A bunch of 03-04 cobra ?s

1slicksnake said:

I think i am getting ready to buy a 03 cobra and have a few questions for you guys. I am looking at throwing a kb 2.2L on it. How much horsepower will the 03 cobra's internals take. I know that i will probably have to put a solid rear axle in it. Also does the kb have a intercooler or not? What kind of horsepower can i look for with the kb on the 03 cobra. Will i need a knew tranny? Where is the best place to buy a kb? What other upgades will i need to do to make the combo work and work well. Sorry for all these questions but im a newbie.

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ok. cool. a lot. not really. not sure. a lot. probably not. tune. no problem

1slicksnake said:

I think i am getting ready to buy a 03 cobra and have a few questions for you guys. I am looking at throwing a kb 2.2L on it. How much horsepower will the 03 cobra's internals take. I know that i will probably have to put a solid rear axle in it. Also does the kb have a intercooler or not? What kind of horsepower can i look for with the kb on the 03 cobra. Will i need a knew tranny? Where is the best place to buy a kb? What other upgades will i need to do to make the combo work and work well. Sorry for all these questions but im a newbie.

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Buy the cobra and drive it a bit. Chances are very good that you will be happy with it as is. If you do feel you need more power you can add quite a bit before you need to add the KB. The forged internals have been run way up with little trouble. The trans is good to 500/600 HP. The rear is fine once you add a brace.

So to sum it up. 450 RWHP is rather easy to get with out the KB and a heck of a lot cheaper.

1slicksnake said:

I think i am getting ready to buy a 03 cobra and have a few questions for you guys. I am looking at throwing a kb 2.2L on it. How much horsepower will the 03 cobra's internals take.

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The crank is pretty stout and so are the rods as long as you replace the bolts with some stronger ARP fasteners. The weak link is the pistons. The PTW clearance is so tight on these motors that they end up eating the pistons if the engine gets run under heavy boost for extended periods. The stock bottom end is pretty reliable up to 600 RWHP or so. Many push it past that without fail. Depends on your luck and how good your tune is.

1slicksnake said:

I know that i will probably have to put a solid rear axle in it.

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Why? Do you plan on drag racing the car on a regular basis?

1slicksnake said:

Also does the kb have a intercooler or not?

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No, at least not a new or different intercooler. It utilizes the stock intercooler that is bolted to the bottom of the Eaton.

1slicksnake said:

What kind of horsepower can i look for with the kb on the 03 cobra.

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How much boost will you be running? How far do you want to push those stock internals?

1slicksnake said:

Will i need a knew tranny?

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Depends.... what do you plan on doing with the car? Lots of high HP T-56 equipped Cobra's running around out there. Most upgrade the input shaft from 10 to 26-spline. A dedicated 03/04 drag car may want to swap out the T-56 for an auto though.

1slicksnake said:

Where is the best place to buy a kb?

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Shop around... there are plenty of KB authorized dealers.

1slicksnake said:

What other upgrades will i need to do to make the combo work and work well.

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Depends on what your plans for the car are. Is this a DD? Are you going to race it? Is it a weekend warrior for street racing? Can't really help you much until you tell us what you want out of the car first.

I agree with the Duke though. Try performing just the basic mods and see how you feel about the car first. There are plenty of very fast Eaton powered cars that give KB equipped cars a good run for their money. You can easily get 500+RWHP from an Eaton powered Cobra for less than the cost of a KB & supporting mods.

U.M.

1slicksnake said:

The car will not be a daily driver, it will be more like a weekend or every other weekend driver. It will definitely see the drag strip 4 or 5 times a years. I am looking for a 600 rwhp car and am just wanting to know if i am looking at the right car s/c combo.

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Yup. You can have a pretty reliable 600 RWHP KB powered Cobra if that's what you want. Depending on the tune and how bad you beat the piss out of it will determine how long the stock bottom end with last at that power level. It definitely can be done pretty easily with a KB and a few supporting mods.

U.M.