'99 cobra basic question

chewbert · Nov 23, 2007

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.

SVT32VDOHC · Nov 23, 2007

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.

blackfang · Nov 23, 2007

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.

LaserSVT · Nov 23, 2007

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.

blackfang · Nov 23, 2007

I say 4.30's minimum.

4.6andSlicks · Nov 23, 2007

Nitrous. An afternoon of work and an instant 100 HP. Just read up on it and use the safety devices available.

COBRA90GT · Nov 24, 2007

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 $$$.

M.P. Cobra Fan · Nov 24, 2007

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.

Zax · Nov 24, 2007

SVT32VDOHC said:
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.

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.

blackfang · Nov 24, 2007

Zax said:
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.

Tell me what they did to the heads?

Mine had a new catback installed, reflashed the ecu and they took care of the intake manifold.

Zax · Nov 24, 2007

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?

blackfang · Nov 24, 2007

The TSB consisted of a new lower intake, new catback and reflash the ecu, nothing else. No head work was part of that TSB.

Zax · Nov 24, 2007

Here is mine, strange that our RWTQ numbers match. Here is mine post TSB, the orig owner said they did porting. Im going off his word as I havent cracked it open yet. He may be mistaken.

blackfang · Nov 24, 2007

Unless, he paid them extra or had a friend he is mistaken.

chewbert · Nov 26, 2007

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.

blackfang · Nov 26, 2007

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.

CobraCruiser · Nov 26, 2007

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.

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