My 1994 Cobra Project... bought January 2009 sold March 2011
This was my 1994 SVT Cobra. I always wanted one of these cars and when I came across this one I couldn't pass it up. I bought it from its original owner who ordered it from the factory and he managed to keep it 100% stock all of those years! Its 1 of only 333 cars made with Rio Red exterior and black cloth interior. I'm sure its even rarer than that since it is also a non-mach460 stereo car. I bought it because my '95 has just become "too much" to enjoy daily. I also got it because I have a ton of extra parts from the years of building and rebuilding my '95, and because I wanted to start autocrossing something other than my SVT Focus. It served me well but I have moved on to a 2004 Le Mans Z16 commemorative edition Z06.
I spent HOURS detailing the car. I clay barred it, glazed it, polished it, and finally waxed it. Below are the results. Other than a number of door dings the body and paint are in good shape..
Here's a few pics I just took of it with my '03 Anniversary Cobra wheels wrapped in 275-40-17 Kuhmo V710 tires. These were my original autocross wheels/tires and I think they look pretty good on it! I also installed my saleen tail light bezels due to the stock units being faded.. The stock tail lights were severely faded and until I can get them painted I'm going to run these. I'm not fond of the look, but its better than the faded stock ones.
Update 3-16-09: The mods have begun, even though it wasn't planned. I took the car out for a "spirited drive" a few weeks ago and quickly realized that there was a problem. The car had no power and wouldn't pull above 4000rpms. I started thinking about what could be the cause and suspected the catalytic converters could be clogged due to the 153K miles on the car and the stock exhaust was still on it. I pulled the stock H pipe and sure enough the passenger side front cat had broken free and was plugging the exhaust tube on that side so its no wonder it wouldn't run right. I was only going to install my old bassani X pipe but the stock studs in the factory headers were so rusted they could not be reused. So I put on my FMS shorty headers and bassani X pipe, but I retained the stock cat-back. I figured while I was at it I'd increase the air flow on the intake side too and i installed my Morpheus power pipe, K&N filter, and my FMS 65mm TB. WOW is all I can say. The car would not spin the tires at all, even in 1st with a high RPM clutch dump. That is no longer a problem. Even with 50lbs of salt in the trunk, and a 220lb passenger in the car it will spin the tires in 1st all day long from a dig and a roll. It will also spin in 2nd with just me in the car. I've never felt such a dramatic change in a car's performance from anything I've even done or added to my '95. The weather was horrible when I brought the car home, and I'm actually thankful that it was down on power because that probably saved me from putting it into a ditch on the way home, especially for how well it runs now! I'm now extremely happy I purchased this car. I also noticed the stock harmonic balancer was completely shot while I was under the car so I replaced that as well and I'm glad I did as it'll pull way above 4000rpms now.
UPDATE 7-21-09: I said above I thought I was leaving this car alone and not modifying it and then I had to fix the catalytic converter issue. Well, another problem occured and let's just say its not stock anymore. I knew the stock 154K mile suspension and motor mounts would need some attention. I happened to come across a local racer who was swapping out a full Maximum Motorsports rear suspension and selling it for an unbeatable price. I snagged it along with some new poly motor mounts/tranny mount. When I went to install the motor mount I broke off one of the bolts holding them on in the block. This made it necessary to pull the engine out of the car to get the bolt out. Well, while the engine was out I couldn't put it back in stock so I threw on my old AFR 165 heads, ported the lower intake, and installed a new timing chain along with various gaskets, bolts, etc. I also cleaned the engine bay top to bottom to get the 15yrs worth of grime off of the car. I also knew it was time to address the front suspension as well since I was in there. Here is a complete list of all of the parts that I have now installed on the car:
-MM 4 bolt CC plates with the following specs: 6.1* caster, 1.3* camber, zero toe
-Koni sport single adjustable struts
-MM front coil-over kit with 10" 425lb springs
-urethane rack bushings
-2003 Cobra A arms
-MM HD torque arm
-MM full length subframe connectors
-MM panhard bar
-MM adjustable rear sway bar
-MM road race LCA's
-MM/Bilstein rear shocks with 8" 325lb coil-over springs
-Donathen Racing tubular front bumper
-I/O port harness bar and camera mount
-Crow Enterprises 5pt harness
-battery reloacted to the trunk
-17X9 Anniversary cobra wheels with 275 Kuhmo V710 tires (since replaced, these will be my street wheels soon)
-UPDATE 4-27-10: 17x10 CCW Classic race version wheels with 275-40-17 Kuhmo V710
