96-98 cobra mods

Daniel50

New Member
Mar 30, 2005
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Discovery Bay, CA
so im new to 4v modular motor and been reading up a lot on them by using the good old search button and this is what i found.

Mods worth doing

-JLT cai
-4.10 gear
-Longtubes, o/r x, catback
-underdrive pulleys

*ROUGHLY how much does each mod above add to a healthy stock motor.

Mods not worth doing
-throttle body
-maf
-anything below a 4.10 gear

of course im not including obvious things like a blower, turbo, nitrous, ported heads, cams, intake manifold that builds power on any car you put it on pretty much.

my goal is to make 300rwhp on my n/a car.
 
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so im new to 4v modular motor and been reading up a lot on them by using the good old search button and this is what i found.

Mods worth doing

-JLT cai
-4.10 gear
-Longtubes, o/r x, catback
-underdrive pulleys

*ROUGHLY how much does each mod above add to a healthy stock motor.

Mods not worth doing
-throttle body
-maf
-anything below a 4.10 gear

of course im not including obvious things like a blower, turbo, nitrous, ported heads, cams, intake manifold that builds power on any car you put it on pretty much.

my goal is to make 300rwhp on my n/a car.

I have 3.73's and love them:nice: I have O/R H-pipe, Flowmaster Cat back, removed intake silencer and a Jet chip. The previous owner said it did 299.8 RWHP on a dynojet in Houston. JLT is a killer intake and would probally get me a few more horses but you lose the strut tower brace. The WMS intake is really nice and you can still use the stock strut tower brace. Down side is its $450:(

Change the MAF and T-body when, and if you do a supercharger. The cars breath just fine with thoes N/A.
 
so im new to 4v modular motor and been reading up a lot on them by using the good old search button and this is what i found.

Mods worth doing

-JLT cai
-4.10 gear
-Longtubes, o/r x, catback
-underdrive pulleys

*ROUGHLY how much does each mod above add to a healthy stock motor.

Mods not worth doing
-throttle body
-maf
-anything below a 4.10 gear

of course im not including obvious things like a blower, turbo, nitrous, ported heads, cams, intake manifold that builds power on any car you put it on pretty much.

my goal is to make 300rwhp on my n/a car.


You should be close to 300 with those mods. As far as hp per mod....depends. Each car responds differently and depends on the tune. (add a good tune in there- SCT)

I would recommend 4.30's. But you are right, nothing below 4.10's. Especially with exhaust and the improved airflow.

I made right at 300 and ran 12.70-12.90's with LT's, MAC exhaust, Steeda UD's, 4.30's, JLT, and a SCT tune from a guy in ok.
 
MAF and T-body are good for 450RWHP. I am still using them and I made 414RWHP 4 years ago. My tuner said even with 14lbs and methanal injection, I can retain those peices with his tune.

Go 4.10's for sure. L/T's...I have them, but they are making a lot of heat on my legs after 4 short summer seasons....and they have to come off for a clutch job. I would say don't do them unless you go with a blower.

When my 96 Cobra had just BBK L/T's BBK H-pipe, Dyno Max cat-back, and 4.10's it went 13.54@106.

When I had my 97 Cobra I had BBK L/T's Bassani X pipe, Flowmaster cat-back and 3.73's it went 13.92@102MPH.

The gears were obviously the difference.
 
I'd also say 4.30's, you'll probably be spending anywhere from $500-$900 depending on how good of a deal you get on the gear installation, this isn't including the cost of the actual gears.

The LT's are a great mod and I would definitely recommend if you're installing them yourself. It'll take you a whole day and an alignment but you will save about $1000 in labor as if you were to pay someone to do them, plus the cost of the headers. BBK's you can get for $650 (ceramic) with the H-pipe (off-road). Some people will recommend Bassani mid-length pipes for easier tranny access, and others will recommend a different brand but i've had great success with BBK exhaust parts so I've stuck with them.

I'd stay away from the UD pullies since I've heard a lot of talk about crank dampers causing engine failures, due to improper balancing, and you'll only nab a couple HP from this mod anyways, plus have to deal with charging issues, search Corral for the UD pulley issue.

JLT's are a great piece, however, I never did like the fact that you lost the cross-member, but if you're a 1/4 mile kinda guy, you wanna get rid of this anyways, I'd go with the WMS or something custom. Either way you're only going to get a couple HP from this mod also.

I'd stick with the gears, exhaust and a tune to get you to the 300rwhp mark, shouldn't be a problem at all.

Good luck.
 
MAF and T-body are good for 450RWHP. I am still using them and I made 414RWHP 4 years ago. My tuner said even with 14lbs and methanal injection, I can retain those peices with his tune.
The stock TB is good enough for any application up to about 700hp, even in big blower apps the single blade tb is only good for a few hp, and even then aftermkt single blades cause problems
 
I'd stay away from the UD pullies since I've heard a lot of talk about crank dampers causing engine failures, due to improper balancing, and you'll only nab a couple HP from this mod anyways, plus have to deal with charging issues, search Corral for the UD pulley issue.

Good luck.

The problem is not with the balancing, it's with the cheaper balancers ability to dampen harmonics. Piggyback pulleys are the worst possible potion while the March Fluid dampener is the best.

A properly done short runner will give you another 20rwhp at peak and raise the peak another 200rpms while not losing any power down low.
 
Not trying to hijack your thread, but I'm in the process of doing my exhaust and have a related question. Are shorty or midlength headers worth it? I've heard the factory manifolds on the '96-'98's are fairly good so shorty's aren't worth the money. Can anyone prove or disprove that? Do midlength headers interfere with clutch replacement? I have the stock K-member if that matters.

Regards,
John.
 
Shorty headers are worthless. For the price you pay for them including install, you may was well do LT's. It is not that much more, but the hp gains are a lot higher. Midlengths do allow you to changes the clutch as does some of the LT's.