So for the past 6 months, I've put the TC on hold. I wanted something newer, something more reliable. I was aiming at more of a gas saver, but something sporty. While I was driving that, I would be able to save plenty of money and also not be tempted to pour any into my DD. But boy did my plans change. I sold my car on Thursday. I searched AutoTrader that night (for what reason, I couldn't tell you) for a '94-'98 Mustang, V8, Manual, within 100 miles. There was one result. It is pictured below. The past three days have felt like such a dream. But you don't want to hear about that. You want to hear the facts.
1996 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra.
4.6L V8, 305hp, 300ft/lbs torque.
T-45 Transmission.
0-60 in 5.6.
1/4 Mile 13.7-14.0
91,000 Miles.
"Laser Red" although it's more of a peach color at this point...
Black Leather.
One of 926 made in that combination.
Mach 460 Stereo.
Super Bad-Ass.
Supposedly I am the 3rd owner, although I'll be running a Carfax soon to verify. It was at a dealer in Cincinatti, approximately 2 hours away. I was able to talk him down to $5,000. There are a few things that don't make it the perfect Cobra. Most are due to sitting in one place for apparently quite some time.
1. The paint is quite faded. The door jams make the rest of the car look peach or pink.
2. The headlight lenses have some moisture inside.
3. There is a small dent on left front quarter.
4. The passenger side was keyed.
5. The water temp. guage is non-functional.
6. The CD player is non-functional.
Mechanically, the car is absolutely sound. The thing that I love the most about the car is that it is completely stock, unmolested. I even love the fact that the fender or scratch hasn't been fixed. Not only did those things allow me to afford the car, they will allow me to fix it the correct way. Outside, the car shows more wear than average for a '96, but not too bad at all. The interior is fantastic. The front seats have a few spiderwebs, but no tears, no cracks in the dash, nothing. The rest of the interior looks brand new, minus the shift .
Here's a list of things I've done since it came home this afternoon.
1. Replaced fog light bulbs (burnt out)
2. Installed and wired underdash water temp. guage
3. Temporarily resolved CD player issue
4. Detailed engine and exterior.
5. Removed Pony from grille.
6. Found out it is 3x worse than a TC in the snow (but I drove it all day, anyways).
For the time being, I'm planning on opening up the exhaust (a LOT) and fabbing up a CAI. After that, I'll be saving up for something that starts with K and ends with enne Bell.
Enjoy!
Few more
effing sweet dude. hey, if the cd player itself is the issue, i have a spare.
the headlights can be had cheepo'
they suck balls in the snow
you need new plates:hick:
oh, congrats on the 4 valve!
now go clean those IMRC plates ;o)
I'll take the CD player, send me a PM with a price. Something is broken inside mine, it keeps trying to grab a CD so it always switches back to CD mode when I switch to radio. That is, until I bypassed it.
Plates will be here soon.. haha!
I'll polish the IRCM plates as well! lol
oh, another biggie, specially with that trans is get a shifter on that thing, pro 5.0 or mgw. they are a nice shifting trans but really could use the a decent shifter.
cover shipping, that should do it.
Yeah that's a nice score at 5,000. :cool: A friend of mine had a 98 Cobra with a Vortech on it making 400rwhp.
I'll trade ya my 95 3.8 T-bird for it. I bet you that your car is better in the snow than my T-bird is :hick:
The first thing that Cobra needs is a car cover and the second thing it needs is a Taurus/Sable to be driven in the winter in its place. Either way, cool car, congrats!!
Haha, not a chance...
should hit it with a clay bar. it takes a long time but its worth it. by far thats my favorite factory color. (im bias i guess).
My Dad has one that he uses on his car. Do you think it could waken the paint up at all?
P.S. Do you have the stock wheels for your car?
it will do miracles with the clear coat but unfortunately it wont change the faded paint undernieth. it will definetly brighten it up though.
i sold the mach 1 wheels. curently have the polished 01 cobra wheels on it. i also have a set of machined 03-04 cobra wheels. ill be looking to part with both sets one at a time to cover the cost of another set of wheels that i want.
Gotcha. I was hoping you had some Bullitts lol.
Yeah, you pretty much blew that plan. :D My guess is you won't save much gas after the first time you hit dry pavement with it. :burnout: I'm still jealous and I don't like the red ones that much.
The problem with Laser Red is that it's a tri-coat and the clearcoat is tinted. When the tinted clear is exposed to carwashes, compounds, weather, etc it gets thinner and the color changes. There's really no way to bring it back without a repaint.
Here's mine with 9,000 original miles.
(http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2/grizzly_011/DSC00423.jpg)
WOW. That's friggin' beautiful.
Lmao. I haven't saved too much gas on snow either :).
Drifting is just too fun.
Maybe, but yours is
much faster.
im sure you know, but premium fuel only.....i dont know about this car, but my red car with the 4 valve did wonderfully on the highway. with 355s and cruise control at 70ish on a 1600 mile drive i averaged 31.3 mpg with it.
thats hard to repeat on shorter trips but high 20's easy. typical average mileage with it for me was mid to mid low 20's.
That's what the book says.... I've got 2 Mark VIIIs and they both run fine on regular with no mpg penalty that I've ever seen. Admittedly I don't run it hard when there's 87 in the tank and most of my miles are highway in a warm climate but the fact is I've never had any trouble that could be attributed to using regular. One's a 96 the other a 93. A good tuner should be able to set up a chip for regular too. It's not as big a deal at $2/g either but at twice that it matters. ;)
not sure what the compression ration is on the mark, but reguardless, premium is recomended as they are tuned for it. the knock sensors will pull timing to keep the engine from damage but the premium is recomended for a reason. i saw a power loss and the same mileage loss with my mark viii the few tanks of garbage i ran threw it. it would "pop" on ocasion too. i would never run anything but premium in the mustang personally. it deffinetly runs on the lean side as it is.
That's what I've been running :).
My Dad had a '97 Cobra.
So, a mini-update. I had a shop take the lers off today, and it sounds SPECTACULAR. It's really not too loud, but great tone and a little crackle as high revs fall.
I got too good of gas mileage before.
You know.
How many cats does it have on it? Are there three per side like the regular 4.6's or do those get something different?
I only saw 2 per side, total of 4.
My friend has a 96 Cobra, exactly the same as yours, he put Bullitts on it though. His has 26,000 miles and is MINT. He paid $8,000 for it. He removed the lers and two of the cats, and Oh My God that thing sounds amazing. Im not that big of a fan of the SN95 style stangs, I would own one, but to me the appearance just isnt what it should be. He has the same issue with the water temp gauge, and its a ground issue.
Hmmm.... Has he been able to solve it?
Another mini-update. A little custom CAI action. Whole setup cost me $60.
sweet. i just started my swap tonight. i curse the header bolts to hell.
anyway, that looks pretty good. the stock air box is ugmoe.
Haha, good call.