Walking Tall's 99 Cobra

Walking Tall

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Figured I'd start a thread for this car. I had been thinking of trading the yellow car for a New Edge for some time. I had the yellow car pretty much where I wanted it. Came across this '99 Cobra Convertible that a friend of mine was flipping. Turns out he had been following my build and wanted to trade. Checked the car out and made the deal the next day.

The Bad:

*182,000 miles
*The top is torn in a few places
*The back window is separating from the top
*FRPP shorties are leaking from the passenger side
*Noticeable tick around 2k RPM when crusing
*Oil leak from oil cooler
*Paint is chipped on front of the car
*Paint faded on the passenger QP
*17x9 Cobra R's (UGLY) are pitted
*Awful stance

Here are some pics from looking at the car and the first day:
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Crotch shot:

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The Plans:

The order in which I want to do the work is fluid right now. I will be changing the oil cooler gaskets this week to check the condition of the oil. If we find evidence of engine damage then that will obviously change the plan.

Exterior:
*Repaint car
*New top
*03 Cobra Rear Bumper
*18x9 18x10 wheels
*Correct taillights

Suspension:
*H&R Race Springs
*Bilsteins
*CC Plates
*IRS Bushing kit

Engine and exhaust:
*Rebuild Teksid with forged rods and pistons
*Clean up heads w/ valve job
*X Pipe
*New catback (polished)

Interior:
*03 Cobra seats
*Styling bar
*New carpet
*MGW shifter


Needs addressing immediately:
*Oil cooler gaskets
*New power steering line
 
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Walking Tall

Walking Tall

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Noticed after a few days that the car was leaking oil badly and I started noticing a vibration at 40+ MPH. Took off the wheel spacers and that was not the problem. I got under the car and noticed that three driveshaft bolts could be turned by hand! Tightened them up and no more problems. Went to my buddy's shop and put the car on the lift. Re-tightened the bolts and located the oil leak coming from the weep hole on the oil cooler. Also noticed the power steering line leaking. Ordered the gaskets from Ford (Sister works there. Got hooked up.) and got a Motorcraft filter.

While I was there I talked to the guy who does the specialty vehicles and he is trying to get the original invoice for me. We also ran a Carfax and found the original owner kept the car for 14 years and put 166k of the miles on it. It then went to someone here for a year and then the PO for 4 months. So I'm glad to know that it was probably taken good care of for the majority of it's life.


First impressions are nothing but good. I LOVE the way this car drives. So much more power than I was used to and it just begs for you stay in it into the high RPMs. I will be keeping this one for a long time. :)
 

g36 monkey

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Dude I love 99 cobras! Glad it went to a good owner.


Not to take away from the car, but where did you get that huge mustang sign lol??
 

SLOW95GTS

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Nice looks good! I had that same problem with my 4v cobra, it would rev to 2k and a little higher and it'll tick all day. Turned out to be the spun bearing. Hope it's not the case with your car, but you gotta have to expect it especially with these cars running up to 7k rpm, and the mileage. That's the last cobra i'll own, I'll stick to my pushrods.

BTW, saleen's or some nice concave wheels would really look good.
 
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Walking Tall

Walking Tall

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Dude I love 99 cobras! Glad it went to a good owner.


Not to take away from the car, but where did you get that huge mustang sign lol??

That's actually a mural my friend custom painted for me. Here is a better pic:

IMG_0142_zps51641d5b.jpg
 
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Walking Tall

Walking Tall

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Nice looks good! I had that same problem with my 4v cobra, it would rev to 2k and a little higher and it'll tick all day. Turned out to be the spun bearing. Hope it's not the case with your car, but you gotta have to expect it especially with these cars running up to 7k rpm, and the mileage. That's the last cobra i'll own, I'll stick to my pushrods.

BTW, saleen's or some nice concave wheels would really look good.

That's my fear. We'll check the oil good and hope for the best. If not, it's motor first. No big. Just a lot of saving. :)
 

DeepList

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*Subscribed*

Can't wait to see progress on this car. It's in good hands.

Needs addressing immediately:
*Oil cooler gaskets
*New power steering line

I need to do this too. I went out and started mine up for the first time this spring and noticed a small puddle of oil under the car dripping from the oil cooler. I'm thinking one of the O rings inside there dried up over the winter from lack of lubrication, or something. :deeplist:
 
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Walking Tall

Walking Tall

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Alright. Been a little bit since an update. Busy time of year for work but I've done a litte.

Last week I finally got around to the oil cooler gasket. This thing was leaving puddles of oil when parked. The best news that I got when we changed it was no metal in the oil at all! Eased my mind a bit. Went to a friend's shop and the job wasn't bad on the lift. Had a new power steering line but we were short on time so it will have to wait. When all was done the thing was still leaking. I was convinced I would have to do an oil cooler right away, but after it's been home a few days it is just leaking a few drops so I'm not as worried right now about that.

I gave it a Motorcraft filter and 7 qts of Motorcraft 5w20.

On the lift. 4x4 status:

image_zps7a47423c.jpg


The offending little bastard:

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With that done I could rest a little easier. Went to our local cruise in last Friday with our Mustang club. Talked to a guy with a 70K mile Mach and we struck a deal for me to buy his shortblock this winter. I'll be swapping my heads and crank onto his block and keeping my Teksid to build later. This should buy me a few years and give me a decent mileage motor to use for a while. I know it's a WAP block. I don't plan on building it. I'll sell it once I build my motor.
 
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Walking Tall

Walking Tall

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A few weeks ago I talked to a guy I saw on our Facebook page who lives near me. He's selling a sweet '01 Cobra and was including some Eibachs with it. I asked him if he wanted to sell the springs separate and he said he wanted to install them to sell the car. He contacted me yesterday and asked if I was interested. I got them for $125 and it looks like some poly isos too. I didn't take many pics because I picked up the springs at 5:30, started on them at 6:30 with my buddy and finished at 9:30.

The install wasn't as bad as I thought at all. Dropping the IRS was a snap. The fronts took longer, and the biggest problem was trying to get the new spring in since we just dropped the strut from the top. It's an Eibach Pro-Kit. I used no isos becasue moar low.

Terrible pics, but I was in a hurry.

Rears done:

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Best shot I could get at home of everything done:

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Spacers don't look as dumb now:

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And a little something extra. My buddy came by in his bagged '99 Saleen. From what he knows about it it's 1 of 3 autos. Not sure how the numbers are broken down. Very sweet car. I plan on buying his wheels in a few weeks. He's waiting on some sweet wheels to be released. Such a nice car.

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Sweet pick up man . You've got a lot done to it since you got it too. I agree I'd prolly cut 3/4 of a coil of so off the front to bring it down a little . Glad your enjoying the new ride man . Your boys bagged saleen is sick , saleens are my favourite
 

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