I am looking to buy a 99-01 cobra. Whats the easiest/cheapest way to get an extra 50 or so HP out of it. I am fairly new to this so any suggestions or directions to an existing thread are welcome. Thanks in advance.
'99 cobra basic question
- Thread starter chewbert
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First off...get an 01. 99's had recalls and lower HP ratings....big headache.
First mod.......Gears...... they won't add HP...but they will considerably lower your 1/4 mile time. 4.10's are ideal, but others will say 4.30's or 4.56's...but I personally wouldn't go more than a 4.10 for a street driven/once in a while track car.
More HP can be found in a good set of BBK L/T's, matching H or X pipe of choice, and a good catback. Other mods for staying N/A would be CAI, P&P intake and shorten runners, and U/D pullies.
If you are gonna go forced induction in the future, avoid the CAI, and the U/D pullies. The CAI is discarded and the U/D's have to come back off for the S/C. Of course with forced induction, you need a good tune.
First mod.......Gears...... they won't add HP...but they will considerably lower your 1/4 mile time. 4.10's are ideal, but others will say 4.30's or 4.56's...but I personally wouldn't go more than a 4.10 for a street driven/once in a while track car.
More HP can be found in a good set of BBK L/T's, matching H or X pipe of choice, and a good catback. Other mods for staying N/A would be CAI, P&P intake and shorten runners, and U/D pullies.
If you are gonna go forced induction in the future, avoid the CAI, and the U/D pullies. The CAI is discarded and the U/D's have to come back off for the S/C. Of course with forced induction, you need a good tune.
A shot of nitrous will work and is the cheapest route to gain 50 hp.
Also just about all of the 99's had the TSB done and they are on par with the 2001's. They make the same hp. I know mine did back in 2000 when it was dynoed. It is just those that have not had the TSB "fix" done will suffer.
Also just about all of the 99's had the TSB done and they are on par with the 2001's. They make the same hp. I know mine did back in 2000 when it was dynoed. It is just those that have not had the TSB "fix" done will suffer.
SVT32VDOHC and myself always say get gears first, you will notice the difference big time. He likes 4.10 and I like the 3.73, the 4.10 will get you there quicker. As for 50 more horses without FI or NOS you have to do long tubes, O/R H or X pipe, exhaust, custom tune and a high quality CAI. Together that should be close to 50+ horses.
Nitrous. An afternoon of work and an instant 100 HP. Just read up on it and use the safety devices available.
FWIW, there is nothing wrong with a post-fix '99 snake....just doublecheck to make sure all of the "post fix" goodies are still in place (ie - intake, et al).
And yes, nitrous is your quickest way to get +50hp...unless you want to throw every bolt on at it and spend tons of $$$.
And yes, nitrous is your quickest way to get +50hp...unless you want to throw every bolt on at it and spend tons of $$$.
If you are talking 50 to the wheels, good luck doing that cheap. It ain't gonna happen unless you go N2O. It is IMO a really good way to get horsepower, but in the long run depending on how much you run it, it will get expensive. I have used N2O a LOT on other cars. I have been running nitrous cars since I was 16 and that was 16 years ago. One of my cars, I stopped counting at 60 bottles. You add that up and it gets $$$$$.
Gears are a great bang for your buck, and that is my next mod. 4.10's here I come.
Gears are a great bang for your buck, and that is my next mod. 4.10's here I come.
Not completely true. Don't just stay away from 99's, if the original owner did the recalls correctly you could come out on top with a better than stock motor. Mine Baselined on the dyno at 285.5 RWHP and 284.2 Torque. I would prefer a 99 as long as all of the stuff was done to the heads by the dealership. You could get one of the hot ones like I did. Its almost like getting a free port job on your heads. I was lucky the original owner did a baseling dyno run in 01 and kept all of the stuff from it. Helps in selling the car big time. This was an older guy who kept the car stock and wanted to see what the numbers were. According to him the performance shop was astounded that these were the number with no mods, but they did say that 99 Cobra's are a wildcard because you never know what ur gonna get. If the recall was done and the owner can prove it or point to the dealership that did it, I would go 99 all the way. This is just my 2 cents, and I own a 99 so dont listen to all the hype about headaches. PM me and I will send you the dyno chart, I would link it but it has the name of the shop and I already got warned about linking stuff like that.
They did my intake and ported the heads (I thought that was standard?
) to make up for the over advertised horses. They put a new catback in for yours? I'm not sure if they touched the ECU in mine, and I'm almost positive they didnt touch the cat-back. That's funny. I thought recalls had a specific fix to them. Maybe the mechanic wanted to practice porting heads or something. Can we get in trouble for linking dyno slips here?
) to make up for the over advertised horses. They put a new catback in for yours? I'm not sure if they touched the ECU in mine, and I'm almost positive they didnt touch the cat-back. That's funny. I thought recalls had a specific fix to them. Maybe the mechanic wanted to practice porting heads or something. Can we get in trouble for linking dyno slips here?
cool, thanks for the info guys, ecspecially on the recalls. think i'd rather spend the cash on gears and bolt-ons rather than No2.
I would recommend stopping by Mike Murillo's shop Murillo Motorsports(used to be called Texas Jam Racing). When I was in San Antonio his guys did work on my Cobra.
I thought that when they did mine that it lost some of its low-end torque. When I first got it in July of '99, I could flatten the accelerator and it would break the rear tires loose just a bit. It was a lot of fun to drive. After the fix, it felt stronger in the middle and upper rpm range but I lost that low-end grunt.
Either way, there is a sticker under the hood indicating that the fix was completed. There was no porting of the heads. I believe that you may be thinking of the intake that was either extrude-honed or replaced with a new one. Blackfang may know more about why they did some one way and some the other.
Don't shy away from the '99. With the exception of the seats and a little stronger 31 spline half-shaft, there isn't really any difference.
Either way, there is a sticker under the hood indicating that the fix was completed. There was no porting of the heads. I believe that you may be thinking of the intake that was either extrude-honed or replaced with a new one. Blackfang may know more about why they did some one way and some the other.
Don't shy away from the '99. With the exception of the seats and a little stronger 31 spline half-shaft, there isn't really any difference.
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