the DOHC as coolant pools between 7-8 and creates more heat there. I was on original engine(bought car new) and have 42000miles on it. new motor is quite stout

bens4vcobra · May 9, 2007

Damn guys i'm on my first one... what the hell are yall doing?

ripper · May 9, 2007

LOL Somthing wrong i guess huh Ben. :hammer:

bens4vcobra · May 11, 2007

Stevo said:
LOL Somthing wrong i guess huh Ben. :hammer:

It appears so. Wish mine would break so i could ship it off to Al over in Vero Beach. damn civilized driving self...

96cobravert · May 14, 2007

Not to be a jerk, but 1st engine ran low on oil, 2nd engine had spark plug hitting piston and neither were tuned????? The best engines with the best machine work and parts won't take that. Don't get into boost on the next engine until you've had it dyno tuned. Most of the time it seems that the guys that don't get crazy with the boost, dyno tune and don't just completely hammer them last a very long time. But if not done properly...BOOOOOMMMM!!!

99PanozAIV · May 15, 2007

Sounds like a lot of the same old problems ya hear with these engines. If I had an engine out for rebuild with that history, I'd add a LDC cooling mod, an Accusump and a Weapon-X oiling system.

kspilly · May 15, 2007

96cobravert said:
Not to be a jerk, but 1st engine ran low on oil, 2nd engine had spark plug hitting piston and neither were tuned????? The best engines with the best machine work and parts won't take that. Don't get into boost on the next engine until you've had it dyno tuned. Most of the time it seems that the guys that don't get crazy with the boost, dyno tune and don't just completely hammer them last a very long time. But if not done properly...BOOOOOMMMM!!!

Just for the record, the first motor died from the previous owner. The car was already charged and tapping when I got it, so I didn't even have a chance to tune. I got it thinking it would just be something minor or something that I could just upgrade, not knowing it would be the motor....

I know the benifits of a good tune and how important tuning is. I had a worked over Focus that had a lot of custom head work done, and it was a completely different car after 8 hours of dyno tuning. Tuning is worth every penny!!

Thanks again for all the comments! O0

-Kevin.